I'm currently living in NC and I've been looking for a real estate company to join. I like the idea of the training Keller-Williams offers, but then I saw that there's another company that seems to offer a lot more in the way of education, benefits, no monthly fees, etc. I'm a little skeptical only because I've never really heard of Zip & no monthly fees seems too good to be true. In addition, there's no floor time. You work from home. I'd love to know if anyone's heard of them or, better yet, works for them.

bambam,

Yes, I've heard of ZIP Realty. I listened to their presentation here in Atlanta a year or so ago. My understanding at that time was that I would be an employee of the company. They would send me leads and expected me to follow up with them all and update the system on the outcome. In addition, weekly mandatory meetings were held and the commission structure was not appealing to me at that time. That's what I know.

Thanks, Solomon. Appreciate any info.

They have Zip Realty here in Las Vegas. They try to attract buyers by giving them 20% of their commission to them.

I have had nothing but bad experiences with Zip agents (one was good, the others have been horrible).

It may just be my area, but it seems like they teach them to "threaten lawsuit first, then check to see if you are even right"

If you have at least 6 months to a years worth of seed money to float you until you get a deal closed, and a pretty healty client pool already to get you into escrow anytime soon, Zip may not be for you. Otherwise, I know some agents who work there. They love it. It seems they've always got something in escrow, and never seem to be at a lack for clients to show homes to. Ton's of great free training. Out here they reimburse for mileage when driving around showing homes. They pay all of their MLS fees. They reimburse for other expenses, like cell phone, internet connections, signs etc. They DON'T have weekly meetings that I've heard of, or at least nobody is complaining that they have meetings all the time. My office has weekly meetings, and we have to caravan all of our listings each week as well, so I don't know what the issue is if they do. You don't need to advertise for leads, because they assign these to you, usually get at least 40 each month, and sometimes over 100. They pay half your medical. They have a 401k plan with some matching contributions. The comp plan sucks when you first look at it, but when you figure in what they give you on top of it but it's probably better than what most companies offer. The Zip agents say it's better to get all of this on top of their lower commissions, than 60% of nothing from other offices while having to constantly shell out money and maybe just break even when you finally get a deal.

We have Ziprealty here too. Never had a good experience. It seems like all of their agents are very rude.

I am in a transaction right now with someone at Zip and its so far so good.

I do know a few agents with Zip. They do provide leads, and I know they do alot of online marketing. Really not a bad overall choice, but I am partial to REMAX. I have been with REMAX for about 5 years now....

It's never been a good business model to me to have to offer part of my commission in order to attract clients.

Just had a deal going with an agent from ZIP, started off great, seemed to know what he was doing and thought all would be ok, then the deal dies... OK, could happen to anyone, in this case it was all about how it was handled, communication, etc. Which by the way, there was none of the above.

OK...more info on my previous post on this. Since I wrote this, lots has changed. I met and agent who recently quit due to all the changes. They still reimburse for mileage and expenses. This was after they lost a lawsuit that stated "employees" in the state of CA are entitled to this. The training is provided by their managers, who apparently have never sold real estate. They are hired from other industries and then required to get licensed. They cut out all other benefits recently, so no 401k, health insurance or any of the other perks they used to promise...in fact recently agents who were tenured received a time served compensation...they cut this off too. Your commission base is pretty low, but they pay the 20% rebate to the clients, which then makes it even lower, since your commission is based off what's left over. New agents can expect as little as 28%. And you're an employee, which means they take out taxes. Not such a bad thing, but because the income is commission, they have to tax you at the much higher rate. Figure your take home check to be about 20% of the total commission offered. I think you're better off working min wage...at least it's a steady pay check.