{"id":22412,"date":"2024-07-18T04:05:20","date_gmt":"2024-07-18T11:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/?p=22412"},"modified":"2026-04-06T01:33:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T08:33:37","slug":"real-estate-brokerages","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/real-estate-brokerages\/","title":{"rendered":"Real Estate Brokerages Support Your Agent: What Does That Mean When You Sell a Home?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Real estate agents in the United States are required to \u201chang their license\u201d with a brokerage \u2014 a business run by a licensed broker who has significant experience working as an agent and has completed additional training. The brokerage supports the agent with resources, assistant staff, and often an office space in exchange for a portion of the agent\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/real-estate-agent-commission\/\">commission fees<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re selling your home, the agent you choose matters far more than the brokerage they work under.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe brokerage is the second piece or the support for your agent,\u201d comments <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/agents\/shawn-hartmann-mn-20504704\">Shawn Hartmann<\/a>, a leading agent in St. Paul, MN, who works with 84% more single-family homes than the average agent.<\/p>\n<p>Still, it\u2019s worth researching an agent\u2019s brokerage to ensure they\u2019re providing the agent with everything they need to pull off a successful sale. We\u2019ll fill you in on how brokerages work and provide you with an overview of the most popular real estate brokerages in the country.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n\n\n\n<div class=\"geo-cta widget-cta widget-cta--content     widget-cta--light widget-cta--white\">\n    <div class=\"widget-element--content\">\n        <div class=\"widget-element--content-header\">\n            <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"homelight logo\" class=\"widget-element--logo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/themes\/ccprototypev5\/images\/img-cta-logo-white.png\" width=\"106\" height=\"25\" \/>\n        <\/div>\n        \n                <h3 class=\"cta-headline widget--bold\">Sell your house faster and for more<\/h3>\n                        <p>Thinking about selling soon? We&#8217;d be happy to introduce you to a few top local real estate agents. Our service is 100% free, with no catch. Agents don&#8217;t pay us to be listed, so you get the best match.<\/p>\n        \n                <div class=\"widget-element--buttons\">\n            <a data-type=\"In Content CTA\" href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/find-agent\/quiz\/seller?#\/qaas=0\/\" class=\"cta-click-track widget-element--button\">Get Started<\/a>\n        <\/div>\n                    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n <div id=\"section--1\" data-toc-header=\"What is a real estate brokerage?\" data-toc-type=\"head\"><\/div><\/p>\n<h2>What is a real estate brokerage?<\/h2>\n<p>Real estate brokers are individuals who have completed additional training and have obtained a license to manage their own business. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arello.org\/index.cfm\/resources\/regulatory-agencies\/#region1\">State laws<\/a> that determine the specific licensing requirements for brokers vary.<\/p>\n<p>The business a broker manages is called a brokerage. Real estate agents who are not licensed brokers are legally required to hang their license with a brokerage to professionally help people sell or buy property. Real estate agents typically work for the brokerage as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nar.realtor\/independent-contractor-status\/frequently-asked-questions\">independent contractors<\/a>, not employees. Through this arrangement, most brokerages make their money by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/average-broker-commission\/\">taking a cut of the agent\u2019s commission<\/a> after every successful transaction.<\/p>\n<p>With this revenue structure, it\u2019s in brokerages\u2019 best interest to guide their agents toward success. Hartmann shares that \u201cUltimately, a brokerage\u2019s goal is to build a business and have a stable of strong agents who specialize in a specific area.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For sellers, the most important thing to think about when considering an agent\u2019s brokerage is what kind of support the brokerage provides their agents. Support may include:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are more than 100,000 real estate brokerages in the U.S. So how much does your agent\u2019s brokerage matter, and what are the country\u2019s leading agencies?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":220,"featured_media":38537,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[321,238],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-attract-buyers","category-working-with-agents"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.0 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How Do Real Estate Brokerages Work? What to Know as a Potential Client<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There are more than 100,000 real estate brokerages in the U.S. So how much does your agent\u2019s brokerage matter, and what are the country\u2019s leading agencies?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/real-estate-brokerages\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Real Estate Brokerages Support Your Agent: What Does That Mean When You Sell a Home?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There are more than 100,000 real estate brokerages in the U.S. So how much does your agent\u2019s brokerage matter, and what are the country\u2019s leading agencies?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/real-estate-brokerages\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"HomeLight Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gohomelight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-07-18T11:05:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-06T08:33:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/HomeLight-Featured-Image-12.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"564\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matthew Stalcup\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@gohomelight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gohomelight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Matthew Stalcup\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How Do Real Estate Brokerages Work? 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Articles, guides, and advice from top agents all over the U.S.","email":"support@homelight.com","telephone":"(888) 688-0350","legalName":"HomeLight","foundingDate":"2012-01-01","numberOfEmployees":{"@type":"QuantitativeValue","minValue":"201","maxValue":"500"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b763fc8dee9da7ba646c771b771e672b","name":"Matthew Stalcup","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.homelight.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/35bcbae335980d45578d76d31088a624c446ca6513d4e079f6b95419075d58a3?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/35bcbae335980d45578d76d31088a624c446ca6513d4e079f6b95419075d58a3?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Matthew Stalcup"},"description":"Matt is a Sacramento Valley native and current Portland, Oregon resident who is always happy to be writing. 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