How to Choose Your First Brokerage in South Florida

The right first brokerage for a new real estate agent in Miami or anywhere in South Florida is the one that puts you in conversations with sellers and rehearses those conversations with you before they count. Everything else on the recruiting brochure, the logo, the office, the split, matters less in year one than those two things. This guide explains the four brokerage models you will meet in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties, what each one gives a new licensee, and the questions to ask before you sign anything.

Written by Gia Freer, Broker of Record at PBP Real Estate, licensed in Florida since 2000. PBP is one of the brokerages you could join, and the last section says so plainly. The rest of the guide is written to be useful whichever door you walk through.

Key takeaways

• A new agent's first year is decided by two things: how many conversations with sellers and buyers you have, and who rehearses those conversations with you before they are real.
• At PBP, two producing brokers mentor you personally into a great listing agent; that mentoring, not the split, is what a first year is for.
• South Florida brokerages fall into four models: the national franchise office, the cloud brokerage, the team inside a large brand, and the independent boutique with the broker present. Each trades something for something.
• Ask every broker the same eleven questions and write down the answers. The brokerage that answers in specifics is the one that has thought about your first year.
• PBP Real Estate is a boutique South Florida brokerage where agents receive inbound seller inquiries from the firm's own 431 city and neighborhood pages and daily role-play coaching from two producing brokers.

What does a new agent actually need in the first year?

A new agent needs four things in year one: people to talk to, a broker who mentors the conversation before it happens, a broker who answers the phone, and costs you understand before the first closing. Most new licensees choose on the split. The split only matters once there is a commission to split, and in year one the question is whether there will be one.

• Conversations. Your first listings come from expired listings, for-sale-by-owner homes, your own circle, estates and inquiries that reach the brokerage's website. Ask where the office's conversations come from and who gets them.
• Training that is live. A video library is a reference, not training. Training is a person playing the seller while you present, and telling you afterward what to change.
• Broker access. When a seller asks a question you have never heard, how long until a broker answers you? Same hour, same day, or "post it in the group"?
• Cost you can predict. Monthly fees, transaction fees, technology fees, errors-and-omissions coverage and your board and MLS dues, which you pay in most models regardless of brokerage. Ask for the full list in writing.

What are the four brokerage models in South Florida?

Every brokerage in South Florida is a version of one of four models, and each model trades something for something. The table compares them on the criteria that decide a new agent's first year. The names are models, not verdicts; a strong office of any model beats a weak office of any other.

Criterion	National franchise office	Cloud brokerage	Team inside a large brand	Independent boutique, broker present
Where conversations come from	Your sphere plus leads you buy from portals	Your sphere plus leads you buy	The team leader's pipeline, shared	The brokerage's own website and referrals, if it has them
How training happens	Classroom schedule plus video library; varies by office	Online library and virtual sessions	The team leader's system, hands-on	Daily, live, with the broker; depends on the broker
Who answers your question	Office manager or mentor program	Sponsor or online help desk	Team leader	The broker directly
What you pay	Split plus monthly and transaction fees	Higher split, cap, technology fee	Lower split in exchange for leads and systems	Split and fees vary; no franchise fee
Fits when	You want structure and a known name	You are self-directed and online-first	You want a pipeline on day one and accept a lower share	You want the broker in the room and inquiries the office already generates

Source: PBP Real Estate review of publicly stated brokerage models in the five-county South Florida market, September 2026. Fee structures differ by office; confirm every figure with the broker in writing.

Where will my first clients come from?

Ask one question of every brokerage: "Who in this office had a conversation with a seller last week who found the office online, and how did that conversation reach them?" The answer tells you whether the brokerage generates business or expects you to buy it.

There are three honest answers. The brokerage buys portal leads and resells or assigns them to you at a referral fee or a lower split. The brokerage expects you to prospect your own circle, expired listings and for-sale-by-owner homes, which works and is how most listing agents start. Or the brokerage runs its own website that sellers find, and routes those inquiries to agents by city. The third is rare because it takes years to build; where it exists, ask how many pages the site has, which cities they cover, and whether the data on them is current.

What does real training look like?

Real training is a live person playing the seller while you present, followed by a written note on the one thing to change. If the brokerage describes its training as a library, a portal or a weekly webinar, that is a reference shelf.

Ask to sit in on one training session before you sign. In a good one you will hear an agent deliver a listing presentation or an expired-listing call, out loud, and a broker stop them mid-sentence. You will also see a curriculum: which conversations a new agent learns, in what order, and how the office decides an agent is ready to sit at a kitchen table. Florida requires sales associates to complete a 45-hour post-licensing course before their first renewal, and 14 hours of continuing education in every two-year renewal period after that (Florida DBPR; Rule 61J2-3.009, F.A.C.). Those courses teach the law, not the conversation. The conversation is the brokerage's job.

How much does it cost to be at a brokerage?

A brokerage's cost to you is the split plus every fee, and you should have all of it in writing before you sign. Splits are quoted as a percentage of the commission you keep; the rest goes to the brokerage. Some models add a monthly desk or technology fee, a per-transaction fee, a franchise or royalty fee taken off the top, and a cap after which you keep more. Errors-and-omissions coverage is sometimes included and sometimes billed. Your local Realtor board and MLS dues are typically yours in every model.

Ask for a one-page schedule of every fee and the split, and ask what changes after your first year. A brokerage that has this ready has onboarded new agents before.

What questions should I ask a broker before signing?

Ask every broker the same eleven questions and write down the answers. Compare the sheets side by side. The office that answers in specifics has thought about your first year.

1. Who will be my mentor for the first ninety days, and how often do we speak?
2. Where did the office's last ten listings come from?
3. May I sit in on one training session before I decide?
4. Which conversations does a new agent learn here, in what order?
5. When a seller asks me something I cannot answer, who do I call, and how fast do they answer?
6. What is the full schedule of fees, and what changes after year one?
7. Who pays for photography, signage and the listing's web page and social posts?
8. Who handles transaction coordination after a contract is signed, and what does it cost?
9. Does the office generate its own inquiries online, and how are they assigned?
10. What do you expect from me in the first thirty days?
11. May I speak with an agent who joined in the last year?

Where does PBP Real Estate fit?

PBP Real Estate is a boutique South Florida brokerage where agents receive inbound seller inquiries from the firm's own 431 city and neighborhood pages and daily role-play coaching from two producing brokers. It is the fourth model in the table above. PBP Real Estate, LLC holds Florida brokerage license CQ1064615; Gia Freer is Broker of Record and Grant Freer is Owner and Broker Associate. Both have been licensed since 2000 and 1997 and still list and sell, with 759 transactions closed and $201.5M in closed volume as of August 2026.

What follows is how PBP answers the four year-one questions above. It is written so you can hold it against any other brokerage's answers.

What makes PBP different for a new agent?

PBP built its own website, its own data feed, its own platform and its own training program, so a new agent plugs into a system the brokerage owns instead of renting a franchise template. Four things separate it from the other three models: where the conversations come from, what the data looks like, what the AI does and does not do, and how you learn to sell.

Where the conversations come from: pages PBP owns

Sellers reach PBP through 431 city and neighborhood pages in English and Spanish, and each city's inquiries go to the agent who covers it. Every city has a market report, resident and relocation guides, and pages for owners whose listing expired, who are weighing a short sale or who are handling an estate. When a seller writes from one of those pages, the inquiry lands in the brokerage's in-house platform with the page it came from, the property and the question attached, and it is assigned by city. Nobody buys a portal lead, and nobody starts a conversation cold.

What the data looks like: a direct MLS feed, houses and condominiums apart

PBP pulls its own data from BeachesMLS through a direct feed, keeps houses and condominiums separate, and dates every figure. A new agent's first credibility problem is showing a seller numbers the seller can trust. PBP's pages carry the month and the retrieval date on every statistic, and never blend property types into one "homes" figure. You can put a PBP market page in front of a homeowner on day one and let it do the talking.

What the AI does: drafts for you, never decides for you

At PBP, AI drafts the follow-up, the market update and the pre-listing package; a broker approves it and it goes out under your name. The rule is the same in the other direction: PBP publishes no instant estimate, and no computer prices a property. You bring the closed sales, the broker reads the file with you, and the seller receives a hand-prepared opinion of value. Sellers notice the difference, and so do the pages they land on. Your time goes to talking with people, not to typing.

How you learn to sell: two brokers who mentor you into a great listing agent

At PBP, two producing brokers, Gia and Grant Freer, mentor you personally into a great listing agent: daily live role play, a private AI practice partner called PBP Practice, and a written scorecard after every practice call. The program is the PBP Listing Agent Program. The program has a curriculum of eight disciplines, the 8 P's, from practicing and prospecting through presenting offers. A new agent's first thirty days follow seven milestones, from seller prequalification to the price-adjustment conversation, each shown on a recorded practice call before you move on. Ten minutes a day is the habit; the tool tells you what to practice today from your own recent calls, in English or Spanish, on any phone, at any hour.

The method is one you could hand to the seller afterward: motivation before price, two real options instead of a verdict, one clean ask for the business, and objections answered with closed sales and days on market, never with fear. A weekly one-on-one reviews the pattern across your scorecards, and coaching is included, not billed.

What happens on launch day and after the contract

When your listing goes live, PBP builds its web page and posts it to the brokerage's Instagram, Facebook, Google and LinkedIn accounts the same day, with you named as the listing agent. The photographer and videographer PBP uses on its own listings shoot yours at the brokerage's corporate rate: stills, video and drone, delivered ready for the MLS, the page and social. After the contract is signed, an in-house transaction coordinator runs the file for a per-file fee, from dates and disclosures to title and lender follow-up, while you stay on the phone with your next seller.

What it costs

Competitive splits and no purchased leads; exact terms depend on your experience and the cities you cover, and PBP puts them in writing before you sign. Compensation is discussed on the call, not on a web page. PBP is adding agents in Miami-Dade first, then Broward and Palm Beach.

Read how joining PBP works

Read this guide in Spanish

Gia Freer, Broker of Record, PBP Real Estate, LLC. Florida license BK689801; brokerage license CQ1064615. 700 NW 7th Drive, Boca Raton, FL 33486. 561-395-8418, info@pbpre.com. Last updated September 24, 2026.

PBP Real Estate, LLC is an equal opportunity brokerage. This guide is general information for licensed Florida real estate professionals; it is not an offer of employment or of specific compensation terms, which are set out only in a written agreement. Fee and split structures at other brokerages are described by model and should be confirmed with each brokerage directly.