What Are All Your Fees For California Agents?

The short answer is on our recruiting website www.ashbygraffcareers.com

Residential transactions are charged two fees, our standard transaction fee and our E&O/Risk Management fee. 

  • E&O/Risk Management fee is $138 per transaction UP TO $1,000,000. 
  • Properties over $1,000,000 are charged an additional $68 per $100,000 over the first million. 
  • Your standard transaction fee varies depending on which plan you signed up under. They range from $899 per transaction (Ace Agent Plan) to $215 per transaction (Top Producer Plan) to $0 (Big Player Plan). 
  • In exchange for the lower transaction fee, you agree to pay a monthly fee. Please refer to this page to see our different commission plans and their corresponding transaction and monthly fees. 
  • The transaction fee covers the cost of running the brokerage, providing our renowned response times, workers compensation coverage, our online training programs, brand advertising, etc. 

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Transaction Coordinators (TC) are not included in the transaction fee. We do NOT require agents use a TC and you can choose to use whomever you prefer if you do wish to use a TC. Should you opt to use our TC the cost is $495 for single agency transactions and $595 for dual agency transactions. 

Dual Agency and Selling Agent Owned Property (AOP)

Dual agency transactions and transactions involving the sale of an agent owned property (AOP) are considered high risk and as such carry additional fees. 

  • Dual agency transactions will pay two and a half times (2.5x) the normal transaction AND E&O/Risk Management fees. For example: If your fees are $138 plus $549 for a standard transaction then on dual agency transactions the fee would be $345 plus $1,372.50. Likewise, if you sell a $1,300,000 property then the extra $68 per $100,000 that normally applies for E&O/Risk Management would also be multiplied by 2.5 times. 
  • Agent Owned Property (AOP) transactions will pay 2 times the normal transaction AND E&O/Risk Management fees when you are acting as the agent on the sale. If your fees are $138 plus $549 for a standard transaction then on dual agency transactions the fee would be $276 plus $1,098. Likewise, if you sell a $1,300,000 property then the extra $68 per $100,000 that normally applies for E&O/Risk Management would also be multiplied by 2 times. AOP ONLY APPLIES ON THE SALE OF APPLICABLE PROPERTIES. Purchasing a home for yourself is NOT considered AOP. When you sell the house it will be considered AOP. 
  • AOP applies to properties owned by the agent AND immediate family members. 
  • Immediate family members include spouses, children, siblings, and parents. This also includes entities owned by you or applicable family members. 
  • Cousins, aunts/uncles, close family friends, etc. are NOT immediate family. However you still MUST disclose that sort of relationship in any transaction where you are representing them. 
  • If you wind up combining dual agency and AOP on the same transaction (this is extremely rare) then the normal fees are multiplied by 4. So your $138 E&O/Risk Management fee becomes $552, for example. 

Commercial Properties

Agents can sell commercial properties through our commercial division. The brokerage charges 10% of the agent's gross commission for commercial transactions.

  • How do you define a commercial property? Residential properties containing 5 or more units are classified as commercial. Anything else not zoned residential is considered commercial. In other words, anything other than residential properties of 4 or less units is considered commercial. For questions or disputes over the property zoning we rely on the final zoning designation of the property by the relevant municipality with authority. 
  • So mixed-use zoned property with housing units over a commercial space would be classified how? A mixed-use zoned property would qualify as commercial.
  • What if I'm buying an individual condo where there are more than 5 condos in the complex? Is this classified as commercial? No, individual condo sales would NOT be considered commercial no matter how many units are part of the complex.
  • What about a vacant piece of land that has the potential to be mixed use? If the property is zoned as mixed-use or anything other than exclusively residential then the commercial commission rule is triggered. 

Rental/Lease

Rentals and leases are charged their normal fees OR 10% (whichever is LESS). This protects you from high fees on smaller lease transactions. For example, if you are on the Deal Maker Plan ($549 per transaction) and you just closed a lease that paid a $1000 commission. We will NOT charge you $549 - you would qualify for the 10% fee or in this case, $100. 

A minimum fee does apply. The minimum fee is $65 if you lease/rent your own property. The minimum fee is $75 if you lease/rent a client's property. 

Referral Transactions

Referral transactions are those transactions that you refer out to another agent. These transactions only incur the transaction fee. We do not charge E&O/Risk Management on referrals. For example, if you receive a $15,000 referral fee and you are on the Ace Agent Plan, we would only charge your transaction fee of $879. You would receive $14,121.

The only exception is when the total referral commission is more than $20,000. When the total referral commission is over $20,000 an additional 1.5% fee applies to the total commission amount. For example, if you receive a commission for $25,000 and you are on the Ace Agent Plan, we would charge your usual transaction fee of $879 plus the extra 1.5% of the $25,000, or $375. So on a referral commission of $25,000 you would receive $23,746 in this example. 

Sign-Up Fee

While we do not charge a "sign-up" fee, we do charge an Identity Verification fee when you initially sign up to be used for identity verification, and fraud and waste prevention. The fee is $29 for any commission plan you sign up under except for the Ace Agent plan which ranges from $7 to $99 depending on promotions and discounts being offered. This is a one time, non-recurring charge that is paid by credit or debit card when first signing up. We do not offer discounts and waivers are not available. 

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