The tide of the real estate market ebbs and flows. The past few years the business has been so good everyone wanted a piece of the action. Now the tide is changing leaving many short-timers rethinking their strategy. According to Business Week the National Association of Realtors is experiencing a drop in membership for the first time since 1996.
Dues to belong to the National Association are not terribly high, I believe I paid around 5 or 6 hundred dollars. Of course when you are serious about your business and work everyday to grow, that amount of money is just another cost of doing business.
On the other hand when you dabble in real estate selling only a house now and then, the price of membership goes beyond the cost of what a hobbiest real estate agent cares to pay.
Now that the market isn’t ripe with low hanging fruit, many are finding now is a good time to look for other options. Of course there is nothing wrong with this. I just feel sorry for all the “orphan consumers” who are left holding their unsold listings or are tied into an existing offer than needs some serious transaction management.
Part timers in the real estate industry make it hard for everyone, consumers, associates and themselves. Real estate is and will always be a full time job. Trying to make real estate a career with anything less than 40-50 hours a week is a disservice to all involved, including the part-timer.
I remember once talking to a broker-manager friend of mine. She said a huge part of her job was helping agents discover other employment!
It just goes to show, it make look easy but selling real estate is a difficult, time consuming job. This is my 24th year in the business. I’m beginning to think I might just hang around another decade or two!
<Inspiration for post belongs to ResPres for leading me to the link via Twitter!>
About the Author
Kristal Kraft
Kristal has been helping buyers and sellers in Colorado since 1984. She enjoys sharing her knowledge of the Metro Denver Real Estate market via blogging and in person while driving around the beautiful Rocky Mountain town of Denver! For fun, Kristal enjoys shooting things with a Canon. Visit Denver Photo Blog
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