Agency Principal & Ownership
01 · 33Free preview

Starting from scratch versus buying an existing agency

01 · Starting, Buying or Franchising an Agency · Masterclass · 14 min

Starting from scratch gives you a clean structure and no inherited liabilities, but it means building a database, a rent roll and a reputation from zero — most new starts take two to three years to reach a sustainable GCI. Buying an existing agency gets you an instant rent roll, trained staff and cash flow from day one, but you inherit its culture, its client relationships (good and bad), any underlying trust-account…

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Version 2026-08-26.v1

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Locked in this program
  • Building the first-year business planMasterclass
  • Independent versus franchise: the real economicsMasterclass
  • Choosing a legal and ownership structureReading
  • Knowledge check: Starting, Buying or FranchisingKnowledge check
  • Licensee-in-charge: obligations and personal exposureMasterclass
  • Building a defensible supervision systemMasterclass
  • Insurance and risk: PI, management liability and cyberMasterclass
  • A near-miss trust deposit raises a supervision questionAI role-play
  • Responding to a consumer complaint or disciplinary inquiryReading
  • Knowledge check: Licensing & SupervisionKnowledge check
  • Reading the sales department P&LMasterclass
  • Property management: the annuity engineMasterclass
  • Cross-subsidy, integration and where the two departments meetMasterclass
  • Setting headcount against break-even, not ambitionReading
  • Knowledge check: Department EconomicsKnowledge check
  • Employees versus contractors: getting the structure rightMasterclass
  • Commission-only structures and their legal limitsMasterclass
  • Selecting and governing the technology stackMasterclass
  • A departing agent claims they were really an employeeAI role-play
  • Data governance and access control as the business scalesReading
  • Knowledge check: Employment & TechnologyKnowledge check
  • What principal-level trust oversight actually looks likeMasterclass
  • Reading a trust reconciliation like a principal, not a bookkeeperMasterclass
  • A reconciliation surfaces an unexplained shortfallAI role-play
  • Designing internal controls that catch problems earlyReading
  • Knowledge check: Trust-Account OversightKnowledge check
  • Rent-roll acquisition and due diligenceMasterclass
  • Valuing and buying another agencyMasterclass
  • Shareholder and equity arrangementsMasterclass
  • A 30% shareholder wants to exit within twelve monthsAI role-play
  • Succession planning and selling the businessReading
  • Knowledge check: Acquisitions, Succession & ExitKnowledge check