Real Estate Agent in Down Real Estate Market

[TromboneAl]

I know someone who just became a real estate agent in Alameda, California.

It may seem obvious, but is she likely to have a hard time, given the current state of the real estate market?

 

[bssc]

Saw this article in USA Today about the Real Estate slowdown. The line that caught my eye was that new agents made $9400 last year after expenses. And they don't have health insurance. It sounds like he is going to have a hard time.

 

[bright eyed]

but i have heard the market in the bay area is still relatively active, still some overbidding etc. going on...so may be regionally different. and i still see lots of ads in socal for agents in certain hot growth spots, although i know prices have either stagnated or dropped a bit...

 

[Brat]

I think the industry is about to suffer an agent shakeout. It isn't just about the sales volume, it is about the sales worker volume. I think a new entrant will need to really ramp up their marketing skills as well as their negotiating skills. I don't think tomorrow's seller will pay full sell commissions without added value (staging and professional photography for a start).

Here is an interesting thread on a Realtor(R) blog I read regularly, responding to the Madison Wisc study:
For-Sale-By-Owners sell for more because agents sell for less | Rain City Guide | A Seattle Real Estate Blog...

 

[Nords]

It may seem obvious, but is she likely to have a hard time, given the current state of the real estate market?

Well, this may be a bad time to try to scoop up money in a bucket.

But from a learning & experience perspective, she couldn't have picked a better time to start!

Hawaii's RE contraction of the 1990s also wiped out about 2/3 of the state's active realtors... no telling how many of those tried to crash the party as it was ending.