What Are Real Estate Teams? Bankrate Caret RightMain Menu Mortgage Mortgages Financing a home purchase Refinancing your existing loan Finding the right lender Additional Resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Bank Banking Compare Accounts Use calculators Get advice Bank reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Credit Card Credit cards Compare by category Compare by credit needed Compare by issuer Get advice Looking for the perfect credit card? Narrow your search with CardMatch Caret RightMain Menu Loan Loans Personal Loans Student Loans Auto Loans Loan calculators Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Invest Investing Best of Brokerages and robo-advisors Learn the basics Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Home Equity Home equity Get the best rates Lender reviews Use calculators Knowledge base Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Loan Home Improvement Real estate Selling a home Buying a home Finding the right agent Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Insurance Insurance Car insurance Homeowners insurance Other insurance Company reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Retirement Retirement Retirement plans & accounts Learn the basics Retirement calculators Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Advertiser Disclosure
Advertiser Disclosure
We are an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. Our goal is to help you make smarter financial decisions by providing you with interactive tools and financial calculators, publishing original and objective content, by enabling you to conduct research and compare information for free - so that you can make financial decisions with confidence.
Bankrate has partnerships with issuers including, but not limited to, American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi and Discover. How We Make Money
The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they may appear within the listing categories. But this compensation does not influence the information we publish, or the reviews that you see on this site. We do not include the universe of companies or financial offers that may be available to you. SHARE: On This Page
xavierarnau/Getty Images September 22, 2022 Rae Hartley Beck is a writer and editor with over eight years of experience in personal finance. Her work has most recently appeared in Bankrate, MoneyWise and Investopedia. Rae specializes in credit card rewards, investing, real estate, home improvement, lending and financial advice for millennials, Gen Z, Gen Alpha and their parents. Troy Segal is Bankrate's Senior Homeownership Editor, focusing on everything from upkeep and maintenance to building equity and enhancing value. Bankrate logo The Bankrate promise
At Bankrate we strive to help you make smarter financial decisions. While we adhere to strict editorial integrity, this post may contain references to products from our partners. Here's an explanation for how we make money. Bankrate logo The Bankrate promise
Founded in 1976, Bankrate has a long track record of helping people make smart financial choices. We’ve maintained this reputation for over four decades by demystifying the financial decision-making process and giving people confidence in which actions to take next. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. All of our content is authored by and edited by , who ensure everything we publish is objective, accurate and trustworthy. Buying or selling a home is one of the biggest financial decisions an individual will ever make. Our real estate reporters and editors focus on educating consumers about this life-changing transaction and how to navigate the complex and ever-changing housing market. From finding an agent to closing and beyond, our goal is to help you feel confident that you're making the best, and smartest, real estate deal possible. Bankrate logo Editorial integrity
Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. Key Principles
We value your trust. Our mission is to provide readers with accurate and unbiased information, and we have editorial standards in place to ensure that happens. Our editors and reporters thoroughly fact-check editorial content to ensure the information you’re reading is accurate. We maintain a firewall between our advertisers and our editorial team. Our editorial team does not receive direct compensation from our advertisers. Editorial Independence
Bankrate’s editorial team writes on behalf of YOU – the reader. Our goal is to give you the best advice to help you make smart personal finance decisions. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy. So, whether you’re reading an article or a review, you can trust that you’re getting credible and dependable information. Bankrate logo How we make money
You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers. We’re transparent about how we are able to bring quality content, competitive rates, and useful tools to you by explaining how we make money. Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service. Home sales can often succeed or fail in a matter of hours, as many buyers stuck in have discovered the hard way during the last two years. But what happens when your agent comes down with COVID or needs to attend an important family event? Real estate teams allow two or more to share resources, time and knowledge. Although only about belong to one, they’re growing in popularity, according to the National Association of Realtors. Real estate teams benefit everyone in the transaction — buyers and sellers can get help without waiting on a specific individual, and agents can benefit from a team environment and better work-life balance. Here’s how they roll, and how they differ from the traditional solo How do real estate teams work
Real estate teams can operate and function in several different ways. They can be a team of one lead with several support Realtors or agents under them. They can be a team of real estate pros working independently but teaming up to pool resources like office space and marketing materials. Or, they can be a fully equal partnership of several people sharing every aspect of a transaction. Legal definitions of real estate teams vary by state. Connecticut, for example, as a group of at least two licensed real estate brokers or real estate salespersons who are affiliated with the same sponsoring real estate broker and engage in advertising as a group using a team name. Regardless of which type of real estate team you work with, you can expect that “the members work together, coordinate and support each other with every client,” says Alex Capozzolo, co-founder of Brotherly Love Real Estate in San Diego, Calif. Teams can be tiny and intimate, comprising just a few members, or “a full-fledged, highly structured entity that is organized and operated like a law firm or investment bank” with a large staff, says Dawn McKenna, a real estate broker and owner of Dawn McKenna Group in Illinois, Florida and Michigan. Smaller teams are likely only to consist of licensed agents and possibly a few staff to help with administration. On the other hand, large teams are likely to be composed of many real estate agents, real estate brokers and a whole team of other staff with roles in “accounting, marketing, transaction support, insurance” and legal, says McKenna. Small teams vs large teams
Both types of teams have their advantages and disadvantages. In a small team you’re likely to only have one point person with others filling in if your person is unavailable or helping out as needed. In this situation, you get personalized attention, but you may not have the efficiencies or expertise you can find in a big team. With a larger team, you may have one point person who checks in and guides you through the overall process, but you’ll likely spend most of your time with individuals specialized in their fields. The person who takes you to showings may not be the person who writes up your offers or asks you for documents. This division of tasks can be more efficient but it can make you feel like you’re being shuffled around, and having to repeat yourself a lot. Real estate firms and commissions
As the buyer or seller, you will likely still pay the same regardless of whether they’re operating individually or as part of a team. On the other hand, your agent may not receive as much of a commission if they’re part of a team. Every team structures its compensation differently. “For our team, we keep a set commission for all members and an additional bonus of 10 percent for any member who makes a sale,” says Capozzolo. Other teams may split commissions evenly after expenses are paid or charge a flat fee, while others have a split that varies from 25/75 to 75/25 in favor of the team or agent, depending on who first acquired the client. “In all cases, the split of commissions should be immaterial to the client. If you sense that your agent is stretched on time or resources to dedicate to you due to team commitments or fees, you have the wrong agent, or your agent is on the wrong team,” says McKenna. Advantages of using a real estate team
When a real estate team works well together, they can pool their knowledge, time, and resources to serve you effectively. For buyers, a real estate team can “do better research, preview listings, and accommodate your showing schedule” because they help each other, says McKenna. For sellers, a real estate team can provide “more sophisticated, broader marketing of your home”; a wider audience should see it because other realtors on the team will share it with their clients, adds McKenna. Beyond gaining the expertise and services of multiple agents, nobody can be available 100 percent of the time, so having someone on the team who is knowledgeable and can step in if your primary agent is unavailable can be extremely important. Disadvantages of using a real estate team
The biggest disadvantage of using a real estate team is the risk that they won’t work well together — the old left-hand-doesn’t-know-what-the-right-hand-is-doing syndrome. Buying a house is stressful enough without having to negotiate through any inter-office drama. The potentially biggest transaction of your life is on the line, and you don’t want someone to drop the ball over a miscommunication. Even with a real estate team that works well together, you may feel like you’re getting less specialized, individual attention than you would with an individual agent, who has (or should have) every detail of your search or property at their fingertips. Or that it’s not clear who is qualified to handle what. You don’t want to have 10 different names on your speed-dial, or be explaining the particulars over and over again to different people. How to build your real estate dream team
Building a real estate dream team is similar to . Decide if you’d like to go with a bigger or smaller team first, and then read reviews on the best teams in your area. Schedule interviews with someone from a few of the top-rated teams. During your interview, ask them how the buying or selling process would operate if you hired them. Try to get a feel for how their team functions: Is it a team of equals? Or more like a team of rivals? How are duties divvied up? Does everyone know everything about your listing or your search, or are there designated responsibilities? Also ask for data on the team’s “deal volume, pricing accuracy, time on the market, network connections, and social media reach, and make sure they demonstrate real success,” advises McKenna. Once you settle on a team, clarify with them who is running point on your house sale or hunt. If questions and issues come up, who are you going to call/text/email? And if they aren’t available — who is second on the list? SHARE: Rae Hartley Beck is a writer and editor with over eight years of experience in personal finance. Her work has most recently appeared in Bankrate, MoneyWise and Investopedia. Rae specializes in credit card rewards, investing, real estate, home improvement, lending and financial advice for millennials, Gen Z, Gen Alpha and their parents. Troy Segal is Bankrate's Senior Homeownership Editor, focusing on everything from upkeep and maintenance to building equity and enhancing value. Related Articles