Does the Continuing Agent Fee for Counselor Realty depend on the number of licensed agents?
Counselor_Realty Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
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- B. You must pay a monthly Continuing Agent Fee to Counselor based upon the number of licensed agents operating through your Office (including any Additional Offices and Extension Offices) at any time during the month as follows: $53 per licensed agent for the sixth through 15th licensed agent operating through your Office(s); $37 per licensed agent for the 16th through 35th licensed agent operating through your Office(s); and $32 per licensed agent for the 36th and each additional licensed agent operating through your Office(s). For purposes of clarity, if you have 50 licensed agents operating through your Office(s) for a certain month, your Continuing Agent Fee for that month would be $1,750 ($53 multiplied by 10, plus $37 multiplied by 20, plus $32 multiplied by 15). For purposes of calculating the Continuing Agent Fee, the number of agents operating through your Office(s) for any given month shall be the number of licensed agents listed as operating through your Office(s) with the Minnesota Department of Commerce on the first day of the applicable month. If Counselor has consented to any Additional Office locations or Extension Office locations, any licensed agents operating from any such Additional Office locations or Extension Office locations will be counted in the number of agents operating through your Office for purposes of the Continuing Agent Fee. You must notify Counselor immediately in writing each time a licensed agent begins operating through your Office(s) (including any Additional Offices or Extension Offices
Source: Item 6 — OTHER FEES (FDD pages 9–13)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Counselor Realty's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, the Continuing Agent Fee is directly dependent on the number of licensed agents operating through the franchisee's office. The fee structure is tiered, meaning the amount paid per agent varies based on the total number of agents. The monthly Continuing Agent Fee is calculated based on the number of licensed agents listed as operating through the franchisee's office with the Minnesota Department of Commerce on the first day of the applicable month.
For a Counselor Realty franchisee, this means that as the number of licensed agents increases, the total Continuing Agent Fee will also increase. However, the per-agent fee decreases as the agent count moves into higher tiers. Specifically, the fee is $53 per licensed agent for the sixth through 15th agent, $37 per licensed agent for the 16th through 35th agent, and $32 per licensed agent for the 36th and each additional agent.
The FDD provides an example calculation: if a franchisee has 50 licensed agents, the Continuing Agent Fee would be $1,750, calculated as ($53 multiplied by 10) + ($37 multiplied by 20) + ($32 multiplied by 15). This tiered structure incentivizes franchisees to grow their agent base, as the marginal cost per agent decreases at higher agent counts. Franchisees must also notify Counselor Realty immediately in writing each time a licensed agent begins operating through their office.
This fee structure is common in the real estate franchise industry, where franchisors often derive revenue based on agent count or transaction volume. Prospective franchisees should carefully consider their growth plans and agent acquisition strategies to accurately forecast their Continuing Agent Fee obligations to Counselor Realty.