An active license means you work under a sponsoring broker. When you have an active real estate license, you can work as a real estate agent and perform real estate brokerage activities.

When you have an inactive real estate license, you cannot engage in any real estate brokerage activities. Your Real Estate license needs to be under a sponsoring broker in order to earn a real estate commission. By staying inactive, you are paying fees to your Real Estate Commission and real estate schools for continuing education (CE) and are not allowed to earn any type of real estate commission in this status.

Northeastern Realty is a licensed real estate brokerage. Our Real Estate Referral Program offers real estate agents the luxury of keeping their real license active without paying any MLS fees and also generating extra income though referral commissions.

Quite simply, a real estate referral agent is a real estate agent who refers a client to another real estate agent, who will then manage the client’s real estate transaction. Real estate referral agents receive a portion of the commission on the real estate transaction a client conducts after they have been referred. A referral agent must be part of a brokerage in order to act as a referral agent and receive commissions for referrals.

A real estate referral is the act of getting a client into the hands of the person who is the most qualified to get them the real estate services they need.

In order to earn income as a real estate referral agent, you must have your real estate license. You must also be connected with a brokerage that can receive and process the commissions you receive from making referrals. You cannot receive commissions for referrals unless you are part of a brokerage, or have a broker’s license yourself.

Once you have your real estate license and are part of a brokerage, you can begin working as a real estate referral agent. Make sure to market your services widely, from social media to your website to any other place where you can make yourself visible to clients looking for referrals. Staying connected in major markets where clients are looking to buy property will help generate leads for your business as a real estate referral agent.

Since referral agents rely on commission of successful sales by their referred agents, their success depends on generating a significant number of quality referrals. This means marketing their services online and elsewhere in order to create business from clients who are looking for a referral. Being well-connected and visible in the real estate community via a strong network can help with receiving contacts who need referrals.

Another crucial piece of the real estate referral agent job is to know which real estate agents in target markets are available for referrals. A real estate referral agent will want to have a good roster of agents in various, popular real estate markets that they can refer their clients to. The amount of commission that a real estate agent is willing to pay the referral agent can influence which real estate agents a referral agent will refer clients to. Once a client has been referred to an agent, there are typically no other duties for the referral agent. However, a good referral agent will follow up to make sure that the real estate agent to which their client was referred is doing a good job for the client.

In today’s fast-paced real estate investing world, clients are often interested in purchasing property in areas that they aren’t familiar with; for example, a second home in a beach town or near a ski resort. The client wants to buy property, but also wants to make sure they are connected to the right agent to help them with the purchase. This is a case where a real estate referral agent can be helpful to the client.

A second situation where a referral agent might be helpful is for new buyers who have not bought property before and therefore are not already connected with a real estate agent in their area.

Finally, a client may have a family member who is a real estate agent, but that real estate agent does not want to conduct business on the client’s behalf for conflict of interest reasons. The client then may have their family member refer them to another agent.

Referral agents can offer a win-win-win situation. The client wins by being referred to a trustworthy agent who can handle their real estate buying and/or selling process, particularly in real estate investment locations that the client is not familiar with. The real estate agent who receives the referral benefits by being referred a new client and receiving new business, which will lead to a new commission. The real estate referral agent benefits by receiving a percentage of the commission of the client’s real estate transaction. Everyone wins!

A typical referral fee for a real estate transaction is between 30% and 35% of the gross commission received by the side representing the principal you referred.

The receiving agent’s broker is usually responsible for paying the referral fee. Typically, the fee is due from the receiving company within 10 days of closing and comes out of the gross commission due the firm representing the referred client.