Glossary · Take-Home Pay
Real Estate Take-Home Pay
Take-home pay is the net commission left after the brokerage split, transaction fees, referral fees, and any cap or royalty deductions — before income tax. It's the dollar amount that actually hits your business account, and it's the only number that pays the mortgage.
The waterfall: GCI → Take-Home
Four deductions separate gross commission from take-home, applied in this order:
Sale price: $400,000
× 3% commission = $12,000 GCI
− 0% referral fee (no referral) = $12,000
× 70% brokerage split = $8,400
− $500 transaction fee = $7,900 take-home
Why "take-home" is the goal that matters
Most agents set goals on GCI, because that's the number every coaching program and brokerage talks about. The problem: a $300K GCI year on a 50/50 split is fundamentally a different business than a $300K GCI year on a 90/10 split. The same headline number, drastically different bank account.
Take-home is the corrective. It's the dollar amount you need to live on, save, invest, and reinvest in the business. If you don't know your take-home, you don't know whether your business actually works.
The Goal Wizard reverses the math
Closing Day's Goal Wizard starts with a take-home target and reverse-engineers everything else:
Take-home goal: $150,000
→ GCI required (70/30 split): $215,000
→ Total volume (3% commission): $7.2M
→ Closings ($400K avg sale): 18 / yr
→ Daily conversation target: 5 / day
Note: Goal Wizard handles splits and fees only — it does not compute income tax. Tax planning is its own thing.
Frequently asked
What about capped splits? ▾
Many brokerages (eXp, Keller Williams) use capped models — you split until you hit a cap (e.g., $16K), then keep 100% (minus a per-transaction fee). Closing Day handles cap math: you set your split rate, cap, and fee schedule once, and the Income waterfall calculates take-home accurately for every transaction throughout the year.
What about income tax? ▾
Take-home is pre-tax. As a 1099 contractor, you'll typically owe self-employment tax (15.3%) plus federal and state income tax on top of that. A common rule of thumb is to set aside 25–30% of every commission check. Talk to a CPA — Closing Day is not tax advice software.
Is take-home the same as net income? ▾
Close, but not identical. Take-home (as Closing Day uses it) is net commission after brokerage splits and per-transaction fees. "Net income" usually also accounts for business expenses (lead spend, marketing, MLS dues, etc.). For most agents, business expenses can take another 10–20% off the top.
Set goals on the only number that matters.
The Goal Wizard reverse-engineers your take-home target into daily activity. 80% off your first month.
Try Closing Day for $7.80 month one