I was just wondering how it is to work at John L Scott, and what kind of training they would give for a new agent? before i do an interview.

Ask about their referral fees for everything. In my area, it is my understanding that all sign calls go into a central call area, if you want the calls to your listings then you have to pay a referral fee (other than the ones that come directly to your cell phone). They have transaction coordinators for everything and there is a fee involved there too.

I interviewed them in my area several years ago and was not impressed. When I asked direct questions pertaining to commission splits, I never got a straight answer and I asked three different people. I also didn't like that they wanted me to work at particular office that was not in the area I wanted to build business in, just because they thought it was closer to home for me, completely different county. And in seven years I have only sold 1 home in that county.

I'm also not the type for cookie cutter training. Their training program was using a lot of scripts and making a lot of cold calls and following a set path. I believe there were several months of training before they let you really start selling, in the meantime you've racked up an office bill and you can't leave without paying it and you haven't generated any income because you've been in training. Just wasn't for me.

I personally don't like evasive answers to important questions and I've never been one to like canned training.

I was lucky enough to find someone to mentor me my first year and who taught me very well.


Thing may be different at the JLS offices in your area. Remember, you are interviewing them for a good match to your business and style and not the other way around.

Good Luck!

This info by jbt4re couldn't be more wrong. I've been with JLS for six years, and not one thing in her statement is an accurate depiction of business with the oompany. Overwingexit, don't let her comments sway you from joining a great company!

R8Ragent - as I stated, that is in my area. They could be different in your area.

And yes all of what I wrote is/was accurate for the area I am in and may be how the broker here does business.

Remember with franchises, thing can vary greatly from office to office depending on how the broker has his systems set up.

Read my last statement, I clearly stated that things may be different in their area. I did not say it was all offices.

So, to Overwingexit - interview several brokerages and find the one fits your style, has good training, a broker who is available and a fair compensation structure.

R8Ragent, are you familiar with the idea that franchises are often independently owned and operated? Thus, the way one is operated may be very different than the way others are run.


For instance, I love my Weichert office. But it is an independent franchise. It shares many similarities with other Weichert offices, but certain things are VERY different and unique only to our office.

We have no desk fees, we don't pay referrals to the broker on office generated leads, we aren't required to be there one night a week doing phone calls, we are required to attend caravan, meetings, and do two open houses in order to qualify for floor time, the broker pays for our signs and lock boxes, doesn't charge us any administrative fees, and we have very nice cubicles to work in - full time agents get their own cubicle that they do not have to share.

Other weichert offices are very different. Some brokers charge desk fees, some charge referrals on office generated leads, some do not provide signs and some charge administrative fees. Some do not allow their agents to have their own desks and some require you to make x amount of phone calls per week.

You are out of line by stating that jbt4re is wrong or lying. She was very clear in stating that it could be different at different offices.

You need to realize that just as her experience isn't the case for other offices, neither is yours.

Thank you Perky - You were actually someone I was thinking of when I wrote that, because you have commented several times just how different your Weichert office is from most of the others and it was one of your reasons for going with that office.