Real estate referral fee calculator. See what a referral fee costs you per deal and per year.
Enter your typical sale price, your commission, how many referral deals you close, and the referral fee percent from your agreement. The fee per deal and your 12 month total update as you go. No email needed to see your results.
Your numbers
The cut, per deal
Your year, by the month
Post listings you have permission to market on Facebook Marketplace. Buyer messages about the home can come to you, with no referral processor in the middle. Listing AutomatEr does not promise any buyer, deal or income.
Save your numbers. Get the breakdown.
Save the tier math, your per deal split, and a one page summary of how agents route buyer messages to themselves. One email. No drip campaign.
Saved. At these numbers, the referral fees run $12,812 more than a year of Listing AutomatEr.
Flat monthly price, no referral fee on your commission. Try it free first.
Start the free trial →How real estate referral fees work.
A referral fee is a share of a commission paid for sending a client to another agent. One agent refers a buyer or seller, the receiving agent closes the deal, and the receiving brokerage pays the referring brokerage the agreed percent of the commission at closing. The percent and the terms live in a written referral agreement.
Lead generation portals run referral programs for buyer agents. The portal generates a buyer lead through its search traffic and routes it to a participating agent. When that lead closes, the portal takes a referral fee tied to the sale price. Industry reporting puts published tiers in roughly the 30 percent range on lower price points, 35 percent in the middle, and up to 40 percent on higher value transactions. Exact thresholds and percentages vary by ZIP code, market tier, and agent agreement.
The fee comes off the top of your buyer agent commission at closing. You see the gross commission on the HUD. You don't see the wire that funds the referral. It's already been taken.
Other referral platforms operate similarly, with tiers reported in roughly the 30 to 40 percent range depending on price point and any rewards program participation. The structure is industry standard now.
Listing AutomatEr is a different path. Flat monthly fee, see pricing. No referral fee on your commission. You post listings you have permission to market on Facebook Marketplace using our automation. Buyer messages about the home can come to you, and some of those conversations can turn into buyer clients. There is no referral fee on the commission.
Referral agreement checklist.
Before you sign a referral agreement, read it for these points. This is a plain checklist, not a legal form and not legal advice. Your managing broker has the final word.
- The percent. What percent is owed, and is it a percent of your side of the commission or of the whole commission?
- Which deals. Does it cover only the property named, or any home this client buys or sells?
- How long. When does the agreement end, and does any fee survive after it ends?
- When it is paid. Is it paid at closing, and only if the deal closes?
- Who pays whom. Is the fee paid from your brokerage to theirs? Ask your managing broker how your state handles referral fees.
- Your client. Does the agreement limit how you work with the client, or what happens if the client changes agents?
- Leaving. How can either side cancel, and what is owed if you change brokerages?
- Signatures. Is it in writing and signed by both brokerages before the client is referred?
