Independent agent, network, “MLM”: my straight answer
The question almost always comes at the end of the meeting, when the coffee has gone cold. “So… isn’t your thing a bit of a pyramid?” I never take offence. I asked it myself, in 2013, before taking the plunge. So here is the answer I give in private, without the gloss.
The questions people ask me when nobody is listening
In public, people ask me about pay, training and tools. In private, the real questions come out.
“Do I have to recruit to make a living?” “Will the people who joined before me help themselves to my work?” “Will I have to badger my friends?” And the most honest of all: “Is this really property, or is property just the pretext?”
These are good questions. They deserve better than a salesman’s smile and a brochure. I have been in this business for about 29 years. I was a trainee in my village at 18, then a sales agent, an employee, an agency director at 21, a franchisee and then a franchisor. I know these models from the inside. So I will answer you the way I would have wanted to be answered back then.
What the model is
An iad advisor is an independent property agent. Their job is property: winning listings, valuing accurately, guiding sellers and buyers all the way to signature. Nothing else.
On each sale, they receive between 69 % and 85 % of the fees (excluding VAT), depending on tiers linked to their activity. There is no joining fee. There is a monthly subscription, which covers the tools and support. Initial and ongoing training is free and compliant with the ALUR law (the French law governing property professionals’ training).
Then, and only if you want to, you can support other advisors. In that case, there is team remuneration. It is based on the actual activity of the advisors you support, in other words on their sales. Not on their joining. Not on their subscription.
That is why I can now support more than 650 advisors in 8 countries. But that figure is the result of thousands of sales made by other people, not of a recruitment chart.
What the model is not
It is not MLM in the sense of “you earn by recruiting”. Recruiting someone earns you nothing in itself. Zero. If the person you bring in sells nothing, you receive nothing. You will even have lost time training them.
Nor is it an obligation. Building a team is never imposed. Plenty of excellent advisors support nobody and make a very good living from their own activity alone. Nobody holds anything against them.
And it is not a promise of wealth. I would rather say it plainly: if someone tells you that you will be rich in two years, walk away. Property remains a hands-on job of phone calls, appointments and rejections. The structure changes the way you are paid. It does not do the work for you.
Why the word scares people, and why that is healthy
The word “network” has been damaged. Everyone has come across someone selling miracle products to their family. So mistrust is normal. I would even say it is useful.
My advice is simple: ask the awkward questions. Ask how each line of remuneration is calculated. Ask what happens if you never recruit. Ask to speak to advisors who have no team. A serious model can handle these questions. A shaky model gets irritated.
Check the overall logic too. In an unhealthy system, the money comes from the people who join. In a healthy system, it comes from clients buying and selling properties. Ask yourself one question: who pays, and for what? If the answer is “sellers and buyers, for a property service”, you are in the right place.
At iad, more than 15,000 advisors in France completed around 63,000 sales in 2025. Roughly one in ten agent-assisted transactions in France goes through the network. Those figures are about sales. That is exactly what you should be looking at.
My method, if you ever choose to support others
If the urge comes later, I pass on a three-step method: do, get others to do, teach others to get others to do.
First, you do. You sell, you learn the trade, you earn your credibility. Then you help someone do as you do. Finally, you teach that person to pass it on in turn. Without the first step, the other two are worthless.
That is why I never talk about building a team with someone who has not yet signed their first compromis (the preliminary sale agreement). You do not build an upper floor on an empty plot.
Frequently asked questions
- Do I have to recruit to make a living at iad?
- No. You are paid on your own sales, between 69 % and 85 % of the fees (excluding VAT) depending on the tiers. Building a team is a choice, never an obligation.
- Does my sponsor earn money when I join?
- No. Recruiting earns nothing in itself. Team remuneration depends solely on the actual activity, meaning the sales, of the advisors being supported.
- Is there a joining fee?
- No. There is no joining fee. There is a monthly subscription, and initial and ongoing training is free.
Ask me the awkward question
If a doubt is holding you back, I would rather hear it face to face than guess at it. Take a moment to talk it through with me: I will answer you straight, even if my answer is “this model is not right for you”.