The number Zach Griest remembered was $21,000. That, he told NashvilleVoyager, was what he paid in brokerage splits during his first year as a real estate agent. He had found the clients and helped close the deals. A substantial piece of the proceeds went elsewhere. His eventual response was to build a brokerage around a different bill.
- The customer: agents who want brokerage support while retaining more commission.
- The price: $99 monthly plus $299 per transaction, with a transaction-fee cap.
- The wrinkle: a business built to reduce overhead still found a physical office useful.
Zach Taylor Real Estate calls its proposition “Keep The Money.” The name does considerable recruiting work before anyone opens a spreadsheet. Yet the interesting question is what remains after the percentage disappears. Agents still need someone to review a contract, answer a difficult question and help them organize the next sale.
The percentage becomes a price
The published base plan is straightforward: $99 a month and $299 per transaction. Transaction fees stop accumulating at $5,980, equivalent to 20 transactions. Twelve monthly payments add $1,188. At ten closings, the base annual total is $4,178; at twenty, it is $7,168.
More closings. Then a ceiling.
12 × $99 + min(closings × $299, $5,980)
“100% commission” therefore describes the absence of a broker split. It does not mean working without expenses. The current pricing page also lists a $175 client fee, while transaction coordination is an optional add-on. An agent comparing offers needs the complete agreement, including who pays each charge.
The economic distinction is that the $299 charge does not rise with a home's price. Griest makes that point using $250,000 and $500,000 homes. The brokerage is putting a price on its participation in a transaction. For an agent who already generates business, that can be a compelling way to buy support.
The cheap office was no office
There are two first names in Zach Taylor Real Estate. Zach and Taylor Griest had worked together in Florida, where Taylor handled parts of the operations, marketing and photography. In 2020 they decided to return to Middle Tennessee and start their own brokerage. Inc. dates the company's founding to 2021.
At first, the business was entirely virtual. That suited the apparent logic of a company questioning what agents should pay. Why carry the expense of a room when people could work elsewhere? But Taylor's account of the early experience contains a useful complication.
“In the beginning, we were 100% virtual, but we soon realized this was hindering our growth.”
Taylor Griest · April 2022 interview
The founders opened their first physical office in Murfreesboro in March 2022. Agents could bring clients, hold meetings and train together. Taylor said her own productivity improved, too. The adjustment suggests a practical distinction: cutting an expense helps only until the missing service starts costing the business something else.
The work between the closings
The offer now combines brokerage affiliation with familiar working tools. Lofty supplies customer-relationship management; Dotloop handles transaction paperwork. The company advertises agent websites, a central dashboard, live classes, Zoom training and broker support. These are services an independent agent would otherwise have to assemble, purchase or replace.
Its training curriculum makes the promise more concrete. There are lessons on building a database, finding buyers, getting a listing sold, handling offers, negotiating and closing. Other modules address prospecting scripts, open houses and working with contracts. The expertise being sold is the repetitive craft of agency: finding people, following up and getting the details right.
That gives the brokerage two audiences. Agents are customers for its operating support. Buyers and sellers are customers for the representation those agents provide. The consumer website offers listings, home valuation and a mortgage calculator. The recruiting website explains why the professional on the other side of that transaction might join.
A classroom with a subscribe button
The public YouTube channel extends that classroom beyond the brokerage. Its videos include how to show a buyer a house and a guide to free apps for agents. The company advertises more than 100,000 subscribers. A photograph on its website shows a silver YouTube award bearing the brokerage's name.
For a prospective agent, these lessons offer a low-effort way to sample the instruction. For the company, they create repeated introductions to people who might eventually need a brokerage. That is a plausible recruiting advantage, although a subscriber count alone cannot tell us how many agents joined.
Growth needs the right denominator
The recruiting site reports more than 600 agents and over $1 billion in sales volume. Those are company claims. Property sales volume measures the value of real estate sold; it should never be mistaken for brokerage revenue. The distinction matters especially here, where the entire pitch concerns how little the brokerage takes from a transaction.
228% THREE-YEAR GROWTH
Inc. provides a separate marker: No. 159 on its national list in 2025, then No. 1,531 in 2026, with 228% three-year growth shown for the latter. Its Southeast rankings were No. 5 and No. 61 respectively. These are growth rankings, rather than a verdict on service quality or local market share.
The next client is still your job
The company sits among alternatives ranging from independent flat-fee offices to large franchise and cloud brokerage networks. Its appeal depends on the agent's situation. Someone with established relationships may value lower charges highly. Someone needing intensive supervision or a steady supply of qualified prospects has a different comparison to make.
The monthly fee continues through quiet months. Software requires attention. Training requires practice. A smaller brokerage deduction helps only when the overall arrangement supports enough productive work. Before switching, an agent can price a realistic year, inspect the training and ask how support operates when a deal becomes difficult.
For other business owners, the copyable move is to examine the bill customers resent, then keep the services they would miss. Zach and Taylor's office decision belongs beside their fee decision. One removed a percentage. The other restored a place to work. Both asked what agents were actually paying for.