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- Your next home and move
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- Invest
Real estate agents must toughen up in slow market
By Melissa Wirkus
When the housing market
was booming, so was the profession
of being a real estate agent.
Actually, the real estate industry
became flooded with different people
wanting to get in on this particular
job industry.
But now, as the housing market has
seen better days, it takes a lot more
for a real estate agent to survive
and make money.
During the boom, it honestly took
very little skill to sell a home,
since the demand for just about any
home was so great. As sales are slowing
dramatically across the country, it
takes a lot more for an agent to secure
a property and then find a buyer.
An October 12, 2006 article by Otesa
Middleton Miles of Bankrate.com, “Real
estate agents: Sink or swim in tougher
waters,” takes a look at this
profession that is going through a
lot of changes.
Now as the market continues to slow,
it looks as though a lot of real
estate professionals, especially
the new ones, will want to get out
of the industry.
But many people are finding that there
are many perks to this profession,
and will not be leaving any time soon,
only trying a little bit harder.
“But, it's not all gloom and
doom on the other side of the boom.
Flexible hours, commission-based income
and the opportunity to be your own
boss are still attractive to many,
including Melissa Silver, a real estate
agent who just started last year.
She says she's still on track to earn
the $30,000 she projected for this
year, working 15 to 25 hours per week,
far more than the $9,800 she grossed
in 2005. However, Silver does make
it a point to lower sellers' expectations
when she lists homes. ‘We're
telling our sellers that their home
will be on the market six to nine
months,’ she says.”
The reason why so many people were
able to become real estate agents
during the housing boom of the past
five years is because it is not very
difficult to obtain a real estate
license.
It actually takes more time to become
a hair stylist than it does to become
a real estate agent, where you are
handling one of the biggest transactions
of a person’s life.
Regulations vary by state, but most
require about 50 to 100 hours of class
time to be eligible to become a licensed
real estate agent.
Then of course, there is a test.
Many people who have been in the industry
for a while believe there should be
tougher standards for becoming a real
estate agent.
“Anthony Marguleas, broker and
owner of high-end realty firm Amalfi
Estates in Los Angeles, thinks the
industry shouldn't be spitting out
low-producing agents. Instead, it
should be harder to become one.”
“‘Real estate agents typically
get ranked right around used-car salesmen.
The bar is so low to get a real estate
license,’ says Marguleas, who
operates in a high-end market in Pacific
Palisades, Calif., and has been in
the real estate business for 15 years.
‘I would love to make it as
hard as it is to become a doctor or
lawyer to raise the professionalism.
So many people who do this are part-time
and not very knowledgeable about what
they're doing. It's why consumers
have such a poor image of real estate
agents.’”