KGCI: Real Estate on Air - When to Hire a Transaction Coordinator

Episode Date: October 21, 2025

Summary:This episode provides a tactical and comprehensive guide on the role of a transaction coordinator (TC) and how to effectively hire one. The hosts, Alissa and Jessica, interview Shelby Johnson, a seasoned TC, who shares common mistakes to avoid, red flags to watch out for, and the ideal time to bring a TC onto your team. The discussion covers practical aspects like the value of a TC, what qualities to look for in a good one, and how they can save agents time and energy. The content is highly relevant and actionable for real estate agents looking to scale their business and improve efficiency.

Let's face it, paperwork sucks. And also, it's not the best use of our time. So what do we do when we know we should be out there, lead generating and building our business? And instead, we are drowning in paperwork, emails and little details that are just draining the soul from our bodies. Well, the answer is hire a transaction coordinator. So today's guest is me, actually, your host, Shelby Johnson, long time real estate agent, team leader and investor out of North Carolina. But wait, I recently moved to, Lexington, Kentucky and got licensed here. And now I'm building my business from the ground up in a brand new city where I know nothing and no one. But why is that applicable? Well, you might be curious to know that one of the very first things that I'm doing here in Lexington is hiring a transaction coordinator. Expect to learn why I'm hiring a TC before I even have clients, how much TCs cost, how to find a good one, what to ask during the interview process, and stick around to the end for some red flags to look out for. You are listening to the Real Estate Rockstars podcast, the chauffeur agents who've been around the block and are finally ready to build a sustainable,

scalable business. Learn the exact steps to build a business that runs like a machine when you don't secretly hate or want to escape from. Rockstars, it's time to talk about how to hire a transaction coordinator. Before we get into step one of how to hire a transaction coordinator, I just kind of wanted to address the elephant in the room, which is why it's that girl hiring a T.C. before she even has clients, especially since there's a lot of schools of thought out there that it's like the agent needs to go through the transaction several times on their own before they hire transaction coordinator just so they like fully understand the process. And I am aware of those schools of thought, although I personally disagree with them.

So for me personally, why I'm hiring a transaction coordinator out the gate is that I want the confidence that I'm not going to miss steps or timelines or required to. documents. I want the confidence to know also that my offer is what's normal in that market and what a strong offer looks like, what normal earnest money looks like, what's a normal inspection timeline and who the best inspectors are and who the best insurance providers and closing attorneys and all of those things. And you know what? Like who knows that better than a transaction coordinator who's out there crushing deals for the best agents in this market? Like I don't think anyone knows it better. I mean, of course, you can ask people at your brokerage,

and I will do that, of course, too. And you can ask a bunch of people, but I know that with a transaction coordinator who is a well-oiled machine, they are used to seeing file after file and have great intel on that. And also, they have skin in the game. So as an agent, they want you to get to the closing table because that's also when they get paid. So if you do well, that means their business does better as well. And ultimately, I'm here to do what's best for my client to keep myself and my clients out of trouble instead of learning on their transaction. Learning as we go, I don't want to do that. I'm cutting that step. Okay, the next question that a lot of people might be thinking right now is, well, how much does a transaction coordinator cost?

Because if I'm a new agent, especially, I don't have money to just be coughing up. You know, I don't have deals. I don't have transactions yet. Well, okay, before I jump into that, there are two types of transaction coordinators primarily. The first type is a third party pro. And that's kind of who I've been referencing so far. This is the well-oiled machine. This is a transaction coordinator who has an actual business. They're working with clients. They're doing a bunch of deals. So that's the third-party pro. The other type of transaction coordinator is what I call like an in-house minion. A person usually does not have experience. It's just like your mom's sister's friend who's like looking for a side gig and she's good with organization. And so you're like, oh, this is great.

Come on and be my transaction coordinator. I'll save a couple dollars. Well, I actually did. that you're one and I ended up wasting time, money, and my sanity. I would not recommend doing this, you know, in theory, cheaper option to have that in-house minion unless you have your systems, your own systems and processes 100% locked in. Because if you do, then you can take anyone and put them in the seat and then they can check the block and run the play. But it is in a total different experience than hiring that person who has a brain, has experience, not that that other person doesn't have a brain, but has a brain when it comes to transactions and can help look ahead and proactively see problems before they arise and be your partner in crime moving towards the

closing table. Okay, so in regard to cost, though, that third party pro is totally market dependent, but normally it's like 350, 400, 400, 450, anywhere from like 350 to maybe $550 per transaction, depending on the market. And it's also going to vary if they're doing both sides or if they're just single side. And it depends on how much that you request them to do in regards to extras, which I'll get into in a little bit. But that in-house minion person, you can charge them. I mean, you can pay them hourly and whatever you can negotiate. And especially if you're getting someone overseas, that could be really unexpected and expensive, like anywhere from $5 an hour. But for me, what I am doing is I'm 100% going for the third party pro

because I want to fall into someone else's systems and in a new market. Like I just said in the beginning, like I do not have the Kentucky state everything locked down, nor am I willing to test out that. I would rather have someone where I'm like completely confident in their process. Next up is how to find a good transaction coordinator. And I would skip Google. That's not where most TCs live. What I am actually doing here, I've already done it, is I have a,

identified who the killer agents are in my market. You can do this through the MLS, but what I did specifically within EXP, there is a thing called workplace where you can see all of the other agents in the entire brokerage and they also have a state page. So like I went to the state Kentucky page and I looked at the members. There's identified by like icon agent, which means that you've called like a shit ton of transactions. And so what I did is I posted on that actual page itself being like, hey, looking for a transaction coordinator, who do you recommend? But I also DM'd. those top performing agents within this market. You can do again, you can look on the MLS for closing stats. You can also probably get on Zillow and see who's crushing it. These are all different ways.

I would recommend reaching out. And with me, you guys, I mean, I don't know if you know this. I like big on systems and efficiency. And so what I did is I created one draft and I sent it to a bunch of different people. I cast the net really wide. I just changed out personalized, but you always personalized. seriously. So I changed out like, hey, Lisa, hey, karma, hey, you know, whatever. And I have the template in which I did for that. If you guys want it, just hit me up at The Shelby Show. I will share anything I have ever. Instagram, the Shelby Show is the best place to hit me up. But anyway, okay, so you've reached out to killer agents. Also reach out to killer lenders and closing attorney offices because these are the people who are working with several different agents

and are likely to have also worked with transaction coordinators. So like literally hit them up and be like, hey, who do you love working with in regards to transaction coordinator? Who is like always on their shit and great to work with? And now you have your pool of people that you want to interview. So now you're like, okay, I have them. Now what, right? Okay.

What you're going to do is you're going to reach out, obviously. I recommend doing this by email, which I'll get into in a second. But you're going to reach out specifically and you're going to ask if they're able to take on more clients. okay, you agents, that is their client, also ask for any more information on their services. And then just see what they say. So I pay attention to everything in this email reply. I pay attention to the timeliness of their reply, their signature block, their writing skills, their attention to detail in regards to grammar, spelling, punctuation, everything.

And then also like their overall friendliness, because these are all really good indicators of how they will interact with your clients. Also pay attention to whether or not they answered both of your questions. Can you take on more clients and share services? Because that is another red flag right out the gate is like if they cannot read fully and answer fully, you don't want them to be your new partner in crime. But let's just say that you did like their response. So the next step is to send them a calendally link and ask them to book with you for like a Zoom

call. And if they can't figure out calendally, another red flag. If they don't use a digital calendar, bro, no. And also note if you're an agent out there and you're not using Calendley, what are you doing? You need to get on that like ASAP. CalendPly is amazing and saves lives. Okay, here we are at the interview process. And just so you know, everything that I'm about to go through, I do have a cheat sheet and I am going to upload it to the toolbox for this particular show. So real estate rockstars network.com and you'll see the toolbox.

So that will be uploaded for you. But I'm just going to hit on the high points as we go through this. So you hop on the Zoom with them. and of course you're going to be happy, so nice to meet you, all this stuff. It's like, okay, what's your story? Like, how long have you been at TC? Why real estate? And then just listen.

And then also ask, are you licensed? Because that will determine how much they might be willing or not willing to do. Because, of course, we all know that there are activities that only licensed agents could do. So that's what you're going to ask. You're going to build that rapport in the beginning. And then you're going to get into the work questions and just ask, like, okay, what will it look like working with you? Like, I go under contract now.

What's next? And they should be able to provide you a step-by-step detailed response, ideally written out. This might even be something that they sent over when they outlined their services in the email that they sent you. But if they do not have lanes identified, what is the agent responsibility? What is their responsibility? Clear and complete. To me, that's a red flag. I'm looking for someone who has their shit together.

And I'm looking to fall into their processes, especially in the beginning, until maybe down the road, I do convert to that in-house option. But right now, I really want to make sure that this agent or this TC knows everything they need. Because, again, it's really important to the success of me starting out and learning in this new market, but also for my clients. It really does matter. Now that we've established lanes, the next thing that I ask is, how do you collect information for the handover process?

And so for me, upfront, there should be a handover process. It should not just be, hey, here's my contract, take it away. Because what that means to me is that now they're going to be pinging me with question after question after question throughout the process, whereas if there was just a handover process upfront, maybe like a sheet that I input all of the details of the transaction, then they wouldn't have to ask me that along the way, which is what I don't want. Like, I do not want to be pinged. I'm hiring, you know, a transaction coordinator for leverage and less freaking answering

tiny questions throughout my day. I also going to ask, what are the timelines associated with your tasks? Because as agents, we are all about managing expectations, right? Like super important. And now that you have a teammate coming in, you have to understand what their process is so you can help manage that expectation up from with your clients. Because when you're like, oh my God, offer is accepted. Yes. They're probably going to think that things are going to happen immediately unless right up front. You're like, okay, here's what's next. Just so you know, my transaction coordinator, Megan, my freaking partner in crime, she's amazing, she will be reaching out within 48 hours to kick off

the next piece of the puzzle. If you don't say 48 hours, they're going to expect something to be happening in an hour. They'll be like, what's next? What's next? But if you can say 48 hours or 24 or 12, whatever their process is and manage that up front, the client is going to be like, okay, I know what's happening. I know to wait. I know not to be freaking out to refresh my inbox. So, so important. The other thing that I would say, whatever your TC tells you their timeline is, if they're like, oh, I can do it same day. No issue. I always give a 24-hour buffer because clients are never upset when things happen within like earlier than expected. They are upset when they take longer. And so giving, this is just a buffer rule that I have in pretty much everything when managing expectations,

which is funny because it's the opposite of like when you're talking to a lead and they're like, I'm thinking about selling in six months. You always cut that shit in half because it's always sooner. It's always half. So that's just a different totally side. out. Okay. The next thing that I'm going to ask them is like, what are your hours of operation? And this matters because, you know, real estate, it's crazy. And everything happens at like, you know, late or earlier, what I'm not usually early or usually late. But we're on a weekend. And so what I say is I'm like, hey, like, I am 100% here to respect your hours of operation. I just want to know that in the off chance of X, Y, and Z happening, like, is there any flex?

Or, you know, is it like hardcore? Everything is turned off at 5 p.m. on each day and I won't be able to hear from you. And so this is one of the things I'm paying attention to. I want them to have boundaries, but I also want them to be flexible enough and part of like, hey, we're a team. We're here to get this done. We're going to do whatever it takes. I want that energy from them as well. I'm also going to ask them about preferred vendors, especially coming into a market, I'm like, hey, who are your favorite people to work with? Like, I would love the list because if you have experience working with them, you love working with them, you trust them. That means they're pre-bedded. And I don't have to go take the chance off of Google and, again, waste that good faith of

my client by sending them someone who's maybe not awesome. They want amazing out the gate. And so I ask for their preferred vendors as well. Next, I'm going to ask about systems. What systems are you familiar with? And what firms are brokerages are your agents who you're working with currently in? Ideally for me, which is, I just found this and I'm so excited about it, but ideally with me, they're already working with at least one, if not a handful of agents from EXP. Because I know that in EXP, we use SkySlope as our backend transaction management software. And at every, you know, other brokerages, maybe they don't use that. And so what I don't want to happen is that learning curve.

Like I really want to be able to fall into someone else's well-in-machine. And then they can say, hey, actually, EXP requires this, this, this, and this in the state of Kentucky. And I'll be like, bro, thank you so much. Oh my God, I love you. That's the goal. The next piece that I talk about is communication. So how and how much do you communicate with the client? Like, are you texting them?

Are you calling them? Are you only sending emails or are you following up with a call afterwards? Are we starting like a group chat? Like, what is your preferred method for that? Or are you not forward facing at all? There are some TCs who are like, I'm behind the scenes only. I actually don't ever interface with clients. And so that is something that also you as the agent have to decide what your preference is.

my preference is to find the absolute badass who I have no issue interfacing with the client. And I think that that's another red flag. It's like if you do not trust that transaction coordinator to be able to communicate and represent your brand well, they're probably not the right fit. And if you're out there and you have a TC right now who falls in that category, and if your dreams are really big, it might be time to look at that again. In addition to how they communicate with a client, another question is, how and how often are you communicating with me?

what can I expect from that? And with that, if we have multiple contracts at the same time, which we will TC, we're about to freaking blow up Lexington, they don't even know it's common. Anyway, I was like, how are we going to keep all those straight? Because another red flag is when the TC is like, oh, we just text. I'm like, no, when we have, you know, hypothetically 10 under contract, you cannot all have all of that in one text thread. Like recipe for disaster.

That is buried immediately. Everything is lost. And so what I like to hear, which is what I heard is she's like, our. process for managing separate transactions as we use Slack. And within Slack, we have a different thread for every property. And that is how we keep all of our communication straight. To me, that's the right answer. Perfect. I used to do the same thing on WhatsApp when I did a bunch of transactions in North Carolina. But Slack works great. Perfect. Next up is capacity. So I ask, how many closings are you doing a month currently, roughly? And then how many files do you think you

could work at a time? Like, do you know what your max is? And if you can, hit your max, what's your process? Do you turn agents away or do you just keep taking on more clients? This is one where they probably, most people really, really struggle to be honest, not really with you, but more with themselves because they like to say, yes, I'll turn, you know, business away if I'm too busy. Yes, I understand my left and right limits. But the cases, normally they don't and you're just going to have to be on the, you know, paying attention to this the whole time for when things might fall through the cracks, you know, just keep awareness. Because with the transaction coordinator, And this is just actually a side note.

You can never relinquish the responsibility of the transaction. You are the agent and you are ultimately the decision maker and you are the steer of the ship. The transaction coordinator is there to execute any decisions that you've already made, but you should never be asking that TC to make the decisions for you. It's not their job. And all that to say is that, you know, you like to think that things are 100% hands off with a TC. And it can be very, very close to that. but ultimately you have to maintain awareness of what's going on and keep a pulse on all of the files

because if things do fall through the cracks, you have to know and you have to be able to correct them. Next up is money. And everyone's favorite subject, right? And you need to ask them, hey, when do you get paid? How do you get paid? How much do you get paid? Those are all questions that you need to iron out upfront. Most third-party rows are only paid at closing, which is great because you can throw it on the closing disclosure.

and it can be paid, you know, after you've received your income, it can be paid. And therefore, it's not this like overhead expense. Because, man, overhead really adds up if you let it. If you have like an office or you have like a bunch of subscript, maybe your firm doesn't have your CRM included in, you know, whatever, that stuff adds up really quick and adding on administrative, you know, salaries essentially, like on top of that is just really painful. So anyway, all that to say, the TCE is it's usually really low risk because paying closing, you means you're getting paid and you can afford to pay them, which is amazing. And that's why everyone can start with the TC like right now. Let's go. With that, though,

also good to ask, what happens if a file falls through? You know, transactions terminate. It happens. So what happens in that case? And they should have some sort of rule where it's like, oh, you know, we don't charge if contract falls through or if we've made it through the due diligence period, the inspection period, then we charge 50% or something like that. So that's kind of the money situation, but what I tack on, this is like extra, I ask, hey, is it possible? Like, if I paid you a little bit extra, you know, I would love to compensate you just to really handhold me through the first couple transactions. Like, explain to me as we go timelines, the rules, requirements, because I want to be the best agent for you possible. I want to be your number one agent. And so,

is that something that you'd be open to. And what this does is a couple things. One, it's showing them that you want to learn. And most agents don't. They just want to throw a freaking steaming pile of dog shit on the transaction coordinator's desk and then run away, see you at closing. So you're showing them that you want to learn. You're also showing them that you value their time because they're in a business too and they're trying to make money and anything above and beyond an extra that they do

for you. Like they honestly, they should be compensated. And most of the time, not even most of the time, like right now my TC was just like, no, no, it's totally fine. which is very sweet. I'm still going to throw her extra at the end because I want her to know how much I value and appreciate the extra time effort she's taking to handhold me through my first couple of transactions. Also, she agreed to set up templates for me, which is amazing. Definitely something that you can ask because it also helps them, the transaction coordinators, because, like,

for instance, in Kentucky, we use dot loop and expeb skyslip. It doesn't matter. But within dot loop, what I asked her to do is if she could set up a seller. loop template and a buyer loop template. And so now she did that. She put all of the required documents for each file, specifically for EXP. She set it up for me. And I'm going to plug in my information. So that way all the documents are as pre-filled as possible.

So that way, I am ready to rock and roll. But this makes her job a little easier down the road to because now she knows everything's in there. And she doesn't have to be like, oh, this agent forgot again to do the wire freaking fraud, whatever, whatever. So in theory, it's helping her too. This is also a time where you could ask if they are open to doing other things. Like some people, you know, my buddy Allie just never gets into anything paperwork like 0%. And so she asked her TC, would you draft the offer for me? Would you draft the listing agreement, all of that stuff? But some TCs are like, I only take the file once it's under contract or listing agreement signed. So that is just something else that you might want to

ask up front. And we are getting close, guys. Okay. Have you ever done the disc assessment? And I'm a big fan of the disc assessment. This is the Tony Robbins personality assessment thing, thing. Keller Williams used it a lot. I was at Keller Williams my first year, and that's where I was introduced to it. I still use it all the freaking time. Like, I use it when I hired my, my virtual assistant, like my personal assistant, I used it. And then also, whenever I'm meeting with the agents that I coach in Five Pillars Nation, a lot of times I'll have them do the disc assessment. So when we're sitting down and we're going through their marketing strategy, like what are you going to do for leads? How are we to build your brand. We can look at their disc personality and then also create a plan that matches

their authentic personality. So it's not just like trying to drive a square peg into a circle, whatever the freaking saying is. But anyway, bringing this back to the transaction coordinator in particular, I have a disc breakdown that shows like the strengths and weaknesses of each letter, D-I-S-C. And then also I have a sheet on what I think is best for a transaction coordinator. higher. So if you're interested in those, hit me up. Again, at the Shelby Show, I'm happy to send that with you. Or actually, I could upload it to the toolbox too. I don't know. Anyway, if you want it, just let me know. Okay. And guys, by this point, we're wrapping up the conversation and you probably have a really good feel for who they are and how you'd work together. And if you want to

proceed, but like just in case, I promise to do some red flags. So some red flags to look out for for me, at least. Are they fun? Are they friendly? Do I want to do. want to work with them. Guys, real estate is hard. It freaking kicks your teeth in every day. And so having a partner to like laugh at the world with, like, you know, joke and make fun of and yourself and other people, it's just like way more fun if you guys vibe on a personal level. But other red flags, I get, I said isn't friendly, right? That a red flag is if they're not friendly, not if they are friendly. Okay, okay, moving on. Another red flag is if they don't take notes, offer to look into things and offer to follow up. This is something that I think is so important for a transaction

coordinator. Inevitably, throughout your conversation, there's going to be something that came up that you're going to either want them to follow up with. So if they're not taking notes, how are they going to remember to do that? And there's inevitably going to be something where they're like, oh, I'm actually not sure. If they don't offer to say also, but I'll look into it and I'll let you know, red flag. And then also just in general, I will follow up with that. So those Those are all key things that are necessary for a transaction coordinator. They need to be organized, take notes, and be on their shit. They need to offer, be proactive.

Hey, I'll look into that. I'll find out and I'll follow up. If they're not doing those things, it's not who I want. Because if they're not doing those things, then I'm going to have to do those things. And my leverage is just weaker by that point. The last thing that I look out for is someone who's like totally rigid in their process. Like I don't want someone who will not have any bend or sway in regard to our of operation or working together, buy template emails, their template emails, interactions with

a client. I want there to be a flexibility for us to grow together. Okay, at this point, you are going to hire them and maybe, or maybe not. So here in Kentucky, I hired, I interviewed two people before I found the one I wanted, which was the third person I hired. And I'm really excited about it. But yeah, definitely do not sacrifice your standards. Hold true to your standards on these. But now, okay, you have hired them and now you have confidence going to conversations. You have someone to turn to on your team who really gets the ins and out state requirements, brokerage requirements, all the things, and you have a new friend, and it's going to be great. And guys, this completes the very first show with just me. So, yeah, if you liked it,

if you want more of these, let me know. If you're like, whoa, this was like way too much Shelby in one sitting. Also, please let me know. Because. I don't know what you're thinking unless you tell me. And I just want to give you what you want here. So anyway, let me know, yes, no, maybe at The Shelby Show on Instagram. And with that, I love you all. Have a kick-ass day. And real estate rock stars.

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