Becoming a real estate agent gives you a way to build a business around helping people buy and sell property. You develop relationships, learn your local market, and earn money by guiding clients through transactions.
Getting started usually involves completing your state’s education requirements, passing a licensing exam, and joining a brokerage. Then comes the business side: finding clients, managing expenses, and turning your training into completed sales.
An important distinction is how you work. Many agents operate as independent contractors under a licensed broker. You can be building your own client business while working under another company’s name and supervision. Joining that company does not automatically mean receiving a salary. Career overview.
How much can you earn as a real estate agent?
Your earning potential depends on the transactions you complete, the compensation your brokerage earns, and the portion you keep.
For a simple illustration, suppose your brokerage receives $8,000 for representing a client in a completed transaction. If your agreement gives you 70%, your share is $5,600 before additional fees, business expenses, and taxes.
Using those same assumptions:
| Completed transactions in a year | Your share before additional expenses and taxes |
|---|---|
| 10 | $56,000 |
| 15 | $84,000 |
| 20 | $112,000 |
These are calculations using an invented commission and split, not a forecast. Client compensation is negotiable, and brokerage agreements differ. Compensation guidance.
For context, federal wage data puts the median annual pay for real estate sales agents at $52,830, with the highest-paid 10% above $123,590, in May 2025. Those figures exclude self-employed earnings and cover different experience levels; they do not tell you what a new agent will earn. Government wage data.
The practical question is how many transactions you could build a business around—and what it would cost you to generate and serve those clients.
1. Understand the work you are preparing to do
For a buyer, you might help narrow the search, arrange showings, evaluate comparable properties, prepare an offer, and work through negotiations and deadlines. For a seller, you might help establish an asking price, prepare the property for marketing, manage inquiries, and evaluate offers.
Between transactions, you spend time developing relationships and following up with people who may buy or sell later. This makes communication, organization, and consistent follow-through central to the work. Agent duties.
Before enrolling, arrange a conversation with a local brokerage that trains beginners. Have them walk you through a new agent’s working week and how that agent gets support on a first transaction. That gives you a useful picture of the job alongside the licensing requirements.
2. Complete your state’s licensing requirements
Your state determines which education you need, how you apply, and when you can take the exam. Select a course approved for the state where you intend to work.
The education introduces the contracts, property rights, agency relationships, financing, and legal responsibilities you will encounter with clients. Compare schools on instructor access, practice questions, course access periods, and scheduling—not just the advertised tuition.
Complete the course, application, background check, and exam in the order required by your state. Some states let you apply while studying; others review your completed education before authorizing the exam.
You can also begin interviewing brokerages while studying, so choosing where to work does not become a separate project after the exam.
3. Choose a brokerage that helps you start producing
A brokerage provides the supervision under which you practice. Its training, tools, fees, and client opportunities shape how you start your business.
Compare what you would actually receive:
| Decision | What to establish before joining |
|---|---|
| Training | Who helps you prepare and review your first offers? |
| Client opportunities | Can new agents host open houses, join a team, or receive inquiries? |
| Compensation | What remains after the split, transaction charges, and any referral or mentoring fees? |
| Recurring costs | What do you owe during a month with no completed sales? |
| Availability | Who answers a time-sensitive question during an evening or weekend transaction? |
Ask each brokerage to calculate your payment on the same example transaction. A larger advertised split can come with costs that change the comparison.
For a beginner, access to someone who will work through a transaction with you deserves substantial weight. Ask to speak with an agent who recently completed that brokerage’s training.
4. Budget for launching your business
Startup money comes into play even when you join an existing brokerage. Depending on the arrangement, you may pay for your own education, licensing, memberships, tools, insurance, and marketing.
Separate the budget into three parts:
- Getting qualified: approved education, application, examination, and required background screening.
- Starting and operating: brokerage charges, listing-system access, insurance, transportation, and basic business tools.
- Supporting yourself: the portion of household expenses your other income will not cover while the business develops.
This distinction matters. Someone keeping another source of income may need a very different cash reserve from someone leaving a full-time job.
Get the brokerage’s itemized startup and recurring charges before buying tools independently. You may already receive a website, contact-management software, or marketing materials through the office.
Your reserve should reflect your expenses and available income. A six-month reserve can be a planning choice; it should not be presented as a prediction that your first commission will take six months.
5. Set up and protect your real estate business
When you’re building your own client business under a broker, two setup decisions deserve attention: how you organize the business and what insurance protects your work.
We may earn a commission when you use the ZenBusiness or Simply Business links below.
Forming an LLC for your agent business
Working under a brokerage does not automatically rule out having your own LLC. Where your state permits it, an LLC creates a separate business entity and can help protect your personal assets from certain business debts and obligations. That makes it worth considering as you take on business expenses and contracts. The SBA’s business-structure guide explains the difference between an LLC and operating as a sole proprietor.
Your real estate license and brokerage affiliation still matter. Before filing, confirm the permitted entity type, required licensed name, and how your brokerage can pay the entity. An LLC does not replace your license or professional liability insurance.
For an agent choosing a standard LLC, ZenBusiness can handle the formation filing. Review the packages and state fees, choose the services you need, and get the paperwork underway.
Form your LLC with ZenBusiness
This offer is for standard LLC formation. ZenBusiness does not currently file professional LLCs (PLLCs).
Get the insurance your professional work needs
Errors and omissions (E&O) insurance helps with covered claims involving professional mistakes or negligence. Start with the brokerage’s policy: find out whether it includes you, what you must contribute, and which deductible or uncovered responsibilities remain yours.
If you need your own policy, Simply Business lets you compare coverage options from insurers. Review the limits, deductible, and premium together so you can choose coverage that fits your work and your brokerage’s requirements.
Compare E&O quotes from Simply Business
Keep business income and expenses organized
Record commissions, expenses, receipts, and mileage from the beginning. Commission-based agents who meet the federal conditions are treated as self-employed for tax purposes, so tax planning belongs alongside your income calculation. IRS guidance.
6. Build a practical route to your first clients
Begin with a manageable area and a repeatable weekly routine.
Learn a small group of neighborhoods well enough to explain current listings, recent sales, and the differences between properties. Work with your broker on how to discuss those facts with buyers and sellers.
As a suggested starting routine after your license is active:
- Have five personal conversations each weekday with people you already know or meet through your work.
- Arrange an open-house opportunity with your brokerage.
- Practice a buyer consultation or listing presentation with an experienced agent.
- Record each interested person’s needs and agree on a useful next contact.
Those activity targets are a starting structure, not a promised number of clients. Track conversations, appointments, signed clients, and completed transactions separately so you can see where you need help.
You do not need to begin by buying a large advertising package. First build a process for responding to an inquiry, understanding the person’s needs, and following through.
7. Prepare for your first transaction and keep learning
Before working independently with a client, have your broker walk you through the agreements, disclosures, deadlines, and document-review process you will use.
For buyer representation, understand how your brokerage explains its services and compensation in the written buyer agreement. Covered agents must have that agreement before touring a home with a buyer. Buyer-agreement guidance.
Put renewal and any required post-license education dates on your calendar when your license is issued. Alongside those requirements, keep developing the skills that help clients choose and recommend you: local knowledge, clear explanations, responsive communication, and reliable follow-through.
Find your state’s licensing steps
Your state guide provides the specific course requirements, application steps, fees, and instructions for activating your license. Our currently available guide is Florida: