If you are an agent thinking about switching brokerages, you already know how overwhelming that decision can feel. The brand matters. The split matters. The culture matters. And most importantly, the impact on your day-to-day life and long-term income matters. My name is Brennan Klaus, and I am a full-time real estate agent in Seattle, Washington. I work with buyers and sellers across neighborhoods like Capitol Hill, Queen Anne, Ballard, and West Seattle, and I have been in the business long enough to see the inside of very different brokerage models.

I started at Keller Williams on a team, moved to a boutique luxury brokerage called Avenue Properties, and then became a Compass agent when Avenue was acquired. In early 2023, I made the decision to leave Compass and join REAL Brokerage. At the time, I recorded a video explaining why I left, and I will admit it leaned a bit negative toward my previous experience (for reasons I still think were fair). Now that I have been with REAL for two full years, I wanted to take a different approach: focus on what I love about this company, what has surprised me in a positive way, and why I have no plans to change brokerages anytime soon.

If you are an agent in Seattle or anywhere in the country wondering whether REAL might be a fit, this is my honest, experience-based look at what has worked well for me and my team.

What Is REAL Brokerage and Why I Switched

A Quick Look at My Brokerage Journey

• Started at Keller Williams on a team for about six months

• Moved to Avenue Properties, a boutique, high-end local brokerage

• Became a Compass agent when Avenue was acquired

• Spent four years at Compass

• Switched to REAL Brokerage at the beginning of 2023

My primary reasons for leaving Compass were:

• Culture and how agents were treated

• Financial structure and how much I was paying the brokerage as my business grew

When I joined REAL, I expected better financial alignment and a more modern model. What I did not fully anticipate was how much I would value the community, the technology, and the focus on agent experience. After two years, those are the things that stand out most.

How REAL Brokerage Actually Works for Agents

1. Culture and Community

The biggest difference I felt after joining REAL was the culture.

• The overall mindset is collaborative, not competitive.

• The company started relatively small and has grown while still feeling personal.

• At events like the annual RISE conference, you can feel people genuinely willing to share what is working in their businesses.

• It does not feel like you are lost in a sea of thousands of agents with no connection to leadership or peers.

On any given day, I can:

• Jump into a mastermind on Zoom about YouTube, geographic farming, or expired listings

• Learn directly from agents around the country who are executing at a high level

• Ask questions in national groups and actually get helpful, thoughtful responses

For an industry where many agents feel isolated, that level of access and warmth is a big deal.

2. Leadership, Vision, and Agent-Driven Innovation

REAL’s leadership talks a lot about being a tech-forward brokerage, but what matters to me is how that shows up in daily life.

A few examples:

• They maintain a public idea forum where agents can submit features and other agents can upvote them.

• Some of those ideas have been built into real products. The REAL Wallet, for example, started as an agent suggestion and is now a core tool.

• At RISE, leadership clearly outlines where the company is headed and how AI will support agents, not replace them.

The AI assistant, LEO, is a good example. REAL has:

• Collected and structured answers from designated brokers

• Trained LEO to respond to common contract and compliance questions

• Built a workflow so that if AI cannot fully solve an issue, it routes you to a managing broker or support

The result is that I can often get an accurate answer faster than hunting through emails or waiting on a call back.

3. Agent-Centric Compensation and Rewards

This is one of the biggest practical reasons I love being at REAL.

Key pieces of the model:

• Competitive split with a relatively low annual cap (currently around $12,000 for an individual agent)

• Reduced caps for team members (often around $6,000 under a team lead)

• Stock and equity awards when you hit certain milestones, such as capping or achieving elite agent status

The part that surprised me most:

• The amount of money I used to pay to my previous brokerage has effectively been paid back to me in stock at REAL.

• Instead of feeling like growth just means paying more to the company, it feels like growth is rewarded and shared.

On top of that, there is a points-based reward system tied to:

• Using REAL Wallet

• Engaging with LEO

• Interacting with certain tools

Those points can be used to pay back your cap. In other words, if you lean into the tools and systems, it is possible to offset or even eliminate your cap over time. That is a major difference from traditional models.

Why REAL Brokerage Fits My Seattle Real Estate Business

Operating in Seattle Washington real estate comes with some unique dynamics:

• High-priced, often competitive neighborhoods (Capitol Hill, Queen Anne, Ballard, West Seattle, Wallingford, Green Lake)

• Tech-driven buyer and seller base

• Clients who value modern, digital-first experiences

• A mix of in-city condos and single-family homes, plus suburban moves to and from the Eastside

REAL’s cloud-based and tech-forward structure fits that environment well:

• I do not need a traditional brick-and-mortar office in downtown Seattle to serve my clients effectively.

• The REAL app lets me track every transaction, see who is involved, monitor checklists, and verify commissions directly from my phone while I am in the car between showings or at inspections.

• When clients relocate to or from Seattle, I have access to a national network of REAL agents I trust for referrals.

For my small team, the structure has also:

• Made it easier to manage multiple agents while keeping their caps and rewards fair

• Simplified splits and backend tracking

• Supported flexible, on-the-go work without being tied to a specific office location

In a city like Seattle, where many of us are already working in coffee shops, co-working spaces, and from home, that flexibility feels natural.

My Personal Experience: The Biggest Benefits After 2 Years at REAL

Technology and Systems That Save Time

REAL’s tech stack is one of the main reasons I feel calmer and more in control of my business.

With the REAL app, I can:

• View all active and pending transactions

• See which stage each file is in and what is still needed

• Check my commission breakdown and team splits

• Access REAL Wallet and see balances

• Ask LEO contract or compliance questions directly in the app

This replaces a lot of back-and-forth email, manual tracking, and guesswork that used to take up my time.

Training, Coaching, and Growth Opportunities

REAL has built a training and coaching ecosystem that feels current and practical.

Examples include:

• Weekly masterminds led by high-producing agents across different niches

• Social media and content-focused groups where agents share what is working

• Collaborations with well-known trainers like Jason Pantana and “Exactly What to Say”-style series

As someone who has invested in coaching (Tom Ferry, for example), it has been interesting to see similar frameworks and strategies show up inside REAL’s training library at no additional cost. It genuinely makes me question how much extra one-on-one coaching I need in certain seasons.

Flexibility, Lifestyle, and Team Structure

When I left Compass, I knew I wanted:

• A smaller, tight-knit team

• A model that supported both my income and my team members’ income

• Less overhead and complexity

REAL has supported that by:

• Keeping caps low and adding equity and rewards

• Making it simple to oversee team transactions and splits

• Eliminating concerns like “which office am I paying for” or “am I using enough desk space to justify these fees”

The result is more mental space to focus on:

• Serving clients well

• Marketing and content creation

• Building a sustainable business instead of just reacting to paperwork and overhead

Responsive Support and Back-Office Help

A common concern with cloud-based brokerages is support. Will someone actually help you if something goes wrong?

In my experience at REAL:

• LEO is the first line of support, and often solves simpler questions quickly.

• If AI cannot solve it, the system routes you to human support with a recap of your issue.

• Support typically responds within the same day, often within a few hours.

• When processes changed going into 2026, support staff were willing to get on Zoom and walk through the backend with me and my transaction coordinator.

That combination of tech plus human support has made the remote model feel very workable.

Values, Brand, and Long-Term Fit

Finally, there is the values piece:

• REAL emphasizes integrity, innovation, and collaboration.

• The brand may not have started as “flashy” as some legacy luxury brokerages, but it is quickly becoming more recognized.

• I feel proud to be associated with a company that is building for the future instead of clinging to old structures.

After two years, I honestly do not see another company where I would rather be right now. The culture, compensation, technology, and community all align with how I want to run my business and live my life.

Key Takeaways

• REAL’s culture feels collaborative, warm, and accessible across a nationwide network.

• Leadership actively listens to agents and has implemented features that started as agent suggestions.

• The compensation model is agent-centric, with a low cap, equity awards, and tools that can help offset your cap over time.

• Technology (the REAL app, REAL Wallet, LEO) meaningfully reduces admin friction and saves time.

• Training, masterminds, and collaborations with top coaches make growth more achievable without extra coaching fees.

• The cloud-based structure supports a flexible lifestyle and small-team model, which works especially well in a market like Seattle.

If you are an agent who is curious about REAL—whether you are in Seattle or another market—and you want an honest, behind-the-scenes conversation about what it is like to build a business here, I am happy to talk one-on-one.

You can reach out to me directly to:

• Ask specific questions about compensation or caps

• Talk through how REAL might fit your current production level

• Explore what the transition could look like for your team or solo business

If you are considering a change and want to know whether REAL could genuinely support your goals, let’s connect and walk through it together.