Updated August 2026

What's in this guide

• What does a real estate transaction coordinator do?
• Do you need a real estate license to be a transaction coordinator?
• How do you choose a business name for your TC business?
• What business structure should a transaction coordinator use?
• How much can you make as a transaction coordinator?
• What real estate terms do you need to know before your first client?
• How do you find your first real estate agent clients?
• What should you say when you reach out to an agent?
• How do you onboard a new agent client?
• What systems and tools does a new transaction coordinator need?
• How do you get testimonials and referrals as a TC?
• Where should transaction coordinators show up on social media?
• Your next step

Hey, I'm Joni. I've been a real estate broker since 1987, and since 2019 I've helped more than 1,800 women in all 50 states leave a job they'd outgrown and build a transaction coordinator business from a laptop at their kitchen table.

If you've been searching for a way to work from home that isn't a scam, isn't multi-level marketing, and doesn't require a four-year degree, this is the post I wish someone had handed me. Below is the actual sequence I walk my students through: what to name your business, how to set it up legally, what to charge, how to find your first agent, and what to do the day they say yes.

What Does a Real Estate Transaction Coordinator Do?

A transaction coordinator manages a real estate file from the moment a purchase agreement is signed until the deal closes. You track contract deadlines, collect signatures and disclosures, coordinate with lenders, title, escrow, and the other agent, and keep everyone moving toward the closing date. Most TCs work remotely and charge per file.

Think of the agent as the person out front, showing homes and negotiating offers. You are the person behind them making sure the inspection contingency doesn't quietly expire on a Tuesday afternoon. Agents are good at selling. Most of them are not good at paperwork, and they know it. That gap is your business.

It's a strong niche because the work exists whether the market is hot or slow. There is a file attached to every home sale in America, and somebody has to manage it.

Do You Need a Real Estate License to Be a Transaction Coordinator?

Most states do not require a real estate license to work as a transaction coordinator, but every state has rules about what an unlicensed TC may and may not do. My home state of Washington does not require a license. A handful of states do, and a few more restrict certain tasks to licensed people.

This is the question I get more than any other, so let me give you the honest version.

The line almost every state draws is between administrative work and licensed activity. Managing deadlines, gathering documents, ordering the title commitment, and sending reminders are administrative. Negotiating terms, advising a buyer on price, explaining what a contract clause means for someone's situation, or soliciting clients on an agent's behalf are licensed activities. Those belong to the agent, not to you.

Before you take a single client, look up your state's real estate commission and read what it says about unlicensed assistants and transaction coordinators. It takes twenty minutes and it protects your business for years.

And if your state does require a license? That doesn't close the door. Plenty of my students serve agents in other states, because a TC business is remote by nature. You can also get licensed later if you decide you want to work in your own backyard.

How Do You Choose a Business Name for Your TC Business?

Choose a name that is easy to say out loud, easy to spell, available as a .com domain, and available as a matching handle on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Check the domain on GoDaddy or Namecheap before you fall in love with it, and check your state's business registry for conflicts.

I know naming feels like the fun part, and it is, but it's also the part where people stall for three weeks. Here's how to keep it moving.

Say the name out loud to a friend and ask them to spell it back to you. If they can't, it's the wrong name. Skip anything that boxes you into one city or one state, because your clients may end up scattered across the country. And take five minutes to search the name plus "real estate" to make sure you aren't stepping on a brokerage that already uses it.

Keeping your website name and your social handles consistent is what makes a one-person business look established. An agent who finds you on Facebook should land on the same name when they Google you.

Once the name is settled, build the rest of the look around it: a simple logo, two or three colors you use everywhere, and one sentence that says what you do. That's a brand identity. It does not require a designer or a budget.

If you want the full naming exercise I use with students, it's in The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Business Name in the TC Shop.

What Business Structure Should a Transaction Coordinator Use?

Most new transaction coordinators start as a sole proprietor or a single-member LLC. A sole proprietorship is free and instant. An LLC costs a state filing fee and separates your personal assets from the business, which is why most TCs move to one within the first year. Either way, you'll want an EIN.

The Small Business Administration explains the differences in plain English, and it's worth the read because the structure you pick affects your taxes, your liability, and how you open a business bank account.

Once you've decided, apply for an Employer Identification Number from the IRS. It's free, it takes about ten minutes online, and you'll need it at tax time and often to open a business account. Do not pay a service to get one for you.

One more thing I'd tell my own daughter: open a separate bank account for the business on day one, even if day one is a sole proprietorship with zero clients. Untangling personal and business money in April is miserable.

How Much Can You Make as a Transaction Coordinator?

Transaction coordinators typically charge $300 to $500 per file, paid at closing. At $400 a file, closing 13 transactions a month puts you at roughly $5,000 a month. Most TCs get there with a small number of busy agents rather than a large number of casual ones.

Set your income goal first, then work backward. That's the piece most people skip.

Say you want $5,000 a month. At $400 per transaction, that's 13 closings. Thirteen closings does not mean thirteen agents. One agent closing four deals a month gets you a third of the way there by herself.

This is why who you pursue matters more than how many people you pursue. The 2026 NAR member profile puts membership around 1.4 million, with a median of nine transaction sides per agent for the year. Agents in their sixth to fifteenth year averaged $3.3 million in individual sales volume, while agents with two years or less closed a median of two sides. The math is not subtle: a handful of mid-career, high-volume agents is a business, and a long list of brand-new agents is a hobby.

You can also raise your number instead of your volume. Higher fees for listings, rush files, or complex transactions are normal, and experienced TCs charge accordingly.

What Real Estate Terms Do You Need to Know Before Your First Client?

You need to know the contract vocabulary agents use every day: PSA (purchase and sale agreement), EMD (earnest money deposit), contingency, addendum, disclosure, title commitment, escrow, appraisal gap, and closing disclosure. Agents decide within one conversation whether you speak their language.

I want to be clear about why this matters, because it isn't about sounding smart.

When an agent texts you at 7pm saying "the EMD didn't post and we're day three," she needs you to already know that a clock is running and money is at risk. If she has to stop and explain the term, she has just done more work by hiring you, not less. That's the moment TCs lose clients.

Pull a blank purchase and sale agreement for your state, read it start to finish, and write down every term you don't recognize. Then look them up. A weekend of that puts you ahead of most people who call themselves TCs.

How Do You Find Your First Real Estate Agent Clients?

The fastest free ways to find agent clients are places agents already gather: office sales meetings, open houses, Facebook groups for realtors, LinkedIn, local Chamber of Commerce events, and the listing sites where agents advertise. Warm, in-person contact converts far better than cold email for a first client.

Here's where I'd start if I were opening my doors Monday.

1. Ask to present at a brokerage sales meeting. Offices hold them weekly and are usually glad to have a guest. Ten minutes on what a TC does, and you leave with contacts.
2. Visit open houses on a Sunday. The agent sitting there is bored and wants to talk. Ask about her business before you talk about yours.
3. Join Facebook groups for real estate agents. There are hundreds. Be useful in them for a few weeks before you ever mention your service.
4. Search Zillow and Realtor.com for the agents with the most active listings in your target area. Volume is visible from the outside, which makes targeting easy.
5. Use LinkedIn. Agents keep profiles there, connection requests are free, and a note that mentions something specific about their business gets answered.
6. Call the agents you already know and ask who they'd refer you to. Referrals from inside the industry carry more weight than anything you can buy.
7. Show up at the Chamber of Commerce. Local business owners know who's selling houses in town.

What Should You Say When You Reach Out to an Agent?

Write one short, personal message per agent that names something specific about their business, states what you do in one sentence, and asks a single low-pressure question. Never send a mass email. Twenty personalized messages to high-volume agents outperform two hundred copied ones, and they won't land you in a spam folder.

The structure I teach is simple. Open with the specific thing you noticed, whether that's a listing, a post, or a closing they announced. Say what you handle in one line. Then ask one question, something like whether they're currently handling their own contract-to-close.

That's it. No attachments, no price list, no paragraph about your passion. You're starting a conversation, not closing a sale.

How Do You Onboard a New Agent Client?

Send a welcome packet the same day they say yes. It should include your services, your fee and when you're paid, your business hours, the best way to reach you, and a signed service agreement. A clear onboarding process is what turns a first-time client into someone who refers you.

Always use a contract. Always. The agreement doesn't exist because you expect trouble, it exists so that both of you know what's included, what costs extra, when you're reachable, and when you get paid. Nearly every ugly TC story I've heard started with a handshake.

If you'd rather not write one from scratch, the Transaction Coordinator Legal Bundle in the TC Shop includes the service agreement I use.

What Systems and Tools Does a New Transaction Coordinator Need?

Start with a transaction checklist, a shared calendar with deadline reminders, a place to store documents, and a bookkeeping method. Dedicated TC software becomes worth the monthly cost somewhere around five to eight active files. Before that, a well-built checklist does the same job for free.

Being organized is not a personality trait, it's a system. And the system is what lets you take on a sixth file without dropping the first one.

For money, pick something and stay with it. FreshBooks and HoneyBook are both fine for invoicing and expense tracking. A Google Sheet with columns for date, client, file address, fee, and expense works just as well when you're starting, and it costs nothing. What matters is that you enter it every week rather than reconstructing the year in a panic each spring.

How Do You Get Testimonials and Referrals as a TC?

Ask for a testimonial the week a file closes, while the relief is fresh. Put three to five on your website and your Facebook business page. Agents hire the TC other agents vouch for, so referrals from happy clients become your main source of new business by your second year.

The ask is easy: "That closing went well. Would you be willing to write me two sentences I can use on my site?" Most will say yes on the spot.

Then keep being the person worth referring. Agents talk constantly, in offices, in group chats, at closings. If you are reliable, they will hand you business you never asked for.

Where Should Transaction Coordinators Show Up on Social Media?

Facebook and LinkedIn are where real estate agents spend their professional time, so that's where a new TC should be. Set up a Facebook business page rather than using your personal profile, link it to your website, and keep it focused on the work you do for agents.

A business page looks like a business. It also lets agents see your services and reviews without scrolling past your family photos, and it gives you somewhere to point people when they ask what you do.

You don't need to post daily. A page with your services, a few testimonials, and a clear way to contact you does more than a busy page with no offer on it.

Your Next Step

Starting a transaction coordinator business is less complicated than most people assume. Name it, structure it, learn the contract language, decide what you'll charge, and talk to agents who are actually busy. That's the whole list.

If you want the full training, including the checklists, contracts, and the exact scripts I use with agents, The Transaction Coordinator Bootcamp is open, and you can grab the free TC Starter Guide first if you'd like to see how I teach before you commit.

I read every email that comes through, so tell me where you're stuck. What's the one thing keeping you from starting? Leave a comment below or write to me at joni@elitetctraining.com.

Check out these other posts:

The Transaction Coordinator Bootcamp

What is a Virtual Transaction Coordinator?

How Much Does a Virtual Transaction Coordinator Make?