How do Apartment Locators make money?

The vast majority of apartment complexes pay a referral fee to real estate agents. This referral fee usually comes out of their advertising budget. If a Real Estate Agent/Apartment Locator "escorts" their client to a property and they sign the lease, then they gain the highest commission possible "Escort Commission" for that referral. Depending on the apartment complex this commission can be 100% of their client's monthly rental amount. So, if they signed a lease for $1100 a month, then the referral fee would be $1,100. There is also a "Sent Commission" and that is gained if the client is not escorted, but simply tells the apartment complex they are working with an Apartment Locator and provides their name and company they work for. This "Sent Commission" is most often much lower in commission rate. However, some apartment complexes will still pay 100%, but most pay 50%, and some don't pay anything at all. Theoretically, an Apartment Locator can meet a client, show property, the client gets approved and signs a lease all in one afternoon. Getting paid $1,100 is not a bad payout for one afternoon of work. Depending on the market and your ability as a locator, you can easily make 40k a year. Top performers in the market would be pulling in approximately 80k a year.

The Apartment Locator pays a portion of their commission to their Real Estate Broker. The Real Estate Broker is the individual that holds the licenses of the Apartment Locator/ Real Estate Agent and is typically the owner of Apartment Locating company . The industry standard for commission splits (depending on the location and market) is 30%-40% of their commission is payable to their Locating Company, until they have leased approximately a gross $5000 in leases that month. A $1,100 commission would be reduced to $660 when paying 40% split with their Broker. If the Locator leases more than $5,000 in leases that month, then they can keep all 100% of their commission over the $5000 gross amount. Keeping 100% of their commission is great, but by the time they have reached this amount, they have already paid out $2000 to their Broker.

If you are a licensed Real Estate Agent, then it is absolutely crucial to find a Broker who will allow you to take control of your business. There are too many Apartment Locating companies that keep their Locators locked down. I believe Apartment Locators should have the freedom to generate leads outside of their Broker's little office. However, Brokers do not want this because then the Locator will feel more entitled to a larger commission split. This is not the case for my company. We not only encourage it, but we teach you how to do it. Keep looking for a good Broker and hopefully you will run across one that will give you some room to flourish. If you live in the state of Texas, then check out our membership page at iApartment Find. We are the only complete online apartment locating solution in the state of Texas who offers 100% commission and membership benefits to licensed real estate agents. With iApartment Find you not only receive 100% of your commission on all closed leases, but we give you all the tools you need to run a successful apartment locating business.