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Who Are We?

By
Real Estate Agent with RE/MAX Shoreline - NH and Maine NH and Maine Broker

Active Rain Group


Who are we?  Most of us already know who we are, or at least which direction we're going in. 



So, why the title?




REALTOR

I just read through the 2007 NAR Member Profile that was just released a bit ago, and I found some interesting stats in there.  It's a GREAT read, if you like that kind of information!

Who are we?  The average REALTOR is a white 51 year old married female, who owns her own home and lives there with only her spouse.  She's college-educated, and her household income is over $100,000.

One in ten REALTORS are under the age of 35, and 25% are over the age of 60.


The average number of years in the business is 7 years.  The median age of those who've been in the business for 2 years or less is 43 years old, while those with 16 years of experience of more are at least 55 years old. 

What about our work experience?  For 4% of REALTORS, real estate is our first career.  For those of us with 16 years in the business, 9% have said real estate is our only career.  For those who said real estate isn't their first career, most of them came from previous careers in management, business, finance, or sales fields.  I was surprised that teaching didn't show, as I know many former teachers in real estate in my area.

USA Flag

                   "America the Beautiful"   

90% of those of us under 40 years of age were born here in the USA, while 93% of those 60 and older were born here in the USA.                                      




Our level of education exceeds that of the general population, with 44% of us holding a Bachelor's degree versus 25% of the general population holding a Bachelor's degree.  8% of us have completed some graduate level courses, and 10% of us have a Graduate degree of some sort.

What about incomes?  For REALTORS holding either a Broker or Broker-Associate license, our gross median household income is $122,100, and just about 25% of those of us that are either Brokers or Broker-Associates have gross household incomes over $200,000.  For sales agent licensees, their gross median household income was $92,300.

The median gross income of those with at least 16 years experience is about five times more than the median gross income of those with less than 2 years experience.  That would stand to reason, at least to me, since typically experience should bring greater incomes.


computer keyboardHow about some business numbers...........  six in ten of us have websites for business purposes, with about 1/3 of us having had our websites for 5 years or more.  Blogs - 4% of us use blogs, 10% plan to have one.  


REALTORS with less than 2 years experience in the business are the least likely to have a website, but they plan to have one in the next 18 months or so.   REALTORS with 3-5 years experience are the age group that most likely has a website.  The typical REALTOR has received four inquiries from their websites.




The importance of designations to us
:  the most desired designation to us is the ABR, while GRI is the most commonly held designation.  18% of us have earned GRI.  e-PRO is the most commonly held certification, with 9% of holding that certification.  How many of us have no designations?  Seventy percent have no designation of any kind.

                 GRI             e-PRO              CBR

Do we own real estate?  91% of us own our own home, while the general population shows a rate of 70% owning their own homes.  17% of us own at least one vacation type home; 39% of us own at least one residential property in addition to our primary homes or vacation homes.  13% of us own three or more homes, and 11% of us own at least 1 commercial property. 

Want some other numbers?

  • 72% of us are married
  • 60% of us work at least 40 hours a week
  • We've been at our current offices for about 4 years
  • 95% of us are registered to vote
  • 70% of us have a home office
  • 80% of us are 'fairly certain' we'll be in the business in the next 2 years
  • 85% of us are fluent only in English


I find this kind of information interesting, and if you'd like to read more detailed information on the 2007 NAR Member Profiles, go to Realtor.org to the REALTOR Team Store to buy your copy. 

While you're there, check out the other 2007 Profiles that have recently been released - some great info there in all that research!



                                      
 

 

 

Posted by

Ann CummingsREALTOR, e-PRO, GRI, CBR

Ann Cummings and Jim Lee formed a team in July of 2010.
Each bring over 30 years of successful real estate experience to the table so with Ann and Jim you truly do get two Realtors for the price of one. We’re dedicated to delivering exceptional service to you our clients and customers; past, present, and future.

Jim LeeCRS, ABR, GRI, e-PRO

Comments (54)

Gary Bolen
McCall Realty - South Lake Tahoe, CA
CRS - Lake Tahoe Real Estate Information

Thanks for taking your time on this one Ann. CRS not appearing as first preferred designation is disappointing. We've got most all of them, and CRS is the most helpful of them all by a landslide.

cheers 

Oct 20, 2007 09:28 AM
Tom Braatz Waukesha County Real Estate 262-377-1459
Coldwell Banker - Oconomowoc, WI
Waukesha County Realtor Real Estate agent. SOLD!

Holy cow Ann, It looks like you were writing your dissertation.

I laved you post, and it brought out sme great statistics and interesting points, It seems like you covered everything from education, type of Realtors, their sex, age, howlong they have been in business,if indeed they are registeredto vote, where is their business, and if they are biligual, You put a loy of time intothis and it shows.

Great post

Tom BRaatz

Oct 20, 2007 09:52 AM
"The Lovely Wife" The One And Only TLW.
President-Tutas Towne Realty, Inc. - Kissimmee, FL

Ann...

Not much left to say as Blog Boy stole my comment :)

What I will say is that I completely understand why you would choose that pic as your graphic for this post :)

It says it all :)

TLW...ROAR!

Oct 20, 2007 10:11 AM
Carole Cohen
Howard Hanna Cleveland City Office - Cleveland, OH
Realtor, ePRO
Ann, nice photo! Being a Realtor® is certainly my favorite career!
Oct 20, 2007 10:44 AM
Ann Cummings
RE/MAX Shoreline - NH and Maine - Portsmouth, NH
Portsmouth NH Real Estate Preferrable Agent

Al - I don't think a week has gone by in all the years I've been in real estate that I didn't work at the very least 40 hours, unless I was away on vacation.  I don't think I know how to work less than that!

Gary - CRS is definitely the one I know most would attribute to bringing in more money, at least those I know who have their CRS designation.  I was a little suprised that ABR has now become the most desired designation.  I had my CRS designation for a number of years, but got ticked off that I had to keep paying to use what I had earned, so I let it go.  I've been giving serious thought for a bit now about getting it back.


Thanks for the comments!
Ann

Oct 20, 2007 11:13 AM
Ann Cummings
RE/MAX Shoreline - NH and Maine - Portsmouth, NH
Portsmouth NH Real Estate Preferrable Agent

Tom - my 'dissertation', huh?  I guess, with all those stats in there, it could look like the start of one.  It was interesting reading, and then summarizing it here in this post.

TLW - yep, that picture jumped right into my mind when I was putting this post together!  Blog Boy did pretty much cover it all, didn't he?  "....sooooooo good looking', too.

Carole - my favorite career, too! 


Thanks for taking the time to read and comment!!
Ann

Oct 20, 2007 11:16 AM
Therese VanderMeer
Midwest Properties of MI - Grand Rapids - Jenison, MI
Realtor-Greater Grand Rapids, MI area communities

Ann,  Thanks for your blog...I very much enjoyed the stats.  I have to admit I was pretty surprised with the paragraph on designations and that 70% of Realtors did not have any.  In being relatively new to real estate I really had the impression that the majority of Realtors would have or want to attain these designations.

Wow...you learn something everyday. :)

All the Best,

Oct 20, 2007 12:00 PM
Ann Cummings
RE/MAX Shoreline - NH and Maine - Portsmouth, NH
Portsmouth NH Real Estate Preferrable Agent

Hi Therese - thanks for reading, and I was surprised as well at how many had no designations at all.  Designations are heavily promoted, so don't let that stat sway you into not obtaining any.  Go after those that interest you!

Thanks for your comments.
Ann

Oct 20, 2007 12:12 PM
Tracey Thomas
BrokerInTrust Real Estate - Calabasas, CA
CA Real Estate Broker
Great stats, thanks for sharing.  I always want to know where I fit in....or if I even do.  Looks like I'm pretty average for a Real Estate Broker.  Who knew?  Thanks, now I feel normal.
Oct 20, 2007 01:00 PM
Ann Cummings
RE/MAX Shoreline - NH and Maine - Portsmouth, NH
Portsmouth NH Real Estate Preferrable Agent

Hi Tracey - glad to help you feel 'normal'!  I like reading up on stats like this, and knowing how I compare, too. 

Thanks for reading!
Ann

Oct 20, 2007 01:14 PM
Lynda Eisenmann
Preferred Home Brokers - Brea, CA
Broker Associate ,CRS,GRI,SRES, Brea,CA, Orange Co

Hey Ann,

Just saw this post and loved it. I too read the NAR survey, but you put things together so well, you made it every easy to digest. Looks like I'm in the 4% minority of r.e. being my first (and only, unless you count my 6 months saying "attention K-mart shoppers) career, the the 93% of those over 60 who were born here.

Thanks again, great job!

Oct 20, 2007 01:56 PM
Ann Cummings
RE/MAX Shoreline - NH and Maine - Portsmouth, NH
Portsmouth NH Real Estate Preferrable Agent

Hi Lynda - thanks for that nice comment!  When I wrote this, I tried to put it together so it would be easy to read, as I know many aren't into numbers.  I thought all that info was really interesting to read.

Thanks for stopping by!
Ann

Oct 20, 2007 11:37 PM
Mitchell J Hall
Manhattan, NY
Lic Associate RE Broker - Manhattan & Brooklyn

Hi Ann,

Interesting post and stats. Thanks for reporting this. After reading the stats which I think are somewhat impressive, I'm suprised at how many real estate blogs and bloggers are always writing about how low the bar is to enter and remain in real estate when all they are really doing is perpetuating the negative stereotype about REALTORS®.

Oct 20, 2007 11:48 PM
Ann Cummings
RE/MAX Shoreline - NH and Maine - Portsmouth, NH
Portsmouth NH Real Estate Preferrable Agent

Hi Mitchell - you bring up an interesting point about how often we do read about the bar being low to get into our profession.  I often wonder if they realize they're doing just what you wrote - feeding into the negative stereotyping that goes on.  We really should stop feeding into that ourselves.

Thanks for reading and for sharing your comment!
Ann

Oct 21, 2007 12:00 AM
Eric Kodner
Madeline Island Realty - La Pointe, WI
CRS, Madeline Island Realty, LaPointe, WI 54850 -

Ann, lots of interesting data to chew on!

Okay, now that we have the NAR member demographic survey, how about someone putting together a survey of Active Rain members?  I imagine the stats would be impressive!

Oct 21, 2007 12:19 PM
Ann Cummings
RE/MAX Shoreline - NH and Maine - Portsmouth, NH
Portsmouth NH Real Estate Preferrable Agent

Hi Eric - now that would make for some interesting data!  And it would be really interesting to see how set of data would stack up to NAR's Member Profile.  Interesting thought!!

Ann

Oct 21, 2007 12:28 PM
Lola Audu
Lola Audu~Audu Real Estate~Grand Rapids, MI Real Estate - Grand Rapids, MI
Audu Real Estate~Grand Rapids, MI ~Welcome Home!
Hi Ann, Thanks so much for this link.  Thoroughly enjoyed reading this post.  Statistics can be so fascinating to read. I'm not the average Realtor...but sure enjoy meeting her vicariously. :)
Oct 22, 2007 10:41 AM
Ann Cummings
RE/MAX Shoreline - NH and Maine - Portsmouth, NH
Portsmouth NH Real Estate Preferrable Agent

Hi Lola - I'm not quite the average REALTOR either.  I thought the information in this book was interesting, and am glad to see others find it that way as well.

Thanks for your comments!
Ann

Oct 22, 2007 10:44 AM
Dena Stevens
Rocky Mountain Realty - Canon City, CO
Putting The Real Into Realtor Since 2004
Ann - I don't fit the mold AT ALL. But I've always heard (where?) that Realtors broke the mold. We come in all forms and sizes. I'm surprised at this information.
Oct 25, 2007 01:37 PM
Ann Cummings
RE/MAX Shoreline - NH and Maine - Portsmouth, NH
Portsmouth NH Real Estate Preferrable Agent

Hi Dena - this info was just a compilation of the information gathered during their surveys, and then extrapolated into a 'typical REALTOR' from that info.  Some of it I fit into, some I didn't. 

Interesting info throughout the report, which is far more detailed than I included here.

Ann

Oct 29, 2007 12:46 PM