Thread: Commercial Real Estate

Strictly commission-based for residential as well as commercial. Also, a lot of commercial has lower split rates (more like 50/50) because the dollars are so much larger. In the end, however it will still depend on the agency as it does with residential.

In the end, commercial is higher stakes, higher cycletime, higher payoff...

This information just scratches the surface but can certainly get the discussion started.

Commercial tends to be higher priced and higher comission. (Actual splits depend on the company/broker). Commercial tends to be very much a specialty because there are a lot of other factors and information required for selling commercial that aren't necessary for residential. (traffic counts, zoning, re-zoning, knowing somthing about driveway regulations, drainage redulations, P&Ls, available utilties and transportation, etc.) There can also be a lot more footwork involved with govenment agencies, etc. Your market and advertizing can be completely different than residential.

It can take months to put a deal together once you have an interested party adn it can take many more months to close. And you'll have to be familiar with options (which can take even longer). The risk is higher (lots of work done for something that may not happen), but the payout can be worth it. Typically it is just strait comission just like residential.

Some companies only handle commercial properties, and some handle both commercial and residential (and then some won't really touch commercial or really don't know how to handle them besides doing what they would for residential).

There are possibly some salary based jobs. Large companies may have a Realtor on staff to handle their transactions and I know our DOT has them. I've seen some builders that have a Realtor to handle sales as well and that can involve a salary (and possibly some comission).

Property management is an option. I don't know that it's really as lucrative (depending on the area), but it tends to be much lower risk since you could be paid a montly fee per unit (agreements vary, I'm not aware of any standard).

-Tim

Standard property managment is 7% on commercail properties, but res varies depending on your market betweekn 7-12%

Another option (if you are looking for a salary based position) would be with a new home builder. A few of our local builders pay a 500$ draw a week. When our market was so hot a few years back, they paid about 1000$ a week according to a friend of mine who was working under Lennar Builders.