Can I see the program?
How many offices do they have and where are they?

When I just interviewed a broker I only had a few questions.

How many listings do you have that I can prospect around.

Whats the commission and yearly cap on the brokers side before I am 100%. Its 2.1-2.3 million in Gross Volume (not commissions) roughly before 100% at her KW.

How many Mike Ferry prospecting agents do you have that come to work daily (several and they love to talk trash, yay!)

Considering she used to be a Mike Ferry one-on-one and had a shelf full of his old school tapes, I told her it was love at first sight and we were on like Donkey Kong.

Can I do My own marketing?
Can I brand myself along with the brokerage?

I have been selling properties overseas for a few years now. Last week I passed my exam in Virginia and now looking into finding a broker here in the Gainesville area. I am in no hurry since I still work on my Cyprus website ads, optimization and emailing prospects.
I feel that I need to get good training on how things are done and all the formalities that exist in the U.S. In Cyprus my listing agreement was one page and that was pretty much it.
So my question is, do I have to go with the big known companies (Remax, C21, Weichert) or can I get the same training from small firms?
This is a great thread!

Thank for sharing. I am new to real estate, but had the desire to take exam for the past 10years. Now, I am ready, after working with mortgage products, I want to take the knowledge in the career path as a realtor.

I am not sure if it is best to take realtor courses froma a community college vs a business school, the cost is cheaper at a community college.

The main issue I faced with my broker was about the office's current listings. His policy was that the listing belonged to the listing agent and so ALL the leads should be directed to that agent. It was great for the listing agent but not so much for the new agents, including myself. The reason a new agent signs on with a new brokerage is because of the strenght and market domination of that brokerage within it's market. By signing up for floor time, showing up to the office and educating oneself about the market, new agents deserve to get leads on the office's listing. I mean, the broker gets a percentage of the commission whether it is sold by the listing agent or another buyers agent in his or her office, right? So what does it matter to the broker if they give the lead to the listing agent and not the new agent if they would make the same amount of money either way? Plus, they are putting their new agents at a disadvantage by not giving them the better leads. My point is to make sure to ask whether they distribute leads evenly or just give the best leads to the listing agents and keep them for themselves. You might be surprised what the answer will be to this question. I certanly was and did not work at this office much longer after learning about this policy. Anyway their office size shrank from a few dozen Realtors to only four or five by the time I left so it is no wonder their backwards policies didn't work. Bless them everyone!

i.e. just for being there ?

You may see it differently once you have acquired some listings of your own.

Our office policy is this - whatever gets the customer serviced the most quickly.

If someone calls on a listing / sign call - if the listing agent is in the office then the call goes to the listing agent. I believe the office will then give it to whoever is on floor time - the idea is to service the CUSTOMER as soon as possible...unless the customer asks specifically for the listing agent (which is why we all put riders on our signs~!)

If a call comes in from an agent's website or an agent's advertisement or farming then the call goes to the agent.

I think it's fair. Especially coming from a previous office where all calls went to the listing agent, and where the broker had most of the listings, most of the calls were on specific listings... so we would sit there and be free secretaries for the broker.

Once the broker was ON VACATION and someone called on a listing, the floor time agent took the call and sold the house and had to split the buyer side of the transaction with the broker!

I have lots of listings and frankly, I'm just as happy to co-broke as I am to double end. I want my listings sold - and if I'm not available when a buyer calls on it then let the next available person do the job.

Unless it's some fancy r.e. class, no matter which you go with, it's going to be in the basics, the fundamentals. Continuing education above the mandated yearly/bi-yearly requirements and real estate experiences are what gets you the wisdom. It doesn't come in a book or CD.

When I was at two different franchises in my prior life, if the caller ASKED for the listing agent, then the call had to go to the listing agent. If the caller didn't ask for listing agent, but was asking about the listing, the on-duty agent could take it. If a caller just called to say they wanted to buy a house or sell a house, the on-duty agent got it; but, anytime a caller asked for any SPECIFIC agent that call HAD to go to that agent.

But, don't believe too much into that. I had a homeowner I had talked with off and on for about one year - just casually. He came into the office one day and told me he had sold his house. I was a little shocked. He sold it to a neighbor BUT he said he had called previously though to the office number and had asked for me. The lady who answered the phone told him that SHE could help him. He asked, is that what you all do and she said yes. Turns out she went to his house for a presentation and then he ended up selling to a neighbor instead. Now, that guy TRUSTED me to want me to sell his house but little missy had to interfere with greed in her eyes. She was reported to the broker. Broker gave me the option of her speaking directly to the bad agent or to the group as a whole. I said, "You speak to the group as a whole while I, at the same time, will stare directly into her face." And, I let the whole office know what she did.

That guy TRUSTED me and I KNOW I would have netted him alot more money. This agent ripped off not only me, but ripped off this nice guy too.

^that is why my broker doesn't want agents answering the phones. We have a receptionist at the office 7 days a week open to closing.

I'm a new agent as well. One of the main reasons I pick this office is because all calls on a listing go to the listing agent. Why in the Sam Hill would I want the fruits of my labor going to somebody else? Though the first few months were tough since I had no listings but I did have the time to get some. If my office were to change that policy I'd be looking for a new office.

I get a lot of calls from other agencies asking me to sign with them, saying I'll make more money. Well I think if I work my buttock off and get the calls on my own listings I'll make 6 figures next year. I see agents out there without there names on their signs as well or at best just a rider on the bottom. Forget that my name better be on that sign too. I'm branding "My name" with the help of "My franchise."

Do the math, if your broker's policy is to pass leads to other agents on your listings you are losing money! If I'm too busy to work those leads I'll refer them to the agent myself (for a fee.)

Everyone has options -that's what is cool. I do not mind that calls may go to the floor time agent. Every brokerage has a different policy and you can either accept or find a broker you can work with.

If a ompany doesnt give the listing calls to the listing agents ..RUUUUN!

as fast as you can,..that broker is stealing your leads..giving your buyers to his floor time person.

So you work hard get the listings..and they steal your leads to give to some floor time agent checking facebook?

Do you have any idea what those sign call leads are worth?

I'm not running anywhere. I'm at one of the top agencies in the MLS, making top sales - I have no complaints. This agency is tops because rather than focusing on "double ending" we focus on making sure the clients/customers get taken care of.

Novel.