Why don't more big-shot agents start their own brokerages? Do big name brokerages feed lots of business?
So, I understand many of the pros of working for CBRE/JLL/C&amp;W etc. especially for national brand tenant reps, institutional sales, and large cities.  But in regards to local agents selling small/medium size buildings in a suburban market, what is the justification for forking over the huge commission splits?  Why don't more agents get their broker licenses and work solo? 

I am contemplating the move solo (from a tiny brokerage office), but it is blatantly obvious that very few of the successful agents nearby do this.  If I bust my ass at CBRE/JLL/C&amp;W, will they feed me lots of extra business/clients?  Because if not, what's the point?  My thinking is that if I go solo and only sell an average of two $1MM buildings per year with no co-broker that is $100k before expenses.  Plus the much larger deals that close sporadically and the little leases in between.
[{"id": "j0cg7g8", "text": "Big shot agents make much much more than 100k.  The big shops probably are giving them 100k in costs between support staff, subscriptions etc.\n\nBut yeah some do, there are plenty of small firms doing big bumbers out there who have partners that came from big shops.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "j0cggu9", "text": "risk .... reward\n\nyou want all the commission, fine pay all the bills and take all the risk\n\nI have seen 2 well know brokers break off on their own in the last 2 years and they seem to be killing it.", "replies": [{"id": "j0cwdby", "text": "Right, but if you have a good relationship with these clients, you can bring those clients to the company you started", "replies": [{"id": "j0d0eqg", "text": "This is not always the case\u2026", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "j0cvxqa", "text": "Would you walk away from making millions of dollars a year at a chance at starting your own firm? Many people would say no. The average business owner in America only makes around $60k a year.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "j0d6jjn", "text": "Don\u2019t underestimate the support/overhead.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "j0dpuev", "text": "Work at a big shop if possible to build the network and understand how the senior agents run their business. Once you build a track record of consistent business, have repeat clients, etc., then I'd consider if it makes to sense to start your own brokerage/fund.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "j0eixgg", "text": "Having worked with a senior broker who has made $1-3m/yr for probably their last 10 years, many brokers absolutely suck at running the business of running a brokerage. \n\nThey are bull dogs who love when their client calls them at 3am. They care about closing deals and getting the next deal lined up. They operate efficiently and are savage in executing. \n\nHowever, working with them is usually a mess. They dont care to operate the \u201cbusiness\u201d side of the business, hiring, managing staff, managing more than the  associates on their team. \n\nNot all seniors are like this but it seems more common. \n \nA lot of these people are ultra competitive. You have to do a lot of deal flow to make a lot of money while paying out 30-50%. But many of these people wouldn\u2019t make the trade off for less deal volume with more potential earnings\u2026 out of ego.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "j0ezlva", "text": "The network of the big brokerages can be invaluable. They connect you with the biggest clients that are untouchable to small brokerages.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "j0f2cgo", "text": "The work load and responsibilities of running a company take up so much time that brokers often find they sacrifice their pipeline/clients in order to do it. They got to that position by being a successful broker, opening your own  time rage is almost like a career change.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "j0fby1q", "text": "You go to a place for two reasons: platform and splits. Nobody ever got fired for going with cbre. The brand should bring you business. \n\nOtherwise sure, go to Keller Williams or some resi shop like compass. Pay to use the copier and once you gross 50k you are on an 80/20 split. They handle the insurance and compliance stuff. \n\nAnd if you only sold 2m a year you are not making desk costs and you would be fired from one of the big shops, this is a job not a hobby.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "j0g3gjw", "text": "Agents underestimate the cost and time of running their own shop. Leasing office space (clients want to see you have something outside of your home office), staff members, marketing materials, online licenses (salesforce, costar, loopnet, ownership lookup, etc.), legal for when a lawsuit arises, all the back end accounting and file keeping of records. Agents will devalue their platform or they get too used to what they know and stop using all the platforms features.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "j0gfng4", "text": "The deal flow difference is immense: I work for an international flag (call it a top 20 firm. You might know it, you might not) in a top 50 metro (you've probably heard of it). I've gotten probably 3 deals from the flag in 4 years I've been there. One of the 3 firms you listed decided to put \"boots on the ground\" in our metro and hired some of our top producers. I bumped into one a month after he made the jump, he told me he had already gotten more referrals after a month than he had in years with our flag.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "j0gi9p0", "text": "I will give you some anecdotal evidence based on my experience, although I don't work for a large firm. Essentially from my conversations with brokers and my own experience a lot of it simply comes down to cost and effort. Many top producing brokers are top producers because they focus solely on getting listings and finishing deals. They don't have the appetite or the time to run a brokerage business on top of that managing personnel and potentially other agents. For my unique situation, I currently feel as though I can \"keep\" more of my earnings by staying under my current broker. In addition to some name recognition I also am not directly responsible for renting an office, our assistant, CoStar, Errors and omissions insurance, etc. By the time you subtract all of those expenses that typically come out of your commission split, there's a lot more to manage and you end up about where you left off or sometimes worse from an expense standpoint.\n\n&amp;#x200B;\n\nThis kind of goes hand in hand with the \"emyth\" the idea that just because an individual is good at a task doesn't mean they'd be good at running a business in that same field. Many brokers are good at getting listings, negotiating and doing deals, but also running the business side of an agency can be viewed as something that could only produce marginally more income with the addition of potentially drastically higher expenses.\n\n&amp;#x200B;\n\ntldr; if you're a high producing broker, it may be better to trade a portion of your commission to not have to worry about the day to day running of a brokerage, you get to just focus on your time strictly on deals and not running a full business/managing people.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]