Real Estate Budget Template

Once your income projection is set, fill in your expected expenses for the month. Fixed costs like MLS dues, E&O insurance, and CRM subscriptions are easy to enter since they don't change. Variable costs like marketing spend and transaction coordination fees will vary by volume. If you're not sure what to budget for lead generation, start with your last 90 days of actual spending and use that as the baseline. Copy the monthly setup forward and adjust for months where you expect more or fewer closings.

A proper real estate budget separates your business income from your personal income and forces you to plan for the dry months. On the income side, that means tracking GCI before and after broker split, and projecting forward based on your pipeline rather than just counting closed deals. On the expense side, it means categorizing spend into fixed costs — MLS fees, licensing, E&O insurance, technology — and variable costs that scale with volume — marketing, lead generation, transaction coordination, and signage. Most agents spending 15–20% of GCI on marketing and 5–10% on technology are operating within normal ranges, but the only way to know is to track it.