Can you give me opinions of the CRE broker I work for regarding pay and other opportunities that may exist?
I’m looking for opinions regarding my job, pay and potential opportunities that could arise out of leaving my current commercial real estate brokerage I work for. I’ve worked for this company since May 2012. It’s a boutique brokerage that has only 5 employees. 2 agents including myself, my broker, a part time assistance, and a bookkeeper/receptionist. I was 21 when I first came on, and I was an agent’s assistant only working 3 days a week for under $10 an hour. I had no CRE or office experience, I came to this office fresh out of being in retail sales. Starting at the company, I assisted the only agent besides my broker at the time with calling leads, property management tasks, general administration assistance, and I handled all marketing, which was creating our marketing packages and floorplans, then listing them on all of our listing websites like LoopNet, CDX, and CoStar. I was also responsible for maintaining our website and all listings on it.  

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I work for a boutique firm in the South DFW market, which has generally smaller deals then up north, but, in my opinion, the north is also overly-saturated with competition and egos, and there’s still plenty of money to be made down here. My broker has been in business since the 70’s, and people generally know who he is when I name drop him, so there are a decent amount of leads that come in.  

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Fast forward 6 years, I worked my way up with raises and increased hours, and the owner of the company took an interest in me getting my license and becoming an agent, so I did. I’m now enjoying my 3rd year as an agent at the same company, while still being responsible for almost all of the same duties. I handle all of our marketing, and I help manage all of our properties alongside of the only other agent/property manager in the office. Our broker recently got us an assistant for 20 hours a week to help me create our floor plans since they’re so tedious, but not before he attempted to lower my salary first. My net salary comes out to just $24,000.00 net, $29,160.00 gross. With that being said, last year I grossed around $52k commissions of the total $115k I brought in for the company. I do expect this year to be quite a bit less, as the first 2 quarters were very slow, and my office duties keep me quite busy as of lately. Our commission structure is set up as so:  

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The total commission is 4.5% for leases and 6% for sales of course, which is split 50/50 for each side. If I rep one side (seller/landlord), I get 50% of that one side, if I rep both sides I get 50% of each side, so 25% of total commission or 50% of total commission respectively.  

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 I’ve always known our splits were a little lower, but the argument from our broker was that we get the safety net of the salary. With that being said, I’ve never agreed with that idea, as I do work for the salary I’m looking for opinions regarding my job, pay and potential opportunities that could arise out of leaving my current commercial real estate brokerage I work for. I’ve worked for this company since May 2012. It’s a boutique brokerage that has only 5 employees. 2 agents including myself, my broker, a part time assistance, and a bookkeeper/receptionist. I was 21 when I first came on, and I was an agent’s assistant only working 3 days a week for under $10 an hour. I had no CRE or office experience, I came to this office fresh out of being in retail sales. Starting at the company, I assisted the only agent besides my broker at the time with calling leads, property management tasks, general administration assistance, and I handled all marketing, which was creating our marketing packages and floorplans, then listing them on all of our listing websites like LoopNet, CDX, and CoStar. I was also responsible for maintaining our website and all listings on it.  

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I work for a boutique firm in the South DFW market, which has generally smaller deals then up north, but, in my opinion, the north is also overly-saturated with competition and egos, and there’s still plenty of money to be made down here. My broker has been in business since the 70’s, and people generally know who he is when I name drop him, so there are a decent amount of leads that come in.  

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Fast forward 6 years, I worked my way up with raises and increased hours, and the owner of the company took an interest in me getting my license and becoming an agent, so I did. I’m now enjoying my 3rd year as an agent at the same company, while still being responsible for almost all of the same duties. I handle all of our marketing, and I help manage all of our properties alongside of the only other agent/property manager in the office. Our broker recently got us an assistant for 20 hours a week to help me create our floor plans since they’re so tedious, but not before he attempted to lower my salary first. My net salary comes out to just $24,000.00 net, $29,160.00 gross. With that being said, last year I grossed around $52k commissions of the total $115k I brought in for the company. I do expect this year to be quite a bit less, as the first 2 quarters were very slow, and my office duties keep me quite busy as of lately. Our commission structure is set up as so:  

&amp;nbsp;

The total commission is 4.5% for leases and 6% for sales of course, which is split 50/50 for each side. If I rep one side (seller/landlord), I get 50% of that one side, if I rep both sides I get 50% of each side, so 25% of total commission or 50% of total commission respectively.  

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 I’ve always known our splits were a little lower, but the argument from our broker was that we get the safety net of the salary. With that being said, I’ve never agreed with that idea, as I do work for the salary that I earn and it’s not a free reward. While we’re on that topic, we do not have any benefits. I shell out around $350.00 a month for health insurance because we do not have a company plan and my broker does not contribute to the costs. Our broker does pay for half of all of our membership fees (NAR, TAR, NTCAR, etc.), and he pays for our LoopNet and CoStar memberships.  

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I really respect my boss, and he’s a very easy going, semi-retired guy that gives us pretty much any lead that comes in, unless it’s an established client he’s worked with over the years. The problem is I just feel I’m being incredibly underpaid, and at 27 years old, it might be better for me and my resume to finally spread my wings and move on to another company. With that being said, I have no market insight into salaries and splits, so I really don’t know. There are also a few other perks that come with this office, as we don’t have hard numbers for sales goals, it isn’t a dog eat dog atmosphere, and I have job stability. Unless I just royalty fuck up, I will always have a job here and I like the small business environment. I was given an opportunity at this company that I could not have gotten anywhere else, that I’m aware of. I also do not have a college degree, which seems to be a requirement at most brokerages. My biggest fear is that I’ll leave this office, only to go to a more corporate job that does things completely different and my tenure there will short-lived and I’ll be out of a job.  

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Apologize if my thoughts jump around incoherently and for any grammatical errors—I’m writing this quickly at the office before I get back to it this morning. 

[{"id": "e07r14k", "text": "Owners only pay 4.5% total on leases?  We are 6% in our market.  On bath sales and leases. \n\nHow much does your company take if you make x amount of dollars?\nAre you on a 50/50 split?  If so, you really need to talk to your owner about reducing your salary and upping your percentages on leases and sales.  Or a sliding scale.  The more money you make for the company then the less they take from you, which can get upwards of 95% take home for you after you've brought in enough.  \n\n", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "e07rpvw", "text": "I work for a big firm and 50/50 is about as good as it gets until you are a big producer.  Smaller firms like yours and places like RE/Max pay better typically pay better splits, but you're also not going to win the deals I win.  If I was you I'd take the experience you have and set some appointments up with larger firms.  Splits may be the same, but maybe you'll win bigger deals.  Another option would be to stay where you are at and hustle up considerably more business.  Go become a producer, get listings, make a name for yourself.  Your splits are fine and, like you said, your broker has a name people recognize.  Grossing even 100k in fees is not a lot for 6 years in.  I grossed over 400k in year 2.  Maybe forget about switching the firm and focus on switching your hustle and earning more business.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "e07xgsi", "text": "I work in the dfw market as well. If you want to send me a PM, I would love to discuss further.\n\nI started working for a small shop as well and was salary only. Making 50k. In my 2nd year I brought in 150k in commissions and go ZERO from my boss. \n\nFast forward 2 years after that I found a group that lets me do acquisitions, and leasing as well as portfolio management. \n\nMoving to a larger shop won\u2019t net you anymore money, you will be on a 50/50 split until you hit certain benchmarks, then you will pop to 60/40 so on and so fourth. \n\nDFW is insanely competitive right now. The market is screaming, and pricing is getting outrageous. We can discuss more in-depth off the thread if you\u2019d like. But I would trade carefully on making a move. 115k in fees isn\u2019t a large number. If you left you\u2019d have made 50% of that number before taxes, not even considering if you have an additional team share as well.\n\nNever count out having a base you don\u2019t need to pay back \n\n-CH", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "e07y4bn", "text": "You are getting a good deal with the salary since your deal volume is relatively low for such a busy market. Are you saying you earned about 75k last year on 115k commission total brought in? If so, then that is a good deal since you are almost making a 70% total split. I would not consider the salary a safety net tho, they can easily lay you off if market turns bad. ", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "e09po92", "text": "Small firm, DFW here, no salary, better splits than you. It's all how you look at it, but I don't think you're given an unfair shake. \n\nEither look for a bigger firm with higher volume or become a producer such that you can negotiate a better split since you have more of a direct impact to the bottom line. \n\nBest of luck. Btw, I dont think South Dallas is going to be a secret for that much longer. Just drove down 35 the other weekend and saw a lot of new projects going up", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]