Are you part of a brokerage as opposed to having your own broker's license? If so, why?
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To all the agents in the house,
Are you part of a brokerage as opposed to having your own broker's license? If so, why?
The larger brokerage model seems an elemental part of real estate.
Outsiders like myself follow agents' careers by the brokerages they join and leave. Further, brokerages are a way to keep score and make sense of the residential real estate economy. Can Compass's potential IPO be judged a success? What's going on with Keller Williams' shifting leadership team?
But how necessary are brokerages for agents finding clients?
The Internet has been around for over 25 years now, and as Steve Murray of RealTrends has noted, at no point has the number of agents involved in home sale transactions dipped. The vast majority of people still prefer agents to guide them through a home sale.
But, as Murray also notes, almost 70% of agents hired are done through a personal referral. That means, arguably, that the brokerage is needless for the majority of lead generations.
To be sure, the brokerage may be helpful for some of that other 30%. Brokerages like @properties in Chicago tout proprietary software with information about potential homebuyers who, say, search Zillow a lot, or scheduled home showings. I'd like to know more about how helpful such software is in agents' experiences.
Also, as agents, what ties do you feel to your present brokerage?
As a journalist, I have experience with the independent contractor labor model. I told interview subjects I was from Chicago Art Magazine, or wherever, which I suppose lent myself legitimacy, the same way affiliating with a brokerage might. I'd write a story, and get paid a flat fee, or by the word.
But I was not financially invested via a salary or health benefits. I also was not emotionally invested through working with the same colleagues every day, five days a week.
So, what level of investment do you have both to your present brokerage, and, more generally, the need to affiliate yourself with a larger brokerage? Please let me know your thoughts anonymously, meaning that I won't publish anything you write without your permission. My email is mblake@housingwire.com.
Sincerely, Matthew Blake Senior Real Estate Reporter
Zillow, for years, made money selling leads to real estate agents, a practice that agents like Mynor Herrera already felt ambivalent toward. But Zillow has changed. HW+ Premium Content
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