A real estate side is a party, entity, or client involved in a real estate transaction. Usually, there are two sides to each transaction. One side is for the buyer and one side is for the seller. Side quantity is used to rank and assess agent and brokerage productivity. Brokerage and agent rankings often include rankings for performance by sides.
Sides show the quantity of transactions an agent or brokerage are involved in. A side is any single transaction that the agent or brokerage is paid for regardless of size. This means that in the rarer instances a brokerage may represent both a buyer and a seller, a single transaction represents two sides. Sides are often a good indicator of agent productivity when it comes to quantity. An agent who handles a lot of sides works with more customers than an agent who handles a few sides.
Sides indicate how productive an agent or brokerage is when it comes to quantity. This can help determine how much market share a brokerage or agent has as a percentage of the total number of deals. Sides also indicate how consolidated an agent or brokerage’s business is. Agents with fewer sides are more dependent on a small number of transactions than agents with many sides are.
For example, a top performing brokerage in LA may sell just two $50M homes in a year. It has generated a substantial commission. Another brokerage in Oklahoma may sell 200 $500,000 homes and generate the same commission across 200 deals. The brokerage in Oklahoma may have to do a lot more work to get those 200 deals. But in a bad year, the LA brokerage may end up with no deals, while the Oklahoma brokerage may still capture 50 deals.
Sides do not translate directly to earnings for an agent or brokerage. A side does not account for the value of the home being sold or the sales commission. An agent or brokerage can have more sides than a competitor, but earn significantly less if those sides generate lower average dollar commissions.