Real Estate Team Splits (buyers agent, commission, percentage, brokerage)

[courbon]

This is a series of questions to fellow agents regarding Teams and commission splits. An agent in my office, who's been an agent as long as I have, has offered for me to become a part of her team. She's on a higher split (90/10 v 50/50) than me and produces more. We would be the only 2 at first. I would be guaranteed $25,000 a year minimum. On her sales, I would earn 20%. On anything I bring to the team, I would make 40%. She will be paying for marketing (mailings, adverts, website). Meanwhile, I would be doing at least half the work, but we will have different responsibilities. Supposedly this is to be more a partnership than an assistant type deal. Does this seem fair?

[oldmanbob]

It all depends on how ambitous you are, as if you do anything on your own, you get 50%, and only 40 from her, so that is 10% less than had you done it yourself. Now if she can produce numbers, then her 40% if she has the volume, is better than 50% of nothing. Does that make sense. Partners should be 50 50, but maybe you are not able to produce the total as her, so work it out, and as you grow your business, then renogiate once you have youre share. Since she is on a 90%, then your 40% of 90% would be even better than your 50, if Im thinking right.

[palmcoasting]

I've never been part of a 'team' so I don't know how they work and have always wondered. Hopefully someone who has/is doing it, will chime in.
A couple of questions I would have are.. is the advertising going to include you? Promote you as much as her? Does the 50/50 split you have right now include advertising for you? How do you end the relationship? What happens when someone else comes on board? Is there that much of a difference in your sales that would warrant only getting paid 20% while doing 1/2 the work (which may actually end up more of the work). Like is she the 'front' person and you're the grunt?
Why is there such a discrepancy in your sales? What is she doing that you're not?
Do you really like her? Respect her and her ethics? What about the percentage to your brokerage? Is that already included in the splits she's talking about?

[DFGebo]

I started my career as a buyers agent. There was a team of four - one mega-lister, and three buyers agents. Everything I sold was in his name, and he after he did his split with the company, he then split with me.

For example.... 300k house, 9k commission, split 85-15 with company, then split 50/50 between himself and I.

I did this for about a year and a half.

[Sarah Maske]

Sounds OK to me AS LONG AS you have your separate responsibilities outlined and IN WRITING! I've seen these teams where duties are a little ambiguous which has led to the team breaking up because expectations aren't clear.

[Brytanica1]

We have a 50/50 with our brokerage, and our three man team splits everything three ways evenly.

Being on a team takes a lot of compromise, and a lot of trust and confidence in your partners' abilities.

[Brandon Hoffman]

Originally Posted by courbon

This is a series of questions to fellow agents regarding Teams and commission splits. An agent in my office, who's been an agent as long as I have, has offered for me to become a part of her team. She's on a higher split (90/10 v 50/50) than me and produces more. We would be the only 2 at first. I would be guaranteed $25,000 a year minimum. On her sales, I would earn 20%. On anything I bring to the team, I would make 40%. She will be paying for marketing (mailings, adverts, website). Meanwhile, I would be doing at least half the work, but we will have different responsibilities. Supposedly this is to be more a partnership than an assistant type deal. Does this seem fair?

Sounds more like you're an assistant and she's running the show but that might not be a bad thing. As an assistant or buyer agent those aren't bad terms in my opinion.

Oh, I do have a team. I have a marketing director that is paid hourly and a buyer agent that is paid out of my commission split. Everything closes in my name. I pay all expenses. I promote only myself (The Brandon Hoffman Team) and explain why the team concept is good for the client. I like for my buyer agent to be present when we meet buyers for the time but it's not always possible.