That proverbial "straw that broke the camel's back" for me was when my balloon office decided to charge a $295 "transaction management fee" and mandated that the agent would pay if the client didn't.

Since my business even then was almost all REO and REO sellers don't/won't pay these fees, it pushed me to get a broker license and open my own little shop.

Funny thing is, I was the top producer at that office.