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All I know is, I feel sorry for agents the way things are now. As bad as I feel with a house I can't sell, at least my livelyhood doesn't depend on my selling it.
I imagine there will be a lot of agents who get weeded out during this bad real estate slump.
All I know is, I feel sorry for agents the way things are now. As bad as I feel with a house I can't sell, at least my livelyhood doesn't depend on my selling it.
I imagine there will be a lot of agents who get weeded out during this bad real estate slump.
I personally don't think ANYONE will be getting into the RE OR lending business anymore. I feel they will become defunct industries. The saddest thing is the new agent who said she made a total of 8K this year. I believe, even on a part-time basis, you can make more working part-time at Starbucks or tending bar somewhere. It simply isn't worth even doing it part-time anymore. Lets face it, folks, you are looking at what is now a dying industry. Possibly saddest of all is how reticent RE agents now are to divulge their current production or gross. When things were booming, production numbers were all over their business cards and advertising. Now, they are shyer than japanese geisha girls per sharing their numbers. Rule of thumb that the RE market has hit bottom, when the RE agents get as bashful as japanese schoolgirls per their production numbers! LOL!
I'm not sure it's fair to conclude that the RE industry is defunct just because the professionals on this forum aren't sharing their personal incomes. I've been taught since childhood that to ask that question or discuss that figure is improper, and I certainly won't be posting my income on a public forum.
What I will say, however, is that I also entered the selling side of the RE industry in late 2005, knowing it was a slow market. And I have made more money this year than last, and am on track to make more next year than this year. My past experience as an assistant to a broker and an admin in a RE office prepared me for my current role as an agent. I like what I do, and my business is growing. Good agents are valued in my market, especially by people new to the area. Each agent's situation is unique those details are personal and confidential.
By the way, will you share with us your personal financials? Salary, after-tax take-home pay? How you rate in comparison with someone new to your field? Some with 10 years experience? 20? Are you saving? Investing in growing a business?
My parents also taught me from a young age that it is rude to ask others about their money also. I will say though that my business has grown this year. The most difficult thing this year has been buyers moving here from elsewhere expecting that our market is in the dumps because the market in their previous area was. It creates a sense of trepidation and unreasonable expectations that are not based upon fact or historical trends in my marketplace.
Part 2 of my response. It's kind of meaningless to ask an agent about their income. If I sell 25 houses at an average price in my market (about 150,000) and agent x sells 25 houses in a market where the average price is 200,000, agent x is probably going to make more money than me. Agent x's sales would be 5 million to my 3,750,000. Did agent x have a better year than me just because she made more or her sales volume was higher? No--we sold the same number of houses.
I've never heard an agent speak about how much he or she made in a year. Production, yes, income, NEVER.
Soothsayer, one reason for your lack of response is that agents are becoming smarter about how they advertise.
For example: "The Million Dollar Club" meant you sold 1mil worth of inventory but too many consumers thought that meant we were all making a million dollars. Now they call it things like "Beyond Excellence". We're smarter about protecting and fixing the industries reputation that was created by "caveat empor" and poor advertsing.
The role of the agent has become more of counselor now but that is fine. There is never a substitute for experience, although education helps.
As a consumer of REA services could care less what an agent makes to be honest... All I care about is how much he/she has sold yearly and if they can sell mine. If y'all make a million good for you, that's totally your business.
I'm not sure it's fair to conclude that the RE industry is defunct just because the professionals on this forum aren't sharing their personal incomes. I've been taught since childhood that to ask that question or discuss that figure is improper, and I certainly won't be posting my income on a public forum.
What I will say, however, is that I also entered the selling side of the RE industry in late 2005, knowing it was a slow market. And I have made more money this year than last, and am on track to make more next year than this year. My past experience as an assistant to a broker and an admin in a RE office prepared me for my current role as an agent. I like what I do, and my business is growing. Good agents are valued in my market, especially by people new to the area. Each agent's situation is unique those details are personal and confidential.
By the way, will you share with us your personal financials? Salary, after-tax take-home pay? How you rate in comparison with someone new to your field? Some with 10 years experience? 20? Are you saving? Investing in growing a business?
Sure....and we are all anonymous on the board, so no worries about the IRS or whathaveyou on here. That's what killed me about the reticence, that we are all anonymous on here, or should be. Only a fool would use his/her real name on here. I was in the business for 10 years, from '95 to '05. I was on a 100% commission basis. Made 30K first year net, minus expenses about 25K. Made about 60K most years after that, minus say 7K in expenses took home about 55K before taxes. Made about 50K my last year in the business, 2005, after which I left altogether for a job in the financial field at an investment bank. I simply feel that this industry is now dead....there are still far too many people in it, and I think younger people, say under 40, who get into it as a new field now are wasting their most productive years in a industry that may be 100% web-mediated in 2-3 years. Look at the travel industry, or online trading, for a taste of the future in RE. I can't see why a young person now, particularly one with a family, would waste precious time that could be spent retooling for solid jobs like medical professions that pay well and aren't going anywhere. I've seen countless agents in my area hurting very badly. The blue-collar buyers can't qualify for loans, and the middle and uppers are talking themselves out of the market. It is an absolutely across the board thing. Any young person who spends valuable retooling time now spending time they will never recover in an industry that will not be around in a few years in commission-based form is an absolute fool.
In our rather small office gross commissions among the full time agents range from one million to just under 20 million. These are effectively adjusted to a 3% side. So 30K to 600K gross. The higher numbers are all at 90%. The lower may be as low as 60%. So 18K to $540K. After expenses I would think take home of 12K to $450K. After taxes something around 8K to about $300K. The Mean in the office is around 4 million.
I don't believe real estate agents are going the way of the dinosaur at all. The internet certainly has an influence on the way business is done and will continue to do so, but real estate is fundamentally different from stock trading and booking a vacation. Individuals simply don't buy and sell homes frequently enough to be comfortable doing it all themselves. Good real estate agents stay involved in their local market and they provide highly valuable assistance in terms of marketing expertise for sellers and help and advice for buyers as well as knowledge of applicable laws and regulations, and negotiation skills for both sides. It's a totally different situation than either stock trading or travel planning, both of which can be done without any assistance and have a much lower learning curve and much lower cost to initial mistakes.
There have always been people who preferred a do-it-yourself approach to real estate. And there still are. The relative ease of internet marketing and the ability to browse listings online may very well cause a growth in that segment. But just as there are plenty of people who prefer to shop at Nordstrom's even though there's a Wal-Mart down the street, there are also plenty of people who don't want to be bothered with either finding or selling their homes themselves and that's not going to change any time soon.
The best thing that can happen at this unique moment in real estate history is that the dabblers and mediocre (or unethical) agents choose to pursue other careers. I believe there will be a place for competent, experienced, and ethical real estate agents for many, many years to come.
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