The three ways Real Originate pays: 0.5% per loan, Level Up overrides, and stock

Most agents hear one number about Real Originate: half a percent of the loan. That’s the first stream, and on its own it’s worth the license. There are two more, and together they’re the reason Malcolm Lawson, the Maryland team leader whose guides this page follows, describes the program as three income streams from the same number of buyers.

Here they are, with the arithmetic on an example loan so you can see the scale. The example is a $500,000 loan because that’s the one Malcolm uses; put your own average in its place.

Stream one: 0.5% of every loan you originate

You’re paid 0.5% of the loan amount on each loan you originate through One Real Mortgage, purchases and refinances alike, on top of your buyer-agent commission.

Loan amount	Originating agent, at 0.5%
$300,000	$1,500
$400,000	$2,000
$500,000	$2,500
$700,000	$3,500

Malcolm’s example: ten buyers at a $500,000 average loan is $25,000 a year that wasn’t there before, from sales you were already making. Add the refinances your past clients will do over the next decade and the stream keeps running after the purchase.

Two things worth knowing about how this is set up. First, your pay doesn’t come out of your internal loan officer partner’s. One Real Mortgage pays its loan officers on a tiered schedule, and the tier for a file an Originate agent originates is 50 basis points to the partner. Second, Real’s help center says compensation is “based solely on work performed on each loan” and governed by the loan originator compensation agreement you sign at onboarding. That agreement is where the rate is written down, so it’s the document to read on your onboarding call.

Stream two: Level Up

Level Up is the override program. When you sponsor another agent into Real Originate, or a loan officer into One Real Mortgage, you’re paid a share of every loan they originate. It goes five tiers deep: your sponsors are tier one, the people they sponsor are tier two, and so on.

Tier	Override	On a $500,000 loan
1	12 basis points (0.12%)	$600
2	8 basis points (0.08%)	$400
3	3 basis points (0.03%)	$150
4	2 basis points (0.02%)	$100
5	1.5 basis points (0.015%)	$75

A basis point is one hundredth of a percent. The originating agent on that $500,000 loan earns their $2,500; the tier-one sponsor earns $600 on the same file, and nobody’s share is reduced by anyone else’s.

Unlocking the tiers. Tier one is open from your first sponsored originator. The deeper tiers open as your first tier grows, the same way Real’s revenue share tiers do:

To unlock	Producing originators in your tier one
Tier 2	5
Tier 3	10
Tier 4	15
Tier 5	20

No cap. This is the difference from revenue share that Malcolm highlights. Real’s revenue share on an agent stops for the year once that agent caps. Level Up is paid on loans, and there’s no annual limit on loans, so it keeps paying for as long as the people in your tiers keep originating. On the loan officer side, One Real Mortgage counts a loan officer as active at two or more closings a month.

Malcolm’s Level Up calculator lets you put in a number of agents per tier and an average monthly volume and see the result. Run it with your own network in mind rather than a hypothetical one.

Disclosure, since this is the stream it applies to: if you join Real Originate and name me as your sponsor, I’m paid Level Up overrides on the loans you originate. Same as every other sponsor, and you don’t need to name anyone to join.

Stream three: stock

One Real Mortgage announced two stock awards for its loan officers on April 3, 2025, and they’re the awards Originate agents are offered:

$15,000 in restricted stock units for closing $20 million of loan volume through One Real Mortgage in a year.
$500 in restricted stock units for each originator or loan officer you sponsor who closes a transaction within their first 90 days.

Both are settled in shares of The Real Brokerage Inc. and vest over three years, which is the same shape as Real’s agent stock awards. These sit alongside Real’s regular agent equity programs; they don’t replace them.

How the three fit together

On one $500,000 purchase where you’re the agent and the originator, you’re paid your buyer-agent commission and $2,500 for the loan. If the agent who originated that loan was one you sponsored, you’re paid $600 instead, and they’re paid the $2,500. If they close a deal in their first 90 days, you’re awarded $500 in stock. None of those reduce the others, and none of them needed a new buyer.

The licensing that unlocks all three is a 20-hour course, one exam and a state application. That’s the next article: how to join Real Originate. States, requirements and how to pick a sponsor are in the Real Originate FAQ.

Questions people ask me

What percentage does Real Originate pay per loan? 0.5% of the loan amount to the originating agent, on purchases and refinances, on top of the buyer-agent commission. $2,500 on a $500,000 loan.

What is Level Up? Real Originate’s override program. You’re paid on loans originated by agents and loan officers you sponsor, five tiers deep, at 12, 8, 3, 2 and 1.5 basis points. Tiers two to five unlock at 5, 10, 15 and 20 producing originators in your first tier.

Is Level Up capped? No. It’s paid per loan with no annual limit, unlike Real’s revenue share, which pauses once an agent caps for the year.

What stock can a Real Originate agent earn? $15,000 in restricted stock units at $20 million of annual loan volume through One Real Mortgage, and $500 per sponsored originator or loan officer who closes within 90 days. Three-year vesting.

Does my loan officer partner take part of my 0.5%? No. One Real Mortgage pays the partner 50 basis points on an Originate agent’s file under its own loan officer schedule.

Sources

Figures checked 8 November 2026. Real changes its fees and programs, so check the current pages before you rely on any of this. Nothing here describes or promises what anyone earns.

Watch the video this came from.