Keep Your Commission - How much does Keller Williams pay?

In following blogs I am going to post the commission differences in flat fee 100% commission brokers to the commissions the large corporate brokerages; Keller Williams, Coldwell Banker, ReMax, Century 21, etc..  take from their agents.  This blog will be on Keller Williams.

The following information is copied from an inman article where the CEO of KW spoke;

"The commission split that Keller Williams offered agents is a hybrid of that offered by traditional franchises and 100 percent commission organizations. The Keller Williams agent/Keller Williams Realty receives a 70/30 commission split from the first dollar of gross commission income generated. The agent was responsible for paying a franchise fee to the international office each year, which was capped at $3,000. The agent was also responsible for paying a fee to the market center,..."

So let's use the median sale price for a home in California this year (from CAR) which is $449,500, to calculate how much an agent would receive if they were with KW.  On a 3% commission the amount earned by the agent would would have been $13,485.  After KW takes their portion of $4,046 the agent will end up with only $9439.  ..yikes ! We're not done yet. KW agents are also required to pay a "franchise fee" of $3,000 per year on top of the already huge chunk taken out.  So, if the average agent only sells only 3 properties a year (according to NAR) then that's an additional $1,000 the agent must pay to the KW broker. So after all the commission grabbing is done the agent has given KW $5,046 and is left with only $8439 from the original $13,485 they earned. And I'm not even including another additional fee KW agents also must pay to the "marketing center". 

Now lets look at that same transaction with CURB.  Instead of an agent paying a whopping $5,046 in commissions with KW, with CURB for that same exact transaction they would only pay $595 + $95 E&O, for a grand total of $690 vs $5,046 !  With the KW model the agent ends up with only $8439 as opposed to $12,795 with CURB.  That is an extra $4,356 in your pocket !  Do that only 3 times a year and that equals an extra $13,068 that stays in your pocket for you to spend on anything your little heart desires.