Answer:

There are many different reasons for why people choose the agency they end up going to work for.  Some of the most common reasons are; proximity of the office to where the agent lives, a friend or business associate already working at a particular company, it might be that they are recruited into the industry by a certain agency, or possibly an agency even paid for that agent’s education.  There are a myriad of reasons, but very rarely does a brand new agent in the market look at the real factors when interviewing at brokerages.  No other business would start by first taking into account where its friends were, or where it was simply easiest to go to work.  Any other business would start by thoroughly examining all of the opportunities available and decide which one was the best fit in a number of important key areas, which most new agents never even look at. 

The first one is, who is the broker?  What is their reputation in the business community?  You want to find out everything that you can about the broker.  And that is more than just interviewing with him or her.  You should take time to visit with some of the agents and vendors (title companies, lenders, etc) that work closely with them.  In nearly every case, agents are independent contractors and have no responsibility to “tow the company line”, so to speak.  You should be able to get a fairly unbiased opinion, if they know that is what you are looking for.  Interview brand new agents in the office, if you can.  They will have the best perspective on what it is like to start out there, and what kind of support you can expect.  You, literally, are your broker.  You represent this person in every business dealing that you undertake. You will also be limited to doing only that which your broker approves of you doing.  For that reason, having a flexible and forward-thinking broker is absolutely vital to your ability to do any kind of creative marketing that is outside the norm of your area.  You must have a broker that allows you to break out of the “Me Too Marketing” mold and create a name and a business of your own. 

Another thing you need to look at is the commission structure.  Again, this is a great area to talk with other agents within the brokerage to get the “behind-the-scenes” reality of their commission package.  Unfortunately, it is very common to have “surprise” fees turn up that are over and above the understood commission split agreement.  You will want to know about these prior to going to work.  All too often, I see new agents promised one thing to get them in the door, only to have the game changed once they are signed on and working.  Some of these “gotchas” will take the form of franchise fees, transaction fees, broker fees, administrative fees, and advertising fees.  You must understand what a commission check goes through before it reaches your hands.  A great thing to do is to sit down with your potential broker and have him or her walk you through how a typical closing will happen.  Give them a sale number of $300,000 and have them show you exactly how it is split, and what goes where.

Take a look at what kind of advertising the agency is doing.  Is it in keeping with and supportive of your marketing efforts?  Is the amount of advertising a good mix with the amount of advertising you are doing on your own?  In the agency I started out with, they were doing an immense amount of advertising.  This would have been great, had they not passed on nearly every dollar to their agents in the form of a monthly ad budget.  This amount was so high that, at least in the beginning of my career, it inhibited me from being able to do the creative advertising that I needed to do to build my own identity in the marketplace.  One of the greatest factors that went into the decision to leave that brokerage was being able to gain back control of the money I was spending on advertising from my broker.  I knew that money was better spent on separating myself from the competition and supporting my unique marketing message.  Ultimately, it was more expensive for me to do my own marketing rather than pay into the “pool” of marketing money, but it was also significantly more powerful and effective because it got me out of the world of “Me Too Marketing” and into the world of creative, specific marketing. 

We get indoctrinated into the brokerages where we work.  We see this same phenomenon in the world at large known as Nationalism.  You can go to virtually any country in the world and talk with a person that is been born and raised there, and they will be extremely patriotic to that country.  Often times, from outside of their country from a different perspective, we can look in and wonder how in the world they could feel so strongly about a country with its obvious weaknesses.  

Nationalism Definition: Devotion to one's own nation; patriotism, excessive patriotism; chauvinism.