What does a team format look like in today’s rapidly changing real estate world? The idea is still relatively new, as most teams were established just 4-5 years ago—and, yet, it is a diverse segment of the industry, making trends difficult to discern.
To help, the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) recently released the 2018 Teams Survey, based on the responses of 3,483 participants, 26 percent of which are members of a real estate team. Of respondents not currently on a team, 16 percent have previously been on a team, while the majority (84 percent) have never been a member of a real estate team. Nine percent have “strongly” considered joining or starting a team, and 30 percent have “briefly” considered it.
What is the makeup of a team? The majority of teams have two members (29 percent), closely followed by teams with 6-10 people (20 percent) and three people (17 percent). Typically, all members hold a real estate license (80 percent), while 16 percent state that over half of their team members are real estate licensees. Asked to explain their principal roles (with the option to choose various categories), most respondents chose agent (88 percent), while 50 percent said broker, 47 percent said marketing, 47 percent said administrative and 34 percent said transaction coordinator.
How are real estate teams typically compensated? The most common arrangement is a fixed commission split (38 percent), followed by a graduated commission split (22 percent) and a 100-percent commission split (13 percent).
“The transformation of the real estate landscape continues to change the way REALTORS® do business,” says NAR CEO Bob Goldberg. “Over the last few years, REALTORS® have continued to embrace changing technology and business tactics that are modernizing the industry. Real estate teams are an increasingly popular business model in response to consumer demand for a wide range of specialties from their REALTOR®, as they expect constant support throughout the real estate transaction.”
“This growing trend not only helps our members share workloads and responsibilities, but also allow REALTORS® to benefit from the experience of fellow professionals,” says NAR President Elizabeth Mendenhall. “The synergies of a well-functioning team are often an incentive to relinquish some of the independence of a solo practitioner and offer many attractive features for both licensees and their customers.”
For more information, please visit www.nar.realtor.
Liz Dominguez is RISMedia’s associate content editor. Email her your real estate news ideas at ldominguez@rismedia.com. For the latest real estate news and trends, bookmark RISMedia.com.
