Concierge Company or Real Estate Agency: Should You Start a Real Agency or Delegate the Carte G?

When a concierge company passes 20 or 30 active mandates, three paths open up. Stay a pure concierge company and accept the leak toward long-term rentals. Build a real agency with your own carte G (the French property management license), which means 6 to 12 months of paperwork and tens of thousands of euros. Or delegate the carte G through a player like Unlocker Real Estate, which unlocks long-term rentals in 14 days with no structural investment. The right choice depends on your volume, your ambition and your appetite for administrative complexity. Delegating means relying on carte G delegation without creating an agency.

You started your concierge company 2 or 3 years ago. Today you manage 25, 30, maybe 50 properties. What works is running smoothly. But you can feel a ceiling coming. Your owners are switching to long-term and you’re losing them. You see competitors setting up their own agencies and capturing those mandates. You’re wondering whether you should take the leap too.

It’s the strategic crossroads every growing concierge company reaches. All three options are viable, but their costs, constraints and returns are very different. This article compares them in numbers, over 3 years, to help you choose.

The crossroads every scaling concierge company reaches

The moment the crossroads appears isn’t the same for everyone, but the signal is always the same. A growing share of your owners wants to switch to long-term rentals and you don’t have a solution to keep them.

The threshold that exposes the problem

Based on market feedback, the critical threshold sits between 20 and 30 active mandates. Below that, you lose 2 or 3 mandates a year, which is tolerable. Above it, you lose 6 to 10 a year, which already means €50,000 to €100,000 in annual revenue walking away. At 50 mandates, the leak reaches 15 to 20 mandates a year and you’re chasing your own growth.

Why the problem accelerates with size

The more properties you manage, the more varied the owners you reach, with different profiles. At first you only have rental investors with a seasonal mindset. You end up with heirs, expats, people in the middle of moving, families who want to settle down. All these profiles naturally drift toward long-term rentals or a mobility lease (bail mobilité, a 1-to-10-month furnished lease with no deposit) at some point. If you can’t support them, you lose them.

Client story: Thomas, a concierge company in Nice with 47 properties in 2024. He lost 14 mandates over the year, 11 of them to long-term rentals. Those 11 mandates represented €145,000 in annual revenue. His first reaction was to hire a salesperson to fill the gap, which cost him another €55,000 in payroll. Bottom line, his growth stalled. That’s what pushed him to look seriously at the 3 options that follow.

The 3 options open to you

Option 1, you stay a pure concierge company and accept the leak. Option 2, you build a real real estate agency with your own carte G. Option 3, you go through carte G delegation. None is bad in absolute terms, but each fits a different profile and a different moment in a concierge company’s life.

Option 1

€0

invested / 0 long-term access

Option 2

6 to 14 months

of transition + €30k invested

Option 3

14 days

to activate, €0 invested

Option 1: stay a pure concierge company

The simplest option. You change nothing in your structure, you focus on short-term rentals, and you accept that owners who switch to long-term go elsewhere.

Why this option makes sense

If your positioning is strongly oriented toward high-quality short-term rentals (premium segment, guest experience, high occupancy rate), you can build a solid margin without long-term rentals. You specialize in the seasonal market, you become the go-to name in your area, and you accept running with a pool of owners that naturally renews itself.

The constraints you have to accept

You live with a structural loss of mandates, more or less pronounced depending on your area. You have to make up for that leak with constant sales prospecting, which takes time and budget. You cap your revenue per owner, who rarely stays with you more than a few years. And you lose the revenue tied to the hybrid regimes you could otherwise offer.

The hidden cost of this option

For a concierge company managing 40 properties, the annual cost of replacing mandates lost to long-term rentals is typically €30,000 to €50,000 a year (dedicated salesperson, marketing, training, prospecting time). Plus the opportunity cost of properties that could be hybrid and aren’t.

Client story: Claire, a concierge company in Cannes, chose this option in 2024 after weighing the others. Her positioning is ultra premium (high-end villas, hotel-style concierge service). She accepted losing 6 to 8 mandates a year and making up for it with corporate account prospecting. In 2025 she held steady revenue, but she admits it’s a low-ceiling model.

Who this option works for

Concierge companies highly specialized in premium short-term rentals, in strong tourist areas, with a differentiating sales argument that makes losing owners acceptable. Companies with fewer than 15 properties where the complexity of moving up a level isn’t justified by the volume.

Option 2: start a real agency with your own carte G

The ambitious option. You turn your concierge company into a full-fledged real estate agency, you get your own carte G, and you can carry your own property management mandates. It’s the most powerful option on paper but also the heaviest to set up.

What it takes to get a carte G

Three cumulative conditions. A recognized degree (three years of higher education) in law, economics or business, or failing that ten years of salaried experience at an agency holding the carte G (four years for a management-level position). A financial guarantee of at least €110,000 taken out with a bank or an insurance company. Specific professional liability insurance. On top of that come a dedicated account for client funds required by the financial guarantor, specific accounting rules, and posting and transparency obligations.

The real timeline and cost

Between the moment you decide to build your agency and the moment you sign your first mandate, count on 6 to 14 months depending on whether you already meet the degree or experience requirements. On the budget side, plan for €4,000 to €8,000 in administrative and legal fees (company formation, training, guarantees, trade register), €3,000 to €6,000 a year in insurance and membership fees, and a significant opportunity cost on your existing business during the transition phase.

What this option unlocks

With your own carte G, you can carry your own property management mandates, sign every type of lease, and even develop a real estate transaction business (buying and selling) alongside. You own 100% of the owner relationship, with no intermediary. And you can scale with no regulatory limit.

Client story: Marc, a concierge company in Lyon, began his transition to an agency in 2023 with 35 properties in his portfolio. The process took 11 months (degree to validate, guarantee to obtain, team to train). Total transition cost €24,000 over the year. First long-term mandates in April 2024. Today in 2026 his agency manages 78 properties in hybrid with a transaction business getting started. Over 3 years, the investment paid for itself in year 2.

Option 3: delegate the carte G through Unlocker

The middle option. You keep your status as a concierge company, you don’t build your own agency, but you access long-term rentals through the carte G delegation of a holder (Unlocker Real Estate). You unlock the same commercial potential as with your own agency, without the structural investment.

The principle in 30 seconds

Unlocker Real Estate carries its own carte G. You sign an operational partnership agreement with them, which lets you offer delegation to your owners. When an owner switches to long-term, you present them with a property management mandate signed between them and Unlocker Real Estate. You sign a separate service agreement with them for your management commission. You remain the operational point of contact for everything day to day on the property. The full details are on the Unlocker Carte G page.

What you unlock without a transition

Access to long-term rentals and the mobility lease in under 14 days after signing the partnership. Ability to offer hybrid strategies to your owners. Automatic split payment between you, the carte G holder and the owner. No financial guarantee to take out, no escrow account to open, no degree to earn.

What it costs you

A commission of 2% excl. VAT for long-term or 1% excl. VAT for short-term, plus 1% excl. VAT for the payment platform. These fees are deducted from the incoming payment, not from your direct margin. You keep 100% of your commercial freedom on your service commission rate with the owner.

Client story: Thomas, a concierge company in Nice (47 properties in 2024), switched to delegation in March 2025. Setup investment €0. Activation time 14 days. First long-term mandate under delegation signed in April 2025. Over 12 months of use, he moved 18 owners to hybrid or long-term, secured his existing portfolio and signed 6 new mandates thanks to the long-term pitch. Estimated additional net annual revenue in 2025 of €87,000, for a total delegation cost of €14,200 excl. VAT.

Who this option works for

Concierge companies with 15 to 100 properties that want to unlock long-term rentals without the administrative complexity of their own agency. Those that want to test hybrid potential before deciding whether to get their own carte G later. Those that would rather invest their time in sales and operations than in regulatory compliance.

3-year cost comparison

To see the gap between the 3 options in concrete terms, here is a 3-year comparison for a typical concierge company that starts the period with 30 properties in pure short-term rental.

Baseline assumptions

Average rental income per property €35,000 a year in pure short-term, €28,000 a year in pure long-term, €42,000 a year in hybrid. Concierge commission 20% excl. VAT in short-term, 10% excl. VAT in long-term. Annual rate of owners switching to long-term 25%. Organic portfolio growth (new mandates) 15% a year.

Scenario 1: pure concierge company (option 1)

Year 1, 30 short-term properties, 7 properties lost to long-term (switch), 4 new mandates signed. End-of-year portfolio 27 properties. Commission revenue €189,000.

Year 2, 27 short-term properties, 6 properties lost to long-term, 4 new ones signed. Portfolio 25 properties. Revenue €175,000.

Year 3, portfolio stabilized at 23 properties. Revenue €161,000.

Cumulative total over 3 years €525,000 in commission.

Scenario 2: agency with your own carte G (option 2)

Year 1, paperwork in progress, pure short-term activity, transition cost €24,000, 27 properties at year end. Net revenue €165,000.

Year 2, agency up and running, hybrid capability, 30 properties including 8 in hybrid. Revenue €285,000 (short-term + long-term combined).

Year 3, portfolio of 45 properties including 22 in hybrid. Revenue €478,000.

Cumulative total over 3 years €928,000 in commission minus €30,000 in agency structural costs = €898,000 net.

Scenario 3: Unlocker delegation (option 3)

Year 1, partnership signed in January, delegation starts in February, 30 properties including 10 in hybrid at year end. Revenue €295,000, Unlocker fees €8,800, net €286,200.

Year 2, portfolio of 38 properties including 22 in hybrid. Revenue €425,000, Unlocker fees €13,500, net €411,500.

Year 3, portfolio of 52 properties including 35 in hybrid. Revenue €605,000, Unlocker fees €19,800, net €585,200.

Cumulative total over 3 years €1,282,900 net.

What this comparison shows

Over 3 years, the delegation option generates €740,000 more in commission than the pure concierge company and €380,000 more than the agency with its own license. The gap comes from how quickly you get access to hybrid. Delegation unlocks long-term rentals in a few weeks, while your own agency takes 6 to 14 months of transition during which growth stalls. The pure concierge company, meanwhile, sees its portfolio shrink structurally.

When your own agency catches up

From year 5 or 6, if you have a very high volume (more than 80 active mandates) and you add transactions on top of management, your own agency can overtake delegation. It’s a calculation you redo at that point. Many concierge companies start with delegation and switch to their own agency once their volume justifies it.

Which choice for your profile

The right choice depends less on theory than on your concrete profile. Here are the indicators to decide.

Choose option 1 (pure concierge company) if

• You have fewer than 15 properties in your portfolio
• You’re positioned in premium short-term rentals with an already comfortable margin
• You don’t have the time or the desire to deal with an additional legal framework
• You don’t see strong growth coming in the next 18 months

Choose option 2 (agency with a carte G) if

• You have more than 60 properties in your portfolio
• You also want to develop a real estate transaction business on top of management
• You already have the required degree or salaried experience (or can validate it quickly)
• You can sustain 6 to 12 months of transition with slowed growth
• You have €40,000 to €60,000 to invest over 18 months

Choose option 3 (Unlocker delegation) if

• You have between 15 and 80 properties in your portfolio
• You want to unlock long-term rentals within the next 30 days
• You’d rather focus your investment on operations and sales than on regulation
• You want to test hybrid potential before deciding on a heavier transformation
• You’re looking for a solution that fits the time you have available (not your next 6 months stuck in paperwork)

Client story: Antoine, a concierge company in Biarritz, started with option 3 in March 2025. 18 months later, his portfolio has doubled (from 28 to 56 properties) and he generates enough margin to consider option 2. He started training to get his own carte G in March 2026 while continuing his delegation business. His plan is to switch to his own agency at the end of 2026 with a gradual transition, and to keep using delegation for the properties where it still makes sense.

💡 Key takeaway

Delegation is almost always the right starting point. It doesn’t close any doors (you can always switch to your own agency later), it unlocks long-term rentals immediately, and it costs nothing as long as you don’t generate revenue through it.

The natural progression

Many scaling concierge companies follow this path. Start as a pure concierge company to validate the basic model. Move to delegation when the leak toward long-term becomes a problem (typically between 20 and 40 mandates). Evaluate moving to your own agency when the volume justifies the investment (typically beyond 70 to 100 mandates). It’s not a mandatory linear path, but it’s the most common one in the French market in 2026.

Summary table: the 3 options side by side

The choice depends mostly on your volume and your ambition. There’s no good or bad option in absolute terms. There’s the option that fits your current volume, your 3-year ambition, and your appetite for administrative complexity. The pure concierge company suits small operations or very specialized premium positioning. Your own agency is the long-term option for companies that want to scale hard and add transactions. Delegation is the middle option that unlocks long-term rentals with no structural investment, and it’s right for the vast majority of French concierge companies today.

If you don’t know where to start, delegation is almost always the best entry point. It doesn’t close any doors (you can always switch to your own agency later), it immediately unlocks long-term and hybrid potential, and it costs nothing as long as you don’t generate revenue through it. You can test it on 3 to 5 owners as a pilot and then decide whether to roll it out more widely or aim for a heavier transformation.

Concretely, your first step is to ask yourself two questions. How many long-term mandates did you lose in 2025? And how many of your current owners are likely to switch within 12 months? Multiply by your target commission and you have the value at stake. If it exceeds €20,000 a year, delegation pays off from the first activated mandate. The simulator on the Unlocker Carte G page gives you the precise calculation.

To go further, the article on concierge companies without a carte G details the delegation mechanism. The one on the structure of the 3 contracts to sign explains the legal framework. And the one on hybrid rental strategy digs into the most powerful revenue lever you unlock with delegation.

Related reading

• Long-Term Rentals Without a Carte G: The Legal Trick
• Concierge Companies and Real Estate Licenses: The Complete Guide