Real Estate School Slowdown
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
We all know that real estate is a business full of highs and lows. The market takes off and then goes into deep declines like we are in now.
But imagine owning a real estate school. If you are an agent you probably dread the thought of sitting through the exciting classes on real estate practices that the state mandates.
However, think of the owners of these businesses. 2–3 years ago they were going gangbusters, classrooms overflowing with new agents that were off to make their fortunes in the real estate world.
Now these same schools are either sleepy office fronts or closed. With many agents packing it in, and many fewer entering the field, these training schools are ghost towns. If I had to guess many of the owners of the schools expanded during the last upturn in the market and are now sitting on overhead that must be choking them.
There are many facets of the boom and bust cycle of the real estate markets, the schools are just part of the cycle.
At the Real Estate Learning Center in Mesa, which Ross co-owns with business partner Lori McCallister, the number of students in each class has fallen from about 70 at the market’s peak to a maximum of 25.
“In 2005 and 2006, I had so many people in class that I could barely get everybody in here,” Ross said.
Another sign of the enrollment decline is that many real-estate schools have been shuttered, in some cases just a year or two after opening their doors. via the Arizona Republic


Comment by Santa Barbara Real Estate Voice on 4 July 2008:
No shocker here. We are seeing brokers consolidating offices and many realtors finding second jobs or getting out of the business outright. The lines of the housing market decline are continuing to spread deeply.