Honest REAL Broker Review (30 Days In)
So I have now been an agent at REAL Broker for over a month and closed multiple transactions and I want to give you my honest opinion of what it’s like being at REAL Broker.
And to be frank, there are some aspects of the company that I feel could use some refining and improvements (more on that later) and there are other aspects of the company that far exceed my expectations and I’m VERY happy with.
REAL Broker Onboarding Review
Let’s start off by talking about the onboarding process. In other words, how was my experience learning the different software and getting adjusted to REAL.
To be honest, I feel THIS is one of the areas that REAL Broker could use some improvement. I was a little lost and confused as to what I should do next on my first day as a REAL Agent.
Now they do send you an initial welcome email with links to the first few steps you should take but it does not cover everything and there are a few additional emails they send out with links you need to click on as well.
Apparently multiple times a week, they have a live onboarding video call you can join and they will walk you through what steps you should take. But I have searched through my emails and don’t ever see where I received a link to this.
Within the REAL Academy, they do have training videos on how to use the variouse software and navigate around and I did find this very hlepful once I discovered how to access it.
However, many of these trainings are recordings of live streams which I am personally not a fan of. For example, there is an hour long training on how to submit your contracts for compliance using Skyslope but in my opnion, if they would have edited out all the fluff in that live stream, you could probably get that hour long video down to 30 minutes of actual important content.
Luckily for me, I was able to rely on the agents in my upline to help me get adjusted and figure out what I need to do during my first few days.
REAL also does have an in-depth FAQ section on their app and has a live support chat where you can answer your questions. I personally did rely on this and emailing my broker a good bit my first week with the company.
My fustrations with the onboarding process is actually what inspired me to write this article going over The First 10 Things You Should Do After Joining REAL Broker to help out any new agents get adjusted to REAL Broker.
In my opnion, REAL does have decent training and resources on how to use it’s variouse software but it all felt very disjointed and onboarding was not exactly the smoothest process for me. I personally would love to see them have just one video or article for onboarding which covers EVERYTHING I need to know to get up to speed as a REAL agent.
REAL Broker is still a growing company, so I would not be surprised if they smooth out some of the wrinkles in this process in the future.
Real Broker Technology Review
The technology you receive at REAL Broker is actually one of the areas that exceeded my exspectations and I am very happy with! In fact, I think they software they provide is one of their biggest selling points.
For a little background, I came from Keller Williams Realty who made the decision to hire programs and create all of the software they provide to their agents from scratch in order to have something exclusive no other company has. From their CRM, to their contract compliance to trying to create their own social network for agents, their programs created it all. On paper, this may sound good but in practice, none of it worked well in my opnion and all the software Keller Williams provided was very cumbersome and fustraiting to use.
REAL Broker on the other hand, has made the decision to provide it’s agents with mostly off the shelf software and this does provide a few advantages. One, REAL can shop around to find the best software on the market to provide it’s agents. Two, because these companies are dedicated to just their software, the programs typically have fewer bugs, run more smoothly and have great tech support.
Skyslope
This is the program you will use to submit your contracts for compliance to your broker. At first glance, the program looked a little bland to me but now I am very happy with how simple it is to use and how little amount of time I need to spend to submit my contracts for compliance.
One feature I love is that I can upload my entire contract as one PDF and then specify which pages in that PDF are each peace of required documents. For example “Buyer Broker Agreement: Page 1–13”. At my last brokerage, I had to upload each of those documents as seperate PDFs.
They also make it pretty easy for you to write notes to your broker or your broker to you regarding each of these documents. So instead of just saying “this document is declined”, your broker and type out a quick message to you explaining why and what you need to do.
Overall, I am very happy with Skyslope for contract compliance.
Workplace
This ia program created by Facebook for buisnesses to use. Think of it as a series of Facebook Groups only your buisess can access.
To be honest, I don’t use this as much as I should but I do think it’s pretty cool and a great way for us to network and mastermind with other REAL agents.
Each state also has it’s own group within workplace where you can ask state specific questions.
Workplace is also where you will find the REAL Academy which does many live trainings and has an archive of training videos on how to use the variouse programs and general agents training. THIS is what I use Workplace for the most, personally.
As REAL grows larger, I imagine there will be more engagement in here and I could see myself using this more often then I do right now.
Chime
Chime is a VERY impressive CRM and customizable website! For many people, I think that this is a huge value to joining REAL Broker.
Typically, Chime charges $500 a month for the CRM & website but as a REAL agent, you get this for only $25 a month. So that’s a savings of almost $6,000 a year and I know a few agetns who were paying that much for Chime and largley joined REAL in order to get it for so much cheaper.
To be honest, I am a little overwhelmed with Chime. It is a VERY powerful tool and one of the best CRMs/Websites on the market today for Real Estate Agents. As of right now, I am only using the basic features of the CRM but I do know that if I find the time to dive in deaper, it could change my entire real estate buisness.
Chime is defently one of the aspects of joining REAL that exceeded my exspectations! I am very happy with it and know I am only scratchign the surface of it’s potential.
REAL Broker App Review
The REAL Broker agent app is one of the peaces of software developed or at very least heavily customised by REAL and is ALSO one of my favorite peaces of tech you get as a REAL agent.
I love this app for two reasons, the first is that it tracks all of your numbers and stats for you and clearly displays them on the very first page when you open it up.
One of the first things you are presented with is what you currently have under contract, when it is projected to close and how much you are projected to earn in commision. Below that it also shows you your monthly and year stats as well.
It also shows you on this first page how much you have paid towrds your cap, how much you have earned or bought in REAL stock and how much you have earned in revenue share.
I absolutly LOVE the transparency and how easy it is to access your data using this app! I often find myself opening the app just to stare at these numbers for a while.
The second reason I love this app is because it is where you can get access to support. You can easily find all of your brokers contact information here, FAQ or open a chat with support. Having all of that information at your finger tips is just really helpful at times.
Now REAL does have a consumer app…but it is not that good in my opnion and I don’t know many people who actually use it. I do belive they are working on a new app but right now I LOVE the agent app but do not like the consumer app.
No Physical Office
One of the common questions I get about working in a cloud based brokerage is about not having a physical office.
So now that I have gone an entire month without access to my brokerages office, has it impact my buisness any? NO!
Frankly, in all of 2020, I barley ever went into my office unless I absolutly had to. All the training was streamed live on Facebook, all my checks where mailed directly to me. I had zero reason to step foot in my brokerages office despite the fact that I was still paying for it with my cap.
I still do buyer consultations but now do them through a Zoom call instead of in person.
On the rare times a client would like to meet in person, I ether agrange to meet them at a starbucks or meet them in a confrence room at my lenders office or title companies office. Both of whome arer very eager and happy for me to use their confrence rooms.
Now I do understand that not everyone is like me and can work from home. Some people need that work/family seperation. If that is you, I would encurage you to first figure out how much money you would save by joining REAL Broker compared to your current brokerage.
I WAS paying a $28,000 a year cap to Keller Williams + $6,000 a year to rent an office in my brokerage. So now that I am only paying a $12,000 a year cap and work from my home office, I am saving $22,000 a year!
If I had to, I absolutly could rent out an office space for far less then $22,000 a year. My lender or title company may even have an extra room they could rent me for proboably a pretty low price.
So for me personally, giving up access to my physical brokerage has had 0 negative impact on my buisness. If anything, I now have more time to work or spend with my family since I am not spending 45 minutes a day, 5 days a week commuting to and from the office.
Real Broker Fees
One reason many people join REAL Broker is because of their low fees. They only have a $12,000 cap, no monthly fees and they do pay for your E&O insurance. It almost seems to good to be true!
So after I joined, I was looking for any hidden fees or upsales or any exspenes I would be charged and I did not find any. Their advertised fee structure you can find here,
The only possible exception to this is Chime which is an optional CRM & Website you can get for an additional $25 a month. But this is actually a huge savings compared to it’s retail cost and I like that htey make it optinoal. Many agents already have a CRM or Website they have used for year and may not need this service. So I am happy that REAL does not MAKE THEM pay for it if they do not want it.
REAL Broker Revenue Share Review
Real Broker offers an additional stream of income as an agent in the form of “revenue share”. This is similiar to programs offered by Keller Williams and eXp Realty except REAL pays out the most for agents you attract in your “tier 1”.
Essentially for you helping grow the company by attracting agents to it, they reward you indefently with a portion of the cap Real Broker receives from any agent who list you as the reason they joined.
Out of the $12,000 cap a year an agent pays to the company, REAL gives you $4,000 of it a year for attracting the agent. They also give you a portion of the cap they receive for any agents THAT AGENT attracts going down 5 tiers.
Real Broker Revenue Share
You may be saying “this sounds like a pyramid scheme” but I disagree. This is a very similiar model Keller Williams used to grow to be the largest real estate company by agent count in the world, except REALs model is far better in my opnion.
Essentially, instead of spending money on advertising to grow the company, like RE/MAX does, they provide that money to the agents who are most influencial in helping growing the company.
There are a couple positve benefits to this. One, as a real estate agent you now have an additional stream of income you can focus aside from just selling homes.
And two, people in your upline are now incentivised to help you out in your buisness. They do not receive their revenue share if you don’t produce.
Remember how I said the onboarding process was not the smoothest for me? Well, the people in my upline helped me greatly get adjusted to REAL and answered many of my questions.
Likewise, people who I have attracted to the company and are in my downline I have bent over backwards to help them get adjusted to REAL, help them with video and social media, general agent advice and build their own dowlines.
Revenue Share helps create a culture of sharing information and helping each other.
I will also say that I have had a pertty easy time attracting agents to REAL Broker. Once you explain to them the benefits of a cloud based brokerage vs a franchise based brokerage, you can see the light bulb turning on in their heads.
The vast majority of the agents are going to save ALOT of money by joining REAL compared to their current brokerage and in my opnion, REAL also provides far more value then most other companies.
By leaving Keller Williams and giving up my office within my brokerage, I am personally saving over $20,000 a year!
Saving that kind of moeny can literally change an agents entire life. That’s the difference between an agent being profitable or not. Or that could mean an agent could do 2–3 fewer transactions a year and instead spend that time with their family.
I feel very positve about spreading the message of the advantages of cloud based brokerages compared to a franchise based brokerage and feel like this company can have a really positive impact on many agents lives.
Real Broker Culture Review
The culture within a company is pretty important as well. It can have a big influence on an agents experience there and I’m happy to report the culture amongst REAL agents is pretty upbeat.
REAL has attracted a lot of tech focused agents and we have a lot of experts within the company who are focused on video marketing, social media, digital marketing, ect.
And because of the incentives set into place through revenue share and the fact that most agents own stock in the company, agents are very open about helping one another succedd and sharing their knowledge.
Everything comes down to incentives and at REAL, we are incentivised to help one another succeed!
With revenue share, you are financially incentived to help the agents in your downline grow their buisnesses. If they don’t produce or have a good expereince at real, you won’t receive revenue share. This incentivises agents to do what ever tehy can to help agents in their downlines.
REAL also offers several ways of receiving free stock in the company or buying it at a huge discount. This again makes all of us feel like we are in this togeather rather then being competitors. Buy helping one another grow and succeed, the value of all of our stock will go up!
These two incentives have a big impact on the culture here and really does make it feel like we are part of a revolution that is changing an industry!
Final REAL Broker Review
One of my friends once said that “real is not the best real estate company out there but they are going to become the best company out there”. And I think this is pretty accurate.
REAL is still relativly small at just over 2,000 agents and still has a few wrinkles it needs to iron out, like it’s onboarding process, but it has a very strong and well thought out foundation.
The technology they provide to you as an agent is far better then anything I ever received at my last company.
The stock bonuses and revenue share models are fantastic and I think incentivises the right type of behavior you want from agents within a company.
I honestly belive that over the next 10 years, cloud based brokerages are going to become the standard in our industry and franchise based brokerages are going to be scrambling to copy REAL’s models.
Being an agent at REAL really does feel like you are part of a positive cultural revolution wtihin our industry and my only real regret was not joining sooner.
Check out these other REAL Broker articles
Real Broker Revenue Share Explained
REAL Broker Fees, caps and splits explained
REAL Broker Stock Awards Explained
Teams At REAL Broker Explained
REAL Broker VS eXp In-Depth Comparison
