Weekly Transmission Featured

Stewing A Financial Juggernaut in a Brokerage Box (Transmission #317)

Drew Meyers

05 Mar 2025 • 3 min read

Image generator: DALL-E Prompt: a big scale with two sides. real estate agents selling houses on one side that is higher, and banking activity in the form of a money vault on the other side which is lower

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Rewards programs have ❇️fascinated me for a long time❇️. Everyone loves getting perks for doing something they’re already doing anyway: spending money. That’s why the likes of Viva, Pinata, CasaPerks, Honey, and Bilt are so popular with consumers. They tap into behavior that’s already happening and offer compelling ways to make it more valuable.

It’s common knowledge that the real business behind airlines isn’t selling seats—it’s the loyalty programs. Is it a stretch to imagine a brokerage pulling off the same pony trick—❇️transforming itself into a bank❇️?

Maybe the secret sauce to fulfilling that vision isn’t through a brokerage’s interactions with its agents’ clients, but with a brokerage’s actual core customer: real estate practitioners.

A REAL MOVER ADVANTAGE
A brokerage is coming to town with that exact spin. A debit card for its agents. Real Brokerage announced a debit card in November, Real Wallet, that allows agents in the US “to apply for a business checking account with financial partner Thread Bank, while Canadian agents can qualify for a line of credit directly with Real based on their earnings.” The card "integrates earnings, revenue share, and equity, and allows agents "to access their earnings faster by eliminating delays caused by legacy brokerage and banking systems." Real brokerage already has stock based earnings and rewards as its business model, and the bank is an extension of that.

In that announcement, Real alluded to rewards as part of the offering. That reality is getting closer. The rewards program is set to launch by the end of March, soon providing points for transaction activity on the Real debit card. Agents will be able to redeem their points "to offset fees at Real," whether it's for a brokerage split or other fees. The idea, according to Real’s Chief Technology Officer, Pritesh Damani, is to "get to a point where if you come to Real brokerage, the brokerage is free." Free is a powerful incentive indeed. However, Real’s rewards lack the excitement and warm fuzzies that come from scoring free flights, Uber rides, or hotel stays.