Company: HOUS
Filing Date: 2025-02-25
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001398987-25-000020
Chunk: 72

Company: Anywhere Real Estate Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-02-25
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 1A
Chunk 72
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 ability to attract and retain franchisees.

If we and our franchisees, as applicable, are unable to successfully maintain and grow the base of productive independent sales agents, independent sales agent teams, and other agent-facing talent at our company owned and franchisee brokerages (or if we or they fail to replace departing successful sales agents with similarly productive sales agents) or if we are unable to grow our base of franchisees, we may be unable to maintain or grow revenues or earnings and our results of operations may be materially adversely affected.

A variety of factors impact our ability to attract and retain independent sales agents and franchisees, including but not limited to, intense competition from other brokerages as well as companies employing technologies or alternative models intended to disrupt historical real estate brokerage models; our ability to develop and deliver compelling products and services to independent sales agents and franchisees; our ability to generate high-quality leads to independent sales agents and franchisees; and our ability to adopt and implement commission plans (or pricing model structures) that are attractive to such agents (or such franchisees). Changes to industry rules or practices that reduce the percentage of home buyers or home sellers using an agent or broker in their homesale transactions or change the broker commission structure, which could arise from litigation and injunctive relief, regulatory or governmental actions, market forces, changing competitive dynamics or consumer preferences, locally or industry-wide, could also reduce the overall number of independent sales agents in the industry and further increase competition for productive independent sales agents. 

Our franchisees face the same challenges with respect to productive sales agent recruitment and retention as well as other market pressures generally facing the industry (such as margin compression). When a franchisee is unable to maintain or grow their affiliated sales agent base, the homesale transaction volume generated by such franchisee is more likely to decline. Such declines have and could continue to result in a decline in our royalty revenues, which could be material. In addition, franchisees have and may continue to seek lower royalty rates or higher incentives from us to moderate market pressures. Such pressures also induce certain franchisees to exit our franchisee system from time to time. If franchisees, in particular multiple larger franchisees, fail to renew their franchise agreements (or otherwise leave our franchise system), or if we induce franchisees to renew these agreements through lower royalty rates or higher incentives (as we have done from time to time), then our royalty revenues may decrease, and profitability may be lower than in the past. 

If we fail to successfully enhance our value proposition, we may fail