Transaction Coordination for Real Estate Teams

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By Alex Marsolais, founder of Home Free TC

How does a real estate team use a transaction coordinator? A team hands every file from fully executed purchase agreement to close to one coordination process, instead of each agent running files their own way. Home Free TC supports teams throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin with dedicated W2 coordinators and brokerage-compliant files, without adding a hire to the team leader's payroll.

That's the idea.

Here's how it works in practice, and when it doesn't make sense.

Most teams don't have a transaction problem at first.

They have a consistency problem.

One agent tracks deadlines in a spreadsheet. Another uses sticky notes. Another forwards everything to you because you've always caught what they miss.

It works when the team is small.

But, as you add agents, the files start depending on whoever happens to be holding them. And, the person who ends up catching the gaps is usually the team leader.

That's time you're not spending recruiting, coaching, or on your own clients.

When a team works with Home Free TC, contract to close runs through one process.

Each fully executed purchase agreement comes to us. Your coordinator reviews the documents, introduces our team to the client and transaction partners, tracks dates and deadlines, keeps the lender and title moving, sends milestone updates, and works on brokerage compliance and file submission until the file is closed out.

Every agent's clients get the same organized experience.

Every file gets submitted to your brokerage the same way.

And, you stop being the backup TC for your whole team.

The complete list of what's included is on our services page. If some of your agents are new to working with a TC, what a transaction coordinator does is a good place for them to start.

Every Home Free TC client has a dedicated transaction coordinator, assigned either to the agent or to the team.

Your coordinator learns your team's standards, your preferred lenders and title companies, and how you want clients updated. When they're out, the rest of our team covers, so a sick day doesn't send files back to your agents.

When we email clients, we can use a branded email signature that reflects your team, and we keep the agent copied.

A transaction coordinator doesn't replace the agent's judgment.

We don't negotiate for clients, give legal advice, or perform licensed real estate activities.

Your agents still own the client relationship, the advice, and the negotiations. If a file needs a decision, it goes to the agent on the file, or to you if that's how your team works.

That's also how you protect the client experience as you grow. If your agents are worried about clients feeling handed off, share how to delegate without losing clients with them.

Transaction coordination is $500 per transaction for new clients, paid only when the file closes. If a file doesn't close, there's no TC fee.

New clients also pay a one-time $500 setup fee. It's separate from the TC fee and isn't tied to a closing.

MLS Listing Management is $199 per listing, paid at the time of the request, for listings that go through Northstar MLS.

For a team leader, the useful part is that the TC cost follows your closings. A slow month costs less than a busy one, and you aren't carrying a salary through it.

A TC saves 14 to 15 hours per transaction. Multiply that by your team's closings and you have a rough idea of how much administrative time is being spread across your agents right now. I walk through the math for one agent in Is a Transaction Coordinator Worth the Cost?

This is the question team leaders ask me most once they're past the "do we need help" stage.

Both can work.

An in-house TC can be the better fit if you have enough steady volume to keep someone busy full time, you want them doing other team work between files, and you're ready to recruit, train, manage payroll, and plan for PTO and turnover.

Outsourced transaction coordination can be the better fit if your volume moves up and down, you don't want to build and manage the position, or you don't want your files to stall when one person is out.

Some teams also need help that isn't transaction coordination.

An assistant or operations person makes sense if your bottleneck is marketing, your database, scheduling, or running the team itself. A TC works alongside that person. It doesn't replace them. Here's how I compare a TC and an assistant.

A listing coordinator makes sense if getting listings to market is the bottleneck. If your team's listings go through Northstar MLS, in Minnesota or Wisconsin, our MLS Listing Management ($199 per listing) may cover that. Listing Management Deluxe ($350 per listing) is currently available for Minnesota listings. Listing management isn't available in other MLS systems at this time.

We coordinate transactions for teams throughout both states, but the service isn't identical.

Minnesota teams get transaction coordination, document drafting (listing, buyer, and offer paperwork prepared for the agent's review), MLS listing management for Northstar MLS listings, and evening and weekend coverage. Minnesota hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00am to 7:00pm, and Saturday and Sunday, 10:00am to 6:00pm.

Wisconsin teams get transaction coordination with a standard 2-hour response time on active files, and MLS Listing Management for listings that go through Northstar MLS. Wisconsin hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00am to 3:30pm.

We do not draft documents for Wisconsin. Document drafting is available only in Minnesota at this time. Evening and weekend coverage is also Minnesota only.

If your team works in both states, we'll walk through how that works on the call.

See the details on our Minnesota and Wisconsin pages.

1. Book a 30-minute discovery call.

2. We learn how your team runs files today and set up your account.

3. We place your team with a dedicated W2 transaction coordinator.

4. We customize templates, MLS setups, and brokerage compliance so everything runs under your brand.

5. Your agents send us their next fully executed purchase agreements, and we handle contract to close.

Files already in progress? We can jump in on those, too.

A few signs it may be time:

You're the person catching missed deadlines on other agents' files.

Your agents are doing paperwork at night instead of prospecting or with their families.

Your client experience depends on which agent the client happened to get.

You want to add agents, but adding agents means adding more for you to manage.

You don't need a certain number of agents or closings to talk to us. We built the service for established agents and teams, but the better question is whether contract-to-close work is taking time your team should be spending somewhere else. My article on when to hire a TC has more on that.

Since November 2015, our team has coordinated more than 15,000 real estate transactions in Minnesota and Wisconsin. You can read more about Home Free TC.

If you lead a team in Minnesota or Wisconsin and want to see how this would fit the way you run files, let's talk.

Book a 30-minute discovery call