CNN Money has an interesting article on the aging of the real estate business and had the nugget that more than 50 percent of Realtors have less than 4 years experience. To me that screams they only know an up market, which means they have not been forced to compete to sell the homes, just to get the listing.
Just more than half of members of the National Association of Realtors (NAR) had four years or less of experience in a 2005 survey – which means they came into this year’s real estate downturn knowing nothing but boom times.
Home sales set record after record from 2001 through 2005, as prices rose to record levels as well. But the pace of sales is off 14 percent so far this year and the year-over-year change in existing home prices has fallen in the past two monthly reports from NAR.
What is even more amazing is that only 1 in 3 Realtors have seen a down market. In the record home markets of the last 4 years, if you could hammer a sign in the front yard and find a seller, you probably had a good chance of getting a commision and making some money. But now these new agents have not developed the skills to truly market a home in a difficult environment. In fact, odds are they have built in some bad habits that will need to be broken if they are to succeed.
I wish them luck, but I also ask them to take the slower time and educate themselves on selling and marketing. These are the skills that will determine if they are going to have a long term future in real estate. But if I was to sell a home today, I would look for a technically competent agent who has sold for a number of years.
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Maybe that’s why the seller (and realtor) of my home blatantly deceived us on his property disclosure form; mere lack of experience and stupidity. Our tough luck I gues$.
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