Who are the brokers? Are they the VPs of the specific team? Or are they the associates of the team as well?
[{"id": "dojxxrm", "text": "[This Article](https://www.thebalance.com/real-estate-broker-and-agent-1798869) might help you but to put it simply:\n\n* Real Estate Brokers are a step above agents. They require a broker's license, and additional classes that an agent does not need to take.\n\n\n\n* Brokers tend to have more experience than agents and must work as an agent for [36 of the last 48 months] (https://www.realtor.com/advice/buy/whats-difference-real-estate-salesperson-broker/) as an agent before becoming a broker.\n\n\n\n* Broker's can own their own business while real estate agents cannot. Broker Associates choose to work for a larger company anyways", "replies": [{"id": "dok1rzj", "text": "Is that just for residential? Or does it apply to commercial as well?", "replies": [{"id": "dok2dcl", "text": "It can get confusing, because most agents (associates, VPs, etc) are referred to as \"Brokers\" even though they are acting as agents. The Broker is the company. ", "replies": [{"id": "dok2g40", "text": "Ohhh. Gotchya. So CBRE/JLL/Colliers are brokers. Within these companies, there's also some brokers (high up people) and agents?", "replies": [{"id": "dok30vp", "text": "Yes, some people who work there are also brokers, meaning they have their broker's licenses. The commissions are paid to the company and distributed to the agents and brokers depending on splits. Having a broker license means that a broker can open their own shop and get paid commissions directly. At big shops (any that you know by name) they are not actively using their broker license. The company is. ", "replies": [], "depth": 5}, {"id": "dokftx9", "text": "CBRE/JLL/Colliers are Real Estate firm. The Managing Brokers of those individual branches hold a \"brokers license\". A brokers license has additional requirements like holding an agents license for 24 or 36 months and required courses through TREC. \n\nWhen people refer to \"hanging their license\" they are referring to affiliating their agents license with a Broker holding a brokers license. The confusion comes from the fact that agents aren't called agents, but brokers, when in fact most are technically agents. So much so that it's not a strange question to ask some one that refers to themselves as a real estate broker if they actually hold a Brokers license or an agents license. I think comes from the fact that everyone outside of the industry that doesn't know the difference just refers to all agents and brokers as \"brokers\". \n\nTo your question, both agents and brokers broker deals. The \"Broker\" is technically supposed to oversee any agents with their licenses affiliated with them, and must sign off on commission statements. It's more of an oversight thing than anything else, and in most cases the \"Broker\" has nothing to do with the agents business. Most of this is stated above in parts. ", "replies": [], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}, {"id": "doklenq", "text": "That's more of a residential answer but admirably thorough. ", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "dp2li03", "text": "Varies by state. In Illinois, it used to be Agent / Broker, but they basically changed those two license levels to Broker / Managing Broker, which is admittedly confusing.\n\nAlso those are the licenses you can hold, which is different from your job title, which varies widely by company. Some of the larger firms have a ton of job title inflation, where everyone and their mom is basically a VP.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "dokad06", "text": "Terminology is very very state specific. There are a lot of different terms used by a lot of different states. Agent, Broker, Salesperson, etc...\n\nIn WA State for example there are no agents, that is not a defined term. Just brokers. You are not a licensed real estate agent, you are licensed real estate broker.\n\n/u/goldleafre link and explanation is inaccurate as it applies apparently only to California.\n\n", "replies": [{"id": "dokc8gk", "text": "This is the correct answer. It's state specific. ", "replies": [], "depth": 2}, {"id": "dokfxms", "text": "This is true for WA, they just changed the terms. So instead of agents and brokers, there are brokers and managing brokers, with a managing brokers license having additional requirement. ", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "doklcgm", "text": "In commercial, yes for the vast majority. Associates do the grunt work and occasionally property tours, work their way up to a midlevel position like AVP or Jr VP or Director etc. ", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]