Ok, I'm venting... someone please explain what are office dues for. I would like to hear from others about these charges. My broker gets a share of each of my commissions-no matter how many a month, and I agree to that. However, there is an additional 'office' fee ($50 buck/mo). The broker does not have an office, does not offer anything material wise--not even the lead based paint books, and they're free! So, why do we have to pay for office dues, when we don't even get a 'paper clip.' So, if you don't make a sale, then they are all taken out of the commission along with the split! Leaving me as less as possbile!

I would be interested in knowing, if any of you have heard of anything similar, if you objected or your experiences. Thanks.

Sharp,

A brokerage is a business like any other. It needs revenue.

There is no "fair" type or level of revenue. It is what is agreed between broker and agent.

Revenue can be obtained multiple ways: 1) Taking a piece of commissions earned. 2) Charging a monthly office fee. 3) Charging other fees. There are many more but those are the common set.

The hard part is that the labels differ. I've never heard the term "office dues". More common is "monthly office fee" or "desk fee".

You need to determine whether you are comfortable with the revenue structure for your brokerage in comparison to what you get. That is a very personal decision that can only be made by you.

Best of luck at this holiday time.

The traditional brokerage model is fraying apart. Rise up and start your own office.

Sharp in my area you have to pay to belong to the MLS services as a head brokerage on an ongoing basis.

There are other costs as well even though I run my business out of my home office.

The reality is if brokers waited around for agents to collect sales to get revenue most would be out of business. The broker also has to store records and review contracts per there real estate commission. All these things take time and money.

I wouldn't argue the monthly dues as those are more fixed costs.If you are a high volume producer then maybe you could change your commission structure.

Even if you open your own brokerage you will incur more of a cost than the 50 a month you are paying now. If you are on a 100 percent plan plus a trans fee you might want to stay put.

If you split is around 80/20 or lower you might try to renegotiate.

Never heard of such a thing! Even to equate it to a "desk fee" (typical in the so called 100% offices) doesn't make sense if there are no desks!

I like Broker's suggestion of starting your own office (assuming you are qualified to); that was what I did nearly 3 years ago, but for entirely different reasons.

Super & staggart, the thing is, according to the OP there is no "office."

what is your split? if i knew that, i would be able to comment with my opinion on this fee (whatever you want to call it)

please disclose.

"Super & staggart, the thing is, according to the OP there is no "office."

Yes Perky but that is not the point. Office fees,desk fees,management fees,etc.

I have seen it called over a 100 different things. If the agent is on a crappy split then yes as a broker you don't need to charge those fees. If your model is 100 percent and not many are closing sales then you have to build residuals somewhere.


You could say a 70/30 brokerage doesn't have a "desk fee" of 50 dollars a month but you better bet that broker has all there busines costs built into the 70/30 model.

In the end what you call the fee isn't an issue as itis a legitimate expense based on company structure. What is at issue is the agent feeling they are getting nickeled and dimed to death.

The only option there is to go talk with the broker and if things can't be worked out switch somehwere else or get your brokers liscense.

Me owning my own brokerage was less about the split because I was on 100 percent,300 trans fee and more about how I wanted to run my own business without protocols from someone else.

Sharp, you are the only one that can answer your question. You signed on with the brokerage - what does your Independant Contractor Agreement state that this is for? If it doesn't say, why didn't you ask? Why don't you ask now?

Many questions posed on AO forums are to office/agent/state/market specific to be answered without considerable speculation. This is one of those questions.

Mostly, you are paying for the privilege of having a sponsoring broker. If $50/mo isn't worth it, then renegotiate, move or sponsor yourself. It doesn't seem like that much to me.

The title "office dues" doesn't really have anything to do with if there is an office or not. Your broker runs a company. He can call those dues whatever he wants. But office dues is probably a better title then "sucker dues" "broker candy bar dues" or "allowance for broker's kid dues" It doesn't matter what it is called. It's just a fee your broker takes to administrate his company. It could be purely profit for him. It could be to run a company website. It could be anything. Your broker can do what he wants. You agreed to it at some point. On a side note I charge my broker associate a "transfer of wealth to your Real Estate Overlord fee"

I suspect that it would probably not bug you as much if it were merely called a "Administrative Fee" or "Maintenance Fee" or something like that.

if you answer this one question it will help to know if it is a junk fee or more legitimate.

let me explain


if you are on a 50/50 and they are charging a 50 dollar a month whatever you want to call it, i would say that is junk.

if you are on a high split, i would say that it is part of the brokers "cut" as they have to make money somewhere.

please disclose and it will make more sense and i along with other posters will be able to make a better judgement with a clearer picture painted.

Sharp - are you still reading? A little response would help everyone help you better. - just a thought

The OP should ask his broker this question. If the OP is not happy with the answer, he is free to renegotiate or move to another brokerage. Or, serve his time, get his broker's license and open his own office.

Strange !! You seem to be a pretty genuine person.