FranchiseVerdict
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices logo
FV-00282·STRONGStandard76

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices

Real EstateFranchising since 2013Website
Investment
$45K – $90K
38th pct Real Estate
Avg revenue
32nd pct Real Estate
Royalty
Units
293
79th pct Real Estate
SBA default
0.0%
vs <3% typical

Bottom line

  • Total investment $45K – $90K including a $25K franchise fee.
  • No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
  • Rated STRONG with a risk score of 53/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 12 loans (below the industry average).
  • No Item 19 financial performance representation. Without franchisor-disclosed revenue data, you'll need to gather unit economics directly from existing franchisees.

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
BHH Affiliates, LLC
Parent company
HSF Affiliates LLC
Incorporated in
Delaware
HQ
18500 Von Karman Avenue, Suite 400, Irvine, California 92612
Auditor
Deloitte & Touche LLP
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$104K
vs $122K 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 Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices 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: $45K–$90K
Working capital
$
FDD reports $30–$525

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

154%

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
$105K
EBITDA margin
14.0%
Total invested
$68K
Payback
8 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

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices franchisees operate full-service residential real estate brokerage offices, managing agent recruitment, client transactions, compliance, and local marketing under the BHHS brand. Franchisees earn commissions on home sales while paying royalties based on gross revenue (declining from 6% to 2% annually) with a $15,000 annual minimum, plus national marketing and technology fees.

CEO
Christy Budnick
Founded
2012
FDD year
2023
States available
47

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$45K – $90K
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$30 – $525
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$25K
Royalty
Declining percentage of Gross Revenue (6.00% to 2.00%) or…
Ad fund
Declining percentage of Gross Revenue (1.00% to 0.15%) wi…
Total fee load
7.0%
vs 9–13% typical

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
293
Opened
26
Last reporting year
Closed
18
Turnover rate
6.1%
Company-owned
20
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
93%
vs corporate-owned
Net growth (yr3)
+3.0%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
+3.8%
Compounded over last 3 years
2021
273+8
Franchised units
2022
265
Franchised units
2023
263
Franchised units

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

Item 20 · 17 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 · 17 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.

Total loans
12
Loan volume
Avg loan
Default rate
0.0%
vs <3% typical · system-wide
5-yr default

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

Risk & Legal

53
Risk · 0-100
STRONG53 / 100

Material antitrust litigation targeting the real estate industry's compensation structure, combined with undisclosed financials and unprotected territory, creates substantial regulatory and competitive risk for franchisees.

Score breakdown · what drove the 53 / 100 rating

  1. 01MINORFour active putative class action lawsuits challenging core business model (buyer broker compensation practices) create existential regulatory risk
  2. 02MINORNo Item 19 financial disclosure means prospective franchisees cannot verify claimed profitability or validate $45k-$90k investment ROI
  3. 03MINORSlow unit growth (3.0% YoY) with 293 total units suggests mature/declining system; minimal franchisee recruitment confidence
  4. 04MINORUnprotected territory creates direct competition risk from other BHHS franchisees and company-owned offices
  5. 05MINORDeclining royalty floor ($15k minimum) despite low unit growth indicates potential cash flow stress at corporate level

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
Online sales rights
Granted
Franchisor can compete
Yes
Hire a manager?
Allowed
Litigation count
4
Right of first refusal
Yes
Franchisor can buy back on resale
Mandatory arbitration
Yes
Jury trial waiver
Yes
Owner-operator
Optional
Governing law
Delaware

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
27 hrs
On-the-job training
0 hrs
POS system
Approved Broker Management System
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

32 numbers

Locked
(416) 568-••••
(701) 328-••••
ND
(608) 266-••••
WI

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices · FDD (2023) PDF

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