Career Change in Commercial Real Estate Brokerage

In commercial real estate brokerage today, it is not unusual for some agents and the brokers to change employer from time to time.  That will be for a variety of reasons including better market share, administrative support, and commissions.  There is no point in working for or brokerage that doesn’t give you the necessary back-up and overall support.

On that basis it pays to understand the employment and career standards that are being offered by other brokers in your area when they employ new people.  Perhaps you are looking for a change now?  Here are some tips to help you with identifying the correct brokerage to move to.

  1. In many respects, the brokerage that you move to should have reasonable market share, and significant branding.  At a local level, you need these factors to help you with attracting the correct listings and the quality clients.
  2. Do some researching on the Internet together with a signboard count through the local area to understand who are the top agents and the numbers of listings in each case.  If possible, determine how they have reached the level of high performance locally.
  3. You will have some specialized skill and knowledge relating to the local property market.  It is a matter of understanding if the potential new employer has any profile in that preferred market segment.  Understand the differences between Office Property, Industrial Property and Retail Property when it comes to each potential new employer.  Look for the brokerage with the correct profile in the market segment of your choice.
  4. Reputation is a big issue in our industry.  That will be both at a professional level individually, and at a brokerage level.  Determine the reputation of the brokerage that you could potentially move to; if necessary speak to some of the clients and prospects locally.  How are they regarded in the local area?  Would you see them as a top agency or brokerage?
  5. Find out how many listings the preferred brokerage has locally, as well as the converted transactions in sales and leasing that have occurred over the last 12 months.
  6. Successful commercial real estate transactions are largely a reflection of specialised training and top agents.  Understand the high profile agents within each brokerage.  How have they achieved that profile?
  7. The support and the administration processes offered in each brokerage are really important.  There may be differing costs associated with desk fees, marketing, telephone, stationery, administration, and database.  It is quite likely that each brokerage will be different when it comes to these special fees and charges associated with employment.
  8. Understand the restrictions on trade that could be imposed if you were to move brokerage at a time in the future.  Those restrictions could apply to important issues including your database, client contact, and property type.
  9. Understand the differences in commission and any salary base that could apply.  It is not unusual to have a commission and salary offset.  That being said, there will be a debit and credit system to watch out for.  Don’t get too far behind when it comes to the debit situation.  The regular prospecting process will help you with building market share and staying ahead of the salary costs.  Be prepared at all times to do whatever it takes to improve your client database, and your quality listings.  Build your market share on a professional reputation and a results profile.
  10. Consider the new brokerage.  Will you be restricted as to the property type and the area in which you will be operating?  How would you be working within the team?  Will the commission sharing arrangements be satisfactory to you?  Will the commissions improve given your successful listing and transaction activity?
  11. What type of support will you achieve or require from the administrative team?  Will there be a cost associated with that?  How fair and reasonable will that costing process be?  Will you be sharing that administrative support team with others and how will that work?

So there are some important issues here in this list to consider.  Understand all the facts that could have an impact on your career as a top commercial real estate agent or broker.  Ask the questions before you move or change brokerage.

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