The Commercial Classroom: How to choose what kind of brokerage to affiliate with

A student of mine asked me how to choose what real estate firm to affiliate with? It is best to interview with a number of different types of companies to see what the best fit is for you. There are certainly a number of things to consider. Some firms ask each agent to specialize, become an expert in a particular segment of the market, office leasing or industrial sales or perhaps retail site selection. Other firms cross-train the agents to handle whatever opportunities they may encounter. In these offices often the specialization is geographic, becoming an expert in that particular market area. Do you want to be a full time commercial agent or a dual-practitioner doing both commercial and residential work? Some companies are strictly commercial, some do both disciplines. In some of the firms that do both there may be a "commercial division." There can be advantages to both situations. In a purely commercial company there may be a mentoring program, perhaps working with an experienced agent for a period of time to gain experience. This could occur in a dual office too, but the other advantage of this type of office is the commercial agents can get referrals from the residential agents in their office. Should you work with a small firm or large firm? Another key consideration is what kind of training and support will be provided. In a smaller firm the broker may be very busy and have little time to train new agents. They may also have their own clients and be in competition with their sales agents for new business. Other firms, especially the larger companies may have corporate training programs and educational staff just for this purpose. Ask about the company's websites and marketing tools. Who makes your listing flyers-you or staff? Is there staff? How are your listings advertised? Who pays for what? The compensation issue-how much of the fee do I get? This varies considerably, some firms start out with a 50-50 split of the commission and as the agents production increases they get a higher percentage of the fee. Other firms offer 70%, 80%, 90% or more of the commission to the agent. But usually in these cases there are monthly costs to the agent for operating expense or marketing funds. These monthly fees can be considerable and must be carefully evaluated. Your market-where do I have the best opportunity? What brokerage firm(s) is/are dominating your area? If you join them will you be able to shine or are they loaded with agents now? When considering joining a firm, interview with the broker and also speak with some of the other agents there. How are they really doing? Interview with several companies determine their structure, training, splits and your opportunity for success. Edward Smith, Jr., CREI, ITI, CIC, GREEN, RECS, is the eastern regional director of Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT, Syosset, N.Y.