I just passed my exams and been interviewing lots of brokers. I now have narrowed it down to top 2 companies and need some feedback from current working agents to help me decide the company to choose. Here are my choices:

1) I like a specific office of a very large real estate company in my area. I like the broker and will be trained (1 on 1) by the broker for the first 6 months. This is in addition to company's start-up training for new agent and their in-house office training. Listings from this office covers a wide area (two big counties) which could give me more chances to work with a client via floor duty and open houses. Commission is only at 50/50.

2) The other company I also like very much is much smaller and is a franchisee type of company. This office is #1 in one large county and doesn't do much in the neighboring counties like the previous company. They are known for their great training and pay 70/30 split commission. I can pay a coach/mentor 10% of my first few deals to help me with my deal/contracts/questions. This office does not have floor duty but I will be able to hold someone else's open house in hopes of obtaining a client. This company promotes & teaches prospecting VERY much,which is a great thing for building a sales foundation. They believe you make your own brand and work your bz however you like, which is great but I am not sure how important it is for a new agent.

Now...my concerns and questions. My biggest concern is that being a new agent and learning how to prospect, I can see that it could take me a very LONG TIME To get a client with the smaller company. It seems that I might have more chances to grab a client via floor duty at the larger company with lower commission split. I don't want to fall into the % of new agents who change careers if they don't seem to be making any money. I think by having the opportunity to get few client in the first year, and with the right prospecting training, I can get my momentum moving forward. So the question is, how valuable is floor duty for a new agent in terms of being able to get few clients to get started? Do you recommend that for new agents?

The other question is, how important is it for a new agent to focus on one specific region/county as oppose to be exposed to a wider area and other neighboring counties? Keep in mind that both of these offices have the same # of agents in size.

Thank you, and I very appreciate your input.

IMO, go with the office that has the best training and/or even try to join a team so you can learn from a top producer. For a new agent, try not to focus on splits because you won't be splitting anything if you don't have a deal. Doing floor duty is one way to get business but not the only way so don't pick an office because of it.

As for specific region/county, it is better to focus in one region/county so you can be that specialist. But it will be hard for a new agent so start wider and then adjust as time goes.

Hope that helps. Just my 2 cents.

Thank you Paul. Today, I attended the office meeting for the smaller company with the better training program and got a much better feeling and got answers to my many questions from different agents. Looks like my concern with lack of floor duty is not a concern after all. They all echoed what you also said about floor duty.

I think the best way to get a real opinion of which office to choose is to try to find agents who have already been at those offices and have left. Those agents who have left will give you a better scoop on the inner-workings of the brokerage versus someone who is still licensed there.

Don't worry about the commission split at all. There will be time for that once you have some experience, some business, etc.

Where do you feel more comfortable? Bear in mind that you may have to take business all over the place at first, so the smaller company not having any presence in adjoining counties may be an issue. Floor duty was never valuable for me, but in talking with some of the new agents today they are getting good business from floor. I would try it all at first and see what works for you...

Good Luck Pipagent.

Thanks everyone for your feedbacks and questions. I decided to go with the smaller company that has a much better training. After attending one of their meetings and got a chance to speak with lots of their agents (top producers and new agents), my previous concerns are not longer exist. With that being said though, this company is all about building YOUR business and so there are NO handouts but they do extensive training on prospecting. I think if I start with the right training and learn good business habits, it will be beneficial for me in the long run.
now, I like to establish a LLC, but I understand there are two types ( LLC vs. professional LLC). Can you please give me some feed back what type of LLC you have established? The only thing I know is that a doctor or a lawyer would want to have a professional LLC but not sure if Realtors would need a professional or just a basic LLC would be fine.

Again, appreciate your help.

My independent company is an LLC but I couldn't, for the life of me, tell you which one it is. It's been so long...there's two? Sole proprietorship as an LLC or something? I only know I made sure that any threats to my business would not affect my personal assets.