For commercial brokers planning their next chapter
CRE Broker Succession Plan
You spent a career earning your clients' trust. When you're ready to step back, hand them to a team that will look after them the way you did, and keep earning 15 to 50% on the deals they close.
Your business is worth more than a farewell email
Most brokers retire the same way: a goodbye note, a few names passed to a colleague, and years of relationships quietly scattered. The clients drift to whoever calls first. The broker who built those relationships gets nothing.
The CRE Broker Succession Plan is a better exit. It's a structured transition where you personally endorse the broker taking over, introduce your clients, and share in the business they do for years afterward. Your clients keep a trusted advisor. You keep an income stream. Nobody gets dropped.
Innovate CRE is built for exactly this. We're a Colorado commercial brokerage run on a concierge model, with our own technology behind every client relationship.
A 15 to 50% referral fee, deal after deal
The more you help the transition along, the more you earn. Pick the level of involvement that fits your life.
Illustration only. Your actual fee is a percentage of Innovate CRE's commission, set in a written referral agreement and paid broker to broker at closing, for deals each client closes within their agreed timeline.
Stop paying to stay in the business
Market data, listing sites, a CRM and the rest of the subscriptions can cost an independent or boutique broker up to $25,000–$30,000 a year. Transfer your license and those costs go away. No more tools to pay for. You just get paid.
And you get your own login to Innovate Orbit, our client portal, to follow every referred deal and track exactly when you get paid.
How the handoff works
- 1
A private conversation
We talk about your business, your clients, and your timeline. Nothing is shared or signed until you're comfortable.
- 2
Put it in writing
We sign a broker to broker referral agreement that sets your fee and lists each client with their own payoff timeline. No ambiguity, no handshake deals.
- 3
You make the introduction
A personal letter or call from you, a joint coffee or lunch, a walkthrough of active deals. Your endorsement is what makes the handoff work.
- 4
We take great care of them
Your clients move onto Innovate CRE's platforms and get the same concierge service you'd give them, with more tools behind it.
- 5
You get paid
Every time one of your clients closes a lease or sale with us inside their timeline, your referral fee is paid to your brokerage at closing.
What your clients get
Innovate Orbit
One private portal, one click, every phase of the deal. Clients follow it all in one place, updated as we work:
- Discovery & qualification
- BOV & proposal
- Agreement
- Financial prequalification
- Property survey
- Listing plan, OM & marketing
- Tours
- Negotiation & offers
- Due diligence
- Closing
You get access too: see each client you referred, where their deal stands, and when your referral fee is paid.
Frequently asked.
How is the referral fee decided?
It's a percentage of Innovate CRE's commission on each deal, between 15% and 50%. Where you land depends on how involved you want to be in the transition and the size and activity of your business. We agree on it up front and it's written into the referral agreement.
How are referral fees paid?
Broker to broker. Your fee is paid by Innovate CRE to your brokerage at the closing of each deal, and your brokerage pays you under your own arrangement with them. We can't pay a referral fee directly to an individual agent.
Do I need to keep my license active?
Yes. An active real estate broker license is required for as long as you want to be paid, because a fee can only go to a licensed broker through their brokerage. Many retiring brokers keep their license with a referral only brokerage for this. Confirm the details with your managing broker.
How long do I get paid on each client?
Each client in the agreement has their own timeline, and that timeline sets the payoff window for that client. It starts on the date of your introduction, and every lease or sale that client closes with us inside the window pays you a fee. We set each one around the client's real situation, so a tenant whose lease is up in three years gets a window that reaches past that renewal. When a client's window ends, fees on that client end; your other clients keep their own timelines.
Which deals count?
Leases, sales, and acquisitions your referred clients close with Innovate CRE inside their timeline. Repeat business counts, so a client who leases, then buys, then sells inside their window pays you three times.
What happens to deals I already have in progress?
We decide together. Some brokers finish their active deals and hand off the rest; others bring us in to cobroker live deals right away.