Pros & Cons Of Joining REAL Broker (Agent Review)
REAL Broker, LLC is a cloud-based real estate brokerage that offers its real estate agents huge advantages BUT there are some obvious trade-offs and sacrifices you have to make when joining a cloud-based brokerage.
I spent about half of my real estate career at a franchise brick-and-mortar office and the other half at a cloud-based brokerage and in this article, I want to review REAL Broker’s Pros & Cons to help you decide for yourself if this cloud-based brokerage is right for you or not.
For me, I ultimately decided that the benefits outweigh the tradeoffs, and I did join REAL but you may come to a different conclusion.
CON: No Face-To-Face Interaction
So one of the most obvious trade-offs to a cloud-based brokerage, is you may have less in-person face-to-face and belly-to-belly interaction with other agents at your brokerage. If you’re like me, having a community of agents you can network and connect with is important and many agents fear that giving up that giving up face to face interactions means you’re also giving up that connection with a community.
The good news is, at REAL Broker, I actually feel MORE connected with this community than I ever did at my brick-and-mortar brokerages. This is because we leverage technology and have a culture of collaboration.
As an example, REAL has over 30 live streams every week open to everyone in the company and over two dozen recurring masters. These masterminds are done through Zoom and may have 10-20-50 or even 100+ agents on the call. THIS is how we get that virtual face-to-face interaction. REAL Also uses community technology platforms like Workplace which is created by Facebook. This allows us to share content, ask questions in groups and message anyone in the company, including the CEO and President.
It’s not uncommon for you to participate in one of our weekly masterminds and then directly send a message to an agent you met on that call.
REAL Broker does offer in-person events, masterminds, and meet-ups!
Every Year we have two major events, the RISE Conference and the REAL Summit which gives us an opportunity to not just learn but meet our REAL friends face to face.
Our leadership also encourages and supports our agents to put on their own training events. So there are many smaller events throughout the country who often look to REAL agents to be the speakers. In fact, Tamir the CEO and Sharran the President of REAL will often be the keynote speakers at these events.
In addition to that many agents at REAL who also enjoy face-to-face interaction, host in-person meet-ups, masterminds, and happy hours throughout the county. A common meet-up agent call a REAL Cafe, where agents will meet up weekly or monthly to network and mastermind. Typically these meet ups are open to agents at all brokerages as well but are largely REAL agents.
There are of course other ways for agents to scratch that social itch as well. For example, my mom is a member of Women’s Council Of Realtors. They hold regular meetings, social events, and in-person training. I’m also a member of the National Association of Realtors and the Maryland Association of Realtors. Both of which have in-person training, have positions we can volunteer for, and have regular social events for REALTORs.
And if you wanted to, you could start incorporating in-person events as one of your lead generation strategies. Just search for networking events on sites likeMeetup.com or search for a networking group with BNI.com. I know several agents who close multiple deals a year from their BNI networking group.
So yes, at REAL, you don’t have an office space to drive to in order to connect with other agents but I’d say that for me, I’ve been able to establish deeper connections with agents virtually and am able to scratch that social itch with the many meet ups REAL agents put on.
-PRO: Lower Cap and Splits
One of the most obvious benefits to joining a cloud-based brokerage like REAL broker, is their fees to the agent are significantly less than most franchise-based brokerages.
This does not mean they provide less value, in a lot of ways they actually provide a lot more!
The reason for this is that REAL Broker is a cloud-based brokerage and does not have nearly as many overhead costs as many brick and mortar offices. This is what allows them to pass that savings on to the agents and provide more value.
Let’s take a look at some of the examples most franchise brokerages have that REAL does not.
Office Space
Office Staff
Office Manager
Regional Manager Fees
Franchise Fees
REAL Broker has a 85/15% split with their agents and a $12,000 a year cap. After that, the agent keeps 100% of their commission minus a few transaction fees. This is far more generous then most franchise brokerages can offer. When I was with Keller Williams, I had a 30/70% split with them and a $28,000 a year cap + a 6% franchise fee which capped at $3,000 a year.
For me, I saved $22,000 a year by leaving Keller Williams and joining REAL. That kind of money can have a pretty big impact on a person’s life and business. That kind of money can go towards hiring a TC, putting it towards Google PPC leads or just taking a vacation with the family.
3 Deals a Year Comparison
Let’s say you are only going to do 3 transactions a year at $300,000 each with a 3% commission. At REAL, you would keep 85% of that $9,000 commission and you keep $7,650 while paying REAL $1,350. After all 3 transactions, you would have paid REAL a total of $4,050.
At a typical franchised-based brokerage, let’s say you have a 70/30 split, on your $9,000 commission, you would have to pay them $2,700 and you keep $6,300. After all 3 transactions, you would have paid them $8,100. That’s double what you would have paid REAL!
This is not even factoring franchise fees, monthly fees, “technology fees” and other hidden fees most franchised brokerages charge.
9 Deals a Year Comparison
Let’s say you do 9 deals a year with the same numbers, $300k average sales price at 3% which works out to a $9,000 commission. At REAL Brokerit would of paid $13,815 and you would have fully capped with the company. So from that point onwards, you would keep 100% of your commission and you receive free stock in the company for capping.
At my old Keller Williams office with a 70/30 split, + 6% franchise fee and a $28,000 a year cap, I would have paid them $24,300 + $3,000 franchise fee for a total of $27,300 and I still would not be capped. So again, it’s double what you would have paid at REAL Broker.
Check out my REAL Broker Fee Calculator to run other scenarios.
CON: -No Brokers Office Access
Giving up your broker’s office and access to their conference rooms is one of the obvious trade-offs for using an online brokerage.
But I would say 2020 has taught me, and probably you as well, that we DON’T NEED our broker’s office to be successful.
I probably stepped foot in my brokerage 3 times all of 2020 and that was just to check my mailbox. Despite this, 2020 was my best year in real estate YET.
In a lot of ways, I became MORE EFFICIENT with my time by working from home rather than driving into an office.
I don’t have to spend 25 minutes driving to and from my office anymore. So that is almost an extra of my life back a day.
I don’t have all the distractions of other agents popping by to chat me up. I hate to admit it but I can remember putting in 8 hour days at my office but I spent 6 of them just BS’ing with other agents.
Lastly, I don’t have unnecessary meetings and training I’m getting roped into attending. There is such a thing as going to TO MANY classes.
Now, I fully understand this may not be true for EVERYONE.
Some people may have the opposite problem where their house is a place full of distractions. I totally get that some people NEED an office to drive to every day to focus and get away from their spouse or kids.
If that is you, I would just say there is nothing stopping you from finding your own office space to rent out. It would just be in a generic office building instead of your brokerage.
I am saving $22,000 a year by giving up my office in my last brokerage. I could EASILY afford to find my own space for a fraction of that savings.
Another part of giving up the office experience is giving up your access to conference rooms.
This is the 1 part of my brokerage office I actually used the most. I would meet clients here for my buyer consultations and occasionally listing presentations.
But giving this up actually has not been as much of a disruption to my business as I thought it might be.
90% of my buyer consultations I now do through a Zoom video call.
Frankly, I think my clients prefer this. Coordinating with them to take time off of work to drive to my office was sometimes a hassle and left me feeling a little guilty.
By doing my consultations over a video call, they don’t need to take time off work, they don’t need to find a babysitter, they don’t need to drive to my office. It’s a win-win for everyone.
OCCASIONALLY I do get a client who would prefer to meet me in person.
In these situations, I simply arrange to meet them at a local Starbucks and buy them a cup of coffee.
And if I did want a more professional location, I request to use one of the many conference rooms at my preferred title company or lender’s office. They are more than happy to let me use them!
My business has not skipped a beat by giving up access to my brokerage office or conference rooms. In fact, I think it has become more efficient.
-PRO: 4 Ways To EARN REAL Stock
One of the things I LOVE most about REAL Brokerage is not only can I BUY stock in the company but they WANT ME to own stock in it. In fact, there are 4 different ways REAL GIVES ME stock in the company.
Let’s review REAL Broker’s stock incentives.
The first way you earn stock in the company is simply by capping. When you pay your $12,000 a year cap, they reward you for capping with FREE stock in the company.
REAL also offers purchase options. You can put 5% of your commission to purchase REAL Broker stock and by doing this, REAL will reward you with an additional 25% free stock BONUS. So if you purchase $1,000 worth of REAL stock this way, they will GIVE YOU an additional $250 worth.
REAL also gives you free stock when you attract agents to the company and they put you down as their sponsor. This is in addition to the very generous revenue share program they offer (more on that below).
REAL also has an Elite Agent Award in which they give their top agents an additional $24,000 worth of free stocks for hitting certain production milestones.
By making ALL of us part owners in the company, REAL makes all of its agents invested in the growth of the company. This also helps foster a sense of community and collaboration.
If I help other agents succeed, the company does better and my stocks are worth more money. It’s that simple. NEVER have I owned stock in a company in which I had an actual influence on the price of that stock AND I LOVE THAT!
-CON: REAL Brand Is Not As Recognizable
So I do want to acknowledge this, brand loyalty can be a real thing and REAL Broker does not have as recognizable of a brand as some other real estate companies.
And they’re very well may be some people out there who have used a REMAX agent to sell every home they have ever lived in going all the way back to the 1970s.
But in my opinion, those types of people are few and far between.
In TODAY’s real estate market, the little logo in the corner of your business card is NOT a major factor in whether a client hires you or not.
My clients hire me because I have a good reputation, I’m knowledgeable, and I’m patient enough to walk them through the process.
They do NOT hire me because I work for one real estate company or another.
In fact, if I were to ask all of my clients from the past 12 months WHAT company I worked for, I bet 90% could not even tell you!
Now, this is NOT what the franchise-based brokerages will tell you.
When you interview with them, they will give you this whole dog & pony show and make dubious claims about how YOU being associated with THEIR brand and THEIR brokerage is going to make you MORE credible and lead to you making MORE sales….and this is all a load of crap in my opinion.
They understand that in today’s world, their value proposition to us agents is becoming less and less relevant. That is why they cling to the one thing that is incredibly hard to quantify and that is being able to stick their logo on our business cards.
But our industry is changing and to our consumers today, the AGENT is far more important than the COMPANY.
PRO: Additional Streams Of Income
REAL is NOT the first brokerage to offer a revenue share program for attracting new agents. Keller Williams adopted a similar program in the early 2000s and has lead to them growing into the largest brokerage in the world by agent count.
But, in my opinion, REAL has perfected the revenue share program and has the MOST PROFITABLE one out there for agents!
For every agent you directly attract, REAL will pay you $4,000 a year out of the $12,000 a year cap they pay to REAL.
Just for comparison’s sake, EXP Reality only offers $2,800 for each tier 1 agent you attract and Keller Williams offers even less than that.
After you attract 10 agents to your tier 1, you unlock your tier 2 and will receive $3,200 a year for each capping agent your tier 1 agents bring in.
After you attract 15 agents to your tier 1 you unlock your tier 3 rewards.
Attract 20 agents to your tier 1 to unlock tier 4 benefits and attract 25 agents to tier 1 to unlock your tier 5 benefits. (See image above)
So you can quickly see the huge potential for building passive income through just attracting real estate agents to our company.
This is THE BEST revenue share program out there and actually, MOST brokerages don’t have ANY revenue share program at all!
Now I get that not everyone wants to be a full-time recruiter. We all have real estate businesses we are trying to run and grow.
But, just through being a great agent and networking, people will ask you about REAL.
If through your day-to-day work, or through clients interested in getting their licenses, if you can attract just 3 capping agents to REAL, you will receive $12,000 a year from rev share which is enough to cover your entire cap.
So for the average agent, I would say make THAT your goal. Over the next 1–2 years just look for opportunities for conversations with agents try to get at least 3 in your downline and get your entire cap paid for.
And I will say from experience the conversation about REAL’s value proposition is FAR easier than trying to attract them to a franchise-based brokerage like Keller Williams.
Once I point out to agents that they will probably pay AT LEAST half what they are paying at their current brokerage, can earn free stock, and have a huge opportunity for revenue share, I can literally see the light bulb turn on in their heads.
Final Review Of REAL Broker, LLC
Cloud-based brokerages ARE the future of our industry!
And if we are being honest, they are a better fit for MOST of the agent’s businesses than brick & mortar, franchise-based brokerages.
Yes, there are some trade-offs with a cloud-based brokerage but in my opinion, those trade-offs are not nearly as relevant to my actual business as I originally thought AND the huge benefits I get at REAL far out ways them.
REAL as a company has huge potential to grow and disrupt our industry!
I’m proud to be part of a company that I think is going to have a HUGE positive impact on many real estate agent’s lives and businesses and change the industry for the better.
Next Steps With REAL
If you are ready to join and don’t have a sponsor yet, I would love to be your sponsor in the company at no additional cost to you and I will then have a vested interest in your success at REAL. When you sign your Independent Contractor Agreement (ICA), just put my name, Malcolm Lawson, down as your “Sponsoring Agent” and I will officially be in your upline!
You can join here https://www.joinreal.com/malcolm-lawson/refer
Check out these other REAL Broker articles
Real Broker Revenue Share Explained
REAL Broker Fees, caps and splits explained
REAL Broker Stock Awards Explained
