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As a new real estate agent many years ago I always wanted to know what are the main factors when it comes to choosing a real estate brokerage to work for. Back at the time you could start as a real estate sales representative, and then finish your articling courses while working. Now you need to finish it all before you register with RECO and start to work for a company. So choosing the right fit for you is even more important. After a few years working as a sales representative for two of the top brokerages in Toronto, I became a Broker. Now at this stage I can say I’ve seen it all. This article is the summary of the important points that you need to know when it comes to choosing a top real estate brokerage to work for.
This is a complete review for new real estate agents who are looking to join a real estate brokerage company in Toronto.
In this article Top 5 Real Estate Brokerages for real estate agents and their numbers are thoroughly reviewed.
Following that, comes all the main services you need to know that a real estate company should provide for you. Plus, some Pro Tips that will save you a lot of time and money, and business!
Top 5 Toronto Real Estate Brokerages for New Agents in Toronto:
Top performers have been ranked based on their market share of the total number of units sold in the past 12 months between real estate companies. In this list we see the top 5 companies with the highest market shares:
- Homelife Landmark Realty Inc,
- Re/max Realty Services Inc,
- Royal Lepage Signature Realty Inc,
- Right At Home Realty Inc,
- Homelife New World Realty Inc
* Market share is an important factor for considering a brokerage because it shows the brokerage is doing a large volume of deals each year. But that’s not every thing, for many reasons. For example, if the brokerage has several thousands of real estate agents, but per person, they do way less than another brokerage which is standing a few ranks below? Therefore, it’s good to have an idea of the number of deals but there are definitely more to be considered.
If you look at the number of deals for each real estate company, you’ll notice that there is not a huge gap between the market share of each one of the top 5 real estate brokerages. So as a new agent, any of the above brokerages can be a good candidate for you depending on what you’re looking for. However, there are more important factors that you must care about when you are planning to join a real estate brokerage in Toronto!
Fill out the quiz below to see which brokerage company suits you well!
The above best brokerages have been reviewed against important features you need to know about. Please view the review results down below:
Royal LePage Signature Realty Inc, Brokerage
This is a popular brokerage company and stands on top of the list when it comes to the below features:
Commission Split:
There are 2 ways to join and get a good competitive commission split in Royal Lepage Signature Realty. One is to join that brokerage as an individual agent. Second is to join a team. Each one has its own advantages. We’ll review both sides.
First of all, Royal Lepage Signature Realty has a variety of flexible commission splits for both new and experienced agent. They also offer flexible commission splits to experienced agents who want to move and change their brokerage.
If you are a new agent and planning to join an already established team, Royal Lepage Signature is one of the best brokerages to join in Toronto. Because in Royal Lepage Signature you can adapt your teams commission split once you join a team. This is a very important and bonus feature especially for new agents. Because usually new agents get lower tier of splits in any brokerage they join, until they climb the ladder and prove themselves to get more unique commission splits!
As a new sales representative it’s important for you to get a better commission split + support from the teams with business. Basically a new agent can leverage not only the support but the commission split to get a better split through the teams!
Culture:
Culture in a real estate office is one of the most important players in the success of real estate agents. For a new real estate agent, it’s important to join a brokerage which can provide him/her with support and education, which an established culture of help and support is critical thing to have.
- Pro Tip
When you interview real estate brokerages, make sure to go there for at least a couple hours, try to talk to their sales representatives or brokers! Ask about their experiences! Don’t just talk to the recruiting manager and assume it’s all done!
Royal LePage Signature Realty is a third-generation family business. With a proven track record for over 50 years. It’s important for real estate brokerages to have a history. New brokerages that have established in the past few years can also be good options. But looking at over 5 decades of established business can give you an idea of how good a business is running.
Royal Lepage Signature Realty is a franchise, however owned and operated independently. Basically you’ll see that in the franchise brokerages that are being owned and operated independently! Royal Lepage Canada is also supporting and helping to develop the culture in their franchises, including Royal Lepage Signature Realty, by providing them access to Seminars, Learning Materials, Awards and so on.
Training:
If you are a new agent, it’s very critical for you to know how to run a real estate business!
Imagine, you just got your real estate licence. How can you find more clients? How to find more home buyers or sellers? How do you prepare a purchase and sale offer? How to negotiate a real estate deal?
Royal Lepage Signature Realty, as part of the Royal Lepage, offers competitive and up to date training programs.
In Royal Lepage Signature Realty, you have several tiers of training. As a new agent you’ll get access to Accelerator course, you’ll learn from a seasoned Broker with many years of experience. The training material covers all you need to know as a new real estate agent. From lead generation to in and out of the offers and agreements and post sales and client care!
- Pro Tip
Many real estate companies offer FREE training courses. But they are not all the same. Ask the broker to make sure you have an actual class for the courses and their FREE courses are not merely online recorded webinars etc. During the courses, especially as a new real estate agent, you’ll face many challenges and have a lot of questions, which if you don’t have access to your instructor, you’d have difficulty! So make sure to ask about how and when the training courses are being conducted!
there are higher levels of training in Royal Lepage Signature Realty as well. That makes it very desirable even for seasoned real estate agents who are venturing to start in a well supported brokerage. If you are an experienced sales representative or broker, based on your level, you can have access to different training programs that are Designed to Boost your career. Among those programs are Champions Training, and Leaders Training. You can enroll those competitive training programs once you finish the Accelerated training courses and increase your productivity by implementing what you learned in the Accelerated course.
Support:
If you have a question about something, ask! If you need support about any aspect of real estate business, the door to your manager’s room is always open for you! If you need urgent help with a deal, you can find support from any of the managers or the broker of record!
When you interview a brokerage make sure to ask the office manager or the broker of record, how responsive they are. If it’s late at night, and you need urgent help with a Multiple Offer situation, is there anyone you can call immediately for support?!
Royal Lepage Signature, has the culture of help and support. Whether you are a new agent or a seasoned residential agent who needs help with a commercial deal, you can get the support of the staff, or the office manager, or the broker of record!
Physical Locations:
It is very crucial for a real estate agent to have offices across the city, and can have access to several locations! Why? Imagine you are in the middle of a deal in Downtown Toronto, and need to run to your office to print a contract, or scan and email a time sensitive Accepted Agreement of Purchase and Sale. Or you want to meet your clients in a decent location, near where they live, or where they want to buy a property! Can you tell them, eh, let’s go to my office in the other part of the town? Or you prefer to tell them, “ I have an office here in downtown, let’s meet there!” . Which one do you prefer?
This Brokerage has 3 offices:
- Downtown Toronto : 154 Bathurst St, M5V2R3 (King St W / Bathurst St )
- North York: Shops at DonMills, 201 – 8 Sampson Mews, M3C0H5 ( Lawrence Ave / Don Mills Rd)
- Mississauga: 201 – 30 Eglinton Ave W, L5R3E7 ( Eglinton Ave W / Hurontario St)
- Pro Tip
Some real estate brokerages are relying too much on online and virtual offices, but remember that the personal touch is what you need in this business! So it’s better to have access to an actual office in areas of Toronto that you work the most! Rather than meeting your clients in Coffee shops! There is nothing wrong with meeting a client in a coffee shop, don’t get me wrong! But ask yourself, that person is gonna trust me with the biggest transaction of his/her life, is it better to meet them in your office and show them that you have a proper office, or meet them in a coffee shop! Now you answer yourself!!
Marketing Department and Marketing Materials:
For a new real estate agent, having access to top knotch marketing materials and graphic designers and marketing specialists is like having access to a vault of gold!
Royal Lepage Signature Realty, offers several marketing services to all their agents, whether new or experienced. One of the most important services for a new REALTORⓒ is having their Branding done asap! In the Graphics Design department, you can have your branding and marketing graphic designs done for FREE! This service is provided by Royal Lepage Signature for all their Realtors for FREE!
On top of that, if you want to go to a Listing Presentation, and you need a Listing Presentation Booklet ( Seller’s Book), this brokerage provides that for you for FREE! And also a FREE Buyer’s book, for every client that you have is provided in this brokerage! These are included as part of their services to their agents!
In recent years, social media went above and beyond in personal branding. This brokerage has hired a Social Media specialist, who helps new and experienced real estate agents with their “Social Media strategies for Agents”! And this real estate company provides this for FREE as well!
Pre Construction Sales and Official Platinum Access to developments:
If you are a new real estate agent, you might not be familiar with the importance of the pre construction sales. But in the past few years, having Platinum access ( having access to top developments before they open to the public or general Realtors) have become an advantage for real estate brokerages.
This brokerage has a massive number of pre construction sales of average 600 pre construction sales a year ( in pre construction sales, that’s a huge market share)! They also have a Pre Construction Manager, and this brokerage has good relationship with top developers and marketing teams across GTA.
- Pro Tip
In today’s market many of your clients would ask you about new construction developments, it is very important to be able to answer their questions and if they need access to a development, provide it for them! Otherwise they might end up with someone who has platinum access to developments and not genuinely care about your clients as much as you do! Some brokerages provide access to pre construction developments, at a cost though. In this brokerage access is provided for all their real estate agents without extra charge!
Being a brand name in your area of work:
As a general rule, if a brokerage company has a well established presence in your target markets, that can make it easier for you to break into that market!
Royal Lepage Signature realty, which is a franchisee of Royal Lepage Canada ( franchisor) , have a good presence in GTA, especially because they have several office locations in prominent areas of the GTA.
Royal LePage has a motto of being Canada’s Real Estate Company! So their franchisees inherit their well known and trusted name in Canada’s and Toronto’s real estate markets! On top of that, Signature name itself is very well known in almost all of GTA neighbourhoods.
- Quiz Box
Fill out the quiz below to see which brokerage company suits you well!
Homelife Landmark Realty Inc
This brokerage has been established in 2004 and is among the brokerages with a high volume of deals. Below we reviewed this brokerage in the above aspects:
Commission Split:
This brokerage also offers different tiers of commission to both new agents and experienced agents. The same happens with teams commission splits here as well. Homelife Landmark Realty have flexible commission plans for more experienced agents.
Culture:
This brokerage advertises the competitiveness and suggests that their sales representatives develop their skills only when they find themselves in the right environment.
Training:
This brokerage has a monthly training schedule like other real estate companies. However, we couldn’t find any different tiered levels of training within their training schedules. Different levels of training is crucial for both experienced and new agents. If you are an experienced real estate agent, you don’t want to spend your valuable time with topics that are not relevant to your level and you already know. Or if you are a new real estate agent you want to start from the basics and want to make sure the course you’re attending covers everything from the basics!
Support:
This brokerage, like many other brokerages, have a culture of support. Means that if you have questions about a deal, you can go to your office manager or ask your broker of record. If you have concerns about the multiple offer situations, or multiple representations or similar questions you can ask your broker of record.
Physical Locations:
Homelife Landmark Realty has 2 actual office locations. As discussed before, it’s important to have access to physical offices. Not only to take your clients there, but to use the office environment too. Once you get in the office you can start learning about other properties being sold by the agents who are present in the office. So this can help you add to your knowledge base.
Their 2 offices are located at:
- Markham, 103 – 7240 Woodbine Ave, L3R1A4 ( Victoria Park Ave / Steeles Ave E)
- Mississauga, 300 – 1140 Burnhamthorpe Rd W, L5C2S9 ( Burnhamthorpe Rd W / Erindale Station Rd)
Marketing Department and Marketing Materials:
A list of this brokerage’s free marketing materials or marketing services was not available at this moment. If you have a list of their free marketing services or materials please send it to us to be posted here.
Pre Construction Sales and Official Platinum Access to developments:
Homelife Landmark Realty is also like the first one, Royal LePage Signature Realty, is doing a volume of pre construction sales. So this is also a good brokerage if you are looking to sell pre constructions. We couldn’t get a clear note about how much would be the fees that they charge for the platinum access to pre construction developments or is it gonna be free for every one of their sales representatives.
Being a brand name in your area of work:
Homelife Landmark Realty, as a franchisee of HomeLife, has a good level of exposure. They are very well known in some markets around GTA, but not very active when it’s getting to central parts of Toronto. The markets that they are more known are mostly outside of Toronto ( but still in GTA), such as Mississauga, or parts of York Region etc,.
- Quiz Box
Fill out the quiz below to see which brokerage company suits you well!
Right At Home Realty Inc,
This brokerage has been established and their first office opened in 2004.
Commission Split:
This real estate brokerage has flat fee corporate like plans. These kinds of payment plans might be good for some experienced agents, but as a new agent, it’s crucial for you to know what kinds of marketing, or support, or training you may not have access to by getting a flat rate plan!
This real estate brokerage’s commission split plans is especially good for those who are doing it as part time, and are experienced enough that need no extensive training, and or don’t need free marketing materials etc. So if you are a part-time real estate agent, who is doing a deal or two a year, and don’t need support and specific services for your career, this real estate company might be a fit for you!
But if you are a full-time real estate agent, and or just started and need training, or even you are a newer REALTOR, you should consider interviewing other brokerages too before coming to the conclusion that a flat fee system is all what you need or not! At the end of the day, you get what you pay for!
Culture:
Because the business model in this brokerage is mostly based on the flat fees and has a corporate like structure, the culture and over all, support system, and competitiveness would be different than other brokerages in this list. Because the working style of real estate agents forms the culture in these brokerages. Thus you should expect the working culture of the real estate agents who are used to work in these environments. So if that’s the tribe you’re looking for, this brokerage is a good fit for you.
Training:
This brokerage offers their own in-house training programs. The trainings are Orientation Training, 3 & 4 hours. Also another course called Skills training and building you business right, one home at a time, with total course time of 12 hours. This brokerage offers a few other occasional courses such as multiple representation, marketing yourself, and business planning.
Support:
This brokerage also offers support if you have questions about deals or offers. For example, multiple representation, offers, listings, etc. In all of the brokerages in this list, the support system does exist. However, the quality of the service is a subjective matter, which you have to find out on a one on one interview basis.
Physical Locations:
This brokerage also has several locations across the GTA.
- Downtown, 11 Capreol Court, M5V3Z6
- Toronto, B121-1396 Don Mills Rd , M3B0A7
- Mississauga, 30- 480 Eglinton Ave W, L5R0G2
- They have other branches at Durham Region, Richmondhill and Burlington and a few other cities in Ontario
Marketing Department and Marketing Materials:
This brokerage does not offer free marketing materials such as printed listing books and or buyer presentations etc.
Pre Construction Sales and Official Platinum Access to developments:
This brokerage does not offer Platinum access to most of the pre construction developments. But they suggest that they can offer VIP access to some of the developments. VIP launches happen after the PLATINUM launches. Basically if any units remain unsold after the Platinum launch, the leftover inventory goes for a second launch, which is called VIP. After the second launch ( VIP ) if still suites remain unsold, the developer opens the doors to the public to purchase!
Being a brand name in your area of work:
Right At Home Realty brokerage’s first branch opened in 2004, since then they had a growth to several parts of Ontario. They are not as big of a brand like Royal LePage, or RE/MAX or Homelife, but they are known in some areas of the GTA. You can check your target market to make sure if they are known in the areas that you are interested or not.
- Quiz Box
Fill out the quiz below to see which brokerage company suits you well!
Re/max Realty Services Inc
This brokerage is one of the biggest Re/max franchisees in the west of GTA.
Commission Split:
Re/max Realty Services offers different types of commission structures. Also a combination of a flat fee and commission split. They have a high number of teams working for them and a new agent can either work within a team and or get a commission split plan as an individual real estate agent.
Culture:
RE/MAX has adapted their organizational culture from their main franchisor through their organizational training programs. Their motto is surrounding yourself with the best makes you better! True though! However you still need to interview their office. That’s true that Re/max tries to expand their organizational culture to their franchisees but each office’s culture eventually formed around the majority of their agent’s.
Training:
RE/MAX in general offers a wide variety of training through their Internet bases courses. They call it RE/MAX university. Most of the major franchisors have some sort of online training courses, and most of them call it their University. Also this brokerage, offers a program called Master’s Edge, consisting of online videos and Audio tracks and training materials. Having access to videos and webinars is good, but make sure you can have access to an instructor in an actual physical class.
Support:
The franchisee’s usually get the structure of their support systems from their franchisors. This real estate company is no different from others. You can ask your questions about the deals from your broker of record or your manager. Or if there is an issue with a deal, you still can count on your manager. But remember that each of their offices may be different. So the best way to find out if their support system is what you need, is to interview them in person.
Physical Locations:
This real estate brokerage have offices in GTA, most of them located West or North West of GTA. If the offices are near the locations that you are interested to work in, pay them a visit. Their offices are located:
- Mississauga, #200 – 10 Kingsbridge Garden Circle, L5R3K6
- Caledon, #6 – 18371 Hurontario St., L7K0X7
- Brampton ( 3 Locations ), 164 Sandalwood Pky. E. , 391 Main St. N. ,295 Queen St. E.
Marketing Department and Marketing Materials:
This office also provides marketing materials through their Design Centre. The marketing materials including but not limited to Feature sheets, brochure, virtual tours, etc. These marketing materials come at a charge per piece.
Pre Construction Sales and Official Platinum Access to developments:
This brokerage office have done fewer number of pre construction deals compared to some of the other brokerages in this list. They haven’t offered any Platinum or VIP access to the new construction developments for free.
Being a brand name in your area of work:
RE/MAX itself is a big brand and very well known, mostly in the United States though. This Re/Max office itself is more focused and well known in areas West or North West of Toronto, such as Mississauga and Brampton. So if those are your areas of target, and you are not counting on pre construction deals, it’s good to interview this real estate brokerage as well.
- Quiz Box
Fill out the quiz below to see which brokerage company suits you well!
Homelife New World Realty Inc
This real estate brokerage has established in 1989 and formerly been a franchisee of Century 21 but now operates as a franchisee of Homelife.
Commission Split:
Commission split in this real estate company is very similar to Homelife Landmark Realty. This real estate company has several tiers of commission plans for new and experienced agents.
Culture:
This company, after Royal Lepage Signature Realty, is the second oldest established real estate brokerage in this list. They have adapted their organizational culture, partly from Century21 and partly from Homelife. Also they are big in serving investors from East Asia countries. In order to have a better idea of this brokerage’s culture, I encourage you to pay it a visit and interview them.
Training:
In this brokerage training material is provided by Homelife as their franchisor. However there is no different tiers of training or extensive training schedule available for this brokerage to review.
Support:
Most of the brokerages in this list have some kind of support. So for basic questions regarding offers, or deals or contracts you can contact your broker of record. Regardless of the brokerage company, broker of records and managers are there to help you. But the quality of support, and or how often the support is available for you and to what extent, you definitely need to bring those important questions when you’re interviewing a brokerage company.
Physical Locations:
This real estate brokerage has just one location in North york. Lowest in the list of the real estate brokerages. Their address is:
- North York, #205-201 Consumers Road, ( Sheppard Ave E/ Victoria Park Ave)
Marketing Department and Marketing Materials:
Same applies to this brokerage’s marketing material and marketing services. This ral estate brokerage offers a limited marketing services for real estate agents. But they don’t offer free extensive marketing materials in the same level of top brokerages in this list such as Royal Lepage Signature Realty.
Pre Construction Sales and Official Platinum Access to developments:
The real estate agents in this brokerage do a high volume of pre construction sales, especially for investors from East Asia. So this brokerage is a power house in pre construction sales too. But if you are a new real estate agent, the Platinum access might only be available for you at a cost. So you have to make sure about it during your interview, if this is a brokerage that fits your criteria. As a side note, VIP access to pre construction developments come after the Platinum launches, and VIP launches can be free for real estate agents. However you want to make sure your clients get their hand on the best developments before anyone else. And possibly, FREE of charge for you.
There are only a few real estate brokerages in Toronto that are power houses for pre construction deals. And in this list, only one of these brokerages provide FREE access to Platinum events for their real estate agents, new or experienced!
Being a brand name in your area of work:
Homelife itself a known brand, and so their franchisees. But you need to make sure that the homelife brand is a valuable brand in the markets that you are targeting. Because joining a weak brand in the market you are targeting, can backfire, as the home sellers in that specific pockets might consider it lack of ability, for the agents who choose weaker brands because of lower commission splits. So if Homelife in general is a well established brand in the market you are targeting to sell homes, this can be a fit for you.
Homelife New World Realty, other than the pre construction sales, is a known brokerage in North and East and North east side of Toronto such as some parts of York Region, e.g. Markham, and east of Toronto, e.g. Scarborough.
- Quiz Box
Fill out the quiz below to see which brokerage company suits you well!
The term real estate agent in this article means Sales Representatives or Brokers.
Brokerages rankings at any other time and any other category may be different. Stats have been for the resale transaction, pre-construction sales don’t record in TREB. Stats have been provided by: ©REality®. Trademark of IMS Incorporated
REALTOR® trademark is controlled by CREA and identify real estate professionals who are members of CREA.
The information about the brokerages are acquired from sources that are deemed reliable, i.e. their office brochures, websites, interview with their real estate agents, so we suggest you interview and verify all the information on your own.