FranchiseVerdict
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FV-00023·CAUTIONStandard76

1st Class Real Estate

Real EstateFranchising since 2018Website
Investment
$24K – $64K
16th pct Real Estate
Avg revenue
32nd pct Real Estate
Royalty
Units
23
21st pct Real Estate
SBA default

Bottom line

  • Total investment $24K – $64K including a $20K franchise fee.
  • No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
  • Rated CAUTION with a risk score of 74/100.
  • System contracting at -21.7% CAGR over 3 years. Investigate whether closures are franchisor-driven (consolidation) or franchisee-driven (economics).

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
1st Class Franchising, LLC
Parent company
1st Class Holding Inc.
Incorporated in
Florida
HQ
6330 Hollywood Blvd, Sarasota, FL 34231
Auditor
CBX, Inc.
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$2.8M
vs $2.9M prior year

Yale framework · single-unit ROIC

Returns Analysis

Pulls Item 7 (investment) and Item 19 (revenue) from this brand's FDD into the Yale unlevered-ROIC formula. Override any input to stress-test it against your own assumptions.

The model · Yale framework

What would one 1st Class Real Estate unit return on the cash you put in?

Revenue · per unit, per year
$
Item 19 not disclosed — typing your own estimate
Franchisor take · royalty + ad fund
Royaltytyp 68%
%
Ad fundtyp 35%
%
Operating costs · category default: generic
COGS
%
Labor
%
Rent / occupancy
%
Other operating
%
Total invested capital · what you actually put in
Initial investment
$
FDD Item 7: $24K–$64K
Working capital
$
FDD reports $3K–$3K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

274%

Above typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%
ROIC above 100% usually means the revenue figure is a system-wide aggregate or top-cohort number rather than a single-unit average. Verify the "Revenue · per unit" field against the brand's FDD Item 19 detail tables before relying on this output.

Store EBITDA · annual
$128K
EBITDA margin
17.0%
Total invested
$47K
Payback
4 mo
Unit-level only. A multi-unit portfolio gives up roughly 5–15% of this to shared services (corporate G&A) before reaching the ~10-unit break-even Yale describes.

Overview

About

1st Class Real Estate franchisees operate real estate brokerage and sales operations, managing agents, facilitating property transactions, and generating revenue through commissions. Day-to-day activities include recruiting and training agents, managing client relationships, marketing listings, and handling transaction coordination within their assigned market.

CEO
Rhyan Finch
Founded
2018
FDD year
2026
States available
8

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$24K – $64K
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$3K – $3K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$20K
Royalty
AR splits fees: receives 50% of Initial Franchise Fees, 1…
Ad fund
0.0%
typical 3–5%

Item 19

Financial Performance

This franchisor did not disclose financial performance representations in Item 19, or our extractor could not parse them.

Item 20 · unit dynamics

The Growth Chart

Total units
23
Opened
1
Last reporting year
Closed
6
Turnover rate
26.1%
Company-owned
0
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
100%
vs corporate-owned
Multi-unit owners
66.7%
Net growth (yr3)
-21.7%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
-21.7%
Compounded over last 3 years
2024
18-5
Franchised units
2025
23
Franchised units
2026
23
Franchised units

Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.

Item 20 · 26 states with active franchisees

The Territory Map

Derived from franchisee contact records. Shows states with at least one current operator — not where the franchisor is registered to sell new units (that data is re-extracting in a future refresh).

AK
ME
VT
NH
MA
RI
CT
NY
NJ
PA
DE
MD
DC
WA
OR
CA
NV
ID
MT
WY
UT
CO
AZ
NM
ND
SD
NE
KS
OK
TX
MN
IA
MO
AR
LA
WI
IL
MS
TN
MI
IN
KY
AL
OH
WV
GA
VA
NC
SC
FL
HI
Registered · 26 states
Not registered

States derived from franchisee phone area codes (Item 20). Approximate — ported numbers may show the original state, not the franchisee's current location.

Government records

SBA Loan Data

Aggregated from SBA 7(a) loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.

No SBA loan data available for this brand.

FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 5, 6, 12, 17

Risk & Legal

74
Risk · 0-100
CAUTION74 / 100

Rapidly contracting franchise system with hidden financials, unstable franchisor status, unprotected territory, and unclear profitability—high risk of franchisee failure.

Score breakdown · what drove the 74 / 100 rating

  1. 01MEDSevere unit decline of 21.7% YoY (23 units) suggests system contraction and franchisee struggles
  2. 02MEDNo average revenue or net income disclosure (missing Item 19) prevents ROI validation and hides performance reality
  3. 03MINORUnprotected territory creates direct competition risk between franchisees and cannibalization concerns
  4. 04MINORHigh royalty variability (10-50% of ongoing fees) with unclear fee structure creates unpredictable cost burden
  5. 05HIGHGoing Concern status = FALSE indicates franchisor may lack financial stability or viability assurances
  6. 06MINORWide investment range ($23.5K-$63.5K) suggests inconsistent startup costs and unclear value proposition
  7. 07MINOR10-year term locks franchisee into declining system with no exit flexibility

Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification

FDD Items 5, 6, 12, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal

Contract & Territory Detail

Protected territory
No
Initial term
10 years
Renewal term
10 years
Online sales rights
Granted
Franchisor can compete
Yes
Hire a manager?
Allowed
Litigation count
0
Right of first refusal
Yes
Franchisor can buy back on resale
Mandatory arbitration
Yes
Jury trial waiver
Yes
Non-compete
2 yrs
Post-termination restriction
Owner-operator
Required
Governing law
Florida

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
28 hrs
On-the-job training
0 hrs
POS system
Brokermint, Salesforce, Google Suite
Operating tech stack

Item 20

Franchisee Contacts

Phone numbers extracted directly from this brand's FDD Item 20. After purchase, you'll also receive a list of validation questions tailored to this brand.

Franchisee contacts

41 numbers

Locked
(757) 504-••••
The franchisor is
FL
(757) 572-••••
National
VA
(410) 576-••••
MD

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

1st Class Real Estate · FDD (2026) PDF

Single-page checkout · instant download · CSV export of contacts available separately above