Franchise Facts Report → brands → 1st Class Real Estate (Unit)

1st Class Real Estate (Unit) franchise — is it worth it?

Medium risk Significant turnover Item 19 disclosed

1st Class Real Estate (Unit) offers a real estate brokerage franchise with a relatively low initial investment.

Everything below is free, read straight off 1st Class Real Estate (Unit)'s registered filing, with where the numbers land against real estate peers. Weighing 1st Class Real Estate (Unit) against other options? Get a free shortlist of franchises that fit your budget.

Figures above are as disclosed in 1st Class Real Estate (Unit)'s most recent FDD (registered 2026). Source: Wisconsin Dept. of Financial Institutions — Franchise Registration · filing 640578 — check it yourself. See every other Wisconsin-registered franchise.

How much does a 1st Class Real Estate (Unit) franchise make?

1st Class Real Estate (Unit) is one of the franchisors that answers this on the record: its most recent FDD makes an Item 19 financial performance representation — actual unit earnings figures, disclosed by the franchisor itself. The headline figure is $588,255 in average unit revenue — read it alongside what Item 19 says about which units it covers (often only mature or top-performing locations). See every real estate brand that discloses earnings in the Real estate franchises with disclosed Item 19 earnings ranking.

1st Class Real Estate (Unit) franchise profit vs. revenue

Revenue is not profit. An Item 19 almost always reports sales — what a location takes in — not what an owner keeps. Out of that number come the royalty, the ad fund, rent, payroll, supplies and debt service. No FDD tells you a 1st Class Real Estate (Unit) franchise's profit, because profit depends on your site, your rent and how you run it — so treat any "1st Class Real Estate (Unit) franchise profit" figure quoted elsewhere as someone's estimate, not a disclosure.

1st Class Real Estate (Unit) lawsuits & legal history (FDD Item 3)

1st Class Real Estate (Unit)'s most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2026) discloses no litigation in Item 3. That is a real signal rather than a gap: the FTC Franchise Rule requires a franchisor to disclose material litigation involving itself, its predecessors, parents, affiliates and management, so an empty Item 3 in a current filing means there was nothing it was required to report. It is worth reading alongside the churn numbers — a system can have a clean Item 3 and still be losing franchisees, which is what Item 20 shows.

1st Class Real Estate (Unit) closures & failure rate

Before you sign, 1st Class Real Estate (Unit) will hand you a list of current owners to call as references — and they choose who's on that list. It won't include the owners who quit, got bought out, or were forced out last year. The FDD does report that number, even though the reference list leaves those people off. Below is what 1st Class Real Estate (Unit)'s most recent filing shows, and whether it's normal for a real estate of this kind.

The closest thing an FDD has to a failure rate is Item 20 — outlet openings, closures, terminations and non-renewals, reported by the franchisor. 1st Class Real Estate (Unit)'s latest tables show significant franchisee turnover. Its franchised-outlet closure rate — closures, terminations and non-renewals against outlets — is 21.2%, against a real estate median of 6.3% — worse than the category. Net franchised outlets moved -34 to 70 in the latest reported year.

Who owns 1st Class Real Estate (Unit)?

1st Class Real Estate (Unit)'s franchise is offered by 1st Class Franchising, LLC — the franchisor named on the cover of its most recently filed Franchise Disclosure Document (2026), and the entity a franchisee actually signs with. That name comes straight off the filing at WI DFI; it identifies the franchisor, not necessarily the ultimate parent company behind it. The same franchisor files separate FDDs for other brands, which is worth knowing — sibling brands share a franchise-support organization but disclose their own numbers:

Real estate franchises at a similar investment level

Anyone weighing 1st Class Real Estate (Unit) is really weighing it against the other brands their money could go into. These are the closest by total initial investment (FDD Item 7), each with its own FDD-based page.

1st Class Real Estate (Unit) franchise — frequently asked