How to Start a Real Estate Brokerage

Part 1 - How to start a Real Estate Brokerage business - Background

A real estate brokerage employs real estate agents and associate brokers and conducts real estate transactions. Most real estate transactions take place with the usage of a brokerage. Essentially, a brokerage facilitates the process of buying and selling real property. In order to open a real estate brokerage, you will need to become licensed as a real estate broker or hire one to oversee operations for you. This requires you or the broker to have been licensed as a real estate agent for a certain amount of time (as determined by your state), along with some other state-specific requirements.

Our guide is in 3 parts:

• Part 1 - How to start a Real Estate business - Background
• Part 2 - Our planner tool to see if this idea is the right fit for you
• Part 3 - Action plan to get started

What are the costs involved in opening a real estate brokerage?

There are licensing fees, which are different from state to state. You will need to have an office and an ongoing marketing campaign. You will need to have insurance to be bonded and for “errors and omissions” coverage in contractual dealings.

Typical startup costs are:

• Real Estate Broker’s License – $1,500
• Office lease deposit – $2,000
• First month’s rent – $2,000
• Utilities, Telephone, Internet – $250 per month
• Office signage – $2,000
• Marketing expenses – $2,000 per month
• Employee expenses – (depends on the number of agents)

Being realistic, you will need up to 12 months to begin closing your first deals and earn your commission, so you will need to finance the operations, which are running at a loss for the first year. This means you will need to finance about $46,750 for the first year, not counting any money you will pay for employees or need for yourself. Most brokerages are financed by investors, family, or with their own capital.

What are the ongoing expenses for a real estate brokerage?

The monthly expenses for a small office with five real estate agents and one administrative support staff are:

• Staff expenses – $5,000 per month plus commission shares on sales
• Rent – $2,000 per month
• Marketing – $2,000 per month
• Utilities – $250 per month
• Insurance – $200 per month

Total: $9,450 per month

Who is the target market?

One of the best things about the real estate market is almost everyone is a potential customer. The evolving nature of the industry requires extended interaction with clients in order to secure listings and buyers. An ideal seller will be motivated to sell quickly, though the process to secure the listing will likely involve constant interaction for several months.

An ideal buyer, on the other hand, will be one who is either ready to purchase in cash or has received financing from a financial institution. Ideal buyers will also have an idea of what type of property they’d like to buy while also being flexible.

An oft-overlooked quality in sellers and buyers is agreeableness. Most real estate agents and brokers will tell you that a lucrative opportunity with an ornery client is not worth the time. A brokerage may find itself working for 6 months without ever completing a transaction because of a picky client.

How does a real estate brokerage make money?

Real estate agencies make money by earning a commission (or a part of a commission) from participating in the conclusion of the sale of a property. In the sale of a property, they may represent the buyer, the seller, both (with consent from both parties), or by acting as a transaction coordinator—who helps with the paperwork without representing either party. Typically, a broker will receive a percentage of the agent’s commission, as agreed upon in the agent’s contract. This may take the form of a 50/50 split, 60/40 split, 90/10 split, or whatever else the broker and agent agree to.

How much can you charge customers?

In the sale of single-family homes, the typical sales commission is 5% to 6% of the sales price. For the sale of much more expensive commercial properties, the average commission is 1% to 2% of the sales price.

This commission is shared in equal amounts by the brokerages of the listing agent and the selling agent. It is possible for the listing and selling agent to be the same person. The real estate broker that the agent works for typically gets 10% to 50% of the commission depending on how much financial support they give to the agent, such as a monthly draw against future commissions.

How much profit can a real estate brokerage make?

Real estate brokers, who are well-established and successful, typically make more than $100,000 per year after paying for the expenses of their operations.

Investopedia describes how the real estate commissions are paid. The most successful real estate brokers in a major market area can easily make over $1 million per year. The one thing to remember is that it is just as easy to sell a home that sells for $1 million, if it is fairly priced, as it is to sell a home for $100,000. The paperwork and the selling process are very similar in both cases. However, the commission for selling a $1 million home versus the commission for selling a $100,000 home is quite different.

How can you make your business more profitable?

One thing to consider is adding property management services to your real estate brokerage business. This is an excellent source of additional income and helps attract more clients for real estate sales.

Day-to-Day and Growth

What happens during a typical day at a real estate brokerage?

While daily duties differ greatly for real estate brokerages, the general duties of the supervising broker (and/or owner of the brokerage) can be summed up as follows. Supervising brokers advertise the brokerage and oversee the operations of agents. This includes helping with paperwork, giving advice, and stepping in where necessary to help with transactions.

Brokers also frequently perform many of the same duties as agents. A broker may choose to represent a client as a listing agent or a buyer’s agent. As a listing agent, your duties include marketing properties, holding open houses, and vetting buyers. A buyer’s agent, on the other hand, helps clients by finding suitable properties, creating and presenting offer agreements, among other things.

What are some skills and experiences that will help you build a successful real estate brokerage?

Because of the licensing requirements, all real estate brokers that establish their own companies have worked as real estate agents for others first. There are also course requirements for each state that need to be finished successfully and exams that must be passed in order to be qualified for a license. Real estate agents have to work under the supervision of a licensed real estate broker. Being personable and gregarious is very helpful in getting listings of properties for sale and helping buyers find a property that they want to purchase. Exceptional organizational skills are also necessary. Meticulous records need to be kept in this industry. A customer relationship manager, like Copper, is a great way to keep track of interactions with customers and clients.

What is the growth potential for a real estate brokerage?

Expansion of this business is based on serving additional geographical areas. A common practice is to set up a brokerage in one community and then expand to serve other areas based on the initial successful operation.

An example is Century 21 that started in 1971 with a single location and then expanded globally to now have over 6,800 independently-owned franchise operations in about 78 countries, with over 100,000 sales professionals.

Should you consider joining a franchise?

If you’d rather buy into an existing system, you can join a franchise. Companies like Re/Max and Keller Williams carry brand recognition that may help brokers in the marketing process. In addition, real estate franchises usually help market your business and offer valuable training along with proprietary business models. If you would rather not start from scratch and you have significant income, a franchise may be the right fit for you.

What are some insider tips for jump starting a real estate brokerage?

It helps tremendously if you are already a community leader with a vast array of personal contacts that you are able to call upon in your local area. Being able to network and be trusted in your local community goes a long way in establishing your reputation. A real estate sale or purchase is a fairly rare occurrence in any individual’s life, so you will need to have an extensive network of contacts in order to continuously generate new business.

If you’ve been a prolific real estate agent, and often find yourself helping other agents, you’ll likely be a good fit for starting a brokerage.

Give some thought as to whether you want to operate in a brick-and-mortar location, purely online with cloud services, or a combination of the two. Much of the market is moving toward internet-based real estate transactions, but there is still value in meeting face-to-face in an office.

Lastly, don’t underestimate the importance of a business plan, especially if you’ll have investors. A strong business plan could be the difference between a successful brokerage and a huge waste of time and money.

How and when to build a team

As a real estate broker, you will want to add as many effective real estate agents to your business as your administrative staff can handle. The more agents you have, the more likely it will be that you will earn commissions. Most real estate agents work on a commission-only basis, and the real estate broker that they work for gets to keep part of the commission for supervising the transactions and giving the agent an office and support.

The support given by a real estate broker to their agents includes such things as answering the phones, participating in a multiple-listing service (MLS), and advertising the business. Most real estate brokers start out with at least a few agents working with them. A very active office in a major metropolitan area might have many agents involved in the business.

Part 2 - Is a Real Estate Brokerage business the right fit for you?

Part 3 - Action plan to launch your Real Estate Brokerage business in 90 days