Hi Kelli,
Congratulations on taking all the right steps to getting your license! I'm in Bothell too, so I can speak very directly to your question.
I too gave great consideration when I got my license and interviewed with a number of different brokerages. And remember, when you are interviewing... you are interviewing the brokerage just as much as they are interviewing you (if not more).
To answer your question, it depends on what you are looking for in a brokerage. If you're looking for education and support, I've heard Keller Williams is fabulous for this very reason. I ended up interviewing Windermere (Lake Forest Park), John L. Scott (Bothell), Berkshire Hathaway (Lake City Way) and RSVP Real Estate (Bellevue). Even though they are the seventh largest firm in the area, I had only heard about RSVP because the broker we had used to sell our house at the time had just switched over from Windermere. In the end I ended up going with RSVP because the cost to work there was phenomenally lower than any other brokerage I had spoken with. Instead of traditional splits which tend to be around 50% with the major firms, RSVP charges a small transaction fee. There is more info on the topic on their "join" page. Also, if you ever want to know more, you're always welcome to message me.
http://rsvpre.com/join/
As a heads up, RSVP used to only allow experienced agents to join because they did not have a training program established. They now have training, but I don't think its anywhere as hands on as a Keller Williams. One option, if both support and cost are important to you, is to get the training while building your business at a bigger firm, and then switching over.
Best of luck to you!
Eva
