Good points about brokers (salespersons) income. Seems like most of them are starving, but I find them lazy and not self starters. The sales game requires a self starter, and aggressive person. Getting good info timely to the buyer, returning calls and getting the buyer to see the property are necessary. The very best ones I know have an assistant (real estate). Of the real estate agents I deal with, I find only about 5% are worth their salt. There's several "average" ones, and about half are worthless.
I had my license for about 10 years when I was doing a lot of buying, selling and renting houses (on my own account). I never earned a dime in commission, but took the ones the broker didn't want and gave him ones that made good listings for him. We had 15 sales people and I out produced all of them in revenue for the company.... because I aggressively worked my arse off. Our sales agents paid a monthly "desk" fee and got 100% of the commissions. However, most could get their backside out of bed in the morning. Loved it, but the license turned into more of a liability than an asset so I dropped it.
I had my license for about 10 years when I was doing a lot of buying, selling and renting houses (on my own account). I never earned a dime in commission, but took the ones the broker didn't want and gave him ones that made good listings for him. We had 15 sales people and I out produced all of them in revenue for the company.... because I aggressively worked my arse off. Our sales agents paid a monthly "desk" fee and got 100% of the commissions. However, most could get their backside out of bed in the morning. Loved it, but the license turned into more of a liability than an asset so I dropped it.