Earning Potential
How Much Will I Earn...?
One of the attractions of working in the commercial finance sector is the earnings potential, which, for a successful broker can be significant. When a deal completes, a broker has two main sources of income firstly, a commission or a procuration ‘proc’ fee from the lender and secondly, a broker fee which is charged to the client.
Although proc fees and broker fees vary in value, a rule of thumb on a commercial property deal is that each will be calculated as 1% of the loan facility, therefore on a £500k commercial mortgage the following fees (2%) may typically be earned:
Proc Fee = £500k x 1% = £5000
Broker Fee = £500k x 1% = £5000
Proc Fee + Broker Fee = Gross Fee
Therefore Gross Fee = £5k + £5k = £10k
In this example, as a network partner you will receive a % of the gross fee which would normally be 50%-85% or £5k-£8.5k
We are often asked about potential earnings for a broker joining the network the following are the most frequently asked questions:
1. What does a typical broker earn in the first 12 months?
2. What does the average broker earn?
3. What is the minimum I will earn?
4. How can I earn £100k p.a.?
5. How do I earn £100k on a single deal?
While the answer to questions 3-5 are relatively easy to calculate, questions 1 & 2 are more complex as there are multiple factors that affect the answer. Consider the following table of examples which illustrates how gross fees may vary from product to product.
Product | Loan Size | Broker Fee | Lender Commission | Total Fees | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Commercial Mortgage | £500k | £5k | £5k | £10k | |
Buy-to-Let Mortgage | £150k | £595 | £750 | £1,345 | |
Asset Finance | £250k | N/A | £12.5k | £12.5k | |
Factoring | Variable | N/A | 20% of the Service Fee | £250 per month | £3k per annum, may last years |
Short-Term 'Bridging' Finance | £200k | £3k | £2.5k | £5.5k | |
Property Development Finance | £1m | £10k | £10k | £20k | |
£52,345 |
The examples above are all reasonably standard commercial deals although with facilities ranging from a £5000 asset finance deal to £50m property development the numbers per deal can vary significantly from those in the table.
Using the example figures from the table you can answer the following questions:
1. What is the minimum I could earn?
If you generate zero leads or complete zero deals you will earn £0
2. How do I earn £100k per annum?
i) If you completed on each of the above products twice in a single year, the gross income earned would be 2 x £52,345 = £104,690.
ii) If you complete 5 x development finance deals at £1m then the gross fees generated would be £100k.
3. How do I earn £100k on a single deal?
i) if you complete 1 x development finance deal at £5m then the gross fees earned would be £100k.
In the above cases (2&3) the figures are gross, therefore if you wish to retain the figures illustrated and you are on a business partner plus package retaining 70% (for example), you would need to increase those figures by 43% i.e. £70k x 143% = £100100
The following 2 x questions are more difficult to answer meaningfully as there are so many variables, however, the narrative below should give you an insight.
4. What does a typical broker earn in the first 12 months?
The key variables include the following:
- Pipeline
- Experience
- Effectiveness
- Activity
- Aspirations
- Willingness to Learn
- Product
Consider a broker who is new to the market, with no pipeline or experience, their effectiveness is likely to be hindered in the first few months even if they are extremely active and have ambitious aspirations. What will help is a willingness to learn by listening to best practice from across the network. Choosing the right product or product area will also have an impact on first year earnings. SME cashflow products are generally much quicker to process and pay out so may be the better area to focus on for a novice broker, although if you are well connected in property circles, buy to let landlords are often open to try a new broker.
Considering all the above we estimate that typical first year earnings for someone working full-time (assuming no pipeline of deals) and new to the sector would be £25k-£55k. Of course, there are partners who will earn more or less and, once established over the first 12-24 months the business should grow organically through referral and recommendation. Earnings of £100k+ after 24 months are realistic for full-time brokers who are active and effective.
5. What does an average broker earn?
In this case we are looking at established brokers and, as such, would discount anyone who hasn’t been trading for 2 years as they may still be building the foundations of their business. Fee size varies considerably on a deal by deal and case by case basis as illustrated in the table above. Some brokers specialize in specific products or a specific sector, or even a specific niche within a sector and may therefore transact a lot of very similar deals. If a broker specializes in buy to let, they will have to complete a much higher number of transactions than those focusing on property development deals to generate the same revenue. A lot of brokers concentrate on a single type of asset finance e.g. construction or marine equipment whereas others may operate as generalists and look after their local community and offer property and cashflow solutions to anyone within a 10 mile radius.
Despite the many times we are asked the ‘what is the average’ question, other than adding up all the brokers and dividing their earnings by the number of brokers (assuming we are talking about the mean as opposed to the median or the mode), we will never really know.
However, of the established brokers that I know (2 years plus) who are working full-time and capable of generating (and managing) a healthy pipeline of good quality business transactions in ever changing market conditions, I would suggest that earnings of £60k-£120k p.a. would cover the distribution of the middle third of brokers and, on that basis would be a realistic earnings expectation once established. Those specializing in large property development deals (£5m-£50m+) or who are extremely active will earn significantly more, and, of course there will be those who earn less.
For help and advice on how to assess how much you could earn, please contact us directly by booking a call via the link below. We would be happy to share our revenue projector so you can personalize your own revenue forecast.
