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Realtor Referral Hub — Referral Policies
These are the rules every placed referral runs on. They are the same for everyone — no side deals, no exceptions.
1. The deal.
The referral fee is 25% of the receiving side’s commission, and it exists only at closing. Nothing is owed up front, and nothing is owed monthly. Being matched is free for homeowners, and being listed and matched costs a realtor nothing — the fee is paid only when a referred client actually closes, and it always flows broker-to-broker, the way referral fees are legally paid.
2. Paper first.
Every referral runs on a signed broker-to-broker referral agreement. No signed agreement, no client name — the client’s name is released only after the paper is signed. The agreement names the referred client, the referring broker, and the receiving broker (the brokerage’s legal name, the receiving agent’s name, and their license number). For referrals Steven places himself, the referring broker is Platinum Realty of Missouri LLC. The agreement protects the fee for 12 months: if the client closes with the receiving agent, their brokerage, or their team at any point inside those 12 months, the fee is owed.
3. If the client wants a different agent.
If the client asks to work with someone different, the receiving agent or broker must tell us within one business day of the client’s request. That way the client is never stranded, and the referral can be re-matched while the paper still protects everyone.
4. The title company.
When your client goes under contract, the signed purchase agreement names the title company that will close the deal. Within three business days, send us that company’s name and its contact email — the easiest way is to send us the contract page that names it. The file or escrow number follows as soon as one is assigned; not having it yet is no reason to hold back the name and email.
Why it matters: as soon as we have it, we email the title company a copy of the signed referral agreement ourselves — early, while there is still time — so the 25% referral fee lands on the settlement statement at closing instead of being chased after the fact. If the title company changes before closing, tell us the new one the same way.
5. Tell us when it closes.
The receiving agent or broker must tell us within one business day after the client closes and funds, and send the part of the settlement statement that shows the referral fee — or shows that it was not paid. A quiet closing does not make the fee go away; this rule is how we know.
6. The invoice.
Once a closing is confirmed against the settlement statement, we issue a numbered invoice for the 25% fee to the receiving broker. When we hold the title company’s contact information before funding, the title company gets a copy too, so the fee can come straight off the settlement.
7. If the fee is not paid.
The fee is due at closing. If it is not paid at closing, it is due within five business days after closing. If it is still unpaid, we send written notice and the receiving broker has ten days to pay in full. If it is still unpaid after that, we report the unpaid fee to the receiving broker of record, to the agent’s state licensing board or real estate commission, and to their local REALTOR® board — and the agent and brokerage are removed from the Realtor Referral Hub and receive no further referrals until the fee is paid in full.
8. If a deal is reported dead.
When a placement is reported as didn’t-close — or simply goes silent — we check the public record. At about 90 days, and again before the 12-month window ends, we search the county deed and assessor records under the client’s name. If a closing with the receiving agent, their brokerage, or their team shows up inside the 12 months, that record is evidence the fee is owed, and Policy 7 applies. If nothing shows up, the placement stays closed.
9. Check-ins.
Every placement gets a status check-in at 30, 60, and 90 days, and follow-up after that, until it closes or is confirmed dead. A quick honest answer — still working it, under contract, stalled — is all we ask. Silence is what triggers the records check in Policy 8.
10. Private tracking.
Every signed placement gets a private tracking page, opened by a private link sent only to that agent. Each agent sees only their own placement — its status and what is due next. No client names are stored on the website, and no placement is public. That private page is also where the check-ins in Policy 12 happen — one tap, one short update, and we both stay current.
11. What counts as complete paper.
A referral file is complete when the agreement carries both signatures, the receiving broker is fully identified, the client-change, closing-notice, title-company, and non-payment rules (Policies 3, 4, 5, and 7) are in it, and the title company section is filled in once the client goes under contract. Anything less is incomplete, and we will keep asking until it is complete.
12. You check in with us — we don’t chase you.
When you receive a client from us, you check in with us. Your first check-in is due within one business day of receiving the client: confirm you have made contact, or that you are trying. After that, check in at least every 14 days while the client is active, and at every change — under contract, a closing date set, the deal died, the client went quiet. The deadlines in Policies 3, 4, and 5 still apply on top of this. A check-in takes one short update: through your private tracking page (Policy 10), or by simply replying to us. Here is why this rule exists, plainly: our outreach runs on a capped number of Facebook messages and DMs, and every message we spend chasing a silent partner is a message we cannot spend finding the next referral — for you and everyone else. Partners who keep us posted keep getting referrals. A missed check-in is logged, and two missed check-ins in a row on a placement means no new referrals to that partner until they are current again. Our own check-ins (Policy 9) still run as a safety net, but the system is you keeping us posted — not us hunting you down.
Questions about any of this — ask Steven Mock or the Realtor Referral Hub directly. We would rather explain a rule up front than argue about it at a closing table.