Average salary starting as a CRE broker/ agent

[Chris Messersmith]

Hello, 

I am a long time reader of BP and am in school at Virginia Commonwealth University, studying real estate. I will be graduating this coming spring 18, and currently interning at a local commercial real estate firm, hopefully with a job coming after I graduate.  

Now here is question/concern, I have been doing a lot of research on CRE brokerage starting out. Reading about how to do day to day tasks to make you successful, to marketing, and so on. The one thing that I keep seeing and hearing is "starting out you'll not make any money but just wait and you will". I want to know what does that mean, does it mean i will make less then 15k does it mean i'll make 30k or does that mean i'll make 0?

I would like to see the members who are professional CRE brokers help me with this issues that comes up. I don't want you do give me what you made but more so an average range, If you are a broker from the Richmond VA area or from Virginia that would be best, but any information will help.

Thanks   

[Joel Owens]

Starting out as a commercial broker most firms take half.

So for instance if the commissions to the listing side is 50,000 on a deal then half goes to the brokerage.

Now starting out you are likely a grunt on a team as a junior agent.

So the 25,000 left the senior agent gets the lions share say 12,000, the agent 8,000, the junior agent 5,000.

As a principal broker that owns my company I get it all.

This happened on  a recent deal I made about 80,000 on. The listing side the junior agent made maybe 10,000. I have 14 years in the business though and have spent thousands of hours over the years honing my craft. I still get up every morning hungry to learn more.

The average commercial agent might make 80,000 a year once established. I think the main difference between those that do really well and those that are average is systems and networks. I have built up thousands and thousands of contacts over the years to locate properties nationally. I have a process buyers have to follow to weed out the flakes and time wasters. That helps accelerate efficiency of closings.

I work on larger deals for big pops of commission income at a time.

Some do teams with the junior agents etc. I prefer to work with my clients one on one. The large firms make so little per deal that they pump volume and try to sell any junk property they are given to an unsophisticated buyer. I like the buyer side and finding a great property for my buyers to purchase. Whether a team or an individual you could do well with the right drive. Commercial is cyclical with transactions in nature. Decent years I have seen others make mid 6 figures. Really good years over 7  figures in commissions. Not sales price but actual commissions. These are typically the top 5 to 10% in the industry. The rest above the average of 80,000 might do well and get to 200k to 250k a year etc. You have to enjoy it as 1 deal can have a thousand pages to review to get to closing.

I am 42 now. Eventually at about age 50 I will likely slow down some and be very selective on the clients I take and deal size and delegate the rest to junior agents.