Net-vs-gross compounding at $200k, $400k, and $750k production

At identical gross production, agents at different brokerage and source-mix configurations can net 1.5x to 2x different take-home. Worked examples make the compounding visible.

Three identical-production agents under different configurations:

$200k gross GCI agent, mixed configuration scenarios:

• Heavy-Zillow agent: 50% of book from Zillow Flex (32% take), 50% self-gen. Brokerage 70/30. Net: 0.50 × 0.68 × 0.70 + 0.50 × 0.70 = 0.238 + 0.35 = 0.588. Take-home ≈ $117.6k.
• Sphere agent: 80% sphere/past-client/referral (no external fee), 20% portal mid (20% take). Brokerage 75/25. Net: 0.80 × 0.75 + 0.20 × 0.80 × 0.75 = 0.60 + 0.12 = 0.72. Take-home ≈ $144k.
• Cap-model self-generated: 100% self-gen at eXp ($16k cap, $250 transaction fee). At $200k GCI, post-cap retention. Approximate net ≈ $180k.

$400k gross GCI agent:

• Heavy-Zillow + 70/30 brokerage: similar 58% retention → $232k.
• Sphere agent + 80/20 brokerage: ~80% retention → $320k.
• Cap-model self-generated: post-cap quickly, ~95% retention → $380k.

$750k gross GCI agent:

• Heavy-Zillow + 70/30 (some splits step up): ~62% retention → $465k.
• Sphere agent + cap-based brokerage: ~92% retention → $690k.
• Cap-model self-generated, top-tier: ~95% retention plus revenue share → $715k plus passive.

The compounding shows up clearly at higher production: heavy-portal configurations leak progressively more dollars in absolute terms even when the percentage leak is similar.