CRE Brokerage Yearly Compensation Progression Thread
I am just beginning my brokerage career and am curious about other brokers’ typical compensation growth throughout the years.  I figured a thread where brokers share their compensation would be helpful and insightful for setting goals going forward.
[{"id": "i8teebi", "text": "I was just at a CCIM event and this question was thrown around a lot. Typical answer was 50% for a deal you sourced. Some folks had splits on top of that if they are part of a team or something. Others have a Capping system where they will go up to 60% then 70% based on their production volume.", "replies": [{"id": "i8thqo4", "text": "I believe OP was referring to actual commissions in first year, 2nd year, 3rd year, and so on.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "i8ucoar", "text": "I hang my license with a smaller brokerage. I get 80% with a cap at 25k paid in. They don\u2019t really do anything for me unlike some of the bigger brokerages.", "replies": [{"id": "i8um5rb", "text": "I talked to 15 CRE brokers in my SoCal market and none offered a cap, which was common in Resi, but apparently not here with commercial. eXp commercial offers a cap but I figured I needed real team experience first before going that route.", "replies": [{"id": "i8uv901", "text": "It\u2019s not the norm, but if you drive in your own business it\u2019s not bad at all.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "i8uf5dp", "text": "Smaller tertiary market, mostly industrial \n\n1st year - $50k\n\n2nd year - $65k\n\n3rd year - $180k\n\n4th year - $150k (covid killed some deals in 2020)\n\n5th year - $410k\n\nYTD - $200k", "replies": [{"id": "i8umnta", "text": "How much do you work? Are you LL or tenant rep?", "replies": [{"id": "i8urnmj", "text": "In this size market you do a little bit of everything but I primarily represent industrial LL and sellers. Work about  50 hrs/week", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "i8uwy9h", "text": "How were able to be successful in your first year? $50k is very good for first year from what I\u2019ve heard", "replies": [{"id": "i8vbu8t", "text": "Early on I noticed no commercial brokers attended any of the networking events put on by the local realtor association which had maybe 3,000 members. I'd guess there were only 50-60 commercial brokers in our market at the time, and only half of those were members of the association.  Although my brokerage would not allow me to sell residential, I built relationships with top producing residential brokers and worked my sphere to cultivate referrals to send out to those brokers. In return I had a few residential brokerages sending me most of their commercial referrals. Those residential referrals accounted for 40% of my income that first year so technically $30k of CRE transactions year 1.\n\nI visited as many BNI networking groups as I could where it seemed none of the groups could fill a commercial broker seat because most of the brokers in town were well established in their 50s and 60s and didn't need to network. This has changed a lot over the past 5 years with a changing of the guard and now most of the brokers are late 30s early 40s.\n\nI also did a lot of bitch work for the older brokers in my office. We are a small boutique office so we don't have a lot of support staff. I offered to do the marketing, pictures, video, social media for them in exchange for adding my name to their signs in high traffic areas for name recognition. They would throw me a bone when an unrepresented buyer/tenant would call wanting to see the space. When they retire here soon, I've positioned myself to take over some of their accounts.\n\nAsk brokers in your office if they have old LOIs or PSAs you can read, that helped a lot. Start taking the CCIM courses, your local CCIM most likely has scholarships you can apply for. Some days I would drive through industrial parks all day taking note of who was where and what parking lots looked full/empty for prospecting calls. \n\nBest of luck!", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "i8uz7jz", "text": "Industrial broker\n\nYr 1: 42k\nYr 2: 85k\nYr 3: 140k\nYTD: 145k", "replies": [{"id": "i8vbu0s", "text": "Gross or net?", "replies": [{"id": "i8vbx72", "text": "After splits before taxes. \u201cNet\u201d", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "i8vga7c", "text": "What's your market? I'm on track for this almost exactly in the Denver market. Yr 2.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "i8vgq8r", "text": "Yr 1 $24k base | $230k gross | $17k to me pre-tax\n\nYr 2 $9k base ytd | $40k gross | $2.7k to me pre-tax\n\nNote: $9.7m UC currently", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "i8vuk9h", "text": "Primary Market, Retail\n\nYear 1 - $125k \n\nYear 2 - on pace to hit $300k", "replies": [{"id": "i8wdrqd", "text": "Jesus, that ramped quick! What asset class?", "replies": [{"id": "i8xhpuv", "text": "Retail", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "i8vuxdl", "text": "Small tertiary market but growing fast, mostly development deals. \n\n1 - $50k\n2 - $98k\n3 - $178\nYTD - $80k with another $175k under contract.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "i8wdevu", "text": "Year 1: 42k Year 2:144k Year 3: Still working on it but scheduled to close about $300k in commissions. I work in 2 of the top 5 fastest growing markets in the US. Both major metro areas.", "replies": [{"id": "i8zjm8l", "text": "Pre or post split?", "replies": [{"id": "i8zn5cy", "text": "Pre/gross", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "igqrb57", "text": "Y1 - $50k\nY2 - $110k\nY3 - $250k\nY4 - $320k\nwill hit $500k+ this year", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "ij1dzcj", "text": "year 1 - multifamily sales...$150K", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]