Real Estate Agent Commissions
California is home to some of the most expensive real estate properties in the world. Because real estate agents and brokers usually earn the bulk of their income from the commissions earned off of the final sales price that was confirmed at the close of escrow, agents and brokers are much likelier to earn much higher commission income per closed sales transaction in California than in just about any other state in America.
The California Gold Rush
The region of California flourished and boomed back near the mid-1800s when gold prospectors uncovered large amounts of gold near the Sutter Mill area. Just two years later after the initial discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill, California officially became a U.S. state on September 9th, 1850. In both the 20th and 21st centuries, the main equivalent of gold discoveries in California have been prime real estate locations that have compounded in value a multitude of times over the past several decades or century. California’s nickname as the “golden state” carries onward to this day with all of the amazing opportunities available to buyers, sellers, and their affiliate real estate agents.
Effectively, a California real estate licensee is the modern day equivalent of a gold prospector in search of clients with access to cash or third party capital, properties who can buy multiple deals through the agent and / or refer future clients to them and ideal locations that will make both the clients and the agents themselves wealthy. The agent figuratively is “panning for gold” by way of network marketing, advertising, tapping into his or her “sphere of influence” of contacts through friends, family, and past associates in search of new income opportunities.
An agent will probably have much greater success by “panning for gold” in areas where gold has been spotted in the past such as desirable beachfront property locations that usually sell well above their high listing prices because the demand for these prime coastal properties far exceeds the generally rather low supply of available homes for sale. In a potential $5 million dollar home sale on the sands in Newport Beach, Manhattan Beach, or Santa Barbara, the commission earned off of one (3% of the selling price as just the listing agent or buyer’s broker) or both sides (6%) of the transaction in a dual agency transaction situation may vary between $150,000 and $300,000 for just one sold home transaction somewhere near the golden sands.
Golden Brokerage Commissions in The Golden State
Now, let’s review some of the latest home sales prices (August 2018) in California to get a better understanding of incredibly golden commission opportunities available to agents who collect either a 3% or 6% (dual agent) gross commission amount based off of the median sales prices for these selected county regions below:
Region Sales Price 3% Fee 6% Fee
San Francisco Bay Area
Marin $1,222,500 $36,675 $73,350
San Francisco $1,550,000 $46,500 $93,000
San Mateo $1,500,000 $45,000 $90,000
Central Valley
Placer $ 475,000 $14,250 $28,500
San Benito $ 575,000 $17,250 $34,500
San Joaquin $ 380,000 $11,400 $22,800
Central Coast
Monterey $ 599,000 $17,970 $35,940
San Luis Obispo $ 630,000 $18,900 $37,800
Santa Cruz $ 917,500 $27,525 $55,050
Southern California
Los Angeles $ 607,490 $18,224 $36,449
Orange $ 838,500 $25,155 $50,310
San Diego $ 660,000 $19,800 $39,600
Source: California Association of Realtors https://www.car.org/marketdata/data/countysalesactivity
With commission opportunities available throughout the Golden State, both new and experienced real estate agents and brokers should continue panning for gold just like the early pioneers who helped grow the California region into the wealthiest state that is also the fifth largest economy in the world today.
To take the next step towards golden success if you already don’t hold an active real estate license or if you need to renew, please visit our website today: https://licensesolution.com/
