eXp Realty vs LPT vs REAL Broker Revenue Share Side-By-Side Comparison
One of the advantages to joining a cloud-based real estate brokerage is access to additional streams of income into your business, like Revenue Share. Revenue Share is essentially a company taking their marketing budget and instead of spending on traditional advertisement, they give that same budget to the agents who are helping grow the company one agent at a time.
The biggest benefit to this is the new agent joining now has a sponsor into the company and their sponsor now has an additional stream of income into their businesses. This also benefits the company with increased agent retention.
The three biggest real estate brokerages following this growth model today are eXp Realty, REAL Broker and LPT Realty. In this article, we are going to take a deep dive into all three companies’ Revenue Share programs, go over the pros and cons of each, and run several different scenarios comparing REAL Broker vs eXp Realty vs LPT Realty’s revenue share models.
REAL Broker Revenue Share Explained 2024
REAL Broker has a simple 5,4,3,2,1 revenue share model. Any agent that you directly sponsor into the company, you will receive 5% of every commission they earn until they cap with the company. So out of the 15% that REAL Broker takes from the agent, REAL keeps 10% and pays their sponsor 5%.
This is a maximum of $4,000 a year for any agent you directly sponsor into the company. This agent will be considered in your Tier 1.
Any agent they bring in will be in your Tier 2 and you will earn 4% of every commission they earn until they cap which is up to $3,200 a year.
For Tier 3 agents you will earn 3% of every commission until they cap which is up to $2,400 a year.
For Tier 4 agents you will earn up to 2% of every commission until they cap which is up to $1,600 a year.
For Tier 5 agents, you will earn up to 1% of every commission until they cap which is up to $800 a year.
You’ll notice, if you add up the potential revenue share for each tier it ads up to exactly $12,000 which is REAL Broker’s cap.
Example: If you bring in 10 capping agents in your Tier 1, REAL Broker will pay you $40,000 in revenue share that year.
Unlocking Tiers
As soon as you join REAL Broker, your Tier 1 benefits are automatically unlocked. However, you do need to unlock your Tier 2 through 5 benefits. You do this by having a certain number of “Producing Agents” in your tier 1.
REAL Broker defines a “producing agent” as an agent who “ from whom the Company has received at least $450 from the Company’s fifteen percent (15%) share of that Agent’s Commission in the prior six (6) month period. “. In other words, the agent needs to earn at least $3,000 in total commission within a 6 month period to count as a producing agent for the purpose of unlocking tiers.
You will need at least 5 producing agents in your Tier 1 to unlock your Tier 2 benefits. 15 producing agents to unlock your Tier 3 benefits, 20 producing agents to unlock your Tier 4 benefits, and 25 producing agents to unlock your Tier 5 benefits.
REAL Broker Co-Sponsorship Explained
One unique benefit REAL Broker offers is co-sponsorship where when an agent joins, they have the option of listing up to 2 agents as their sponsor into the company.
By listing two agents as sponsors, the revenue share gets split 45%/45%/10% between the two agents and real brokers retaining 10%. REAL Broker say they do this because if an agent does co-sponsorships with an agent in their Tier 5, they are essentially unlocking “unlimited tiers” and REAL wants to retain 10% to ensure the revenue share program is sustainable.
Qualify To Receive Revenue Share
A unique caveat to REAL Broker’s revenue share program is that in order for an agent to qualify to receive any revenue share, they themselves must be a “producing agent” at REAL Broker. So the agent must earn at least $3,000 in commissions in a 6 month period to qualify as a producing agent. This $3,000 commission can come in the form as referrals, team leader splits, rentals or sales.
REAL says they have this requirement because they want to be a company of producing agents. With this, REAL does have a Revenue Share Retirement Plan where an agent can step out of production completely and still receive their revenue share.
If an agent is a producing agent for at least 1 year, they can step out of production and still receive 20% of their revenue share. If they are a producing agent for at lest 2 years, they can step out of production and receive 40% of their revenue share. 3 years will give them 60%, 4 years 80% and if they are a producing agent at REAL for at least 5 years, they can step out of production and receive 100% of their revenue share.
Willable Revenue Share
Another unique benefit to REAL Broker’s revenue share program is that it is completely willable. If you pass away, you can designate your child, grandchild or other beneficiary to continue to receive your monthly revenue share checks.
Their willable revenue share program is structured similar to their retirement plan except it starts at 3 years. If you are a producing agent for at least 3 years, you can will 60% of your revenue share, if you are a producing agent for at least 4 years you can will 80% and if you are a producing agent for at least 5 years, you can will 100% of your revenue share.
Personal Thoughts
Out of all three companies, I feel like REAL Broker has the simplest revenue share model with their 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 structure. I like that they pay out the most on their Tier 1 one of up to $4,000 a year because this is the only tier you really have any control over and will probably be the only tier that most agents who do receive revenue share will actually have any agents on.
Out of the three companies, REAL also pays out the MOST in revenue share as a % of their monthly income. REAL pays out up to 60% of their monthly income back to the agents while eXp Realty and LPT Realty only pay up to 50% of their monthly income.
When compared to eXp’s revenue share model where agents get paid out more for a Tier 2 agent than on their Tier 1, agents are left with an uncomfortable decision of either trying to earn the most revenue share for an agent on Tier 2 OR place them in their Tier 1 to try and unlock additional Tiers. You don’t have this dilemma at REAL Broker.
REAL Broker is also the only company that has TRUE willable revenue share which can be left to children. eXp Realty say their revenue share is willable but assumable is probably a better term for it. The person you will it to also has to be a real estate and with eXp Realty and can then assume your downline.
I’m a single parent and my son has severe intellectual disabilities and autism and for me it gives me great peace of mind knowing that he will continue to receive my revenue share if I pass away.
Another big difference between REAL and eXp Realty’s revenue share models is that REAL pays out on 5 tiers whereas eXp pays out on 7 tiers. On the surface, 7 may seem better than 5 but in my opinion, the hidden benefits of eliminating Tier 6 and 7 are worth it.
One thing to keep in mind as well, is that it is very rare to actually receive revenue share on your 7th tier at eXp. The numbers that I have seen show that less than 0.1% of agents at the company ever receive a revenue share on their 7th tier.
By eliminating Tier 7 in eXp’s model which pays out up to $4,000 a year, REAL was instead able to lower it’s cap for ALL agents by $4,000. So our cap at the company is $12,000 a year instead of $16,000 a year.
And my eliminating Tier 6 which pays out up to $2,000 a year, REAL was able to pay out MORE on 3 of the 5 Tiers. REAL pays out $1,200 more on Tier 1, $400 more on Tier 3, and $400 more on Tier 4. When you combine the difference it comes to $2,000 which is exactly what Tier 6 pays at eXp Realty. I don’t think this is a coincidence.
So by eliminating Tier 6 and Tier 7 out of eXp’s model the top 0.1% of agents at the company may not make as much in revenue share as they could at eXp Realty BUT aLL agents at the company are going to save up to $4,000 a year on their cap and the vast majority of agents who never would have unlocked Tier 6 or 7 will earn MORE in revenue share because of this.
LPT Realty Revenue Share Explained 2024
LPT Realty is one of the newest cloud brokerages on the scene and I see them as a “third-generation cloud brokerage”. They have two business models offered to agents, Business Builder which is a $500 per transaction flat fee model with a $5,000 a year cap and are not eligible to receive revenue share, however, you can build a downline and switch over to their RevShare Partner program when you are ready to start receiving your rev share. Rev Share partner program is similar to eXp with it’s 80/20% split and $15,00 a year cap.
I have talked with multiple LPT Realty agents who estimate about 90% to 95% of the company is with the flat fee Business Builder plan.
LPT Realty Revenue Share tiers
Similar to eXp, LPT also offers revenue share on 7 tiers. However, it is far easier to unlock your Tier 2 through 7 benefits then at either REAL or eXp Realty.
You need to have 3 “active agents” in your Tier 1 to unlock your Tier 2 benefits, 5 active agents in your Tier 1 to unlock your Tier 3 benefits, 7 to unlock your Tier 4 benefits, 9 to unlock your Tier 5 benefits, 14 to unlock your Tier 6 benefits and 15 to unlock your Tier 7 benefits.
LPT Realty does pay out different amounts of revenue share depending on which business plan the agent chooses.
For Tier 1, you can earn up to $775 a year for a Business Builder agent and up to $2,325 a year for a Rev Share Partner agent.
For Tier 2, you can earn up to $450 a year for a Business Builder agent and up to $1,350 a year for a Rev Share Partner agent.
For Tier 3, you can earn up to $175 a year for a Business Builder agent and up to $525 a year for a Rev Share Partner agent.
For Tier 4, you can earn up to $175 a year for a Business Builder agent and up to $525 a year for a Rev Share Partner agent.
For Tier 5, you can earn up to $175 a year for a Business Builder agent and up to $525 a year for a Rev Share Partner agent.
For Tier 6, you can earn up to $250 a year for a Business Builder agent and up to $750 a year for a Rev Share Partner agent.
For Tier 7, you can earn up to $500 a year for a Business Builder agent and up to $1,500 a year for a Rev Share Partner agent.
Program Requirments
There are two caveats to their revenue share program you should be aware of. First, you can not collect ANY revenue share for your first 120 days at the company. They say they do this because they want agents to stay focus on production during this time.
You should also be aware that all of your revenue share FIRST gets applied to your $15,000 cap.
Qualify To Receive Revenue Share
In order to qualify to receive revenue share you must be enrolled in their RevShare Partner program and be in good standing with the company.
Personal Thoughts
Because the majority of the company is with the Business Builder plan, LPT’s revenue share program pays out significantly less than REAL Broker’s or eXp’s revenue share programs. We are talking about up to $775 a year for a business builder agent at LPT compared to $4,000 a year for a capping agent at REAL Broker or $2,800 a year at eXp Realty AND for you to get that $775 a year at LPT, the agent needs to close at least 10 transactions a year, while on average an agent can cap at REAL and eXp Realty with just 7 transactions.
They claim they offset this by making it easier to unlock tiers but in my opinion, it does not offset it anywhere near enough. With my estimate of 90% to 95% of the company being the business builder model, most agents who receive rev share would only receive a fraction at LPT compared to what they get at REAL or eXp Realty.
This is relevant BECAUSE LPT is not going to attract many large teams, builders or influencers into the company because they don’t provide a very strong incentive for them. If you have a 100-agent independent brokerage, you would only make about 20% in revenue share at LPT of you would if you transferred to REAL Broker instead.
My concern with this is also how does offering such low revenue share affect the culture, community and training in the company? I know I am very active in my company and provide lots of training willingly BECAUSE of the amount of revenue share I receive. If 95% of the agents don’t receive ANY revenue share and the agents that do, don’t receive very much, I can’t see how it would not have an impact on the culture, community, and training in the company.
I also DON’T like that your revenue share goes towards your cap FIRST! Let’s say you want to semi-retire or become a referral agent or part-time agent, you still have to pay LPT your $15,000 a year before you can start receiving your full revenue share. This seems like a policy that benefits the company far more then it benefits the agent.
eXp Realty Revenue Share Explained 2024
Exp Realty provides two forms of revenue share to their agents, eXpansion Shares and eXponetial Shares, which combined give you your total % of AGCI “Adjusted Gross Commission Income”. AGCI is calculated monthly so that no more then 50% of the companies revenue is paid back to the agents in the form of revenue share. If that months revenue share exceeds 50% of the companies total revenue cap then they will reduce the amount of revenue share paid out to all their agents. So all of the following figured provided may not be the final amount agents receive. Source pg. 41
eXp Realty Revenue Share tiers
eXp pays out both forms of revenue share up to 7 Tiers. So any agent that you directly bring in will be in your Tier 1, any agent they bring in will be in your Tier 2 and so on going down 7 tiers.
When it comes to eXpansion Shares, your tier 2 through 7 benefits are automatically unlocked but when it comes to eXponetial Shares, you do not receive all the benefits of your 7 tiers automatically, instead you need to unlock Tier 2 through 7 benefits. You do this by having a certain number of “Front Line Qualifying Agents” in your Tier 1.
eXp Realty defines a Front Line Qualifying Agent as an agent who “during the prior rolling six-month period by closing a minimum of $5,000 in Gross Commission Income” source.
The following are the current FLQA requirements to unlock your tier 2-7 benefits for eXpoential Shares.
Tier 2: 5+ FLQA
Tier 3: 10+ FLQA
Tier 4: 15+ FLQA
Tier 5: 20+ FLQA
Tier 6: 25+ FLQA
Tier 7: 30+ FLQA
eXpansion Shares
eXp Realty pays out eXpansion Shares on Tier 2-7 automatically without you having to unlock these benefits. You will earn 0.2% of any commission an agent in your Tier 2 earns until they cap, this is a maximum of $160 a year, you will earn 0.1% of any agent in your Tier 3, Tier4 and Tier 5 until they cap which is up to $80 a year, you will earn 0.5% for your Tier 6 and Tier 7 which is up to $400 a year.
Example: If you have 10 agents on your Tier 2, you will earn $1,600 a year in eXpansion Shares Revenue Share.
eXponetial Shares & %AGCI
eXp Realty will provide a sponsor 3.5% of every commission an agent commission they directly sponsored into the company until that agent caps with the company. This is known as a “Tier 1 Agent”. With a $16,000 a year cap, this is a maximum of $2,800 a year a sponsor can make by directly bringing in an agent into the company.
Example: Let’s say you directly bring in 10 capping agents, eXp Realty will pay you $28,000 a year in revenue share for those agents.
On Tiers 2-7, eXp Realty offers both eXpansion Shares and eXponetial Shares and when combined these two are known as “% of AGCI”. The following is a breakdown of all three numbers broken down by tiers. These numbers are assuming you have unlocked all of your tier benefits for exponential Shares and assuming the companies total revenue share owed for the month does not exceed 50% of their monthly revenue.
Tier 1: You can earn up to 3.5% in eXponential Shares for a maximum of $2,800 a year
Tier 2: You can earn up to 0.2% and 3.8% for a total of 4% of AGCI which is a maximum of $3,200 a year.
Tier 3: You can earn up to 0.1% and 2.4% for a total of 2.5% of AGCI which is a maximum of $2,000 a year.
Tier 4: You can earn up to 0.1% and 1.4% which is 1.5% of AGCI which is a maximum of up to $1,200 a year
Tier 5: You can earn up to 0.1% and 0.9% which gives you 1% of AGCI and is a maximum of up to $800 a year.
Tier 6: You can earn up to 0.5% and 2% which 2.5% of AGCI and is a maximum of $2,000 a year.
Tier 7: You can earn up to 0.5% and 4.5% which is a total of 5% AGCI and is a maximum of $4,000 a year.
You’ll notice if you had up the maximum reve share for all 7 tiers, it ads up to $16,000 which is eXp’s cap.
Assumable Downline
At eXp Realty they do have a benefit where if an agent with a downline passes away, their family members can assume their downline. The family member has up to 6 months to get their real estate license after the agent passes away and must maintain an active license at eXp Realty in order to continue receiving the departed agent’s revenue share.
Qualify To Receive Revenue Share
“In order to be qualified to receive revenue share, both eXpansion Share and eXponential Share, an Agent must be Revenue Share Eligible on the date when a Qualifying Sale Transaction closes, and the Agent’s license must be active and affiliated with eXp in every state that the Agent engages in activities requiring a real estate license.”
Personal Thoughts
I do like that eXp Realty offers the “eXpansion Shares” so agents can receive something for agents in tiers they have not unlocked yet. Most of these tiers only pay out 0.1% which is up to $80 a year, so not a whole lot but every dollar counts and it is a unique feature most other brokerages do not have.
However, I find eXp’s revenue share model very confusing and hard to understand. Even just the eXpansion Shares, eXponetial Shares & %AGCI is hard to wrap your head around at fist and I think they could benefit by just simplifying these terms.
I also don’t like how they structured the % of commission for each Tier, in my opinion, it is obvious that they did this to benefit the company and not the agent. For example, the tier that pays out the most, of up to $4,000 a year, is the HARDEST to unlock tier and they know that 99% of agents will never unlock their 7th tier. In contrast, REAL Broker pays out the MOST of up to $4,000 a year on their Tier 1 which is automatically unlocked.
I believe they also pay out MORE on Tier 2 than they do on their Tier 1 for no other reason than to incentivize agents to put new recruits on their Tier 2 INSTEAD of having them on their Tier 1 which will help in unlocking additional tier benefits for the agent. Again, in my opinion it is structured this way to benefit the company, not the agent.
After crunching the numbers, I do belive that if you are a full-time recruiter or influencer and you think you can build a top 1% downline at eXp Realty and unlock all 7 tiers, you probably will make more revenue share than at any other company. However, if you are a producing agent and revenue share is seen as an additional stream of income for you and your goals is to get a few dozen or even a few hundred agents in your downline, you will probably make more money in revenue share at REAL Broker.
eXp Realty vs LPT vs REAL Broker Rev Share Calculator
Now let’s run a few scenarios through my calculator to give you an idea of how much you can realistically earn in revenue share from all three companies. This does get tricky because so much depends on what tiers your agents are in and what tiers you have unlocked. Your downline may look like a pyramid, an inverse pyramid or even skinny at the top and bottom but filled out in the middle.
Just to set expectations, at both REAL and eXp Realty, only about 15% of agents at the companies receive any revenue share at all, at LPT that number is almost certainly a lot smaller. Another way to look at this number is that about 85% of the agents who you bring into the company WILL NOT bring in anyone else underneath them.
There is a narrative that many recruiters promote that if you just bring in a few agents yourself, those agents will build a network of hundreds or thousands for you. I can assure you that is NOT the case for the vast majority of agents at any of these companies. With that in mind, I am trying to keep these scenarios as conservative as possible.
Two things to note for these scenarios.
1. LPT Realty offers different amounts of revenue share depending if an agent is enrolled with their Buisness Builder plan or their RevShare Partner Plan. Because my estimate is that 90% to 95% of the company is enrolled in the Buisness Builder plan, based on many conversations with LPT agents, I am only going to be comparing the Buinsess Builder rev share as that is what you are most likely going to earn at LPT.
2. When I’m referring to a “capping agent” at REAL Broker and eXp realty an agent caps on average at about 7 transactions where at LPT realty with their business builder plan an agent caps at 10 transactions. So it is not quite an apples-to-apple comparison because it is actually harder to earn the full amount of rev share shown at LPT then it is at REAL and eXp.
Scenario 1
3 Tier 1 Agents
In the fist scenario, let’s say you just bring in 3 capping agents at all three companies into your Tier 1. At REAL Broker you will earn $12,000 a year in revenue share, at eXp Realty you will earn $8,400 a year in revenue share and at LPT Realty you will earn $2,325 a year in revenue share.
3 capping Tier 1 agents is the goal of many REAL Broker agents as this will fully cover your $12,000 a year cap at the company. At eXp Realty you would need 6 Tier 1 capping agents to cover your own cap and at LPT Realty you would need 20 Tier 1 capping agents to cover your cap with the company.
Scenario 2
10 Tier 1 agents
Let’s say you directly bring in 10 capping agents into your tier 1. At REAL Broker you will earn $40,000 a year in revenue share, at eXp Realty you will earn $28,000 a year in revenue share and at LPT Realty you will earn $7,750 a year in revenue share.
At REAL Broker, you will also now unlock your Tier 2 benefits, at eXp Realty you will now unlock your Tier 3 benefits and at LPT Realty you will unlock your Tier 6 benefits.
Scenario 3
15 Tier 1 Agents with 1:0.5 Growth
In this scenario, let’s assume you directly bring in 15 capping agents into your Tier 1, and let’s assume 50% of those agents bring in 1 other agent and we apply this to all tiers. So each tier is half the size of the previous tier which will produce an inverse pyramid network.
In this scenario, at REAL Broker you will unlock 3 tiers and receive $95,200 a year in revenue share. At eXp Realty you will unlock 4 tiers and receive $78,000 a year in revenue share. At LPT Realty, you will unlock all 7 tiers of revenue share and receive $17,200 in revenue share.
This scenario is interesting because it shows how at these numbers, the amount of revenue share you earn per tier is far more important than the number of tiers you unlock. At REAL Broker with just 3 tiers unlocked, you will earn $78,000 MORE than at LPT Realty with all 7 tiers unlocked.
Now when running different scenarios, there is going to be a total network size where unlocking all 7 tiers will become more profitable, but it will require a very large network before you reach that point.
Scenario 4
15 Tier 1 Agents 1:1 growth
Now let’s look at the same number of Tier 1 agents but in this scenario assume that each agent brings on 1 other agent going all the way down to all open tiers.
So at REAL Broker you would have a total network size of 45 agents across 3 tiers and receive $144,000 a year in revenue share, at eXp you would have a total network of 60 agents across 4 tiers and receive $138,000 in revenue share and at LPT Realty you would have a total network size of 105 agents across all 7 tiers and receive $37,500 in revenue share.
I think this scenario again demonstrates that it is not just about how many tiers you have OR how many agents that you have in your total network. At REAL Broker you can make more in revenue share with a small network and fewer tiers unlocked than you can at eXp and LPT with a larger network and more tiers unlocked.
Scenario 5
25 Tier 1 Agents 1:1 Growth
Now let’s assume you get 25 agents in your tier 1. This is enough to unlock all 5 tiers at REAL Broker, 6 tiers at eXp realty and 7 tiers at LPT Realty. And let’s assume on average each agent brings in one more agent going down all unlocked tiers.
At REAL Broker you would have a total network of 125 agents and receive $300,000 a year in revenue share. At eXp Realty you would have a total network of 150 agents and earn $300,000 in revenue share. At LPT Realty you would have a total network of 175 agents and receive $62,500 in revenue share.
I think this scenario also demonstrates how earning more revenue share per agent can be more profitable then earning less but unlocking additional tiers. In this scenario you would earn far more at REAL Broker with just 5 tiers ten you would at LPT Realty with 7 tiers and a larger network.
eXp Realty vs LPT Realty vs REAL Broker Conclusions
When comparing all three companies revenue share programs there are 4 variables the consider. How much they pay per tier, how many tiers they offer, how easy it is to unlock those tiers and what percentage of their monthly income will they pay back out in revenue share.
REAL Broker pays out more in revenue share as a percentage of their monthly revenue then either eXp or LPT Realty. REAL pays out up to 60% where eXp and LPT will pay up to 50%. When the amount of revenue share exceeds this monthly limit, all three companies lowers everyones monthly rev share check to compensate. So at REAL Broker, you are more likley to receive your full revenue share your are entitled to.
REAL Broker pays out the most on their very first tier of $4,000 and requires 25+ agents in your tier 1 to unlock all of your benefits, eXp Realty pays out the most on their 7th tier but is the hardest company to unlock all of your benefits with requiring 30+ agents to unlock all 7 tiers, LPT Realty pays out the least on ALL tiers but is the easiest to unlock all your benefits with, only requiring 15+ Tier 1 agents.
So the question really becomes which program is best for you and the the kind of network you expect to grow?
If you expect that you only need to bring in 15 agents in your Tier 1 and they are going to build you out a massive network of hundreds or thousands on auto pilot, then LPT Realty may be a good fit for you as 15 in your Tier 1 is all you need to unlock all your benefits where that would only unlock your Tier 4 at eXp and Tier 3 at REAL Broker.
But in my experience, this is just not how networks grow.
At REAL Broker and eXp Realty only about 15% of agents receive ANY revenue share, at LPT I’m sure that number is much smaller. And the majority of those agents who do receive revenue share, only receive revenue share on their Tier 1. So keep in mind that most agents that you bring in, WILL NOT bring in other agents underneath them.
With this in mind, I personally think a revenue share program that pays out the most at the top is the most advantageous for the vast majority of agents. Your Tier 1 is really the only tier that you have direct control over.
When you take the exact same network size and structure and run it through all three companies revenue share programs, that the vast majority of agents will earn more revenue share at REAL Broker then they will at eXp or LPT!
Check out these other articles
REAL vs eXp Realty vs LPT Realty Cost & Fees: In-Depth Comparison
Learn More About REAL Broker
After taking a long look at all three companies’ revenue share models, for me, REAL Broker was the best fit for my business! I will make more money at REAL with my network then I would at other companies, it’s the simplest to understand and I do believe it is the best revenue share program for the agents who I bring into the company as well.
If you would like to learn more about REAL Broker, click below to schedule a 1-on-1 video call with myself to go over your business and see if REAL is a good fit for you as well!
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