Rental Property Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2016 · 28 posts · 3 votes
Hello BP,
Looking to become a part-time realtor in Philadelphia and I have been wondering what company would suit me best for parking my license. I am mostly looking to use it for my own deals in flips and rentals. Any suggestions?
Side note: I have realized that a lot of the bigger companies tie you down to almost work full time to make it worth it. I was wondering if there are places that didn't have unnecessary fees and allowed you to conveniently work for yourself.
@John Lee
Hi John,
I’m going through the same thing now myself. Finishing up my coursework and will be taking my test soon.
I’ve read Keller Williams is great for their training programs but you may not care about that if your mostly looking to act as an agent for your own deals. From what i understand, brokerages like ReMAX have flat desk fees that might be higher but the commission split is much better.
I’m still leaening too so I’m very interested to hear what others have to say on this topic as well. Best of luck to you!
I would contact a few brokerages and meet with them and see if they fit your needs. Be direct on what you are looking for and let them know you are part time. Yes, each company has different fees, desk fees etc- so this may help you choice as well!
@John Lee
Hi John,
I’m going through the same thing now myself. Finishing up my coursework and will be taking my test soon.
I’ve read Keller Williams is great for their training programs but you may not care about that if your mostly looking to act as an agent for your own deals. From what i understand, brokerages like ReMAX have flat desk fees that might be higher but the commission split is much better.
I’m still leaening too so I’m very interested to hear what others have to say on this topic as well. Best of luck to you!
KW is around $100/month in fees, much of it for E & O insurance and the digital signature subscription. I've never felt that they tied me in to full time work, I pop in the office to drop off & pick up checks, that's about it.
There are three different “memberships” you can join, depending on the number of transactions you predict you will do. You should contact them directly as I do not know all of the details for each. However, when we shopped around, absolutely nothing compared, and a huge bonus is Bill Kratz! He is simply amazing!
@John Lee It starts at 63% then bumps to 100% after you do a certain amount of business (resetting annually), depending on the location. For Philly it's about $2.5M in transactions. So it really depends on the size & frequency of your flips. Theres also a royalty program for bringing other KW agents into the fold, you get paid every time they get a commission, it would take an in depth explanation. Honestly, you should be sitting down with brokers for a few different firms near you and making a decision after getting in-depth info.
It seems as I am only potentially a few weeks "ahead" of you in my real estate career. Would undoubtedly interview a few brokerages (3 mininum) and see what feels right. My interviews with established brick and mortar brokerages felt a little old school to me, offered low commission splits, and monthly and/or transaction fees. I ended up going with a virtual brokerage. A few weeks in and I have no complaints: -seems that there is still plenty of support where I need it -literally zero fees (besides MLS and REALTOR fees) -very generous commission split until your reach your cap, similar to KW
@Jeremy Fisher
Hi Jeremy, thanks for the info! I haven’t looked into virtual brokers yet, very interesting idea. Where would you transact business in that scenario? For example, if a client needed to sign paperwork, does the virtual broker have office space available or are you on your own there?
Great connecting with you by the way! As new agents/investors, working together will only help us all grow.
@Alex Moglia Yes! Definitely, agree with that. For actual closings, I anticipate using a title company's office, the office of the other realtor involved in the transaction, or if neither of those is an option renting out a small office space for an hour or two. There are services in the city that make this an easy process, but I don't anticipate needing to use them very often.
For signing papers, the broker I use provides a premium dotloop account. Most of the paperwork will be done through that account. For meeting potential new buyers, coffee shops is common practice. New sellers, their home if in okay condition, or coffee shop.
@John Lee, I'm a part time agent in Philadelphia. I met with KW, Remax, Berkshire Hathaway, Long and Foster and a few other small Brokerages. I landed on Long and Foster because they had the lowest fees and one of the higher commission split's with good support.
I do this exactly and am with JG Real Estate. $25/month for E&O insurance, standard MLS and Realtor dues. You can negotiate your commission split. Reach out to Jared.
@John Lee, Here are the pretty standard fees regardless of which brokerage: MLS access for a non realtor would be $886 for a year and $670 if you join the Realtor association-http://www.trendmls.com/Guest/ShowJoinLinkDoc.aspx.... $476 if you want to join the Realtor association- http://www.suburbanwestrealtors.com/membership/201.... I believe E&O insurance is required and pretty standard everywhere but don't quote me on that. I believe mine is around $400 per year and that's the only fee from LNF that I see.
The above are basically the minimum dues to be a salesperson at any brokerage as far as I am aware. Most other brokerages I spoke with had additional recurring fees on top of the above minimum costs.
As far as commission splits I'm not sure what I can publicly share so I'll play it safe and just say that its similar to what KW offered but without the recurring fees and can be negotiable and go up over time. Shoot me a message if you would like to discuss in more detail.
As far as support goes. I chose to join a team of agents and I've basically got 24/7 access to have them answer any questions that I have and they usually put up weekly training videos. LNF also has an endless supply of free training videos and tools that you can use for free.
@Garrett Sowle hey Garret saw you’re a part time agent In Philadelphia I was considering this as well. I work 7-3 at my job and get home at 5 At the latest. Just wondering how doing the agent thing per time is? Are you trying to move into that space full time? Thanks!
Sorry for the delayed response. I've been staying very busy with clients and investments which killed my BP response time. Everything is going well. It was a bit of a slow start but once I got the ball rolling things started to come along quite nicely. My advice would be to go all in and stick to it. Don't quit if you get discouraged. I've got multiple closings taking place this month and looking forward to many more. Doing this part time is absolutely doable and most of my team including myself work as an engineer during the day then invests and works with buyers and sellers on nights and weekends. If you are willing to put in the work you'll see the results. I may go full time at some point and same with some other team members. It all depends on your goals. Best of luck in your journey and fell free to reach out if you have any other questions!