Where are the Realtors ?

[Moemg]

I've noticed that we have just about every profession know to man represented on this board except Realtors .So where are they ? Are they not planning for retirement ? In today's market they certainly have enough time for message boards so why aren't they represented here ?

 

[MikeD]

"Now is a good time to buy."

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

I've noticed that we have just about every profession know to man represented on this board except Realtors .So where are they ? Are they not planning for retirement ? In today's market they certainly have enough time for message boards so why aren't they represented here ?

Hang on - I'll ask my wife. Stand by...

OK. She's out giving thanks that we don't depend on her income. Though the real estate crumble isn't doing much to speed along FIRE.

She's one of those hard-working, honest, nongreedy ones and is doing better than some, but it has been brutal overall.

She is a light user of some trade-based bulletin board, but the forum thing is not that ingrained in their professional culture for some reason.

 

[martyb]

I was a Century 21 Realtor for 3 years, in the mid-late 90's. I keep my license on inactive status, for which I maintain my continuing ed requirements annually plus pay a fee to the LREC. I don't plan to w**k after I retire, but if I did, most likely I'd reinstate my license. I made pretty good money, and found I seemed to have a knack for the job. No unhappy clients that I was ever aware of. I chose to park the real estate license for reasons unrelated to the business itself, it had more to do with other things going on in my life at the time, plus I had a lot of time into my federal govt. career and decided I didn't really want to give it up this far into the game. Who knows, I may go back one day. At least in my area, there's plenty of money to be made. It's a good market here in Shreveport-Bossier LA with a major military base, 5 casinos, GM and other large employers. I haven't seen much if any decline in the real estate market around here. Prices seem pretty solid, which is good since I'm about to try to sell my house. Not so good when I go to buy the next one!

 

[Nords]

A couple of posters here have realtor spouses.

I'm not so sure that they have a lot of time on their hands these days. I think that MLS is becoming largely irrelevant among online databases like Zillow & Craigslist, so realtors no longer have such a tight grip on the info. The newbie realtors are competing for shelf space among the battle-scarred vets who've been through at least two bubbles & recessions, while at the lower end of the scale they're getting chased by Help-U-Sell and all the other discounters.

We seem to know an awful lot of realtors around here. Maybe it's our habit of going to open houses, or maybe there's just an awful lot of them around here...

 

[FinanceGeek]

I long suspected that a lot of people get their realtors license just to market their own house on MLS, without any intent of participating in the profession beyond that. Or has the entry of cut-rate "Help u Sell" franchises done away with that inducement to obtain MLS access?