Real estate & rental
Real Estate Agent Referral Fee Calculator
Works a referral fee, where who may lawfully receive one is the first question.
Result
Referral fees are paid between licensed brokerages, not between agents personally, and the agreement should be in writing before the referral is made. Twenty-five percent is the common figure but it is negotiable, and relocation networks often charge considerably more.
Get a Free Business AuditHow the calculation works
The agreed referral percentage applied to the compensation earned on the transaction, deducted before or after the brokerage split as the arrangement provides. The arithmetic is simple; the constraint is who may be paid and for what.
What moves the number
- The agreed referral percentage.
- Whether it comes off before or after the split.
- Whether the recipient is a licensed real estate broker.
- Whether any settlement service is involved.
Where this one goes wrong
Paying a referral fee to an unlicensed person is prohibited under state real estate licensing law in essentially every state, and the federal settlement procedures rules separately prohibit fees or anything of value for referring settlement service business such as lenders, title or insurance. Referral arrangements between licensed brokers are treated differently, and the details matter enough that an arrangement should be confirmed against your state's rules and the federal position before it is agreed, not after.
Before you quote
- Confirm the recipient is licensed where that is required.
- Never pay for referrals of settlement services such as title or lending.
- Document the arrangement and check it against your state's rules.
Where the rules come from
Questions
About this calculator
Can I pay anyone a referral fee?
No. Paying an unlicensed person for a real estate referral is prohibited under state licensing law in essentially every state, and arrangements between licensed brokers are treated differently from payments to the public.
Can I be paid for referring a lender or title company?
The federal settlement procedures rules prohibit fees or anything of value for referring settlement service business, which includes lenders, title and related services. That prohibition is separate from state licensing law and it is enforced.
Does the fee come off before or after the split?
It depends on the arrangement and the brokerage's policy, and the two produce different amounts for the agent. Settling it in writing before the referral is accepted avoids a disagreement at closing when the money is being divided.
The formula
referral off the top reduces the base the split is calculated on; taken after, it comes entirely from your share
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Please keep the attribution line. It is the only thing we ask in return.
How to use this calculator
- Sale price ($). Enter your own figure; the page starts at $420,000.
- Your side commission (%). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 2.75%.
- Referral fee (%). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 25%.
- Your share after the brokerage (%). Enter your own figure; the page starts at 70%.
- Referral fee taken. Enter your own figure; the page starts at Off the top, before the split.
The result updates as you type, so you can try a figure, see what it does to you keep, and change it back. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere or saved.
A worked example
These are the figures the calculator opens with. Every number in the results column below is produced by the same calculation the page runs, so you can follow it through before putting your own figures in.
What goes in
| Input | Value |
|---|---|
| Sale price | $420,000 |
| Your side commission | 2.75% |
| Referral fee | 25% |
| Your share after the brokerage | 70% |
| Referral fee taken | Off the top, before the split |
What comes out
| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| You keep main result | $6,064 |
| Gross side commission | $11,550 |
| Referral fee paid | $2,888 |
| Brokerage takes | $2,599 |
| Effective share of gross | 52.50% |
On a $11,550 side you pay $2,888 in referral and $2,599 to the brokerage, keeping $6,064, which is 52.50% of gross. Whether the fee comes off before or after the split matters more than people expect.
How sensitive the answer is
Holding everything else steady and changing only sale price, this is what happens to you keep. It is worth knowing which of your inputs the answer actually hinges on, and which barely move it.
| Sale price ($) | You keep |
|---|---|
| $210,000 | $3,032 |
| $315,000 | $4,548 |
| $420,000 example above | $6,064 |
| $630,000 | $9,096 |
| $840,000 | $12,128 |
Every other input is held at the example value while this one changes, which is not how a real job behaves. Treat it as a guide to which number matters most, not as five separate quotes.
What each figure means
- Sale price ($)
- A money amount, starting at $420,000.
- Your side commission (%)
- A percentage, between 0 and 6, starting at 2.75%.
- Referral fee (%)
- A percentage, between 0 and 50, starting at 25%.
- Your share after the brokerage (%)
- A percentage, between 0 and 100, starting at 70%.
- Referral fee taken
- Choose from Off the top, before the split, From your share, after the split.
What the results tell you
| Result | What it is |
|---|---|
| You keep | The headline result. A money figure. |
| Gross side commission | A money figure. |
| Referral fee paid | A money figure. |
| Brokerage takes | A money figure. |
| Effective share of gross | A percentage. |
What is not in this number
Property figures here exclude the costs that decide whether a deal works: vacancy, maintenance, management, capital expenditure and the transaction costs at both ends. A return that looks strong before those frequently does not survive them.
Keep going
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