According to the National Association of Realtors, the number of real estate brokerages in the United States totals 106,548. That’s a TON of real estate companies to choose from.
If you’re looking for the best brokerage for part-time agents, this post is going to help you slim down that number to down to 1.
Table of Contents:
What Should Part-Time Real Estate Agents Look For?
As someone who has been in the industry for over 5 years full-time, I asked 3 successful part-time real estate agents what the largest factors are in a real estate company that contributed to their success.
Kevin Shoun has been a part-time real estate agent while on active duty in the Army since 2020. Every year since getting his real estate license he has made at least an extra $100,000.
When asked what was most important for a brokerage to offer part-time agents, he said, “Brokerages that do not require you to be in the office, who offer recorded/zoom training options, motive/encourage you, and provide value.”
I asked Tashia Parker what she thought, “Virtual classes or other learning opportunities in the evening or weekends, Low or no monthly brokerage fees, and referrals or a referral network.”
Tashia works for Wells Fargo full-time and is a badass mom. She just hosted a book club for her high school daughter and daughter’s friend on “The Psychology of Money.”
Kelly Greer, another full-time Army soldier said, “Having mentors and professionals that have been through what you are going through is invaluable. Things are great because nothing is mandatory, I can come and go as I like.”
Although he sounds chill, his fiance tells me he’s really working 2 full-time jobs. He crushed it his first year in the real estate industry with $84k GCI. Year 2 is looking even better.
Judging by my conversations with them, the most important qualities in real estate companies for part-time agents are:
- On-Demand or Flexible Virtual Training
- Location Freedom
- Company Culture
Are you looking for a new brokerage?
Do you want to build a REAL business and create REAL wealth alongside peers?
Five Pillars is the nationwide movement of real estate agents who are doing just that.
On-Demand & Flexible Virtual Training
With a full-time job, it can be tough to find time for your side hustle as a part-time real estate agent. While full-time agents can structure their day how they want, you’re chained to your W-2. So, how are you going to attend training opportunities?
On-demand, virtual training is the best solution for this. The second best would be having the ability to attend training on the weekends.
Location Freedom
Part-time real estate agents need to optimize their limited time. If you had to drive to an office to get anything done, good luck closing deals! It’s crucial that your real estate brokerage isn’t requiring you to show up to the office.
Company Culture – Motivation and Focus
Of course, culture is always important. We can talk about motivation and focus, but if you have a full-time gig and you’re just doing real estate on the side, motivation and focus is something you MUST have.
If you hang your license at a real estate company where everyone else is taking weekends off, it’s going to affect your headspace and inherently your real estate business.
Fortunately for you, the real estate industry is known for working weekends! 🙂
The Best Real Estate Companies For New Agents
Alright, now that you know what to look for in a part-time agent-friendly brokerage, let’s take it a step further and try to figure out how you’re going to get that consistently.
To be honest, every brokerage and franchise location is going to be wildly different. It’s important to interview a bunch of brokerages, but in this post, we are going to evaluate a brokerage’s ability to be consistent in those 3 categories we just listed.
So, what are the 3 most consistent companies for your part-time real estate career?
eXp Realty – The #1 Brokerage for Part Time Agents
Known as one of the first cloud-based brokerages, part-time realtors love eXp Realty.
What’s so great besides the low cost of $85 that includes a great CRM and website?
Virtual Training
Imagine this, top real estate agents from across the nation are paid by the company to teach 80 live, virtual classes per week. But why is ‘across the nation’ important?
Because at a traditional brokerage or franchise location, your instructor is going to be your competition.
eXp Realty offers that and thousands of hours of recorded training. There is no other company in the real estate industry that can compete with their training opportunities.
Freedom of Location
As a cloud-based, virtual brokerage, real estate agents don’t even have an office to go to. Talk about being highly efficient in your limited amount of time…
eXp Realty agents don’t have an office to go to, which could be perceived as negative in some people’s eyes. I for one love that ability to bring my business with me everywhere I go.
eXp Realty Culture
eXp Realty doesn’t really have a company culture. I’m sure if you look hard enough you’ll find one, but the cool part is, eXp Realty agents are responsible for creating the culture.
What do I mean?
I used to have a traditional team and decided I didn’t want the overhead and responsibility. eXp’s sponsorship program allowed me to do what I loved, build a community.
Although eXp Realty doesn’t have a community, I’m a firm believer that our community is something you should consider being a part of. We have successful part-time realtors on the team.
If you’re looking for a home, schedule a call with me.
Keller Williams Realty – Second Best Brokerage for Part-Time Agents
As stated above, my good friend Kevin Shoun has been at Keller Williams for years. He’s been a highly successful part-time realtor while serving full-time in the US Army.
I actually started my career at KW then left for eXp.
What makes Keller Williams a real estate brokerage that’s part-time friendly?
Virtual Training at Keller Williams
KW has Keller Williams University (KWU). Although it has been a while since I’ve been a real estate agent there, apparently they’ve made some significant improvements.
KWU is an online, on-demand training platform. Although some of it is free, other agents have told me a lot of KW’s free training is just a funnel to get you to more expensive training or coaching.
So, while it might be valuable for a new real estate agent, experienced agents will likely have to pay for more applicable training.
KW’s Ability to Be Virtual
Although KW still has brick-and-mortar locations, they’ve done a great job at reducing the need for an office.
While that might be highly convenient, each office still has the overhead of paying for physical, local brokerages.
If I were part-time, I’d want a real estate brokerage where I didn’t have to pay the rent, electricity, and water bills… No, agents don’t pay for those directly but some locations will charge mandatory desk fees.
KW’s Culture
Again, this is where things get sticky. Culture is usually linked to people at a real estate brokerage, not the brokerage itself.
If the real estate broker you interview and really like decides to leave one day, things will change. That’s what happened to me and most people who leave KW.
With eXp Realty, if you were to sign me as a sponsor, fortunately, you’re stuck with me.
Other Franchise Brokerages
So you might be wondering… What about REMAX, Century 21, Coldwell Banker, or maybe another national real estate brokerage?
I don’t like to throw them all in the same bucket, but that’s what I’m going to do.
Part-time real estate agents, I encourage you to interview every real estate brokerage.
If you’re not sure what to ask in the interview, I took care of that for you!
If they have a physical location, just keep in mind your money is going to pay for that building and you will likely never get to use it due to your time constraint.
Final Thoughts on The Best Company for a Part-Time Real Estate Agent
Part-time agents have it tough. I’ve never understood why people do it when they can make way more money going full-time. Tashia, Kevin, and Kelly are all crushing it as part-time agents.
If you’re a part-time agent looking to surround yourself with those three, schedule a call with me about joining our real estate brokerage, eXp Realty.
