How to Know If It's Time to Switch Real Estate Brokerages

There's a morning I keep coming back to.

I came in and our broker was gone. Our admin had quit the same morning, without even knowing the broker had been let go. We had no staff left in the office. Just about twelve agents standing around looking at each other.

The pitch had always been the name on the sign, the team, the support. None of that was there anymore.

I went home that afternoon and told my husband something had to change.

What I didn't know yet was that the real problem wasn't that morning. That morning was just the one that finally made me run the numbers on every real estate brokerage fee I'd been paying the entire time I was there.

How I Became a Real Estate Agent at 45 Without Knowing What My Brokerage Would Really Cost Me

I got my real estate license at 45 in Birmingham. Before that, I'd worked a big corporate job, run a local nonprofit, done lots of small PR and marketing work while I was raising my boys, and coached and instructed fitness for nearly 20 years (I still teach every weekday morning).

I came in thinking I understood how businesses work. What I didn't understand was the math my brokerage was running on me.

When I was invited to help open a new office at a traditional brick-and-mortar brokerage, I took it as a compliment. They were hiring me. That was true. What I didn't know yet was what that decision was going to cost.

The Real Estate Brokerage Fee Structure I Accepted Without Adding It All Up

The structure looked reasonable on paper: a 70/30 split. I kept 70%, they took 30%. The brokerage was clear that the 30% covered all the amazing resources they provided and all the benefits and perks of having them hold my license. That made sense to me at the time.

What I couldn't figure out, the longer I was there, was what I was actually paying so much money for. Because I couldn't find it.

And that was before I started adding up everything else.

Every transaction came with a $399 fee. Every single one. The brokerage gave us the option to cover it for our clients if we wanted to. Which sounds generous until you realize that was just another $399 coming out of my commission instead. Either way, they were collecting it. If a client was buying and selling at the same time, that was potentially $798 coming from somewhere before the split even entered the picture.

Every referral cost me 50%, no matter where it came from. A colleague, a friend, someone I'd known for years. I paid 50% on a transaction for my own sorority sister. Half. On something that came entirely from my own life and my own relationships.

And then there was how they got new agents started: through the brokerage's Zillow lead system. You came in cold, worked internet leads with no existing relationship behind them, and paid a significant fee at closing on every one that turned into a transaction. It felt like a real path forward when I was brand new. What it actually was, was another fee coming off the top before I ever got to my split.

Layer all of that together on a multi-million dollar production year and you're not operating at 70/30. You're operating closer to 45 or 55 cents on the dollar, depending on where your business was coming from. No cap. No revenue share. No stock. Just the transaction, minus all of that, every single time.

What a Traditional Brokerage's Fees Are Supposed to Buy You (And What I Actually Got)

The culture at this brokerage was built around a leaderboard. Top producer at the top, everyone else measured against her.

When I asked early on if I could take her to lunch and pick her brain, the answer was essentially: why would I help you compete with me? Which honestly makes complete sense in a model where everyone's competing for the same business. It wasn't personal. But it told me a lot about what I'd walked into.

The training and support I'd been promised dried up long before that morning our staff walked out. I just hadn't added it all up yet.

How to Calculate Your Real Take-Home Rate as a Real Estate Agent

I was generating multi-million dollar production and I wasn't running the full math. None of us were.

You accept the split. You accept the transaction fee. You accept the referral policy. You accept whatever else is built into the model because you don't have anything to compare it to. You don't know what you don't know.

Here's how to actually run the number: take your gross commissions from last year. Subtract your split. Subtract every transaction fee. Subtract every referral fee you paid to the brokerage. Subtract the cost of any lead source your brokerage required you to use. What's left?

That's your real take-home rate. And that percentage, not the split percentage your brokerage quoted you in the recruiting meeting, is what you're actually operating on.

My gut had been telling me something was off for a while. But I'd been told that cloud brokerages were risky. No real support. No real training. No guarantee they'd even be around next year.

Those are the talking points of a brokerage that needs you to stay.

The Day I Knew It Was Time to Switch Real Estate Brokerages

After the morning our entire staff walked out, I started paying attention differently. There was a woman I kept seeing on social media who was talking about real estate in a way nobody at my brokerage ever had. About what the fee structure was actually costing agents. About what it looks like to build a real estate business that works for your life, not just log hours inside someone else's model.

I'd send my husband clips of her videos every morning while I was getting ready to go train. Every morning. For a while.

“Stop sending me videos of this woman,” he finally said. “Just call her.”

So I did.

What Happened When I Switched to eXp Realty: Volume, Net Income, and a Business That Fits My Life

The difference was 85% more volume, year over year. 112% more net income.

Those are my numbers, from my situation, from my own work. Not a guarantee. But the math starts at the structure level, and that's something every agent can sit down and look at.

The things I was penalized for before, like a referral from a friend or not being physically in my seat on a Tuesday, those don't factor in anymore. I was paying for a model that was working against me. That stopped.

And the way I work changed too. Before, I was managing my family's life, teaching fitness clients every single morning, and chasing leads to nine o'clock showings 48 minutes away because the brokerage wanted my production numbers up. The structure I moved into doesn't penalize you for having a life. That is worth something that doesn't show up in any split calculation.

How to Know If You Should Hire a Different Real Estate Broker

I ran that same math and it didn't happen in an afternoon. It took days. Pulling together every fee, every split, every thing I wasn't being credited for. No revenue share, no stock, nothing that built beyond the transaction in front of me. I talked to several people at eXp. I scheduled calls with state brokers to ask the questions that actually mattered. I wanted to be sure before I moved. And then, I took all the information and bet on myself.

If your numbers are giving you that same unsettled feeling, I get it. It's worth looking at carefully and I'm happy to sit down and run it with you anytime.

Let's talk.

I had the chance to sit down and talk through all of it on the first episode of The Powerhouse Effect with Amy Gregory, who built the Powerhouse community and whose videos I was sending my husband every single morning before I finally made the call myself.

Watch it here.

Frequently Asked Questions: Real Estate Brokerage Fees, Splits, and Switching Brokerages

What is a fair brokerage split for a real estate agent?

There's no single answer, because the split is only one part of the equation. A 70/30 split sounds reasonable until you add in transaction fees, referral fees, and required lead source costs. The number that actually matters is your real take-home rate: gross commissions minus every fee you paid to the brokerage. Many agents operating on a stated 70/30 split are actually keeping closer to 50 to 55 cents on every dollar they earn.

How do I calculate my real take-home rate from my brokerage?

Start with your total gross commissions for the year. Subtract your split. Then subtract every transaction fee, every referral fee paid to the brokerage, and the cost of any lead system your brokerage required you to participate in. Divide what's left by your gross commissions. That percentage is your real take-home rate, and it's almost always lower than the split percentage your brokerage quoted you when you signed on.

What is the difference between a traditional brokerage and a cloud brokerage like eXp Realty?

A traditional brick-and-mortar brokerage typically charges a percentage split, per-transaction fees, and may require you to participate in their lead systems (often at an additional cost at closing). A cloud brokerage like eXp Realty operates without a physical office requirement, which changes the cost structure significantly. eXp also offers a revenue share model and agent stock ownership, which traditional brokerages typically don't. The key question isn't which model sounds better on paper. It's which one actually works for your production level and your life.

How do I know if I should switch real estate brokerages?

Run the math first. Calculate your real take-home rate as described above. Then ask what you're getting in return for the percentage you're giving away. Actual training. Actual support. A culture where the people around you benefit from helping you succeed. If the fees are real and the support isn't, that's your answer. The risk of switching feels real because it's familiar. The risk of staying is just as real. It's just harder to see because it shows up quietly, year after year, in the gap between what you gross and what you net.

How do I hire a real estate broker? What should I look for?

Look beyond the split percentage. Ask about transaction fees, referral policies, required lead systems, and what happens to your business if you eventually want to refer a client to an agent in another state. Ask what the culture looks like for agents at your production level, not just the top producers. Ask whether agents there benefit from each other's success or compete with each other for the same leads. And ask to talk to agents who've been there for two or three years, not just recent recruits. I put together a checklist to help you ask the right questions. You can find it in the Resources section of my site: How to Hire a Broker.

Is switching real estate brokerages worth the risk?

Every meaningful change in business carries some uncertainty. But consider that staying isn't risk-free either. Staying at a brokerage that takes more than its share is a compounding cost: every year you stay, you're suppressing your own net income. The agents I've talked to who made the switch consistently say the same thing: the relationships that were real survived the move, and they wish they'd done it sooner.

What does eXp Realty cost agents?

eXp Realty's fee structure includes an 80/20 split until you hit an annual cap (after which you keep 100% of your commission for the rest of the year), a per-transaction fee, and a monthly technology fee. There are no desk fees and no required lead system fees. The structure also includes revenue share (you earn a percentage of the GCI from agents you sponsor into the company) and stock awards. For agents at higher production levels, the cap model typically results in a significantly higher net than a traditional split without a cap. The best way to see what it would look like for your specific production is to run your own numbers side by side. See the full breakdown here.