For Houston agents at a franchise office asking what a move would cost them
Leaving a Franchise Brokerage in Houston? Here Is What You Keep, What Changes, and How the Move Runs.
Updated
Bottom line: At a franchise the brand takes a royalty from the office's gross commission income, and your own split is whatever your independent contractor agreement says. At Real Brokerage the charge is a published cap and per-transaction fees.
What changes about the charge when you move?
The shape of it. At a franchise office two charges sit one above the other. The brand charges the office a royalty, described in the filings as a percentage of the franchisee's gross commission income and paid by the franchisee rather than by you (Anywhere Real Estate Form 10-K for FY2024, filed February 2025). What reaches you is the second charge, and the same filing states it plainly: the remainder of gross commission income is split between the broker and the independent sales agent in accordance with their applicable independent contractor agreement, which varies by agent.
Franchise royalty models vary as well. The company that now owns several of these brands describes flat percentage royalties, a capped model set at an amount per agent per year, and tiered models, depending on the brand (Compass Form 10-K for FY2025, filed February 2026). None of that is a charge on you directly, and none of it is published as a number you could look up for your own office.
At Real Brokerage the charge is published and identical for every agent at the same cap level: a percentage of each commission until an annual cap, then per-transaction fees, and the figures are stated on this site with the month. So the difference worth understanding first is where your own number lives. At a franchise it is in your agreement. At a platform it is on a page.
What do you keep when you go?
Your license, and it moves in days once your new broker accepts sponsorship with TREC. Your clients and your listings turn on documents rather than on a general rule: listing agreements belong to your broker, and what you owe a team you were on is written into that team agreement. Read both before you give notice.
This site answers each of those in its own place rather than summarizing them here. What happens to clients on Houston Properties Team is quoted from the membership agreement on the team library. The order the move runs in, and what a clean date is, are on the switching checklist. Whether you lose your listings is one of the questions answered on the Real Brokerage hub.
Your own name and your own marketing are the part agents at a franchise office most often assume they are leaving behind. What you may take of it is in your agreement rather than on the sign outside the building, and it is worth reading before you decide anything else.
Step by step
How does the move from a franchise run?
- 01
Secure the files
Copies of every active contract, the client records you are entitled to, and the commission record for anything pending.
- 02
Map every listing
Seller by seller: release or refer. Listings belong to the broker, so each one needs a decision and a conversation.
- 03
File the transfer
Your new broker accepts sponsorship with TREC online. Days rather than weeks, and never the slow part.
- 04
Change the name, then open on the clean date
Signs, lockboxes, your email signature, HAR, the MLS and your profiles. Announce on the day your old office has nothing of yours left to close.
Questions & answers
What do Houston agents ask about leaving a franchise?
Who pays a franchise royalty, the office or the agent?
The office. Filings describe a franchise royalty as a percentage of the franchisee's gross commission income, paid by the franchisee to the brand. What reaches an agent is the second charge: the remainder is split between the broker and the agent under their own independent contractor agreement, which varies by agent.
So an agent asking what the brand costs them is asking a question the filings do not answer directly. The royalty is an expense of the office, and what it does to an agent's split is a matter of how that office set the split in the first place, which is a document rather than a published schedule. That is why comparing a franchise office with a platform starts with your own agreement on the table. What Real Brokerage charges instead, in full and with the month, is on the cost of joining page.
Does a franchise brokerage publish what its agents keep?
Not as a schedule a reader can open. The filings say the remainder of gross commission income is split between the broker and the agent under their own independent contractor agreement, and that it varies by agent. The number is in your contract rather than on a page.
Real Brokerage sits at the other end of that. Its split, its three caps and its fees are set by the brokerage and published, which is why a page can state them and why every agent at the same cap level pays the same. Neither arrangement is better in the abstract, and the comparison only becomes real when your own agreement is on the table beside published figures. Whether you lose your listings when you move is answered on the Real Brokerage hub.
What do I keep when I leave a franchise brokerage?
Your license, which moves in days once a new broker accepts sponsorship with TREC. Everything else turns on documents rather than on a general rule: listing agreements belong to your broker, and what you owe a team you were on is written into that team agreement. Read both before you give notice.
Your own name and your own marketing are the part agents assume they are leaving behind, and what you may take of it is in your agreement rather than on the sign outside the office. Nobody can read that document for you before you bring it. What Houston Properties Team's own agreement says about clients, in its own words and with the clause that decides it, is on the page about what happens to your clients if you leave.
What order should I move in when I leave a franchise office?
Files first, listings second, the license third, and the announcement last. Secure copies of every active contract and the commission record for anything pending, decide release or refer on each listing seller by seller, file the transfer, then change the name on everything and open on a clean date.
Announcing before the files are secured is the common mistake, because it turns every pending deal into a negotiation with a broker who no longer has a reason to make it easy. The transfer itself is the fastest step: in Texas the license moves when the new broker accepts sponsorship with TREC, online, in days. The full six-step order, and what a clean date is, are on the switching checklist.