The Real Estate Numbers Most Agents Overlook

By Andy Mulholland

He has a background in leading a top real estate team for over a decade and an understanding of the critical role of clear financials, Andy, along with his wife Ellyn, a seasoned real estate CFO, co-founded Simple-Numbers.

Most business owners don’t actually have a money problem. Instead, they struggle with clarity, especially when the numbers feel scattered, heavy, or hard to trust. When the numbers don’t feel clear, confidence fades, and progress slows. That’s why I believe so strongly in keeping things simple. Clear numbers lead to clear decisions, and clear decisions make growth feel possible instead of risky.

In my latest interview with Christian Stubbs from Onyx Homes, I discussed the most important lesson every high-level entrepreneur eventually learns: simplicity creates clarity. Real scale does not come from more spreadsheets or deeper reports. It comes from understanding a few core numbers so well that you can explain them, trust them, and act on them without second-guessing.

Here’s what you need to know.

The five numbers in real estate. Most real estate businesses believe they need endless metrics to stay healthy, but that belief creates more noise than insight. In reality, only five numbers truly matter. When you understand these five, you can see the entire business clearly and quickly spot where things are working or breaking down. I like to explain them by visualizing the business as a pie, which shows how money actually flows rather than hiding it in reports.

Total revenue. The entire pie represents total revenue. This is the true top line of the business, before paying brokers, agents, or referral partners. Most agents never fully see this number because it gets reduced before it reaches their account, but it matters more than people realize. Total revenue shows the real size of the business and reveals what the model could support if it were built correctly.

Cost of sale. The first slice of the pie is the cost of sales. This includes broker splits, agent splits, and referral fees. It represents the price of earning revenue, not profit. When this number is ignored, a business can look healthy on paper while quietly becoming unstable. Without seeing this slice clearly, it’s easy to build a business that feels busy but fragile.

Gross profit. After the cost of sale, what remains is gross profit, often called real revenue or company dollar. This is the money that actually hits the business bank account and the money the business must live on. This number often gets distorted when the owner is still producing, because personal commissions flow directly into it. That can make the business appear stronger than it really is if the owner were to step away.

Operating expenses. From gross profit, the business pays operating expenses. To keep clarity, every expense should fall into one of three categories: lead generation and marketing, people expenses, and overhead. Marketing creates opportunity, people support execution, and overhead keeps the operation running. When expenses are spread across too many categories, clarity disappears, and problems stay hidden.

Net profit. The remaining profit after operating expenses has been deducted is called the net profit. It’s the final slice of the pie that shows whether the business is truly working. Every real estate business has this same structure, from solo agents to large teams. The difference is not the slices themselves, but how large each one is.

When your numbers are simple, your business becomes easier to understand, easier to manage, and easier to grow. Clarity removes guesswork and replaces it with confidence, which is exactly what you need to build a model that lasts beyond your own production. If you have questions about your business numbers or want help breaking them down in a way that actually makes sense, schedule a discovery call today. I’d be happy to walk you through your numbers and help you build a clearer, more sustainable path forward.