FranchiseVerdict
Coldwell Banker Commercial® logo
FV-00594·STRONGExcellent81

Coldwell Banker Commercial®

Real EstateFranchising since 1998Website
Investment
$36K – $734K
27th pct Real Estate
Avg revenue
32nd pct Real Estate
Royalty
6.0%
27th pct Real Estate
Units
139
68th pct Real Estate
SBA default
0.0%
vs <3% typical

Bottom line

  • Total investment $36K – $734K including a $20K franchise fee, 6.0% ongoing royalty.
  • No Item 19 financial performance data disclosed — the franchisor chose not to publish revenue figures.
  • Rated STRONG with a risk score of 54/100. SBA loan default rate of 0.0% across 25 loans (below the industry average).
  • 13 litigation matters disclosed in Item 3 — higher than typical. Review the summary for patterns (franchisor-initiated vs. franchisee-initiated).

Item 1 · who you're contracting with

The Franchisor

Legal entity
Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC
Parent company
Anywhere Real Estate Inc.
Incorporated in
California
HQ
175 Park Avenue, Madison, New Jersey 07940
Auditor
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Audited financials
Franchisor revenue
$6.9B
vs $5.6B 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 Coldwell Banker Commercial® 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: $36K–$734K
Working capital
$
FDD reports $15K–$100K

Unlevered ROIC · per unit

25%

Below typical band (30–60%)

0%30–60% Yale band80%

Store EBITDA · annual
$113K
EBITDA margin
15.0%
Total invested
$442K
Payback
47 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

Franchisees operate commercial real estate brokerage offices under the Coldwell Banker Commercial brand, generating revenue through buyer/seller commissions, tenant/landlord leasing, and property management services. Day-to-day operations involve recruiting and managing sales agents, marketing commercial properties, servicing client relationships, and maintaining compliance with local/federal real estate regulations.

CEO
Susan Elizabeth Yannaccone
Founded
1981
FDD year
2024
States available
39

Item 7 · what it costs

The Vitals

Total investment
$36K – $734K
All-in to open one unit
Liquid capital
$15K – $100K
Cash you must have on hand
Franchise fee
$20K
Royalty
6.0%
Gross Revenue · typical 6–8%
Ad fund
2.0%
typical 3–5%
Total fee load
8.0%
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
139
Opened
15
Last reporting year
Closed
7
Turnover rate
5.0%
Company-owned
2
Corporate units in the system
% franchised
99%
vs corporate-owned
Multi-unit owners
8.3%
Net growth (yr3)
+6.2%
Net unit change last year
3-yr CAGR
+11.4%
Compounded over last 3 years
2022
137+8
Franchised units
2023
129
Franchised units
2024
123
Franchised units

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

Item 20 · 35 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 · 35 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
25
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

54
Risk · 0-100
STRONG54 / 100

Coldwell Banker Commercial presents moderate-to-high risk due to absent financial disclosures, significant pending litigation (antitrust/commission disputes), slow unit growth, unprotected territory, and regulatory scrutiny—making it difficult to validate ROI or franchisee viability.

Score breakdown · what drove the 54 / 100 rating

  1. 01MINORNo Item 19 financial performance disclosure—cannot validate average revenue or profitability claims
  2. 02MEDFive pending class actions involving antitrust and buyer-broker commission disputes create systemic legal uncertainty and potential regulatory liability
  3. 03MINORSlow unit growth (6.2% YoY) with only 139 locations suggests market saturation, franchisee underperformance, or brand weakness in commercial real estate segment
  4. 04MINORUnprotected territory means franchisees compete directly with other CBC franchisees and company-owned offices for the same clients
  5. 05MINORTiered royalty structure (6% up to $1M, then 3%) incentivizes franchisees to cap growth artificially to avoid higher tax burden
  6. 06MINORMultiple trademark infringement cases and regulatory proceedings (HUD, FTC, Washington AG) indicate compliance and brand integrity risks
  7. 07MINORModerate-to-high initial investment ($35.5K–$733.5K) with no performance benchmarks to justify cost

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
13
Right of first refusal
Yes
Franchisor can buy back on resale
Mandatory arbitration
No
Jury trial waiver
Yes
Non-compete
2 yrs
Post-termination restriction
Owner-operator
Required
Governing law
New Jersey

Item 11

Training & Operations

Classroom training
122 hrs
On-the-job training
0 hrs
POS system
CBCDesk
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

100 numbers

Locked
(212) 416-••••
NY
(208) 765-••••
ID
(325) 690-••••
TX

One-time purchase · CSV download · Validation questions included

FDD download

Coldwell Banker Commercial® · FDD (2024) PDF

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