Real estate
business plan.

Write what you need to take home this year before tax, and what your business will cost to run. Add them. That sum is the gross commission your closings must leave you after your split.

Take your average sale price and the rate you expect on your side. That is your GCI per closing. Take off your broker split and your transaction fees. What is left is your net per closing. Use your own last 12 months, not a hope.

Divide the sum from step 1 by your net per closing and round up. Compare it with last year. NAR’s median is 10 transaction sides, and median gross income for REALTORS was $58,100 in 2024. A plan that needs three times your best year needs a reason.

Give every closing a source: past clients and referrals, open houses, your farm, FSBOs and expireds, paid leads. NAR says repeat clients and referrals make up 41% of a typical REALTOR’s business, so start by asking how many your own list can give you.

Paid leads go last. Divide the closings you need from them by your lead to close rate, then multiply by the price of a lead. LocaliQ’s median for a residential agent on Google search is $157.59.

List what you pay every year: MLS and association dues, your website, signs, photos, your CRM, ads. Check the total against the cost you wrote in step 1. If paid leads alone break it, change the plan now, not in August.

Turn the closings into a week: how many past client calls, how many open houses a month, how many new names added. Pick numbers you will really do. Then put one hour on your calendar each quarter to compare the plan with what closed.

All figures are sample figures. Alex Sample wants to take home $80,000 and expects to spend $18,000 running the business, so needs $98,000.

Average sale $400,000 at 2.5% is $10,000 GCI. After a 20% split and $300 in fees, net per closing is $7,700. That takes 13 closings.

Sources: 5 from past clients and referrals, 3 from open houses, 3 from the farm and FSBOs, 2 from paid leads.

At a 3% lead to close rate, 2 closings take 67 leads. At $157.59 that is $10,558.53, leaving $7,441.47 for dues, signs and everything else. Tight, so Alex tests paid leads for one quarter before committing the year.