La Rosa Holdings Corp

Overview

We are the holding company for five agent-centric, technology-integrated, cloud-based, multi-service real estate segments. Our primary business, La Rosa Realty, LLC, has been listed in the “Top 75 Residential Real Estate Firms in the United States” from 2016 through 2020 by the National Association of Realtors, the leading real estate industry trade association in the United States.

Our business was founded by Mr. Joseph La Rosa, a successful real estate developer, business and life coach, author, podcaster and public speaker. Mr. La Rosa’s self-help book “Do It Now” is a roadmap to personal success and well-being based on his transformative theories of family, passion and growth. His philosophy, seminars and educational forums have attracted numerous successful realtors that have spurred the growth of our business.

In addition to providing person-to-person residential and commercial real estate brokerage services to the public, we cross sell ancillary technology-based products and services primarily to our sales agents and the sales agents associated with our franchisees. Our business is organized based on the services we provide internally to our agents and to the public, which are residential and commercial real estate brokerage, franchising, real estate brokerage education and coaching, and property management. Our real estate brokerage business operates primarily under the trade name La Rosa Realty, which we own, and, to a lesser extent, under the trade name Better Homes Realty which we license. We have 19 La Rosa Realty corporate real estate brokerage offices and branches located in Florida, California, Texas, and Georgia. We have 18 La Rosa Realty franchised real estate brokerage offices and branches and two affiliated real estate brokerage offices that pay us fees in two states in the United States and Puerto Rico. Our real estate brokerage offices, both corporate and franchised, are staffed with 2,454 licensed real estate brokers and sales associates as of March 31, 2024.

Our franchised offices are currently:

We have built our business by providing the home buying public with well trained, knowledgeable realtors who have access to our proprietary and third-party in-house technology tools and quality education and training, and valuable marketing that attracts some of the best local realtors who provide value-added services to our home buyers and sellers that are attracted to our brands. We give our real estate brokers and sales agents who are seeking financial independence a turnkey solution and support them in growing their brokerages while they fund their own businesses. This enables us to maintain a low fixed-cost business with several recurring revenue streams, yielding relatively high margins and cash flow.

Our agent-centric commission model enables our sales agents to obtain higher net commissions than they would otherwise receive from many of our competitors in our local markets. We believe that agents who join our Company from the major real estate brokerage firms have increased their income by an average of approximately forty percent (40%). They can then use this additional income to reinvest in their businesses or as take-home profit. This is a strong incentive for them to compete against the discount, flat fee and internet brokerages that have sprung up in the past several years. Instead of us taking a greater share of their income, our agents pay what we believe to be reduced rates for training and mentorship and our proprietary technology. Our franchise model has a similar pricing methodology, permitting the franchise owner the freedom to operate their business with minimal control and lower expense than other franchise offerings.

Moreover, we believe that our proprietary technology, training, and the support that we provide to our agents at a minimal cost to them is one of the best offered in the industry.

Our business stands on three pillars: Family, Passion, and Growth. We believe that our support and philosophy have attracted and will continue to attract and retain the highest producing realtors in our local markets. We believe that our focus on the interaction between our human agents and their clients is a strong weapon against the internet-only commodity websites and the low touch discount brokerages. Our agent count continues to grow organically, which can be attributed to the positive culture created in our Company. By creating a custom solution and a unique experience, we believe that our agents are able to guide their clients seamlessly through what may be their most expensive lifetime purchase.

Disruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a downturn in our local residential real estate market in 2020. However, our local real estate market rebounded significantly in 2021 and continues to hold up notwithstanding significant increases in mortgage rates as the pandemic has caused what appears to be a large migration into our market areas from other states. Because nearly all of our sales agents, who are independent contractors, were working remotely before the pandemic struck, and because Florida did not mandate stay-at-home orders like many other states, the manner in which our business is conducted during the pandemic has not changed significantly and has not affected the productivity of our sales agents in 2021, in 2022, or in 2023.

In addition, a significant driver of our past growth was, and we believe, of our future growth is our ability to create revenue by referring or requiring that our agents and our franchisee’s agents use the different business services that we provide. For example, all agents new to our Company are required to have a “coach” and to attend multi-day training sessions to learn the Company’s philosophy, technology and business practices. Concurrently, the agent works with their coach in obtaining listings, working with consumers and closing transactions. All of these activities are run through our La Rosa Coaching, LLC subsidiary that teaches advanced techniques for team building, personal growth and business development, which we believe will enhance our revenue at a nominal increase in cost to us. In addition, unlike other residential real estate brokerages, we encourage our sales agents to pursue commercial real estate transactions and require them to utilize the services of our commercial real estate company. We anticipate acquiring other complementary businesses, such as title and insurance agencies and a mortgage brokerage, in the near future to enhance our gross revenues and profit margins.

On October 12, 2023, we consummated our initial public offering (the “IPO”). Following our IPO, as of the date of this annual report, we have acquired majority ownership of the following franchisees of the Company: Nona Legacy Powered By La Rosa Realty, Inc. (formerly, La Rosa Realty Lake Nona Inc.), Horeb Kissimmee Realty, LLC, La Rosa Realty Premier, LLC, La Rosa Realty Orlando, LLC, La Rosa Realty Georgia, LLC, and La Rosa Realty California, and 100% ownership of the following franchisees of the Company: La Rosa CW Properties, LLC, La Rosa Realty North Florida LLC, and La Rosa Realty Winter Garden LLC.

We intend to continue growing our business organically and by acquisition.

It is management’s intention to acquire additional franchisees in 2024. We continuously look to search for potential acquisition targets. Management is in discussions with several franchisees; however, any future agreements may have terms that are materially different than the terms of completed acquisitions. We cannot guarantee that the Company will actually enter into any binding acquisition agreements with any of those companies. If we do, we cannot assure you that the terms of such acquisitions will be substantially the same or better for the Company than those of completed acquisitions.

Our Organization

La Rosa Holdings Corp. was incorporated in the State of Nevada on June 14, 2021 by its founder, Mr. Joseph La Rosa, to become the holding company for five Florida limited liability companies in which Mr. La Rosa held or controlled a one hundred percent ownership interest: (i) La Rosa Coaching, LLC ( “Coaching”); (ii) La Rosa CRE, LLC (“CRE”); (iii) La Rosa Franchising, LLC (“Franchising”); (iv) La Rosa Property Management, LLC (“Property Management”); and (v) La Rosa Realty, LLC (“Realty”). Coaching, CRE, Franchising, Property Management and Realty became direct, wholly owned subsidiaries of the Company as a result of the closing of the Reorganization Agreement and Plan of Share Exchange dated July 22, 2021 which was effective on August 4, 2021. Pursuant to the Reorganization Agreement, each LLC exchanged 100% of their limited liability company membership interests for one share of the Company’s common stock, $0.0001 par value per share (the “Common Stock”), which share was automatically redeemed for nominal consideration upon the closing of the transaction, resulting each LLC becoming the direct, wholly owned subsidiary of the Company.

The Company conducts its operations through its fifteen subsidiaries:

We are a “controlled company” as defined under the corporate governance rules of Nasdaq because our Founder, Mr. Joseph La Rosa, as of April 16, 2024, controls 75% of the total voting power of our Common Stock based on his ownership of Common Stock and the 20,000,000 votes provided by his Series X Super Voting Preferred Stock, $0.0001 par value per share, (the “Series X Preferred Stock”) that votes with the Common Stock, with respect to director elections and other matters.

Our Business

We operate primarily in the United States residential real estate market which totaled $47.5 trillion at the end of 2023 reflecting a year over year gain of $2.4 trillion due to a shortage of houses for sale, according to Redfin Corp 1.

The Company is the holding company for its direct, majority owned subsidiaries, and has no other operations.

Realty was a traditional residential real estate brokerage firm founded in 2004 by Mr. La Rosa to serve the Florida market. In 2011, La Rosa Realty shifted to an agent-centric real estate brokerage format, offering agents more tools and value while offering experienced agents a 100% commission split. Newly licensed and agents still in training operate on a 60% to agent / 40% commission split (13% to La Rosa Coaching, 14% to the La Rosa individual coach, 10% to the brokerage office who engaged the new agent, and 3% to the Director of Coaching who is employed by La Rosa Holdings). Realty has expanded its geographic footprint over the years by integrating technology into its operations and creating a brokerage that provides its agents with the tools to handle their transactions, accounting, marketing, social media and customer relations. Realty’s full service, high touch engagement with its clients assists them with navigating the complexity of the home purchase/sale transaction through their intimate knowledge of the local market, guiding them on the right pricing for their sale or purchase, assisting in the negotiation of the sales contract, overseeing the home inspections and possible repairs, reviewing the financial details of the transaction to assure that there are no errors and attending the closing of the sale to ensure that there are no last minute surprises. Realty believes that its services build referrals and repeat clients who appreciate the expertise and personal relationships that they develop with our agents.

In 2018, Mr. La Rosa organized Franchising to study the potential to expand nationally by means of creating a franchise model that would be easily duplicable. Franchising began franchising real estate brokerage businesses based on its Franchise Disclosure Document filed with the Federal Trade Commission in 2019 and converted several of its largest offices in Florida to “La Rosa Realty” franchises. Better Homes Realty, Inc., a national real estate franchise founded in 1964, with offices located from coast to coast in the United States, licensed Franchising to sell Better Homes Realty franchises throughout the United States, Canada and elsewhere. Franchising also oversees and administers the offices that it sells, no matter their brand. Franchising uses the typical model for licensing the use of our two brands together with our proprietary business methodology, technology, tools, and training. Our franchisees own their own brokerage businesses, are solely responsible for their operations and risks, and are able to retain the substantial upside of their business if they are profitable. Our franchisees use our successful and well-known brands, our systems and technology, training and personal assistance and guidance to help run their businesses more efficiently and, we believe, more successfully than other branded real estate franchisees. Our franchisees pay us an initial licensing fee, a royalty fee based on their gross commissions, an annual membership fee, a coaching fee payable to Coaching for coaching services, a commercial royalty fee payable to La Rosa CRE for all commercial real estate transactions, a training fee for its administrative personnel and a fee to use our proprietary software. Because our franchise “product” has been developed over the years and is delivered in a “package” format, our fixed costs are low and our franchising gross margins are relatively higher than our more labor intensive businesses. While we intend to continue to sell franchises, we will, in the future, concentrate on opening corporate offices that produce higher revenue and increased margins.

Coaching grew out of Mr. La Rosa’s life and business coaching seminars which were organized in 2019 to provide education and mentoring to new real estate agents who join Realty in any of our offices. Each agent in coaching is assigned an experienced real estate agent/coach who assists and advises the new agent for, at a minimum, their first three sales transactions and the successful completion of our exclusive core competency courses and examinations. Brokers compensate us for the courses and mentoring by splitting their commissions with us when they are involved in the sale and purchase of a property for which we receive thirty percent (30%) of their share of the real estate brokerage commission. Our franchisee brokers also take the in-house course and ongoing coaching that cover topics, including but not limited to local real estate brokerage law, lead generation, recruiting, business management, industry trends, and leadership. We added a second tier of coaching in 2021 that we believe will provide business and personal growth and advanced real estate courses to our and our franchisees’ agents for various fees based on the subject matter and length of the course.

Unlike most other residential real estate brokerage companies, we encourage our sales agents to seek out property management business. Property Management, which was organized in 2014, trains our sales agents to provide residential property management services to owners of single-family residential properties and provides our agents with the tools to service those property owners. These tools include management, marketing, accounting and financial services. Our agents generally charge the homeowners between eight to twelve percent (8-12%) of the monthly rental. Our agents pay Property Management to be the point of contact for the property owner and their tenants, handle all tenant screenings, applications, contracts, forms and documents, and deal with attorneys if necessary to enforce the agreements. We collect the rents and disburse payments to vendors, service providers, the agents and the property owners, while retaining $44.00 per agent per property per month. As of April 16, 2024, we had provided property management services for approximately 600 properties in Florida, including single-family residences, condominiums, townhouses and other types of real estate. Consistent with industry custom, management contract terms typically range from one to three years, although some contracts can be terminated at will at any time following a short notice period, usually 30 to 120 days, as is typical in the industry. Property Management has recently added a division to directly manage properties in Florida and to expand those services to our other offices in other states in the future.

Unlike many other real estate brokerages, we encourage our sales agents to seek out commercial real estate business. CRE was organized in 2014 originally to provide “residential-commercial” real estate advisory services such as helping sales agents’ customers lease office space. CRE now assists agents who have customers who wish to purchase multifamily, office, storage, mixed use and apartment properties. We provide, on a fee basis, training to sales agents who wish to work in the commercial real estate space, and advise customers with respect to office leasing, multi-family property sales and leasing, and land and subdivision development. Our customers come primarily from referrals from our Realty brokers who are asked by their clients to assist them in with various commercial real estate property transactions.

From October 2023 to March 2024, the Company also acquired the majority ownership of the following franchisees of the Company: Nona Legacy Powered By La Rosa Realty, Inc. (formerly, La Rosa Realty Lake Nona Inc.), Horeb Kissimmee Realty, LLC, La Rosa Realty Premier, LLC, La Rosa Realty Orlando, LLC, La Rosa Realty Georgia, LLC, La Rosa Realty California, and 100% ownership of the following franchisees of the Company: La Rosa CW Properties, LLC, La Rosa Realty North Florida LLC, and La Rosa Realty Winter Garden LLC. All of these franchisees are engaged in the residential real estate brokerage business. The Company has also recently formed La Rosa Realty Texas LLC, its 90% owned subsidiary with a 51% profit share.

We also have a number of affiliated companies that are wholly, or majority owned by Mr. La Rosa that we refer to in this report as our affiliates. While our affiliates are not owned by us, some do use our services and contribute to our revenue stream. Our affiliates operate residential real estate brokerage, insurance brokerage and real estate title and full commercial real estate brokerage businesses.

Our Focus

Our Mission Statement is that “we are here to support, empower and elevate those who we serve with integrity.” We are committed to excellence in all we do and are respectful, compassionate, trustworthy, responsible, joyful, inspiring and adaptive. At La Rosa, we inculcate these core values to our sales agents and employees and strive to live by them every day.

We believe home buyers and sellers choose the agent because of their individual marketing prowess, professionalism, and personality. To capitalize on this, we focus on helping our agents improve professionally and increase their financial ability to invest in their personal marketing, and, therefore, capture a greater percentage of customers.

We have built our business on what we know to be our customer’s needs. The purchase of a home is likely the most expensive purchase a consumer will make in his or her lifetime. Many first-time home buyers are young and require knowledgeable, experienced guidance from our agents and our franchisor’s agents. Home sellers need the market ken and potential buyer reach that our agents and our franchisee’s agents provide. Our agents and our franchisee’s agents build lasting relationships with their clients that result in repeat business and referral business. Notwithstanding claims of the internet-only brokerages that homes are a commodity that can be bought and sold like a can of beans, this consumer need is borne out in reality. The research conducted by the National Association of Realtors (the “NAR”)2 in 2023 shows that:

We believe that our agents’ training, knowledge of the market, access to public and non-public data related to transactions, and experience with past transactions gives them a unique insight to provide our home buyer clients with invaluable advice and judgement. Their ability to reach potential buyers and our relationships with other brokers, both within and without our Company and franchisors helps our seller clients achieve the maximum possible price for their properties.

Our Company works in the present but has its eye on the future. We understand that the housing market will change over time and are focusing on how to prepare for that change. The following chart is a projection of the past and future of home ownership rates based on age groups, with the projections noting either slow or fast change.3

As the market slows slightly in out years, we started and intend to continue increasing our use of our technology tools to make our agents more efficient and more productive.

Our People

Our people are our most important asset. We spend significant time and effort in attracting and retaining talented people for our businesses. Many agents contact us after hearing of or experiencing Mr. La Rosa’s personal and business growth seminars, his book or his podcasts. They are attracted to the Company because they desire to work in a diverse, inclusive, welcoming and learning environment that allows the agents to attain their individual potential. The financial attraction is our ability to offer competitive salaries for our employees, a 100% commission “split” with our experienced realtors and a 60% / 40% commission split with our new and inexperienced agents and low annual and monthly dues. Our agents can also receive advanced commissions through an affiliated commission advance company that charges a percentage fee to the agent. Our agents are also eligible to participate in different types of compensation plans, including our New Agent Commission Plan, Premier Plan, Blue Plan, and the Ultimate Plan, which provides for a 90% / 10% commission split. In the Ultimate Plan, an agent can participate in the Company’s Revenue Share Plan rewarding an agent for the recruitment of other agents and for the agents these recruited agents are recruiting. We are also commencing an Agent Incentive Plan by which agents can earn restricted share units of our Common Stock through their outstanding performance. But, most importantly, we believe it is the training, education and ongoing support that we provide to our agents that gives them an edge in a very competitive and crowded real estate brokerage marketplace.

Our businesses emphasize diversity and inclusion in the workplace and the value of home ownership. We strive to create a workplace that is inclusive of everyone, where every person can be authentic, and where that authenticity is celebrated as a strength. Management works diligently to make the Company a desirable place to work by creating learning experiences, programs, compensation, and benefits that attract, develop, train, engage, motivate, reward, and retain the best talent. With a focus on teamwork, collaboration, and diversity and inclusion, we aspire to be a company where the best people want to work and are engaged every day. Outside the office, our agents comply and observe non-discrimination laws and policies and work with all clients to ensure that they are able to acquire the home of their dreams.

Our Technology

We provide our agents and employees with cloud-based real estate brokerage services by utilizing our consumer-facing websites, including our corporate website https://www.larosarealty.com and our proprietary technology that provides brokerage operations management tools. When an agent is on-boarded, they are required to take our monthly Foundations Series which covers the use of our proprietary applications. Through our websites, we provide buyers, sellers, landlords, and tenants with access to all of the available properties for sale or lease on the multiple listing service (“MLS”), in each of the markets in which we operate. We provide each of our Company franchisees and their agents with their own personal website that they can modify to match their personal branding. Our website also gives consumers access to our network of professional real estate agents and vendors. Additionally, the websites we provide use Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) integrated Client Relationship Management (“CRM”) software to enhance the consumers’ internet experience and assist our agents with lead generation and lead capture through the AI features. For example, our CRM software, which is integrated into our websites, uses artificial intelligence to generate marketing leads for our agents by sending marketing materials to potential buyers and sellers automatically without any agent involvement. Our technology platform also provides unique automated blogging and comprehensive social media marketing campaigns for our agents to create top of mind public awareness of our brand.

In October 2023, we launched our proprietary technology system – JAEME, part of “My Agent Account.” JAIME is a real estate AI assistant created to support and inspire our agents with personalized content to drive marketing, efficiency, and sales. This advanced technology can help agents to provide services to their clients in a more efficient way – even from their mobile devices. Through JAEME, La Rosa’s agents can easily create:

Exclusive lead generation ideas

Our proprietary technology and third-party services and platforms provide our agents and franchisees with commission management and accounting systems, an internal agent “intranet” application, customer relationship management applications, a transaction management solution, and automated marketing and social media applications and privacy and identity protections. The combination of our brands, proprietary technology, services, data, lead generation, and marketing tools gives our agents the power to offer best-in-class service to their clients.

Internally, we use our technology to provide our Company agents, employees and franchisees with the means to find and develop new business, manage their relationships both externally with their clients and internally with the Company or their franchisor, develop better skills and knowledge in their areas of endeavor and, we believe, enhance their earning potential. While no one can predict the ups and downs of the real estate market, we believe that the “weapons” we provide to our Company agents, employees and franchisees help them fight the adverse economic conditions, a volatile market and the competition.

While our offices and our franchisor’s offices act as their “home base,” most agents use our offices primarily for real estate closings and training. We monetize our technology by charging our agents and our franchisor’s agents what we believe to be a reasonable a monthly fee for the use of our suite of tools.

Our Intellectual Property

It is important that we protect our technology and intellectual property. We rely upon a combination of trademarks, trade secrets, copyrights, patents, confidentiality procedures, contractual commitments, domain names, and other legal rights to establish and protect our intellectual property. We generally enter into confidentiality agreements and invention or work product assignment agreements with our officers, employees, agents, contractors, and business partners to control access to, and clarify ownership of, our proprietary information.

As of April 16, 2024, we had service mark registrations in the United States, including registration for “LR La Rosa Realty” and LR logo. We also had trademark and service mark registrations and applications in certain foreign jurisdictions. Additionally, we are the registered holder of a number of domain names, including “larosarealty.com” and “larosaholdings.com”.

We continually review our development efforts to assess the existence and patentability of new intellectual property. We intend to continue to evaluate the benefit of patent protection with respect to our technology and will file additional applications when we believe it will be beneficial.

Our Recent Strategic Partnerships

In November 2023, the Company entered into a strategic referral partnership agreement with Janover Inc. (Nasdaq: JNVR) (“Janover”), an AI-enabled B2B fintech marketplace connecting commercial property borrowers and lenders with a human touch. Janover operates an online commercial loan marketplace that connects prospective borrowers and lenders for originating loans and will introduce the Company to clients that need commercial real estate brokers. The partnership is expected to provide our brokers with new tools to facilitate commercial loans, thereby generating a new revenue stream for our brokers and the Company.

In end of 2023, the Company entered into a strategic partnership with Final Offer, a consumer-facing offer management and negotiation platform driven by agents. Final Offer is a technology platform that is designed to simplify real estate transactions, enabling buyers to make successful offers and sellers to maximize the outcome of their sales. Final Offer’s online process allows sellers to establish a minimum sales price and other deal terms online and pre-approved buyers to make binding offers. If a seller sets a “Final Offer” price and terms, an interested buyer can accept it instantly, putting the property under contract. We believe that the Final Offer’s innovative platform is designed to empower both real estate agents and their clients with real-time transparency, streamlining the offer management and negotiation process, creating a fair playing field for all while also providing accountability and trust.

In March 2024, the Company officially launched Final Offer. Final Offer is available to real estate brokers on the Company’s platform in key markets across Florida and Georgia, with plans to expand the offering across the organization.

Our Markets

Our primary market is in the United States. As of April 16, 2024, we have 19 La Rosa Realty corporate real estate brokerage offices and branches in Florida, California, Texas, and Georgia. We have 18 La Rosa Realty franchised real estate brokerage offices and branches and two affiliated real estate brokerage offices that pay us fees in two states in the United States and Puerto Rico.

Our Revenue Streams

Our financial results are driven by the total number of sales agents in our Company, the number of sales agents closing commercial real estate transactions, the number of sales agents utilizing our coaching services, and the number of agents who work with our franchisees. We grew our total agent count from our founding in 2004 to 2,454 agents as of April 16, 2024.

The majority of our revenue is derived from a stable set of fees paid by our brokers, franchisees, and consumers. We have multiple revenue streams, with the majority of our revenue derived from commissions paid by consumers who transact business with our and our franchisee’s agents, royalties paid by our franchisees, dues and technology fees paid by our sales agents, our franchisees and our franchisees’ agents. Our major revenue streams come from such sources as: (i) residential real estate brokerage revenue, (ii) revenue from our property management services, (iii) franchise royalty fees, (iv) fees from the sale or renewal of franchises and other franchise revenue, (v) coaching, training and assistance fees, (vi) brokerage revenue generated transactionally on commercial real estate, and (vii) fees from our events and forums. Our revenue streams are illustrated in the following chart:

Our Industry

The residential real estate industry is cyclical in nature but has shown strong historical long-term growth. We believe that long-term demand for housing in the U.S. will be primarily driven by the economic health of the domestic economy and local factors such as demand relative to supply, and that the residential real estate market in the U.S. will also benefit over the long term from the following fundamental factors:

Our brokers deal primarily in sales of existing homes, rather than the sales of new homes that are typically sold by builders. The recent cycle of the growth of the real estate market hit headwinds in the second half of 2022. Mortgage rates dipped from 20 year highs in early 2023, but have risen again and sales have resumed an extended period of declines. The National Association of Realtors reported that for February 2024 (the seasonally adjusted annual rate) there were 4.38 million existing home sales, an increase of 9.5% over January 2024 but a decrease of 3.3% from the prior year. Total housing inventory at the end of February 2024 was 1.07 million units, up 5.9% from January and 10.3% from one year ago (970,000). There was a 2.9-month unsold inventory supply at thein February 2024, down from 3.0 months in January but up from 2.6 months in February 2023. The median sales price increased to $384,500, an increase of 5.7% from February 2023 ($363,600). Properties typically remained on the market 38 days in February, up from 36 days in January and 34 days in February 2023.

Realtors continue to be an integral part of the home buying process. According to NAR:5

The NAR has noted on its website:6

Seasonality

Our business is affected by the seasons and weather. The spring and summer seasons, when school is out, have typically resulted in higher sales volumes compared to fall and winter seasons. With the slowdown in the later months, we have experienced slower listing activity, fewer transaction closings and lower revenues and have seen more agent turnover as well. Bad weather or natural disasters also negatively impact listings and sales which reduces our operating income, net income, operating margins and cash flow. While this pattern is fairly predictable, there can be no assurance that it will continue. Moreover, with the impact of climate change, we expect more business disruptions in the coming years, many of which could be unpredictable and extreme.

Our revenues and operating margins will fluctuate in successive quarters due to a wide variety of factors, including seasonality, weather, health exigencies, holidays, national or international emergencies, the school year calendar’s impact on timing of family relocations, and changes in mortgage interest rates. This fluctuation may make it difficult to compare or analyze our financial performance effectively across successive quarters.

In addition, the residential real estate market and the real estate industry in general is cyclical, characterized by “bubbles” that reflect faster-than-usual housing price increases, heavy demand for single-family homes, interest rate fluctuations, easy credit standards and lax government housing policies on the one hand, and protracted periods of depressed home values, lower buyer demand, inflated rates of foreclosure and often changing regulatory or underwriting standards applicable to mortgages on the other hand. It is unclear as to whether the U.S. is currently experiencing a “bursting bubble” from the unusual pent-up demand and move to remote work created by the Covid-19 pandemic followed by the rapid and extreme mortgage rate hikes that has slowed the market in recent months. The best example of the bubble bursting was the significant downturn in the U.S. residential real estate market between 2005 and 2011. While we believe we are well-positioned to compete during a downturn, our business is affected by these cycles in the residential real estate market, which can make it difficult to compare or analyze our financial performance effectively across successive periods.

Competition

The real estate brokerage business is highly competitive. We primarily compete against other independent real estate brokerage agencies in our local markets as well as the international and national real estate brokerage franchisors seeking to grow their franchise system. We compete against other brokerages to attract transactional clients based on our personalized service with experienced brokers who know the local market, the number and quality of listings, our brand and reputation and our marketing efforts. We also compete to attract real estate professionals based on our brand and reputation, the quality of our training and coaching, our marketing efforts, our generous 100% commission “split” for experienced brokers and our technology tools that make the brokers more efficient and productive.

Our largest national franchise competitors in the U.S. include RE/MAX, Realogy Holdings Corp. (which operates several brands including Century 21 and Coldwell Banker), Fathom Holdings Inc., and eXp World Holdings Inc. We believe that competition in the real estate brokerage franchise business is based principally upon the reputational strength of the brand, the quality of the services offered to franchisees, and the amount of franchise-related fees to be paid by franchisees.

We also face competition from internet-based real estate brokers including Realtor.com, Fathom Holdings Inc., Redfin.com, and Zillow.com, brokers offering deeply discounted commissions like SimpleShowing Holdings, Inc., Houwzer LLC and Real Estate Exchange, Inc. (Rexhomes.com) and “flat fee” brokers such as Homie Technology, Inc., Cottage Street Realty, LLC (FlatFeeGroup.com) and Trelora, Inc. These companies do not provide the same personalized brokerage services that we do and emphasize low price and a do-it-yourself philosophy.

In the property management arena, we compete against independent local property management companies and the major national and international commercial real estate property managers such as Jones Lang LaSalle and Cushman & Wakefield plc. While most of our property management business comes from referrals in our local market, we compete on price and our ability to be on the ground and available to handle day-to-day matters for our clients.

Our real estate coaching business competes against other in-house training services operated by independent real estate brokerage agencies and the international and national franchisors named above, as well as online providers including The Mike Ferry Organization, Keller Williams Mega Agent Production Systems, Buffini and Co., Tony Robbins Coaching, Craig Proctor Coaching, and Tom Ferry Coaching. We compete on the basis of personalized instruction, our mentorship program that provides a neophyte agent with an experienced coach to guide her and answer questions on an on-going basis after the classroom instruction has ended.

Many of our existing and potential competitors have substantial competitive advantages, including a larger national and international footprint and more recognizable brand, greater financial resources, longer operating histories, a greater breadth of marketing coverage, more extensive relationships in the residential and commercial real estate industry with brokers, agents, service providers and advertisers, stronger relationships with third party data providers such as multiple listing services and listing aggregators, maintain their own in-house software development, have access to larger user bases and greater intellectual property portfolios.

Government Regulation

Overview

The residential real estate industry is regulated by federal, state and local authorities as well as private associations or state sponsored associations or organizations. We must comply with federal, state, and local laws, as well as private governing bodies’ regulations, which, when combined, results in a highly regulated industry.

We are also subject to federal and state regulations relating to employment, contractors, and compensation practices. Except for our employed Company agents, all agents in our brokerage operations have been retained as independent contractors, either directly or indirectly through our franchisors. With respect to these independent contractors, like most brokerage firms, we are subject to the Internal Revenue Service regulations and applicable state law guidelines regarding independent contractor classification. These regulations and guidelines are subject to judicial and agency interpretation.

Federal Regulation

The Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act of 1974, as amended, became effective on June 20, 1975. RESPA requires lenders, mortgage agents, or servicers of home loans to provide borrowers with pertinent and timely disclosures regarding the nature and costs of the real estate settlement process. RESPA also protects borrowers against certain abusive practices, such as kickbacks, and places limitations upon the use of escrow accounts. RESPA also requires detailed disclosures concerning the transfer, sale, or assignment of mortgage servicing, as well as disclosures for mortgage escrow accounts. RESPA is administered and enforced by Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (the “CFPB”). We are also subject to the Fair Housing Act of 1968 (the “FHA”) which prohibits discrimination in the purchase or sale of homes and applies to real estate brokers and agents, among others. The FHA prohibits expressing any preference or discrimination based on race, religion, sex, handicap, and certain other protected characteristics, and applies broadly to many forms of advertising and communications. Other federal laws and regulations applicable to our business include (i) the Federal Truth in Lending Act of 1969; (ii) the Federal Equal Credit Opportunity Act; (iii) the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act; (iv) the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act; (v) the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act; (vi) the Consumer Financial Protection Act; (vii) the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act; and (viii) the Do Not Call/Do Not Fax Act and other federal and state laws pertaining to the privacy rights of consumers, our collection, use, and disclosure of data collected from our website and mobile users, and the manner and circumstances under which we or third parties may market and advertise our services to consumer which affects our opportunities to solicit new clients.

Our business is also subject to various antitrust and competition laws, including the Sherman Antitrust Act, the Federal Trade Commission Act, the Clayton Act, and other related federal, state, and provincial laws in the jurisdictions in which we operate. These laws prevent anti-competitive behaviors such as price-fixing and other conduct that unreasonably restrains trade and competition. In 2021, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) withdrew its consent to a November 2020 proposed settlement with NAR concerning alleged anti-competitive practices in real estate. While the DOJ dismissed its lawsuit against NAR in July 2021, it indicated a broader investigation into NAR’s activities. In November 2021, NAR modified its rules to implement most of the changes the DOJ settlement sought. In January 2023, a court set aside the DOJ’s new investigative demand related to NAR. The indirect and direct effects, if any, of this action upon the real estate industry are not yet clear.

While anti-competition enforcement has intensified across industries, there is a unique focus on the real estate industry in the United States and Canada. For example, the White House issued an Executive Order in July 2021 identifying real estate brokerages and listings as an area of focus. In 2018, a joint workshop by the DOJ and FTC addressed potential competition issues in the residential real estate sector which could be the subject of future enforcement actions.

In recent months, lawsuits have been filed against the NAR and a number of large real estate brokers around the country alleging antitrust violations. We have not, as of the date hereof, been named as a defendant in any antitrust litigation.

On March 15, 2024, the National Association of REALTORS® announced an agreement that would end litigation of claims brought on behalf of home sellers related to broker commissions. This settlement resolves claims against NAR and nearly every NAR member; all state, territorial and local REALTOR® associations; all association-owned MLSs; and all brokerages with an NAR member as principal whose residential transaction volume in 2022 was $2 billion or below and is subject to court approval. The settlement makes clear that NAR continues to deny any wrongdoing in connection with the Multiple Listing Service cooperative compensation model rule (the MLS Model Rule) that was introduced in the 1990s in response to calls from consumer protection advocates for buyer representation. Under the terms of the agreement, NAR would pay $418 million over approximately four years. In the settlement, effective mid-July 2024, NAR has agreed to put in place a new rule prohibiting offers of compensation on the MLS, as well as adopt new rules requiring written agreements between buyers and buyers’ agents. However, the direct and indirect effects, if any, of the judgment upon the real estate industry are not yet entirely clear.

These lawsuits, together with similar lawsuits against other businesses in our industry, have prompted discussion of regulatory changes to rules established by local or state real estate boards or MLSs. At this time, we do not believe to be negatively affected by such lawsuits due to flexibility of our agent-centric commission model, creating multiple revenue streams for our agents, and due to our consumer-centric technology model. However, the resolution of the antitrust litigation and/or other regulatory changes may require changes to our or our brokers’ business models, including changes in agent and broker compensation. This could reduce the fees we receive from our affiliated real estate professionals, which, in turn, could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Internationally, our operations are also subject to laws against improper payments, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and similar global regulations.

State and Local Regulation

We are subject to state real estate and brokerage licensing laws and requirements that vary from state to state. In general, all individuals and entities lawfully conducting businesses as real estate agents or sales associates must be licensed in the state in which they carry on business and must at all times be in compliance.

Real estate brokers are required to be employed by the brokerage firm or as an independent contractor and the broker may work for another broker conducting business on behalf of the sponsoring broker. Generally, attorneys may act as brokers in some states without being separately licensed.

States may require a person licensed as a real estate agent, sales associate or salesperson, to be affiliated with a broker, as either an employee or an independent contractor, in order to engage in licensed real estate brokerage activities or allow the agent, sales associate or salesperson to work for another agent, sales associate or salesperson conducting business on behalf of the sponsoring agent, sales associate or salesperson.

Engaging in the real estate brokerage business requires obtaining a real estate broker license (although in some states the licenses are personal to individual agents). In order to obtain this license, most jurisdictions require that a member or manager be licensed individually as a real estate broker in that jurisdiction. If applicable, this member or manager is responsible for supervising the licensees and the entity’s real estate brokerage activities within the state.

Real estate licensees, whether they are salespersons, individuals, agents or entities, must follow the state’s real estate licensing laws and regulations. These laws and regulations generally specify minimum duties and obligations of these licensees to their clients and the public, as well as standards for the conduct of business, including contract and disclosure requirements, record keeping requirements, requirements for local offices, escrow trust fund management, agency representation, advertising regulations and fair housing requirements. Our Company’s management and our franchisors provide oversight with respect to the observance of the statutes and regulations set forth in each state where we or our franchisors, respectively, operate.

Many jurisdictions have local county or city regulations that govern the conduct of the real estate brokerage business. Local regulations generally require additional disclosures by the parties to a real estate transaction or their agents, or the receipt of reports or certifications, often from the local governmental authority, prior to the closing or settlement of a real estate transaction as well as prescribed review and approval periods for documentation and broker conditions for review and approval.

Climate regulation

On March 6, 2024, the SEC has issued final climate disclosure rules to require public companies to include enhanced disclosure regarding corporate climate-related information in their periodic reports and registration statements. Such information would include climate-related risks that are reasonably likely to have a material impact on a registrant’s business or results of operations, as well as certain climate-related financial statement metrics. However, on March 15, 2024, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, in the case Liberty Energy Inc. and Nomad Proppant Services LLC temporarily enjoined the enforcement of those rules. Moreover, we expect state laws and regulations regarding these topics to continue to evolve and impose new and additional requirements. For example, in October 2023, California enacted a new climate accountability package pursuant to its new Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act that will require annual disclosure of certain greenhouse gas emissions and new Climate-Related Financial Risk Act that will require biennial disclosure of certain climate-related financial risks and mitigation measures, each beginning in 2026, subject to applicable implementing regulations and rulemaking that may impact final scope and compliance timing. Globally, the International Sustainability Standards Board and applicable sustainability disclosure standards impact how national regulators and governance bodies approach these and related topics. We intend to comply with applicable rules as they are enacted.

Other regulation

We are also subject to rules established by private real estate groups and/or trade organizations, including, among others, the NAR, state and local associations of realtors, local Multiple Listing Services and homeowners’ associations that have rules governing the sale of properties within their neighborhoods. Each third-party organization generally has prescribed policies, bylaws, codes of ethics or conduct, and fees and rules governing the actions of members in dealings with other members, clients and the public, as well as how the third-party organization’s brand and services may or might not be deployed or displayed.

Human Capital Resources

As of December 31, 2023, we had 42 full-time employees in our Company and our majority owned subsidiaries, and approximately 2,434 real estate agents that are independent contractors with Realty. Our operations are overseen directly by our management. Our management functions cover corporate administration, training, agent relations, business development, technology, and research. We intend to expand our current management to retain skilled employees with experience relevant to our business. Our management’s relationships with our agents and technology team are good. We do not have any collective bargaining agreements and our employees are not represented by a union.

Our human capital resources objectives include, as applicable, identifying, recruiting, retaining, incentivizing and integrating our existing and new employees, advisors and consultants. The principal purposes of our equity and cash incentive plans are to attract, retain and reward personnel through the granting of stock-based and cash-based compensation awards, in order to increase stockholder value and the success of our Company by motivating such individuals to perform to the best of their abilities and achieve our objectives.

Available Information

Our website address iswww.larosaholdings.com. Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, any amendments to those reports, proxy and registration statements filed or furnished with the SEC, are available free of charge through our website. We make these materials available through our website as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such materials with, or furnish such materials to, the SEC. The reports filed with the SEC by our executive officers and directors pursuant to Section 16 under the Exchange Act are also made available, free of charge on our website, as soon as reasonably practicable after copies of those filings are provided to us by those persons. These materials can be accessed through the “Financial Filings” section of our website. The information contained in, or that can be accessed through, our website is not part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.