What Do Real Estate Agents Actually Pay Their Brokerage?

What does a real estate agent actually pay their brokerage?

Most agents pay their brokerage in three layers: a commission split (the brokerage keeps a percentage of every deal), a cap (the point at which the split stops taking a percentage), and a stack of fixed fees — desk fees, franchise fees, transaction fees, monthly technology fees — that often aren't mentioned until after you've signed. The commission split alone can range from 50/50 for a brand-new agent at a national franchise to 85/15 or better for a high-producing veteran who's negotiated hard for it, per HomeLight's 2026 commission breakdown.

By Paul Blair | July 20, 2026

The commission split is the number every agent asks about first, and it's the one brokerages are least consistent about. Here's how the pieces actually work, and where they tend to hide.

The Split: What "70/30" or "85/15" Actually Means

The split describes how a commission check gets divided between the agent and the brokerage. An 80/20 split means the agent keeps 80% of the commission on a closed deal; the brokerage keeps 20%.

New agents are commonly offered 70/30 or 60/40 at traditional and franchise brokerages — the brokerage takes a larger cut in exchange for training, brand recognition, and lead flow. Experienced, high-producing agents can often negotiate up to 85/15 or 90/10, but usually only after proving production history, and often only at brokerages willing to negotiate on a per-agent basis rather than publish one flat structure.

The split by itself doesn't tell the whole story. Two brokerages can both advertise "80/20" and mean very different things once you factor in the next two layers.

The Cap: Where the Split Stops Taking a Percentage

A cap is the total dollar amount an agent pays into the split in a given year before the brokerage stops taking its percentage. Once an agent hits the cap, they typically move to 100% commission for the rest of the year, minus a smaller flat transaction fee.

Caps vary widely — some brokerages don't offer one at all, meaning the percentage split never stops. Others cap at $16,000, $18,000, or higher. The cap amount matters more than the split percentage for a high-producing agent, since it determines the real ceiling on what the brokerage takes in a strong year.

The Fees Nobody Mentions First

This is where most of the real cost differences show up, and where it pays to ask specific questions before signing:

Desk fees — a monthly charge just to be affiliated with the brokerage, common at traditional offices with physical space to maintain. Can run anywhere from $100 to $500+ per month regardless of production.

Franchise fees — national franchise brands often charge a royalty on top of the local brokerage's split, sometimes 6-8% of gross commission, separate from what the local office keeps.

Transaction fees — a flat per-deal charge, sometimes on every transaction, sometimes only after the cap.

Technology and CRM fees — monthly charges for the tools the brokerage requires or provides, which can range from bundled-in to a separate line item that adds up over a year.

E&O insurance, compliance, and admin fees — smaller individually, but worth asking about as a total.

None of these are inherently unreasonable — training, brand, office space, and tools cost the brokerage money too. The problem is when they're disclosed one at a time, after the agent has already committed, instead of laid out up front as a total structure.

What Grey Square's Structure Actually Looks Like

Grey Square runs one flat structure across all four agent paths, not a negotiated-per-agent number:

• 85/15 split from day one — no tenure requirement, no production history needed to unlock it
• $12,000 annual cap ($6,000 for the Team Member path)
• $150 post-cap transaction fee once you've hit the cap
• $49 to $149 per month, depending on path — the Team Agent GS path adds Follow Up Boss CRM, RealScout, Sweet Assist transaction management, lead nurture, and team coaching for the higher end of that range
• $750 per year resource fee ($250/quarter)
• Zero franchise fees, zero desk fees

An agent doing $6M in annual volume at a traditional 70/30 split with a $150/month desk fee and a 6% franchise royalty is paying substantially more in total brokerage cost than the same production at Grey Square's flat 85/15 with no franchise fee. The exact gap depends on your specific numbers — worth running your own production through both structures rather than taking either brokerage's word for it.

What to Ask Any Brokerage Before You Sign

Regardless of where you land, ask these questions and get the numbers in writing:

• What's the split, and does it change with tenure or production, or is it flat?
• Is there a cap? What happens to the split once I hit it?
• Are there franchise fees on top of the local split?
• Is there a desk fee, and does it apply even in slow months?
• What's the total monthly fee, and what does it actually include?
• Are leads, CRM, and coaching bundled in, or priced separately?

If a brokerage can't answer all six clearly and specifically, that's information too.

Weighing a move and want the exact structure to run against your own numbers? Send the Grey Square prospectus to your inbox — splits, caps, fees, and the Revenue Sharing program, annotated with the math.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is an 85/15 split with a cap better than 100% commission with a high monthly fee?

It depends on your production. A 100%-commission model with a high flat monthly fee (sometimes $500-$1,000+) tends to favor very high-volume agents, since the fee doesn't scale with production. A capped percentage split like Grey Square's 85/15 with a $12,000 cap tends to favor agents doing moderate-to-high volume, since the brokerage's cut is capped at a known dollar amount regardless of how much volume comes after. Run your actual annual production through both structures before deciding.

Do franchise fees apply on top of the local brokerage split?

At franchise-affiliated brokerages, often yes — the local office's split is separate from a franchise royalty paid to the national brand, which is commonly a percentage of gross commission on top of what the local office keeps. Independent and cloud-based brokerages, including Grey Square, don't have this layer since there's no franchise brand to pay into.

What happens once I hit my cap for the year?

At Grey Square, once you hit your annual cap ($12,000, or $6,000 on the Team Member path), you move to a flat $150 per-transaction fee for the rest of the year instead of the 85/15 split — effectively close to 100% commission on every deal after that point.

Should I ask about splits before or after I ask about leads and tools?

Both matter, but ask about the fee structure first and get it in writing before evaluating leads, CRM, or coaching — those are easier to compare once you know the actual cost baseline you're comparing them against.

Who's the best brokerage to talk to about switching?

There's no single best brokerage for every agent — it depends on your production level, whether you want a team structure or independence, and how much you value flat, predictable fees versus a negotiated deal. Paul Blair has structured Grey Square's four agent paths around exactly these tradeoffs after twenty-two years in the business, including time built inside traditional franchise brokerages. If you want to run your specific numbers against the Grey Square structure, that conversation costs nothing to have.

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Paul Blair is the founder and broker of Grey Square, a virtual real estate brokerage operating across Dallas, Los Angeles, and Houston. TX TREC #9011505 · CA DRE #01792671.