Transaction coordinating is one of the more accessible service businesses in real estate. The overhead is low, the skills are learnable, and there is consistent demand from agents who cannot afford a full-time employee but need reliable transaction support.
The path from "I want to start a TC business" to your first paid transaction is shorter than most people expect. The challenge is building a business that survives past the first few clients — one where systems are solid, clients renew, and your per-hour rate actually makes sense.
Check your state's licensing requirements
Before anything else, check whether your state requires a real estate license to perform TC services. Some states allow unlicensed coordinators who limit their work to administrative tasks and avoid representing any party. Others treat any transaction-adjacent work as requiring a license.
The safest approach: look up your state real estate commission's position on "unlicensed transaction coordinators." If the answer is ambiguous, a short consultation with a real estate attorney in your state is worth the cost before you start. Building a business on a licensing assumption that turns out to be wrong is a hard restart.
Define your scope of services
Not all TCs offer the same services. Common packages include:
- Contract-to-close only: You take over when a purchase agreement is signed and manage the transaction through closing. This is the most common TC model.
- Listing coordination: Supporting the listing agent from pre-market through accepted offer — disclosures, MLS data, showing coordination, offer review logistics.
- Full-service (both sides): Handling both the listing side and the buyer side of a transaction, often at a higher per-file rate.
Start narrow. Offering everything to every client before you have built repeatable systems is how TCs get overwhelmed in their first busy season and deliver inconsistent work.
Set up your infrastructure
You need a handful of things in place before you take your first client:
- Transaction management software: Dotloop, SkySlope, or Brokermint are the most common. Your clients may have a preference — ask before assuming.
- A deadline tracking system: Every transaction has contingency deadlines, HOA document deadlines, lender milestones, and a closing date. Missing one is a serious professional failure. A shared checklist in your platform or a dedicated project tracker is essential.
- A client contract: Defines what you are responsible for, what you are not, your fee structure, and your payment terms. This does not need to be long, but it does need to exist.
- A professional email: Not a personal Gmail. A business domain email signals that you are running a business, not a side project.
- An intake process: When an agent hands you a new file, what information do you need? What do you send them to collect it? Having a repeatable intake process from the start prevents the "I think I have everything" scramble.
Pricing your services
Most markets support a per-transaction fee between $350 and $600 for standard residential contract-to-close coordination. Variables that affect where you land:
- Your market (high-cost markets support higher fees)
- Your experience level (charging less early to build volume is normal)
- The complexity of transactions you are handling (commercial or short-term rental TCs charge more)
- Whether you charge per-side or per-file
Avoid undercharging significantly to win business. Low-priced TCs attract clients who will push for scope creep and low-quality attention. A fair rate that you can sustain is better than a race-to-the-bottom rate that leaves you burned out.
Finding your first clients
The fastest path to your first paying clients is direct outreach to agents you already know or can reach through your network. Target:
- Solo agents who are actively closing 10+ transactions a year
- Small teams where the lead agent does their own TC work but is overwhelmed
- Agents who have mentioned admin burden on social media or in conversations
The pitch is simple: what are you paying in per-hour time doing transaction admin, and what would it be worth to have that handled reliably for a flat fee per file?
For your first few transactions, consider offering a reduced rate in exchange for a detailed testimonial. The feedback also gives you a quality signal on your own work before you scale.
The first 90 days
Most TC businesses either find a rhythm in the first 90 days or quietly stop. The ones that find a rhythm share a few characteristics:
- They have systems for every repeatable step before the work gets busy
- They communicate proactively — agents know what happened without having to ask
- They ask for feedback after each transaction and actually act on it
- They keep a clean record of what each agent expects so every repeat transaction feels consistent
The TC business is a referral business. Your first client refers a second. Your second client refers a team. Good work compounds. Missed deadlines and inconsistent communication stop the compounding immediately.
Close Cadence is built around the workflow TCs and agents use every day — pipeline tracking, deadline management, and deal coordination. The free tier covers what a starting TC needs; paid plans add automation and client-facing tools as your volume grows.