Commission split calculator

What comes off a commission

A commission starts as a percentage of the sale price and shrinks at every step: the brokerage takes its share, a referral takes a cut if the client was sent to you, and then the flat charges land — a transaction fee, errors and omissions cover, sometimes technology or compliance. A team lead fee or a franchise royalty takes another percentage.

Individually each one looks small. Together they are usually a few thousand dollars on an ordinary listing, and they are the difference between a deal that paid well and a deal that quietly did not. Percentage charges are worked out on the gross commission, which is why a referral paid out hurts more than it first appears.

Off the top, or out of your share

This is the one rule that varies from office to office and the one agents most often assume wrongly. If the flat fees come off the top, everyone splits what is left and you carry your percentage of them. If they come out of your share, you carry all of them. On a seventy percent split the difference is worth a couple of hundred dollars a deal — ask your broker which way yours works, then set the toggle above to match.

Where these figures come from

The charges and the usual amounts are the platform's own list of common commission fees — the same names and starting figures it offers when a team is building a commission plan, rather than invented for this page. Change any of them to match what your office really charges and the answer follows.