Days 1 to 14: Choose the Brokerage, Not the Sign on It

The brokerage you join in your first two weeks shapes your splits, your training, and how quickly you learn the transaction paperwork, so treat the decision like a job hunt rather than a formality. Interview at least three or four brokerages and ask the same questions of each one. What is the commission split, and does it change once you hit a cap? Is there a monthly desk fee, a technology fee, or a franchise fee on top of the split? What does errors and omissions insurance cost through the brokerage, and does it cover you from day one? Who answers the phone when you have a question at nine at night? Ask to see a sample of the brokerage's internal transaction file so you understand how offers, amendments, and trust deposits actually get handled. Ask each manager how many of their agents are in their first year and how many deals those agents closed, because a brokerage that is good at recruiting new agents is not always good at keeping them. In Quebec, remember that you practise under a brokerage and your licence, your insurance certificate, and your brokerage contract all have to be in place before you can do a single showing. In Ontario, confirm that the brokerage will register you with RECO as soon as your exam results and criminal record check are complete. If a manager promises you leads, ask how many leads went to last year's new agents and what they converted to.

Days 15 to 30: Build the Back Office Before It Costs You

Your licence is only one of the moving parts. In Ontario, RECO issues your registration and you cannot trade a day before it appears, so keep the confirmation accessible. In Quebec, the OACIQ processes your licence application and you will need proof of your professional liability insurance to complete it. In British Columbia and Alberta, the same pattern applies through the BCFSA and RECA portals. Do not wait until you have a client to open the professional accounts you will need. Get a business bank account so that trust and commission money never mixes with your personal spending, and set up simple bookkeeping from the first dollar, because commission income is self-employment income and you will be responsible for tax instalments. Register for the GST and HST where your province requires it, and keep every receipt for mileage, signage, board fees, and marketing, because those are deductible business expenses. Set up a customer relationship management tool and import your personal contacts on day one, then work through the same short list of setup tasks: MLS access through your local real estate board, transaction management software, electronic signature, and the brokerage forms you will be expected to use. Finally, complete your FINTRAC obligations training, since federal anti-money-laundering rules require you to verify the identity of your clients and to report large cash transactions.

Days 31 to 60: Fill the Pipeline Before You Need It

The agents who close a deal in their first 90 days are usually the agents who spent their first month talking to people instead of waiting for the phone to ring. Build a list of one hundred to two hundred names from your phone, your past colleagues, your family network, your gym, and your neighbourhood, then call them one at a time. You are not selling anything in those conversations, you are announcing that you have a licence and asking who they know who is thinking about buying or selling in the next year. Host open houses for established agents at your brokerage, because it puts you in front of strangers who are already interested in real estate, and it teaches you how listings work in practice. Take floor duty and weekend desk shifts if your brokerage offers them. Run buyer consultations, and put the representation agreement in writing: in Ontario, written representation agreements with buyers have been mandatory since the Trust in Real Estate Services Act came into force, and in Quebec the brokerage contract must be in writing and signed. Track every lead in your CRM and follow up on a schedule you actually keep, because a database that is never called is a list, not a pipeline. By the end of this month you should have a handful of active buyers under representation agreements and at least one listing appointment in the calendar.

Days 61 to 90: Get to Contract and Close

A first closing is rarely a straight line, and the paperwork is where most new agents lose time. Practise the offer process on a real file with your manager standing behind you rather than on a live deal where you are learning live. Know how to draft an offer with conditions for financing and inspection, how to write an amendment, and what happens when a condition is not satisfied. Remember that the deposit goes into the brokerage's trust account, never into your own account, and that the receipt has to be issued properly. Complete your FINTRAC identity verification and record the details in the file. Confirm who closes the transaction in your province: a notary in Quebec, and a lawyer or title company elsewhere in Canada, with land transfer tax, title insurance, and adjustments that the buyer needs to fund in advance. Plan the timeline backwards from the closing date, because the last week is always the busiest. When the deal closes, remember to update your records, deposit the commission through the brokerage, and send a short thank you note or a small closing gift. That last step is not polite decoration, it is how a first closing becomes a second one. Track what your first transaction cost you in time and hours, and use that number to price the next one.

The Money Math Nobody Explains Up Front

It helps to see the arithmetic before you choose a brokerage. If a property sells for five hundred thousand dollars at a five per cent total commission, the commission pool is twenty-five thousand dollars. That pool typically splits between the listing side and the buyer side, which leaves roughly twelve thousand five hundred dollars on your side, and your brokerage keeps its share before you see anything. At a seventy thirty split you would receive eight thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars before fees and taxes, and at a ninety ten split with a cap you would keep closer to eleven thousand two hundred and fifty dollars. Out of that, budget for monthly fixed costs that commonly run between six hundred and fifteen hundred dollars, covering desk and technology fees, insurance, board dues, phone, marketing, and fuel. Commission advances and draws are loans against future deals, not income, and they are the most common reason new agents get into trouble in their first year. Earnings vary enormously by market, agent, and effort, so plan on a lean first year and keep your personal overhead low. Ask your brokerage for a written breakdown of every deduction before any deal is signed, and model your own net on a spreadsheet.

The Habits That Separate a Ninety Day Start From a Ninety Day Exit

Every brokerage knows roughly how many new agents will still be licensed two years later, and the difference is rarely talent. Agents who survive protect lead generation like a client appointment, blocking two hours a day for prospecting calls, follow-ups, and database touches before email, paperwork, or office chat get a look in. They review their pipeline every Friday and ask which files moved and which ones stalled. They ask for help early, finding one experienced agent who is willing to review their contract drafts and one manager who is accountable for their progress. They write things down, because the details that go wrong in a transaction are usually details nobody recorded. They treat their database as an asset and touch every contact at least once a quarter. Most importantly, they measure activity instead of outcomes in the first quarter, counting conversations, appointments, and offers written rather than counting days until a paycheque arrives. Building a real estate practice in Canada is a business, and the first ninety days are when the operating habits of that business are set.