Thought I would chime in here. I have been with Re/Max since 1998- and no other brand. When you are sure of your selling abilities it is the cheapest brand with the most Brand support.
If you have mainaly Re/Max in your area, you should speak to them.

The bone I have to pick with CB is the ridiculous additional $200 fees that buyers and sellers are expected to pay. When they refuse, guess who pays corporate that "fee for having a client." Yes! Agents!

I hired a CB agent for myself to sell an out of state property. They were the prevailing agency in the area in NC where I sold the property. Their contract was absurdly long, as well as the "fee." They wanted to "force" my transaction through relocation- because I was out of state. I contacted a specific agent on my own! I told that Broker- give it to my girl 100% without any referrals to "relo" or I was outta there! They complied.

Be careful. Is all I am saying. There are many ways to get this done. When you know you can sell, then look at it on a yearly basis and go with the fee structure that works.

"street"

Re/Max is by FAR the cheapest! for some reason everyone keeps telling me to stay away because they are so expencive? Are people not actually doing the math? My local is offering 70/30 w/ the 30 paying towards my deskfees, untill they are paid w/ no money owed if I don't meet cap (12k) once I hit the 12k I move to 95/5.

Coldwell on the other hand is saying 60/40 till 20k then 88/12.. seems like simple math to me!




Another question I'm having is how it is when there is a "Team" in house..

ie: Principal broker has a team, also runs the branch, branch has a dedicated sales manager to work with other people in the branch. Total full time at branch is 15, 8 of them are on the "team." Am I hurting myself joining this type of atmosphere?

no desk fees on CB with me, just 50/50 until i gett 25k then it goes 60/40

pslt: 50/50 till 25k in my opinion is a 25k desk fee..am I looking at this the wrong way?

In my case I only have a desk fee if I sell, and that is paid by my 30% to them at 12k a year@ re/max...

CB has it 50/50 no desk fees, ever

CB is in trouble, very indebted. I get their REO listings in my area even though we have a CB office. I am a REMAX agent. They will very liekly be bought out. Shop around.

Only one I see who isn't in trouble is this other nroker, who speaks very highly about himself....all he spoke about was himself the WHOLE interview I had with him

Not advocating either way, but generally the balloon broker's cap must be attained every year. If you don't make the cap in your first year, for instance, the remaining amount carries to the next year, and so on and so on.
Also, read the IC agreement carefully. If you leave (Balloon)and haven't made the cap amount, you are responsible for the amount remaining. Some (but not all) brokers will go to court and get a judgement for the amount owed based on the contract you signed.
I know there is a balloon broker in this market that sued 2 agents in 2009 that joined in January and left in May. One ended up filing bankruptcy.

And I worked for several years at a balloon office under this program and never has a problem making the cap amount by April, but YMMV, especially since you are very new to the business.

I left Re\Max a year ago. I had worked at Re\Max for 5 years. Re\Max has its advantages, but they are expensive to work at (in my area).

I talked to CB, I liked their set-up. The CB going under has been a rumor I have heard for 6 years now. They still seem strong though. There training seemed good, the fees were very minimal. Much like Most Brokerages though, they are independantly owned and operated.

There is still going to be a cost to belong to any company. They may not call it a desk fee. At remax you pay a 295 (maybe 395/yr) fee to Re\Max international, plus 5% of every transaction goes to International. CB has a similair fee paid to Corporate. Keller Williams calls it something different, none of its free.

CB and KW In my opinion are great for new agents. They provide alot of support and training. I have never seen that in a Re\Max. The only downfall is though, they expect you to commit, so your PT job may be in jeopardy.

I think I am going to email the CB broker and tell her I'd really want to go with her brokerage, but her unwillingness to be flexible with my schedule ( until summer, as I work for a local school department, part time ) is the only drawback to my signing on with her

Interview other brokers!!!!!

This job is all about reaching out and talking to people. Google real estate for your city, call the phone #, ask for the managing broker and say "Hi, my name is Joe Schmoe and I am a new agent looking to hang my license at a great company. Can you tell me what you do for you new agents to make the successful?" And then let them sell you.

Call ten right now. ask lots of questions. you are interviewing them! If you cannot even do this, you are in the wrong business.

There is almost a 90 percent chance you will FAIL in this business. At some point you have to take the leap of faith and go ALL in !

The part-time job is an problem most new agents face.I would say if you have 6 months of reserves then go in full time. TRAINING IS NOT a 7 day or a 2 week course. Learning is a life long event. If you treat everyday like you know nothing your mind will be open to learn the most knowledge possible for that day.

Bottom line is I have about 35 agents. I tell them what they need to do to be a success. Many don't listen and the ones that do are closing sales and making money. There is no MAGIC BROKER out there where you will work not much and make a killing selling real estate. Now if you are willing to do what many are not you can have the life of your dreams.

Regardless of which brokerage and broker you have it all comes down to accountability. If you set a good plan and follow it everyday over time positive things will start to happen.

Set so much time each day for prospecting,appointments,blogging,social networking,lunch,etc. By having tasks and a time line you will be highly effective and can moniter results and adjust for maximum returns. Many people that work part-time or full time jobs do a crappy job. Meaning the mindset is what is the least I can do to get this paycheck and not get fired.

In real estate you have to really put the work in and nobody is looking over your shoulder pushing you. Instead of what brokerage you need to find out if you really have what it takes to give it a go in this business.

well, there it is in a nutshell.....i guess I will suck as an agent

Those are your words-not mine. If that's all you got out of that post re-read it again.

What I will say is most new agents idea of real estate in licensing class doesn't come close to the real world.

Success lies with you and the actions you take not the brokerage you are with. If you look at top earners at different brokerages they all have similar traits that make them a success.

Maybe you are one of the ten percent who knows. I think the part-time job will be a crutch a hinder your transition to gain traction and do real estate full time. What you need to do as a new agent is go with a top producer who will put you on their team,train you,and you will have a steady stream of closings so you can do real estate full time and not have the other job. Sure you will be on a 50/50 split but that is expected when you need to learn and are new. Over time you will start picking up traits to generate your own business and branch out on your own if you so choose.

good luck

I doubt that it is unwillingness. When a Company extablishes a "Policy" that applies to all sales personnel, they forfeit their flexibility.

I'm not a Franchisee; but I am very familiar with their workings, in Real Estate and elsewhere. The only exception I know of with CB on this Part-Time issue is one where an Agency had a salesman who was also the Road Superintendent for a small town at the time they became a CB Franchise . . . . and then even he had to document that he was devoting the equivalent of full-time to his Real Estate endeavors.

Everyone wants to be the exception. But sometimes a "Policy" works to the advantage of the Staff; sometimes it works to their disadvantage. The point is "it works" because it makes difficult issues predictable, kind of like a constitution. You will find that you don't want to work in an environment where there is too much flexibility.