Who Are We?

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

So, why the title?

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.

                   "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.

How 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.

                                           

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!