The licence is the easy part. The brokerage you sign with decides how much of every commission stays in your pocket, who answers the phone when a contract wobbles at ten at night, and whether your second year feels like a career or an expensive hobby.
In brief
- 87% of Realtors are independent contractors, not employees (NAR, 2025).
- Median gross income was $58,100 in 2024, on a median of ten transactions.
- Desk fees and caps move your real earnings more than the headline split.
- In France none of this applies without a carte T, renewed every three years.
Start with the arithmetic, not the atmosphere
A 70/30 split sounds generous until you count what leaves your account before the split is even calculated. Desk fees, monthly technology fees, errors and omissions insurance, per transaction fees and franchise fees all sit upstream of the percentage. Two brokerages quoting the same split can leave you thousands apart over a year, which is why the only honest comparison is annual net, worked out on the number of deals you realistically expect in your first twelve months.
Be blunt with yourself about that number. The same NAR profile puts the median member at ten transactions and $2.5 million in sales volume in 2024, with a median of twelve years in the business and median gross income of $58,100. New agents sit a long way below those medians. A split that only pays off at thirty deals is not a split, it is a wish.
Five things I would ask before signing anything
Every brokerage will show you a glossy recruiting deck. These five questions are the ones that get answered awkwardly, which is exactly why they are worth asking.
- What does the room sound like on a Tuesday afternoon? Visit unannounced if you can. A silent office is not automatically bad, but it tells you whether the desk you are renting comes with colleagues attached.
- Can I meet the broker of record, today? Access to leadership is the one thing you cannot buy later. If the person who signs off on contracts is a name in an email footer, plan accordingly.
- What exactly does the training cover? Ask for the calendar, not the promise. Contracts, prospecting, farming a neighbourhood and running a listing appointment are teachable. Motivational breakfasts are not training.
- Show me the full fee schedule in writing. Every line, including what happens during a quarter where you close nothing.
- What happens on the day I leave? Who keeps the pending files, the client database and the listings, and how much notice do you owe. Nobody enjoys this question, which is precisely the point.
National, boutique or virtual, and what each is really good at
The three models solve different problems, and none of them is the beginner option by default. Here is the honest trade-off rather than the recruiting version.
| Model | What you actually get | Where it hurts |
|---|---|---|
| National brand Keller Williams, Coldwell Banker |
Structured onboarding, ready made systems, a name clients already recognise | Franchise and desk costs, and you are one of many in the same room |
| Local boutique | Direct access to the owner, local reputation, mentoring that is personal rather than scheduled | Training depends on one or two people being available and willing |
| Virtual | Lower fixed costs, geographic freedom, work that fits around other commitments | Nobody overhears your first bad phone call and corrects you |
Ask them how they handled August 2024
This is the question that separates a brokerage that trains from one that recruits. Since 17 August 2024, under the practice changes required by the NAR settlement, agents working with an MLS must have a written agreement with a buyer before touring a home, stating the compensation clearly, and offers of compensation can no longer appear in MLS fields. Sellers may still offer compensation off the MLS, and buyer concessions such as help with closing costs can still be advertised on it.
Ask what their buyer agreement looks like now, and how they coach agents through that conversation on a doorstep. A firm that shrugs at the question will shrug at the next rule change too.
Reading this from the Riviera? The question changes shape
In France there is no equivalent of hanging your licence wherever you please. Transactions require the carte professionnelle known as the carte T, issued by the local chamber of commerce, which on this stretch of coast means CCI Nice Côte d’Azur. It runs for three years and costs €160 including tax to issue, €130 to renew, according to the chamber’s published schedule.
Obtaining one means proving professional aptitude through a qualification such as a BTS in property, or through several years of relevant experience, plus a clean criminal record extract and a registered business. Renewal is conditional on continuing education of 14 hours a year, or 42 hours across three consecutive years, including two hours on non-discrimination in access to housing and two hours on professional ethics. Most people starting out here work as an agent commercial under somebody else’s card, which makes choosing whose card you work under the local version of this entire article.
Two questions people put to me
Should I chase the highest split I am offered? Not in year one. The cheapest brokerage is the one where you actually close deals, and that usually means the one that teaches you how.
Is it a disaster if I choose wrong? No. Agents move firms regularly, which is exactly why question five matters so much. Just read the exit terms while you still feel unemotional about them.
Numbers first, instinct second, in that order. And on the day you sit on the other side of the table with a client, the pricing conversation becomes its own skill: I looked at it from the buyer’s point of view in how to negotiate a property price down.
More from the House side of the blog
Selling well is a craft of its own, and it starts long before the listing goes live.
Updated 17 August 2026. Sources consulted: National Association of Realtors, 2025 Member Profile (4,947 members surveyed in March 2025) for the income, experience, transaction and independent contractor figures; NAR settlement FAQs for the practice changes effective 17 August 2024; CCI Nice Côte d’Azur formalities page for carte T validity, fees and continuing education. General information for readers weighing a career decision, not legal or financial advice: check the current rules with the licensing body in your own state or region before committing.
