Mommy, when I grow up, I want to be a REALTOR

It's interesting to see/hear about the disdain some folks have of people in our profession. So it makes me wonder when and why people decided to become Realtors. As kids, we wanted to be teachers, nurses, doctors, firemen, police officers. But as Realtors?

I was reading a local blogger's post and her readers' comments, and was dismayed to read where they thought it doesn't take much to be a realtor. (Viewing realtors as honest is another blog).

So I looked for information about Realtor profiles, etc.

And from the 2008 Member Profile of the National Association of Realtors, here are some gems:

• Real estate industry accounts for about 20% of the nation's gross domestic product, making it one of the largest sectors of the economy.
  

• EDUCATION
  • 34% are college educated (compared to 26% of the labor force as a whole)
    • 26% have Bachelor's degrees
    • 10% have graduate degrees and above
      
    • 
  • More than 1/3 of members have at least one professional designation (we have the thirst for knowledge!)
    • 19% have GRI (Graduate, Realtor Institute)
    • 14% ABR (Accredited Buyer Representative)
    • 10% CRS (Certified Residential Specialist)
• POLITICS
  • 95% are registered to vote
  • 91% voted in the last national election
  • 81% voted in the last local election
• CAREER
  • 5% say real estate is their first career (they're the ones who said, "Mommy, when I grow up, I want to be a Realtor"
  • 18% had careers in management, business or financial
  • 15% from retail
  • 10% from office or administrative support
  • 6% education
  • 5% homemaker
  • 77% report that they are full time realtors with no other profession
• WORK HOURS
  • 10% work fewer than 20 hours a week
  • 30% work 20-38 hours per week
  • 15% work at least 60 hours per week
  • $63K gross personal income by hours worked (median for 40-59 hours)
    
• LICENSE
  • 61% have a sales agent license
  • 24% have brokers' license
  • 16% are broker associates
  • 3% have appraiser license
• GENDER, AGE, NATIONALITY
  • 52% are women
  • Age
    • 14% are 65 years old or over
    • 5% are under 30 years of age
    • 6% are 20-34 years old
  • Nationality
    • 15% of Realtors are fluent in other language
    • 87% are Caucasian
    • 5% Hispanic
    • 4% African American
    • 3% Asian
    • 1% Native American
    • Note that responsdents could choose more than one category
• TRANSACTIONS AND SOURCES OF BUSINESS
  • 8 is the median number of transactions in 2007, down from 10 in 2006
    • Median Realtor income was $42,600 in 2007, down from $47,700 in 2006
    • Realtors in the business for 2 years or less earned a median of $10,500
    • Realtors in the business 3-5 years earned a median of $52,000
    • Realtors in the business 16 years or more earned $69,500
    • Typical NAR member has been in the business for 8 years
    • 30% of all Realtor's business is from referrals or repeat business from previous clients
      • 2% referral business for newcomers to as high as 47% for realtors with at least 16 years of experience
    • 1/3 of Realtors have clients who are foreign nationals
• BUSINESS
  • 18% of Realtors are in the business for 2 years or less, down from 23% of Realtors in 2006  (yes, we've had some new realtors drop out)
    • 7 out of 10 are compensated through a split commission arrangement
    • 18% receive all of the commission
    • 3% receive a commission plus a share of the profits
    • 7 out of 10 do not have any fringe benefits from their firm
    • 23% are covered by errors and omissions insurance
    • 93% must obtain health insurance on their own
  • 76% specialize in residential real estate
• TECHNOLOGY
  • 8% use blogs (the number doubled from the previous year)
  • 6 out 10 have a personal website they have maintained for a median of 4 years
  • 89% said their firm has a web site
    • 4 inquiries the past year from a personal website, that accounts for 4% of the business in 2007
  • Tools
    • 34% use smartphones with email and internet capability
    • 27% use digital camaras
    • 19% use GPS
    • 18% use instant messaging
• PROPERTY OWNERSHIP 
  • 9 out of 10 realtors own their own home
  • 41% own at least one investment home
  • 17% own at least one vacation home
  • 13% own at least one commercial property

So hooray for Realtors!