How Does My Real Estate Agent Get Paid? True and False

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

How Does My Real Estate Agent Get Paid? True and False

How Does My Real Estate Agent Get Paid? True and False
By +Sarah Marrinan - Keller Williams Premier Realty

False: Real Estate Agents have a salary or hourly wage from their Brokerage.
True: Agents only get paid when a deal closes.

False: Real Estate Agents make a huge commission on every closing.
True: The commission paid at the closing, mostly by the seller, is split four ways (more if an agent is part of a team).

False: The brokerage covers all the agent's operating costs.
True: While some brokerage agreements may cover an agent's expenses, more commonly, in addition to "the cut" the brokerage takes from each transaction for general brokerage overhead, the Minnesota agent is an independent contractor and still pays all their own business expenses from office space and copies to signage, insurance and association fees.

False: Getting into real estate is quick and easy cash.
True: While it may not sound like a lot of mandated classroom hours before you can start doing transactions, it is common for an individual new agent to take years to start making a livable wage. You hear stories of agents that hit superstardom in their second year but out of nearly 100,000 Realtors in the US in 2013, there are only a handful that went big quickly. Real Estate is a relationship business built largely on referrals, connections and KNOWLEDGE so naturally, agents that have had more successful transactions have more referrals (if they ask for them of course).

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FAQs

On that note, I am truly grateful for ALL referrals and if there is any way I can return the favor, please let me know!