I work for Long and Foster - as long as it is legal you can do it. I have a very smart and savy manager Janet Rubino and RVP Art Herling and they have a good business plan. They continually have meetings with the agents to share ways to make more money - it is like drinking water out of a hose. Also my processing manager is very supportive.

Ahhhh.. good question!  I used to work for a large company who had "company policies" i.e. had to list at a certain percentage, caravans, mandatory meetings, 6% off the top of my commissions to cover office expenses, etc.

I now work for an independent broker and can do anything I want to do as long as it's legal.  It's great :)  No floor unless I want to, no caravans either :)

Love my broker! we have free runner's who put direction signs, brochures, HOA/Condo documents, color copiers are free and lot of other benefits. We are welcome to do anything as long it is legal.

They are opening a sub-office closure to my office and expanding.

I work for myself as a sole broker.  It is better than every other broker I worked for.  Why give part of my money to another broker?

I am the broker too. It's all me and I love the indepence of owning my own business. My building is paid for so my overhead is minimal.

I would like to begin looking to hire someone to work in my office to help me keep up with everything, but at this point I am thinking another person would just be another thing for me to have to keep up.

Mary,

I have had up to three agents with me and unless they are dynamite agents, the hassle isn't worth the little bit of money they bring in.

If you want to hire an assistant, that's a different story.  An unlicensed assistant can free up your time to work with clients.  My wife is my unlicensed assistant and that works well most of the time.

Well that freedom is all in good but I find the broker run office is more demanding. You have do things the way the Broker wants them done, nothing is for free. I worked for a private Broker who had been in the business a long time. The methods were outdated and the work was usually done by the independent contractors who "in this Brokers mind" were employee's. If you signed up for floor time you had 10 phone calls if you were 5 minutes late. If the printer needed fixing you did it. If there was any money to be made believe me the Broker made it. Any listings that the Broker wanted the Broker got. There was no protocol, and to me that is more like having a King or Queen. You might think your free but try making more than the Broker, if they are competing in sales with you.

I still think the future holds more for Mentors than competing Brokers. I like to own my own listings also. Run my own business in a company I can trust. Brokers usually own your "assets" in small offices.

Blog with Melissa~

I have been in real estate for fifteen years. I have done both and worked for big and small Companies, pro's and con's. Depending on what company and what broker you work for it can be good or bad. You have to do what is right for you. I found that when I had my own company I was doing a lot of babysitting, paperwork and spending all my money on running the company. As an agent unstead of a broker I made more money.

I have been on both sides of this fence too. The large franchise type office was super for training and the extra national advertising edge, the smaller office is fantastic for the daily support knowing that there are others in your office to help when needed. Unless you own your own company you never have full control and you could be working like crazy to build your business and walk in to find out that your broker has just sold the company and that you now work for someone else! So for me that would be the one big advantage of owning my own office!

I am currently trying to decide if I should strike out on my own!  I do like my current broker but I feel he is about making money for himself.  We do share expenses 50/50 and I do not feel that is fair as I work from home about 50% of the time.  It is a 12 mile commute for me to the office (one way).  I have better technology at home to do business than at the broker's office.  I do like being able to bounce ideas off of other agents and get guidance from some who have been in the business much longer than me.  

I guess there is always a point that the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence.  I have looked at other brokerage business models such as fee for transaction and I like what I see.  I then start to factor in advertising, E&O insurance and the savings are still there but they are not as great as they looked before.

Another comment:  Franchises and large offices are really in the "agent business", not real estate business.  They make their money off of you, not real estate.  The more agents they have, the more chance for cash to come their way, even if only 1, 2 or 3 sides a year from a low producer.  That's why they keep adding agents even after having several hundred and the area they serve is saturated with agents.  They don't care about the dilution that affects each individual, just the amount of money that comes in.  

Mark,

Very well put--you nailed it.  

I love the small company I work for now. I've worked for a bigger company. But, my new company lets me try new things. They don't just say NO. They say call the lawyer and if they say YES, go for it.

They think outside the box and let me do the same.

I really don't agree with your comment Mark about them not being in the real estate business. I have learned more about real estate at this office than at any other small Brokerage. They have a new speaker every week. And many requirements. The fact they saturate the market is the Brokers fault . The Brokers that will not relinquish any earning power to his or her agents. Also invest in teaching instead of "how many listings do you have". Even though this company does teach listings are important for your business, I can at least leave with my listings. I get referrals from other agents that work for this company. The most important thing to me at least is owning my listings and getting a fair share of the profits. I never want to have to leave a million dollar listing because I caught my Broker trying to sabotage a sale of mine. And she lied to my face, but I had an honest Seller that showed me the email saying she had a client that would pay more and not to accept my buyers offer. You think it does not happen but it does and the Brokers from the "days gone by" are usually to blame because of the huge ego's that taught them in real estate school. "brokers are God" . I heard that line when I took the real estate course many times.

Blog with Melissa~ it's good to debate with respect. I mean no disrespect to any fellow blogger.