I find that people that were successful in their other carreers will be successful in just about everything else they choose to do.

They make good agents and good investors and good anything else they put their mind to.

MBA doesn’t mean more money

According to William Danko (the millionaire next door) it means less.

THos who earn 100K per year plus are in the top 10% of incomes.

The richest people in america are small business owners… NOt graduates.

Since real estate is, for most people, not their first job out of college, they inevitably bring some of their past life into the trade. Ex-contractors bring in-depth knowledge of home building; ex-lawyers have a more in-depth understanding of real estate law; ex-teachers bring good skills in explaining and guiding; MBA’s bring a deeper understanding of the financial aspects of real estate.

Important to note too, is that with many agents, there success is due to almost a cult of personality. This is difficult to duplicate with a computer program.

The national avarage pay for a real estate agent is somewhere around $50,000.00. Hardly competitive with the six and seven figure salaries and bonuses paid to those who have taken the time and effort to procure an MBA or some……

Frankly, this is nonsense and completely misses the point!

The average real estate agent for one is not making that much. Take $39K to $49K average (depending on whose stats you read) in self employment income, before any expenses, taxes, etc. and in reality the average real estate agent is earning $25-35K.

The average agent also does 6-8 transactions a YEAR. In many markets there is one Realtor agent for every transaction per YEAR (such is the case in Sarsota, FL for instance).

Now, if an agent worked in an environment where that agent would be able to do 6-8 transactions per MONTH, or more, should that agent be paid 35K/month for the same amount of work?

Wake up call, please. There are way too many agents (of course NAR doesn’t mind, its better to get dues from 1.5MM agents then from 150K agents after all) and it is inevitable that this industry will work a lot efficiently in the future where we do not need as many agents.

We as Realtors are supposed to be consumer advocates. Well, what happened to that? How can we justify charging the consumer 2 or 3 times as much as we did just a few years ago for the SAME WORK. Yes, we still charge the same percentage but in terms of $$$ the amount has gone way up. Sure there’s more competition and the average Realtor does fewer transactions in many cases, but that doesn’t mean zip to the consumer who is paying.

I think as professionals we can either stick our heads in the sand and pretend that progress isn’t coming and lie to ourselves in a futile attempt to make ourselves feel better, or we can see things as they are and ask ourselves, ‘how can we create more VALUE FOR THE CONSUMER’ to justify our existence in the years ahead?’

How about a solid strategy that benefits the conumer and yourself, rather than just bitching and moaning. Heads off to Zillow, Redfin and others. Yes, I am a Realtor, but I am also first and foremost a consumer advocate and what the consumer is getting today in terms of value for actual $$$ spent is just not sustainable.

Here’s to Real Estate 2.0. Either get with it or find a new job. It’s really everyone’s individual choice.

Thomas Heimann, President & CEO
Bravo Real Estate

I could go on about the masculine/feminine debate but I belive that kind of talk just continues to divide the genders and perpetuates stereotypes.

I know plenty of business men who are sensitive and caring and plenty of businesswomen who are intelligent and agressive.

IMHO the tech heads aren’t missing feminine skills, they just like to converse in their own language. Case in point. Go read the latest post by Galen on raincityguide about his new deal ShackPrices.com and then watch Ardell jump into the boy geek party.
I heart tech geeks.

I believe the path away from agent disintermediation by tech companies includes reformulating the value of the real estate agent as a professional.

This means:
Raising the barrier to entry by requiring higher educational standards
More continuing ed
Higher prescribed agency duties
Higher prescribed ethical duties
Strong statement of required fiduciary duties

A clear statement of value for the consumer is the light.

What leader(s) in the industry are going to step forward and lead the way? Maybe it will be the bloggers.

Down the other path, I see lots of ways for consumers to do most of the work themselves and then hire a very inexpensive “agent” to be available to show the home(s) and an attorney to pull together the paperwork…because attorneys have all of the things I listed above.

However….

I’m 36. What the hell is a housewife?

However, I know my clients are all over these websites and they expect me to be also. So I agree, it is critical to stay up to speed on technology and Internet marketing and incorporate it into how we market – it is a basic requirement of being competative.

As an agent I have to develop new dialogues for selling against the Zillows of the world. For one, I see 10 or more houses in my area, Ann Arbor Michigan, a week, I know these properties and heighborhoods and factors which affect value and I can get a client up to speed and find an appropriate property for them in a hurry. I have a few war stories as well about people who bought homes “on the Internet” and now are not so happy when it is time to sell because they didn’t know to consider many facts that affect value.

So I am comfortable that real estate professionals that know their market and stay up to speed on technology do add value and are worth every penny they are paid.

Andy Piper, Ann Arbor Michigan

Our jobs as REALTORS® is to make the process seem easy and stress free, even though we tend to work exceptionally long hours and with few days of, or holidays to speak of, and our stress levels can be very high due to the uncertain nature of the industry and how we are paid. There is nothing like knowing that, if you don’t bust your butt, you may not have a pay cheque for months, if ever, to increase your stress levels.

It is true that the general public is doing more of their own research. However, this often makes our job as educators even harder because of all the poor quality or incomplete information that is available, such as Zestimates that tend to be significantly over or under valued. There is much more to real estate than a few statistics that can be pulled up on the Internet, and tips that work in one area may not be beneficial in others.

Thanks for your great post:)