How agents actually get paid

The money starts at GCI

Every real estate transaction produces a total commission — typically 2.5%–3% of the sale price in Central Florida, paid by the seller and split between listing agent and buyer's agent sides. Your share of that is called Gross Commission Income, or GCI.

GCI is not your paycheck. It's the starting line.

Here's a concrete example:

Sale price: $650,000
Total commission: 5% = $32,500
Your side (buyer's agent): $16,250 GCI

That $16,250 is what gets split — between you and your brokerage.

How splits work

Most brokerages operate on one of three models:

Percentage split. You keep a fixed percentage of every commission check. Common splits range from 50/50 for brand-new agents to 80/20 or 90/10 for high producers. The brokerage keeps the rest.

Cap plan. You split with the brokerage until you've paid a set amount (the "cap") in a rolling 12-month period. Once capped, you keep 100% of each commission for the rest of your anniversary year. This is the model popularized by companies like Keller Williams. Cap amounts vary widely — $18,000 to $30,000+ per year.

100% commission / flat fee. You keep 100% of GCI and pay the brokerage a flat monthly fee, a per-transaction fee, or both. Sounds great on paper. The math gets more complicated — covered in lesson 3.

Transaction fees, E&O, and the other cuts

Beyond the split, almost every brokerage charges additional fees per transaction:

Transaction coordinator fee. Ranges from $150 to $500 per closing, sometimes charged by the brokerage, sometimes by an outsourced TC.

E&O insurance. Errors and Omissions insurance protects you and your broker from claims. Many brokerages pass some or all of this cost to agents — typically $100–$400 per transaction or a flat annual charge.

MLS transaction fee. Some associations charge per-submission fees.

Franchise fee. At franchise brokerages (RE/MAX, Coldwell Banker, Century 21, Keller Williams), a percentage of every commission — typically 5–8% — goes to the franchisor off the top, before the split is even calculated.

What actually hits your account

Back to the $16,250 example, now with a more complete picture:

Item	Amount
Your GCI (buyer side)	$16,250
Franchise fee (6%)	−$975
Brokerage split (30%)	−$4,583
Transaction coordinator	−$300
E&O fee	−$200
Your net	$10,192

That's 62.7% of GCI. The other 37.3% left before you paid a dollar in self-employment tax, marketing, or business expenses.

The exact percentages vary significantly by brokerage and deal size. But the structure is the same everywhere: GCI is not income. It's the number you start with.

Commission in a changing market

The National Association of Realtors settlement in 2024 changed how buyer's agent compensation is disclosed and negotiated. In Florida, buyer agent compensation is now negotiated directly between agent and buyer, not assumed from the MLS.

In practice, 2.5%–3% buyer-side compensation is still common in the Central Florida luxury market for 2026, but agents need to be able to present and defend their value clearly — the era of "commission comes with the listing" is over on the buyer side.

Understanding your full commission math is now a prerequisite for having that conversation confidently.

The bottom line

Before you can make smart decisions about your brokerage, your pricing, or your production plan, you need to understand the exact path money takes from a sale to your bank account.

GCI is what you earn. What you keep is a function of your split, your fees, and your overhead. The next lesson puts hard numbers on the second half of that equation.

Up next: Running a real break-even analysis — how many deals you actually need before you're profitable.