Work Choice

Field Agent vs. Desk-Based Investor Broker

Most of you did not become a licensed real estate broker for the fun of it. Probably all of you had the expectation that you would be doing something interesting that would also give you income. The vast majority of real estate brokerages offer ONLY one choice. They are traditional real estate operations and the brokers work as “field agents”.

Only a few offices will allow their agents to do “assignment” deals (wholesaling). Most brokerages won’t allow it, or possibly the designated managing broker is not familiar with it. 

At our brokerage, Saylor Team LLC, in Illinois, we can offer you two ways to help people and also make good income.

We’re essentially contrasting two different operating models inside the same license:

  • You can be a Field-based retail broker (traditional agent) and work around the desires of your clients.
  • You can be Desk-based investor/wholesale broker and be mostly a home-based worker with almost total autonomy.
  • Or, you could be both.

What you want to do if you join our brokerage becomes a lifestyle + economics + efficiency decision. Think about what kind of lifestyle you prefer. Think about what is BEST for you.

Core Difference: Field Agent vs. Desk-Based Investor Broker

1. Daily Workflow Structure

 (Field-Based) Retail Broker usually as an agent for a retail buyer or seller)

Click arrow below for a personal message from Tom Saylor (some plain talk about options for brokers and helping sellers get what they want, reality talk, about 12 mins)

Lots of driving, gas expense, wear and tear on your vehicle, hassle in rush hour, wondering if you can make it to your appointment on time...
Putting on the "happy face" for lookieloos, or meeting clients before you've got them pre-approved at an open house....remember you cannot choose who comes to your open house. It is simply dangerous for a single woman. In a big house you need an assistant to babysit your walkthroughs.
  • Driving to showings, listing appointments, inspections
  • Coordinating schedules with buyers, sellers, tenants
  • Evenings/weekends heavily utilized (client availability driven)
  • Time fragmented across multiple small tasks
  • High interruption environment (calls, texts, reschedules)

Reality: You are operating in a reactive, client-controlled schedule

VERSUS WORKING AT HOME DOING WHOLESALE (ASSIGNMENT) DEALS

You control YOUR time. You are on YOUR schedule, not a client's schedule. Go exercise when you want. Stop and play the piano. If you are self-motivated and focused you can make good income. If you need the social environment of an office this will not work for you.
  • Reviewing deals, comps, photos, and repair estimates (often you will be using software to help with rehab estimates, this is why we need photos)
  • Structuring offers (MAO, investor comps, exit pricing)
  • Submitting proposals (usually to listing agents, fsbos, expired listings, distressed property owners, low equity owners that must sell, etc)
  • Communicating in controlled blocks (email, phone, text message)
  • Building repeatable daily pipeline systems that should get you about 1 deal in 50 soft proposals that include verbal communication. We don’t want to sugarcoat this, you need a full-time effort to make serious $. If you are self-directed and organized you can do it. It’s not brain surgery. You need to make an impact on the listing agent. “Wow you presented that nicely”.  “I like the accurate way you describe it”. “Yeah, I see it, I know you’re telling me the truth.” Make the listing agent feel important. Do not be argumentative at all. Show empathy with the listing agent. That agent is likely to contact you first when the seller finally becomes motivated to do something. The human ego is a very powerful force when selling stuff. Work smart.

Reality: You are operating in a proactive, self-directed workflow – Clients are not controlling you.

Working at home can keep you in your kids' life. At nap time often you will take a nap with your kids because you will be doing some prep at night for the following day. We can explain if you are interested. Yes, it is possible.
  • Staying at home with your kids is a noble thing. The kids will remember this long after you are gone. 
  • The trick is managing your time while keeping your kids engaged and safe. A second person that you trust is ideal. (like a nanny or female relative you trust)
  • We have experience with a nanny. She came daily and was less expensive than putting the kids in daycare.  We treated her good, and she treated our kids good. She took the kids to the park a block away (Alamo Square Park, San Francisco) She was terrific. I remember one day she brought a little girl home with our kids. She told us she found the girl lost in the park wandering around. Apparently the bus that brought the kids to the park from a real daycare left her in the park. Our nanny was responsible enough to bring that little girl home with our kids and we called 911 to get her reunited with her family. I will say that English was not her first language. I remember her name was Levy. This was about 1988. And I’m not sure she was a US citizen. I wonder where she is now. Maybe she is back in the Philippines. She possibly saved that little girl with her decency. Of course I advocate not talking politics in real estate work. But I have lots of experience interacting with people that are in the USA, but not citizens. Most of these people I’ve encountered have been hard-working construction laborers, or farm workers.  And many are now gone.
  • You need a situation where the kids are not screaming while you are talking on the phone. If you are making “proposals” you are often calling the agent directly for a short conversation and asking probative questions about the property. This breaks the ice. You let the agent know that you are working with an investor and you ask the agent “will your seller consider an investor offer—this property does need work.” (We only make contact if the property is at least 45 DOM.) During these brief chats the kids need to be quiet. We’ll teach you our very specific methods that get results.
  • Working at home with little kids is feasible if you plan carefully. We’ve actually done it.

The Reality: The home-based worker doing assignment (wholesale) deals is operating in a proactive, self-directed workflow – Clients are not controlling you. THIS IS A BIG DEAL.

A key part of your home-based business is a decent phone that has high end optics and is commonplace on the market and has LOTS of accessories for it. Then if you can't figure something out about the phone you can immediately go to YouTube and get the answer because it has wide use. For the money spent we think the best value (for real estate work) is a recent Samsung Galaxy S25 (or higher) Ultra 5G bought online on Amazon as an unlocked (renewed). This will give you the most accessories avail and be the best value. High end Iphone is "ok" but does not give you as many accessories. You will drop your phone often and you will need a protective case and screen protector. The thin glass screen protectors are best and "otterbox" protection case is excellent.
  • We need good photos and it is best if we have a “walkthrough” video and location videos of the property we are wholesaling. We need media to show the end buyer. We want our media packages to show the stuff the contractor or rental buyer wants. We don’t puff anything up, we need to give end buyers accurate info. Sometimes the listing agent can get the stuff we need, sometimes we must create it ourselves. I will discuss this with you for each property. This stuff is important.
  • If you work independently you must have your phone next to you at all times. If you are asleep tell the prospect to text you their message.
  • Any high end (renewed) phone is ok, but do NOT get an off brand phone. These phones do lots of things and they are complicated. They all have a learning curve. You must be able to talk on the phone while driving safely, so you don’t have to look at the phone.

Reality: You are operating in a proactive, self-directed workflow – Clients are not controlling you. YOU MUST HAVE A DECENT PHONE NEAR YOU AT ALL TIMES. Put the free app “Samsung Flow” on your phone. Then it will alert you when you get an important message on your PC.

Now let's evaluate some other differences between being a retail broker and doing wholesale deals working at home...

2. Cost Structure

Retail Broker

  • Fuel, vehicle wear/tear, vehicle maintenance
  • MLS lockbox (usually you will be using “showing time” app) /showing access travel
  • Time cost of dead showings / no-shows
  • Opportunity cost of time spent driving vs producing

Hidden Cost: Time leakage = your biggest expense

Wholesale / Investor Broker

  • Minimal transportation cost
  • No staging / open house expense
  • Lower marketing overhead (focused on deals, not listings)
  • Primary tools = MLS, data platforms, communication tools (for our full-time brokers we pay for your access to our wholesaling softwares, this speeds your workflow, and we give you the specialized training you need)

Key Advantage:
👉 Extremely low overhead + high scalability per hour

3. Time Efficiency & Leverage

Retail Broker

  • 1 showing = 1 client = 1 time slot
  • Physical presence required
  • Cannot scale beyond available hours
  • Income tied to time physically spent

Wholesale / Investor Broker

  • Can analyze multiple deals per day
  • Can submit multiple proposals (soft offers) daily
  • Can communicate with multiple counterparties simultaneously
  • Pipeline-based (not appointment-based)

Key Advantage:
👉 Income tied to deal flow, not physical presence

4. Income Model Dynamics

Retail Broker

  • Commission-based (typically 2–3% side)
  • Fewer transactions, possibly larger per-deal payout
  • Longer cycle times (30–60+ days typical)
  • Heavily dependent on client conversion

Wholesale / Investor Broker 

  • We give you an MAO that should close 80% of the time by carefully evaluating investor buyer data in proximity to your deal.
  • When we are your sponsoring broker we split the net assignment fee 50/50. 
  • If you are licensed in Indiana we can also sponsor you. We are managing brokers in both IL and IN.
  • More transactions, smaller per-deal slices (minimum deal approx 10K shared equally between you and our LLC)
  • Faster cycle times (often 15–20 business days in clean deals)
  • Focus on volume + velocity + pricing accuracy

Key Difference:

  • Retail = High ticket / low frequency
  • Wholesale = Moderate ticket / high frequency

5. Skill Set Emphasis

Retail Broker

  • Client management / emotional intelligence
  • Negotiation with retail buyers/sellers
  • Property presentation and marketing
  • Transaction coordination

Wholesale / Investor Broker

  • Deal analysis (“MAO” (Maximum Allowable Offer),  “ARV” (After Repair Value), repair costs
  • Investor psychology (what contractors/landlords will pay)
  • Pricing accuracy (investor comps vs retail comps)
  • Speed + decisiveness

6. Stress Profile

Retail Broker

  • Client-driven stress (emotions, expectations, indecision)
  • Scheduling conflicts
  • Last-minute cancellations
  • Long deal timelines with uncertainty

Wholesale / Investor Broker

  • Deal-driven stress (numbers, margins, timelines)
  • Short windows (inspection periods)
  • Requires decisiveness and discipline

But:
Less emotional friction, more analytical control

7. Lifestyle & Flexibility

Retail Broker

  • Evenings and weekends required
  • Travel-heavy
  • Hard to “turn off” due to client demands

Wholesale / Investor Broker

  • Work from home or anywhere
  • Flexible scheduling (morning, midday, evening blocks)
  • Can batch work (analyze → submit → follow up)

Key Advantage:
👉 True schedule autonomy

Give me a call if you are interested in working with us. I’m easy to do business with and I’ll answer your questions. I don’t know everything, but I’ll tell you what works for me. The stuff I talk about is stuff I actually do. At this time we are only accepting brokers licensed in IL or IN or both. For assignment deals we have about 25 states we can work in for “virtual wholesaling”. The workflow is basically the same in all of the states, but we will need good media. (pix and video) Some states are easier to work than others. 90% of the time we’re dealing with listing agents and properties that need some work. In assignment deals (never say the word “wholesaler” in normal conversation, call the deals “investor” deals, <“Will your seller look at an “investor” offer?”>  The word Wholesaler has a bad connotation because many people have taken advantage of others.) That is NOT what we do. You will see that when you work with us.

If you do retail deals with us, we have no monthly fees, and pay the majority of your expenses. We do not give you office space. You get quality signage, custom website, and other stuff. We do take part-time agents if you can do at least several deals a year. Contact me.

Thanks, Tom Saylor, Call or text me at 877-773-4295