Is a monthly brokerage fee worth it?

In some real estate offices agents have to pay a monthly brokerage fee. Not every realty brokerage charges a monthly fee to its agents. For example, Balboa Real Estate does not charge its agents a monthly fee. Now, even though we don’t charge a monthly fee, we aren’t universally opposed the concept of charging a fee in certain circumstances. Some real estate agents like to hang around an office. If you like to go down to an office, and jump on the company wifi with your laptop, as you drink a Keurig coffee, sitting in an auxillary desk, under an AC vent, as your print out an email, then a monthly real estate brokerage fee is indeed intended just for you. Also, you should happily pay it, because all the overhead created by the office ammenties you like to utlilize cost the company money.

Real estate brokerages that offer the “100% commission” model have a thin profit margin, so they must be careful when budgeting. The understanding is that the monthly fee is in place to help cover the overhead, ideally a break even. All the charges to an agent’s commission should be added revenue, to pay salaries and such. Balboa Real Estate offers 100% commission, a low flat fee per transaction, but no office to hang around. The reason is that we did have an office – for years- and it was barely utilized. Why was our big beautiful office not utilized? The answer is that it’s more convenient for agent to meet the sellers at the listings, buyers at the prospective properties, and conduct research/paperwork from their computer than to drive out of the way to our office. Agents that keep busy and focused know this, and many see no point in paying a monthly fee for an amenities that they do not use. Agents like this come to Balboa Real Estate for 100% commission, our broker supervision, and not our office.