I'm a Realtor® and a manager for my office. Part of my job is to recruit, hire and train new agents. When I sit to interview an agent, one of the first questions I'm asked is, "what's your split?"
Being diligent, I review the past years performance of every agent I interview. It astounds me to hear this question asked of someone who sold a total of $800,000 worth of property last year. There are many more important questions to ask.
Before I give that list of questions I feel are the most important, I will reveal a very interesting fact about my MLS region that is most likely true of yours also. Only 60% of agents who pay association dues ever sell anything. Of those 60% of agents who made $1 or more in real estate, 58% of them did 3 transactions or less. In other words, only 25% of the agents who pay association dues sell 3 units or more in a year.
Even more depressing than that is that only 8% of agents who pay association dues sell 12 homes per year, or one per month.
These numbers tell me two stories. The first is that the vast majority of agents are part-time workers. They simply got their license in the hopes that it would be a way to supplement their normal income, or provide some extra cash to the family income. There is a commentary on this situation needing another post to expound upon
The second thing it tells me is that brokers give very little support to their agents. Sure there is an office to sit at, and perhaps a fax machine to use, but what good are those things if you have no clients.
So, now for the list of question to ask a broker with whom you are interviewing:
•1) What is the per agent productivity of your office?
•2) What percentage of all the agents who hang their licenses in this office sold more than $3,000,000 in business last year?
•3) Who do you, the broker, do to help me obtain and convert clients?
•4) What costs aside from dues and continuing education can I expect to encounter marketing myself in order to become a top producer in this office?
•5) What training do you provide agents and is there a cost involved for this training?
These are also five great questions to ask anytime during you tenure with a specific broker. They will give you insight into how dedicated the broker is to helping each agent in her office succeed. This is far more important than any split.
I welcome your comments and opinions
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