by allan.hane

Article by D Duncan

There is still no better commission job than real estate. You can earn as much as you want and you can work anytime of the day. If you want to work for the whole week next week and rest for the next 3 weeks that is all up to you. No one will tell you what to do. In short you are writing your own paycheck. The more sales you make the more commission you can earn.

How much is an average real estate agent commission rate?

If you are a new real estate agent in the area, and you are trying to learn how the market works and how to close a sale, your broker will start you from 55% less your errors and omission and other table fees in the office. Whereas other brokers may start you at a 80/20 split. It really just depends on what brokerage you are wanting to work for. Often times the larger brokerages like Keller Williams, ReMax and Century 21 force you to pay a sign up fee and take a large portion of your first few sales. I’m not a fan of those types of arrangements so I’ve always been more inclined to work for a smaller brokerage and get a higher commission rate.

Is there any other fees that the agent has to pay ?

You will be responsible to pay for your own errors and omission or you can make an arrangement with the broker to deduct the errors and omission from your commission every time you have a sale. Some real estate offices will give you a higher percentage but they will charge you a desk fee of like $ 200 a month. I like the the offices that don’t charge any desk fee. As long as you are selling on a regular basis, you will not have to pay anything. They’ll pick up all the tab for you, like your phone and all your legal documents are handled for you for free. Your only primary responsibility is to make a sale and move forward.

On top of that, once you become the top salesman for the month, it is not uncommon for the broker to give you a bonus like a trip to Vegas with your spouse and $ 500 pocket money. I had that happen to me at the first office I was working at. On occasion, you may have to go to seminars but when I did my broker paid for all my expenses as I was the representative for the brokerage at large. This is how they treat those top producer.

Now once you know what you are doing, your broker can give you up to 90-95% commission just for you to stay otherwise you will ended up looking for a different broker. They will do everything to keep you in the house. If they have to give you bigger table or an office for yourself they will do that and that did happen to me once I started making consistent sales. They wanted to keep me around cause I was making the office money.

When Do I get my commission ?

You will normally get your commission check right after close of escrow. Once the escrow officer calls you and informs you that the title was transferred to the buyer and he is now the new owner, you should be expecting your check in the mail. I usually have my checks overnighted to the office so that I can ensure that they arrive and I can get paid quicker. No sense in waiting around for a week to get paid on a deal that may have taken as long as 2 months to procure and close. Once your check is delivered to your office your broker will hand you your commission split with a big smile in his face.