Real estate has been going through some massive changes in the last 12 months. So the question that has been brought up, "what is the future for real estate agents?" More people have been getting into real estate thinking that it is a way for "easy money". As a result the real estate market is flooded with agents. In time a few will drop out once they realize that the "easy money" is not so easy to obtain. I personally know 3 that have already dropped out of real estate. The sad thing is this one agent tried so hard to make real estate work that he lost his home to foreclosure. One agent had a cleaning business prior to getting their license and has since gone back to running their cleaning business. And the last agent is a teacher who thought that working as an agent would be great for additional income when students were out of school for Summer break. This Summer that agent is now teaching summer school.
So what are some of the changes that I have seen recently:
- There are many more of these so called 100% Brokerages.
- There are a growing number of "real estate companies" where the business model is not as a "brokerage" and agents are employees and may not always need to be licensed or be a part of a local REALTOR Association. Their business model is similar to that of commercial real estate and business brokerages.
- There is a grass roots push to end all local REALTOR Associations and operate only under one Statewide Association. In California that would be California Association of Realtors.
- It was announced within the last couple of months by Gary Keller that Keller Williams would be restructuring how they do business. They intend to change their business model to that that would give a client that "one stop shopping" experience and thereby be able to provide services at a reduced cost. Saving clients possibly thousands of dollars when buying or selling a home.