Investor · Harvard, MA · Member since 2011 · 25 posts · 9 votes
Recently passed the Massachusetts Real Estate Salespersons License exam, and now looking to join a low cost real estate brokerage in Massachusetts.
My wife and I are active Real Estate investors, and we really are not looking to sell real estate, but rather looking to capture some of the buyer commission when buying investment properties, and have full MLS access.
Thinking possibly of looking to join a non-Realtor Association firm, that just charges MLS fees only? Or something similar.. If anyone has any suggestions for low fee real estate brokerages in Massachusetts would love to hear them!
Investor · Leominster, MA · Member since 2011 · 1k+ posts · 589 votes
11y
Hi John. I'm in Leominster. Welcome to BP. You should look for a small independent brokerage. There are at least 10 or so in Harvard. I'm not sure what the fee structure is but I would guess that you would pay the $120/quarterly for MLS access and you would give the broker half of all your commissions to start. What type of investing do you do? What do you have for investment properties right now? We should connect.
Landlord and Rehabber · Newton, MA · Member since 2010 · 2k+ posts · 877 votes
11y
Not sure what the lowest commission place would be.
I do doubt that many are doing 50/50 these days if they want to compete. Maybe some of the big name places that offer a ton of training and stuff for those that truly want to pursue a career as an agent.
For the investor-agent you do usually want to go with a smaller independent office that won't have as many fees and better commission structure as well as flexibility in their numbers.
My guy is very cool and the niche is working with investors and having investor agents so no hassles in doing mostly my own stuff. I think that the commissions are middle of the road at keeping 70%. Can move up to 80% and 100% depending on the volume you do. Fees are pretty low though. I pay for MLS (Like you would anyplace), my E and O Insurance (Like you would any place, though unlike MLS this can probably vary a little), and like $200/yr in office dues which I think is pretty cheap. A few other small things like business cards and stuff when I first joined but not many other things.
I don't think we are taking on any new agents right now. At least he said we aren't when I suggested someone here on BP talk to him a couple months ago.
Now I don't think our setup is that amazingly unique. You can probably find a place in your area that has a similar setup. You just want to make sure they understand you are looking mostly to work on your own deals and they will get their cut on those deals, not on you walking around showing first time buyers 8,000 houses before they put in an offer... :)