2007 NAR Membership Profile

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nirvinerealtor_IHB

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<strong>2007 NAR Membership Profile</strong> <hr size="1" />









<p>With more than 1.3 million members, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) recently released its 2007 membership survey. Here are some of the findings: </p>

<p><strong>Income.</strong> Agents' median income was $47,700 in 2006, down from $49,300 in 2004. Licensed brokers earned a median income of $73,700 last year, while sales agents earned $34,600. Approximately 42% of Realtors in 2006 with two years of experience or less grossed under $10,000 in 2006, while only 13% of those with three to five years' experience made under $10,000. Realtors with 16 years of experience or more grossed a median of $76,200. The median gross household income for Realtors was $101,700 in 2006, up from $101,400 in 2004. Brokers and broker-associate licensees made $122,000 per household, while sales agent licensees made $92,300. </p>

<p><strong>Age and gender.</strong> Women comprised 59% of the Realtor population. They also claim a larger share in each age group except for those older than 60, where the gender share shifts to a slight majority for males. The median age of agents has remained relatively constant at 51. The over-60 group makes up 25% of the population, while only 10% of Realtors are younger than 35. </p>

<p><strong>Education.</strong> More than 25% of all Realtors have earned a bachelor's degree. Additionally, 10% of agents have graduate degrees, 12% have associate's degrees and 34% have some college. </p>

<p>For more membership survey information, visit realtor.org. </p>






 
<p>MS,</p>

<p>Good point on the spell check. Tempo MLS programmer should have included this feature.</p>

<p>Don't you think realtors are somewhat "highly" educated people? And somewhat "underpaid"?</p>
 
What those stats are saying is that realtor brokers sold on average last year just 4 homes valued at around $600,000 (assuming 3% commission) and agents about 2. Was it really that slow last year?



I don’t think those salary stats apply to the sharper realtors like yourself (ones with degrees). I’ll bet during the boom years there were realtors selling at least a home per month and over the course of this cycle probably made up to a million dollars – practically enough on which to retire. So, I think those stats are misleading.



I’m sure there are many realtors that don’t do well, like the ones that don’t know enough to run their home descriptions through the MS Word spell checker prior to posting on MLS. They aren’t worth more than $35 grand per year, IMO.
 
<p>MS,</p>

<p>Sales volumes dropped 50% in 2006, another 50% drop in 2007. So you figure our income.</p>

<p>You are very correct with your assessment. The truth is, according to NAR's stat, there are only 4% of realtors who can really make a living selling homes. This is the reason why I treat my fellow realtors the best.</p>
 
Realtors should be required to have a financial license if they express their opinions on finance. If they don't have a financial license, they should defer their opinions to an accountant or a financial planner.
 
nirvinerealtor,





If you don't mind answering some similar questions. The buyer's agent has a conflict of interest, imo, on the one hand wants the highest commission possible for themselves and simultaneously representing a buyer who wants to pay the least possible and still get the place. There are other situations that I scratch my head about and wonder the following questions:





How much ethics training occurs to be come a Realtor(tm)? Within an office, who is responsable for policing ethics violations? Are there ever ethics violation investigations? What are the consequences that actually occur to the Realtor? Is there some form or disclosure that agents give to their clients regarding rules of conduct?





Thanks for your time.
 
nirvinerealtor - I would not say from the above statistics that realtors are over-educated or underpaid. Compared to the general population (in 2000, the last census), realtors only have slightly more education than the general public (8.3% graduate degrees; 16% bachelor's; 5.2% associate's degrees; and 20.41% some college). The average income for realtors is slightly higher than the average income for 2006, which was $46,326. But I think more telling is that the average income for someone with a bachelor's degree in 2006 was $49,303. If only about 25% of realtors have bachelor's degrees and their average income (for ALL realtors) is about $1,600 less than the average person who has a bachelor's degree, then it seems to me that realtors are actually overpaid. (If you want to check my sources, I got the education stats from the US 2000 census and the income stats from Wikipedia).
 
<p>Mel,</p>

<p>Thank you for the stats. My point was the income is not something to be impressed with.</p>

<p>Darin,</p>

<p>I must say we have very little training in ethics. In the office, there is no policing because realtors are independent contractors. Brokers make money off realtors; so it's the matter of risk v.s. income when it comes to discipline. According to stat, only 4% of ethic violation get reported to the DRE or to the local RE boards. Then the fine, after lenghthy investigation, is so minimum comparing to the gains from ethic violations. So you figure it's extremely unlikely that an ethic violator get reported or fined.</p>

<p>You are correct, agent signs agreement to protect client's best interest. However, it really boils down to character!</p>

<p>So how is the public get protected? Realtors are big targets for lawsuits. Agents who are sloppy with paperwork or not explaining enough to their clients get hurt in court.</p>

<p>I hope I explain well.</p>
 
<p>Hi NIR,</p>

<p>Now, come on. Seems to me that California Realtors have made more than that on average in the past few years....cripes, here 46K can be made on one transaction if you double end the right high end property....or two.</p>

<p>These stats include the entire U.S., right ? Well, you can buy a house for $ 30,000 in Rochester, NY right now. The commission is obviously horrible there, but it seems like that commission gets figured into your "national average". Do you have accurate stats for what CALIFORNIA Realtors made ? Seems to me that you are looking for sympathy and apples shouldn't be compared to oranges. But we love you !</p>
 
<p>Trooper,</p>

<p>You are good; I am looking for sympathy for all the realtors. The stat is in line with <a href="http://www.salary.com">www.salary.com</a> for an Irvine Real Estate agent. Please check out for your self.</p>

<p><em>But we love you ! .... </em>Are you sure, we? Thanks.</p>
 
Trooper - I would guess that a few of the brokers make the majority of the money and most of the agents are scrounging for anything they can find and probably support themselves with another occupation.
 
<p>awgee. True... but still hard to feel sorry for them. I believe they were part of the problem in the run up of prices... agreed about the brokers.</p>

<p>NIR, I checked that website and you are correct, however when I put my job and zip code it, it underpriced my base salary by 22K... wasn't even close. So...seems to be a lot of room for "movement" in the salaries....both up and down. And of course we kid you, but I'm sure most of us are quite fond of you at this point. :) </p>

<p> </p>

<p> </p>
 
<p>NIR,</p>

<p>As much as we give you a hard time we do love you. I am being very serious when I say you have added to the forums and the blog with your opinion. While I or others may disagree with you, you have the guts to come back and keep posting what you believe. That says a lot about a person and I can't say the same about the others who share your opinion that just make quick useless quips and go away quickly. You take a lickin and keep on tickin.</p>

<p>According to the EDD RE agents in OC in the first quarter 2007 made a mean annual income of slightly less than $67k this is down from $71.5K in first quarter 2005. Brokers made $111.5k in the first quarter 2005 but the data isn't available for 2007. Appraisers made a little more than $70k and loan officers made almost $80k this is up from 1st Q 2005. <a href="http://www.calmis.ca.gov/file/occup$/oeswages/Oran$oes.xls">http://www.calmis.ca.gov/file/occup$/oeswages/Oran$oes.xls</a> and for the other quarters <a href="http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/cgi/career/?PageID=3&SubID=152">http://www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/cgi/career/?PageID=3&SubID=152</a>. Sorry but salary.com sucks and I used this data prove an underwriter wrong once and it worked because they made a lot more than what salary.com said.</p>

<p>As for an opinion on the annual income numbers for a commission based job is not useful. Anyone who has ever been commissioned based knows you calculate how much you make by the hours you worked for it and break it down by the hour. To be successful in a commissioned based position this is the best way to do it otherwise you do not know how much your time is worth. Since it didn't take much work/hours to sell a home in the last few years the income isn't accurate and if you could compare it to today by the hour RE agents would be making a whole heck of a lot less. </p>

<p>As for the brokers taking the biggest cut from the RE commission isn't true for the agents who know where to work. REMAX gives 95% to the agent and Coldwell Banker is up there too. They may have to pay an office fee but if they are selling omes it doesn't matter. I know there are some that take more than they should give but these are an example that don't.</p>

<p>Just FYI police and sheriff's patrol made almost $73k and they have way better benefits than RE agents. You might say that RE agents don't have to dodge bullets but they will when they told buyers their home would appreciate 20% in 2 years because everyone makes money in RE. If I only knew that policemen/women make that kind of money to serve people and get benefits on top of that 10 years ago I may have chosen a different path. And I still think that is not enough pay for what they do. </p>
 
<p>Trooper,</p>

<p>I appreciate your kindness.</p>

<p>graphrix,</p>

<p>Many thanks! I admit there are more than once that I wanted to quit because I am not accustomed to this type of treatment in real life. Then I quickly realized that it is OK for people to freely expressed themselves. I am also very fond of many of my fellow bloggers as well.</p>

<p>I appreciate the provider of this blog, who is the provider BTW? I do have one guess. What makes this forum great, IMHO, is the good quality of bloggers (sincere, supportive, intelligent, knowledgable, talents, generous, humorous, green,....), sounds almost like a social support group to me , many thanks to IR.</p>

<p>I found <a href="http://www.salary.com">www.salary.com</a> to be a very good reference tool. It only provides data up to 90% percentile, and I know there are only a few handfull of very successful agents in Irvine, who are outside of the range.</p>

<p><em>"You might say that RE agents don't have to dodge bullets"</em> I have to strongly disagree here with you. I will say RE agents do have to dodge bullets, different kind of bullets. In my view, real estate business is a very dangerous profession in be in. Realtors are targeted for all kind of abuses under the sun (frauds, lawsuits, personal safety, just to name a few). To stay safe in the re bunisness, I felt that I always have to be 1 step ahead. Have you ever wondered how some re agents are so nasty and bitter?</p>

<p>Have a great summer day everyone...</p>
 
<p>NIR - Your dodging bullets opinion is the same as mine. I didn't word the sentence well and I should continued it with another sentence to make more sense. It was late and I have been busy, so my brain is on overload.</p>

<p>Zovall is the creator/provider of the blog. Becareful I have moderator capabilty too. </p>
 
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