Short Answer: Hanging your real estate license means choosing the real estate brokerage that you, as a salesperson, want to work with. Real estate brokerages come in all shapes and sizes, but with enough diligence you can find the right fit for your goals and lifestyle.
Choosing where to hang your license is a big decision. While making the wrong initial decision isn’t the end of the world, you can save considerable time and energy by finding the right fit on your first try.
Why Do I Even Need a Brokerage?
By law, new licensees – and, moreover, all agents - must be affiliated with a brokerage in order for their salesperson licenses to be valid and active. A real estate brokerage is simply an individual or a company with a broker’s license. When you hang your license with a brokerage, the brokerage is essentially validating your career as an agent and becoming responsible for you. If you mess up, the broker is going to hear about it. For this reason, brokerages often carry Error & Omission insurance policies that will protect both you and the broker; brokers don’t do this solely out of the goodness of their hearts, and you will need to pay them in the form of flat fees and/or commission splits.
So, Where Do I Begin?
The fact that you are reading this means you have the self-motivating personality necessary to create a successful real estate career.
The first step is to understand what your real estate career goals are and how a brokerage fits into them. Here are some questions you should ask yourself:
- Would you prefer to be a full-time real estate agent or work on your own schedule?
- Do you have contacts already or do you need a brokerage to help you stir up business?
- How much training do you want?
- What percentage of your commissions are you comfortable forking over to the brokerage?
How Do You Choose a Brokerage?
Once you know what you want from your real estate brokerage, it’s time to start looking for the most suitable one. For example, if you want to work full-time, don’t have many contacts, and need training, there is a wealth of large brokerages that will hire you. Know, however, that these traditional firms tend to take in excess of 50% of your commissions.
On the other hand, there are also alternative options for real estate licensees with different goals. Minetta Realty, for example, provides much more flexibility in its model. Brokerages like Minetta can be the right fit for someone who plans to work as a real estate agent part-time, here and there, or not at all (i.e., someone who just wants to maintain an active license ). Note that working full-time is equally welcome. While these alternative brokerages won’t provide you with as much hands-on training and business development as traditional brokerages, their commission splits are much more favorable: 80% for Minetta agents.
Okay, I Have Made My Decision…
Great! Be confident and comfortable with the brokerage you choose. If it doesn’t work out, you can always move your real estate license to a different brokerage. The paths to success in the industry are certainly diverse, so periodically reevaluate your goals and challenge yourself to reach them.
