The salaries for a transaction coordinator vary significantly based on experience, background, education, being licensed in real estate or not, having relevant experience, and whether they are independent contractors or employees of a company.
Let’s try to break these numbers down.
Transaction Coordinator Salary Industry-wide
As of January 2022, the average annual pay for a Real Estate Transaction Coordinator in Denver is just $35,572 a year. That works out to be approximately $17.10 an hour.
While ZipRecruiter is seeing salaries as high as $59,445 and as low as $20,654, the majority of Real Estate Transaction Coordinator salaries currently range between $30,729 (25th percentile) to $42,316 (75th percentile) with top earners (90th percentile) making $50,376 annually in Denver. The average pay range for a Real Estate Transaction Coordinator varies greatly (by as much as $11,587). What is not taken into account by ZipRecruiter is whether they are an independent contractor/business owner or employed by a transaction company. There is a difference.
According to Zippia:
| Income Percentile | Per Year | Per Month | Per Hour |
|---|---|---|---|
| 90th Percentile | $49,000 | $4,083 | $24 |
| 75th Percentile | $41,000 | $3,417 | $20 |
| Average | $34,480 | $2,873 | $17 |
| 25th Percentile | $28,000 | $2,333 | $13 |
| 10th Percentile | $24,000 | $2,000 | $12 |
| https://www.zippia.com/transaction-coordinator-jobs/salary/ | |||
The average industry price for a contract is between $250 and $500 which is the entry level fee for document review and meeting standard compliance. For comprehensive assistance throughout the process, rates can run as high as $75/hour.
https://www.realestatewitch.com/transaction-coordinator-explained/
As mentioned in What is a Transaction Coordinator?, there are some discrepancies in the rate that is charged to the Transaction Agency vs. what the actual transaction coordinator takes home for themselves; largely because some are employees and others are independent contractors/business owners.
How Much Does An Employee Of A Coordinator Company Make?
While the agent pays on average a minimum of $400 per contract to the coordinator company, the actual pay to the transaction coordinator comes out to approximately $13.33 to $17 per hour or per contract that is completed to close. Most coordinator companies and teams keep weekday hours from 9am-5pm or a 40 hour work week.
Many full time transaction coordinators are expected to handle a minimum of anywhere from 20-30 contracts per month at a time. Oftentimes, when the parties of a contract back out, the transaction coordinator receives nothing for the work they have completed. Even if they’ve worked up to just before the closing date. Although many companies charge a fee to cover the work that has been done up to that point when a contract is withdrawn.
In the table below it shows the income for the transaction coordinator company and the amount that the actual transaction coordinator employee receives:
| Employee | Amount Agent Pays Company | Avg Contracts TC takes in a month | Hours worked (40 hour week) | Avg Hourly rate | Monthly/Yearly salary of TC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Example #1 Paid Hourly | $400 each contract | 20 | 8 hrs each contract | $12.00 (10th%) | $1,920/ $23,040 |
| Example #2 Paid Hourly | $400 each contract | 20 | 8 hrs each contract | $17.00 (average) | $2,720/ $32,640 |
| Example #3 Paid Hourly | $400 each contract | 20 | 8 hrs each contract | $24.00 (90th%) | $3,840/ $46,080 |
Typically, paid by the hour transaction coordinators:
- Tend not to have a real estate background or relevant experience in the industry.
- Are generally rushed to handle the amount of contracts in the amount of time they are able to work.
- The average employee that is managing your transaction is paid the same or slightly more than a shift worker at McDonalds. https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/national/mcdonalds-to-raise-hourly-wages-for-u-s-employees-in-company-owned-stores
- Employees who are undervalued and overworked tend to not take ownership, but rather work as quickly as they can. https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/being-taken-advantage-of-at-work-0517
How Much Does an Independent Contractor Coordinator/ Business Owner Make?
| Examples | Amount Agent Pays independent Contractor | Contracts TC takes in a month | Hours worked on each contract | Hours worked per week | Monthly/Yearly salary of TC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Example #1 | $400 | 10 | 8 | *20 | $4,000 / $48,000 |
| Example #2 | $400 | 12 | 8 | *24 | $4,800 / $57,600 |
| Example #3 | $400 | 20 | 8 | *40 | $8,000 / $96,000 |
*They also have to schedule time for these business tasks within their normal work schedule on top of their transaction management. This accounts for approximately 10-15 hours per week or 40-60 hours per month extra for the independent contractor.
Also noting that the independent contractors are responsible for all of their expenses. Things like application subscriptions and all of their technology needs. Also included are marketing time and expenses, paying their own taxes, benefits, health insurance and professional services.
As you can see, there is a large difference in what the average employee makes as a transaction coordinator vs. the Independent contractor and business owner.
Coordinators who are Independent Contractors:
- Are business owners. They are passionate about their work.
- They are paid a living wage for their expertise and work.
- Highly experienced.
- Usually they are or have been licensed in real estate or have experience in the real estate field.
- They feel their work is valued and commensurate with the amount they are paid.
- They have control of their workflow and time.
- They are more able to control their work/life balance.