Trinity Gregor It depends on your needs. A firm should be ethical, and offer good marketing to grow your business.

What John Pusa & Anna Banana Kruchten said!

Trinity that is a big question.  It really depends on what an agent needs and wants from a broker. If they're brand new they'll need a lot of training and mentoring with a hands on broker. If they're seasoned they may need something entirely different.  What do you want and need?

See Fred Griffin's answer to the other posting of this Q.

It really depends on what you are looking for in a brokerage.  Training, mentoring, team, commission split, etc.

Debe Maxwell nailed this one!

Finding the Broker that shares many of the same values as you do.

Real estate is not one size fits all. Personalities are different too. Know what is important to you and find that perfect match for you.

I'm with Ron and Alexandra Seigel ..everyone is different..what are you looking for?

Like minded, availability of training

Senior management must be in touch with the realities of the current marketplace, and offer a website that is second to none.  

Does anyone need any list of properties for sale/ investing in South Florida?

Your career depends on your reputation and your legacy is your service to your clients. Make sure any firm your considering partnering with is impeccable in both of these areas!

Select the firm that will best meet your personal needs. Interview with the top producing offices in your area.

The most important thing I look for when I chose my real estate firm was a broker that didn't make me feel like she was too busy for my questions and a willingness to teach me what I need to be successful.  

What are their Marketing efforts and How Much they invest in you .

Trinity Gregor Good rapport with the broker and one who has a good mentoring and training program.

Here's the problem Trinity Gregor  the things most suggest a new agent needs to know can not be known sitting across the desk. Those things revealed only after the newbie has cast their fate into the hands of another.

So, what the newbie must focus on is 'WHAT IS KNOWABLE.' That means the facts and nothing but the facts.

1. It begins with YOU, the new agent. Make sure the newbie has completed all the steps in "Getting on the Right Track with your Real Estate Career." 

2. Refer to the profile of the preferred business and be aware of all the background data the RIGHT TRACK guide directed to be gathered.

3. When the recruiters lips stop moving the newbie must ask: "How many licensed agents are in this office?"  Let us use 100 as an example.

4. How many transactions were closed through this office in the past 12 months?  Let us use 1,000 as the answer

5. Do the math. That office averages 10 annual closings per agent.

This is an abysmal, below national average, statistic. It means the training, support, compensation, morale, leadership, infrastructure and vision of this organization IS NOT WORKING to the benefit of the agents. Seriously, what else does one need to know?

But I will provide more.

6. Did the broker/recruiter ask to see the newbies business plan? The default is they will impose theirs or worse, throw the newbie in the deep end and watch as they drown or learn to swim.

7. Did the broker commit in assisting in implementing YOUR business plan?

8. Did the broker commit to getting the new agent engaged in their identified business segment within 30 days?

All of these are KNOWABLE and separate the 'sweet words' offered and the empty promise of 'We got train'n' from the reality of their predatory system.

What will you do?

Fall for the siren song of the broker or hold the broker accountable for the trust they ask of you? Hold them accountable for what they have perpetrated on their current agents?

This is a business. A serious business. Treat it like one.

Be aware, the goal of the industry is to separate you from $12,000 of your savings before you eventually quit. They have a plan. You need to have one also.

Now that you understand what an agent SHOULD be asking, you also see the opportunity to create TRUST, not uncertainty, as the broker commits to the newbie to the same level they require of the recruit.

What do you think one could say about YOUR brokerage is the average was 25 transactions a year per agent. You BET! 

When the important questions (ones they do not know to ask) are answered before they are asked, the outcome is trust.

Be the broker of vision.

That is very personal to each individual as to what a brokerage offers and what they feel they need or want to help their career.

Find a brokerage that provides the services you need.

  Split.

   Mentors.

  Training.

   "Image".

   Most important, upon our first sit-down meeting, do I mesh with that Broker, and does that Broker mesh with me?

The marketing tools they offer.  I'm not a big techie guy and I don't want to have to reinvent the wheel. So that's big for me.

For me personally, I became a real estate agent specifically to join the family brokerage I am a part of, so I never had to think about it. 

If you are asking for advice for you: What do you think you need in a broker? Someone to provide you leads? Education, training, mentoring? Desk/office space?  Additional support/transaction coordinating/receptionist?  A high split?  Low fees? There is a brokerage for everything & everyone under the sun based on personal needs and preferences.  You are going to have to first figure out what it is that you want in a broker/brokerage and what is most important to you.  It's not the same for everyone. 

In a completely different aspect, when choosing real estate partners to work with I look for a) people I like, b) people I trust, c) people that do outstanding work, and d) people looking to grow 

Trinity,

What is important to one, may not be important to you.  We all have different preferences. What are yours?

You will now it when you see it. Your first place should be educational and motivating with a positive culture.

Where and who do you want to work with. Ask around about training and splits..

Make a list of what you need from a broker, and then interview several of them.