Key Takeaway: A real estate agent contract checklist covers the terms that shape your business: how you are paid, what you owe, who controls clients and leads, how you can leave, and what still applies after you go. If you join a team, read the brokerage agreement and the team agreement together, since both can cover the same issues.
TL;DR About Real Estate Agent Contracts
- Brokerage and team agreements are separate contracts.
- Check splits, caps, fees, and payout timing.
- Client agreements usually belong to the brokerage.
- Leads and marketing may not leave with you.
- Policy manuals can add binding rules.
- Some duties continue after you leave.
- Have an attorney review unclear terms.
A real estate agent contract checklist is a list of the terms to review before you sign a brokerage agreement or a team agreement. These contracts set your pay, your costs, and your rights when you leave.
Many agents read only the commission split. The terms that cause the most trouble often sit in the fee, lead, and exit sections.
This article explains how brokerage and team agreements fit into the broader Smart Agent Alliance brokerage comparison resources agents use to research and compare brokerages.
This checklist covers the provisions most likely to affect your business, grouped into these areas:
Table of Contents
How Do Brokerage and Team Agreements Work Together?
A brokerage agreement, often called an independent contractor agreement or ICA, is the contract between you and the brokerage that holds your license. A team agreement is a separate contract between you and a team inside that brokerage. If you join a team, you sign both.
The two agreements can cover the same topics, such as pay, leads, clients, and exit terms. One may give the brokerage a split while the other gives the team an override. Read them together, and note where they overlap or conflict.
A solo agent signs only the brokerage agreement. A team agreement controls the deal between you and the team, but it cannot change the brokerage’s legal duty to supervise you. Contract terms are one of the factors covered in our brokerage comparison guide, alongside splits, fees, and support.
How Will You Be Paid and What Will You Owe?
Start with the split, then look at everything around it. For an 80/20 split, find out what income it applies to, whether there is a cap, when the cap resets, and what changes after you cap. Do the same for any team split or override, which may treat team leads differently from leads you generate.
Next, list every fee and the agreement that creates it. Brokerage fees may include technology, E&O, transaction, administrative, and training fees. Team fees may cover leads, transaction coordination, marketing, photography, or technology. Note whether either party can change a fee and how much notice it must give.
Then check timing. Find out when a commission is earned, when it is paid, and how bonuses, chargebacks, and referral deductions work. Confirm what happens to your share if a deal closes after you leave the team, the brokerage, or both.
Who Owns Your Clients, Leads, and Marketing?
A seller’s listing agreement or a buyer’s representation agreement is generally with the brokerage, not with you. Your agreements may still set your rights to those clients and the pay tied to them, which decides what happens to your clients when you switch brokerages.
Leads follow similar rules. A lead the brokerage paid for may be treated differently from a team lead or a past client. Check who controls each type, whether you can export your database, and whether you may contact those leads after you leave.
Review marketing assets too, such as photos, websites, domains, and social accounts. Under NAR’s MLS Policy Statement 7.85, the listing broker owns the listing agreement and should own or have authority to license listing content submitted to the MLS.
What Other Documents Are You Agreeing To?
An agreement can include other documents by reference. A common example is a brokerage policy manual. When a contract says a manual is part of it, you agree to that manual even if you never signed it separately.
Ask for every document the agreement references and read each one before you sign. Then find out how each one can change. Some agreements require your signature for a change. Others allow changes with written notice. Some treat continuing to work there as acceptance of the change.
A policy manual can add fees, lead rules, or conduct rules that do not appear in the agreement itself. A document you were never given cannot be reviewed, so request copies in writing.
Referenced documents do not override state law or license rules. They do become part of what you agreed to follow.
What Still Applies When and After You Leave?
Exit terms explain how the relationship ends. Check whether you can leave at any time, whether you must give notice, whether the brokerage or team can end the agreement immediately, when you lose system access, and what property you must return. Leaving a team and leaving a brokerage are separate events, so check each agreement.
California’s Department of Real Estate advises salespeople changing brokers to tell their broker they plan to leave and to follow their contracts, and notes that failing to comply may become a matter for civil litigation.
Some duties survive after you leave. Look for non-compete, non-solicitation, confidentiality, and lead clauses. Enforceability varies by state. California generally bars non-competes, but other restrictions may still apply.
When to Have an Attorney Review an Agent Contract
Some agents assume a standard brokerage form needs no review. A standard form can still contain terms that affect your income for years.
An attorney review makes the most sense when a provision could materially affect your business after you leave. Common examples include a non-solicitation clause tied to a large past-client list, a team agreement that claims a share of future deals, or an exit term with a long notice period.
Advice from an agent in another state may not apply to you. If a term is unclear, ask the brokerage or team to explain it in writing, then have an attorney in your state review it. This article is general information, not legal advice.
What Agents Also Ask
What is a brokerage ICA?
An ICA, or independent contractor agreement, is the contract between an agent and the brokerage that holds their license. It usually covers the commission split, fees, the agent’s duties, and how the relationship ends. It often adds other documents, such as a policy manual, by reference.
Can a brokerage change its fees after I sign?
Many agreements let the brokerage change fees or policies. The question is how. Some require your signature, some allow changes with written notice, and some treat staying as acceptance. Check the revision section of the agreement and any policy manual it references.
Who owns my leads if I leave a team?
Ownership depends on where the lead came from and what the team agreement says. Team-generated leads are often treated differently from your own past clients or personal marketing. Check the lead and database terms before you join, not on your last day.
Why This Matters
Brokerage and team agreements decide pay, fees, and exit rights long after signing, which makes the contract structure part of the brokerage decision itself. At eXp Realty, all agents receive the same core brokerage platform, including compliance, compensation, and access to company divisions. What differs is the sponsor ecosystem an agent aligns with.
The sponsor an agent selects shapes which tools, training, and attraction systems they have access to, including whether a separate team or sponsor-group agreement sits alongside the brokerage agreement. Agents weighing that choice should read every agreement together and compare the Smart Agent Alliance team value a sponsor brings.
