Thursday, March 13, 2008

“D” Day has come to Realtors Beach

Is real estate the business to get into today? In 2001, when I was the President of the Passaic County Board of Realtors in Wayne, NJ, there were about 750,000 licensed realtors in the United States. At the same time, the real estate market began to ascend. By the end of 2006 there were close to 1.4 million licensed realtors in the United States. This same year the number of realtors and the real estate market both got to its peak.

2007 came and went and so did the market along with realtors that were not prepared to deal with market changes. In Florida the enrollment of new and upcoming agents went down 50%. In south Atlanta, 20% of the agents had dropped out and in Oregon about 11% of realtors called it quits.

I started to voice my opinion in March 2007 that a great majority of the realtors that got into the business during the real estate market boom, were also going to seek business in a different field. N.A.R. (The National Association of Realtors) predicted in late spring 2007 that in the next two years 40% - 60% of realtors will go out of business.

What is causing this exodus of realtors? You could say that part of it is attributed to market changes. Has the market really changed that much? By the end of 2006 approx. 6.5 million homes at a HOT market sold across the U.S.A. Last year (2007) approx. 5.8 million homes sold at a DOWN market across the United States. The market drop about 12% from the year before. Could Sub-prime mortgages have been the reason? Subprime loans only accounted for about 7% of the total loans. So what’s causing an entire army of realtors to look for a different line of work? Is it perhaps the ability to deal with today’s market constrains? This market is different that the Real Estate market 8 years ago. Agents got used to placing signs on properties and create an automatic auction among buyers that ended up always in a sale. The Business came to us, we did not have to go out and look for it. We got too comfortable.

On today’s market Realtors have to do better than just place a sign on a property. Realtors need to be well trained and prepared. Realtors need to have accountability. They need to be accountable for their production by following the company’s training system and set standards. Realtors need to become more systematic and maintain a good stream of business. Realtors need to practice more so that they could learn to win. Realtors need to ACT NOW, to see the reward later. Realtors need to be POSSITIVE and PRO-ACTIVE. Technology has also become a major influential factor in the success of a realtor. Real estate is a profession, leave it to the professionals.

If between 2006 and 2007 the market dropped about 12% and 40%-60% of realtors have gone and continue to go out of business what does that mean to you. It means that about 1.4 million realtors sold 6.5 million homes in 2006 (4.5 homes per realtor). In 2007 700,000 realtors were selling 5.8 million homes (8.3 homes per realtor). This means that the production of a well prepared, trained, educated, professional realtor just went up. Not only did it go up, it doubled.

I don’t talk about “doom and gloom” market. I show you how to show others how to buy and sell real estate and to overcome today’s market condition. This is, the perfect time to get into this market. When it snows in New Jersey, it never happens in Florida. Focus on your local market. Each market in the U.S.A. is different…..just like the weather. Our Paterson, Passaic and Clifton Market areas are still fantastic. We at CENTURY21 Casa Real Latino are doing great. We still have one of the largest home inventories in the area, for your buyers to choose from.

In summary, this is the perfect time for the millennial and Gen “X” and Gen “Y” to get into the real estate business. Are you a millennial or a Gen “X” or Gen “Y”? Call me…….I’ll tell you and I’ll make you today’s Realtor.

Jose R. Cordova
Broker/Owner CENTURY21 Casa Real Latino
973-546-8888
"Building a team oriented organization with accountable agents and staff.."
Take a few minutes to evaluate your Real Estate Potential. http://c21crl.agenttype.com/
View my blogs at: http://www.c21casareallatino.blogspot.com/

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