Realtor Career and Challenging Times in California

Published by Christian Munive on

realtor career questions

We have recently have published an article on realtor career and in this post we would like to elaborate on some of the important issues in regards to the current state of California’s real estate market and real estate agent’s income.

With the rise of unemployment in our state and the drop in real estate value many agents started losing the enthusiasm and necessary drive to succeed in today’s market. It is understandable but is it productive? Hardly.

Attitude the corner stone of business success and it is especially true in realtor business. Is market dead? No. Real estate transaction numbers have declined but the real estate business still goes on. What we experiencing now is less profitable situation where attitude of sellers and buyers has changed. And perhaps it is time where real estate agents start adapting to these changes.

As a realtor you have to identify new market trends and that will give you solid clues on who your prospects are and what are their motivation. First, this is a frugal market, therefore it is not the luxurious lifestyle that drives buyers, but a real estate bargain. Second, unemployment is high and income has been reduced for many, there are many people who looking at short sale as the solution to their current situation. Third, tax incentives have created a wave of home buyers who want to become home owners of affordable properties. Many of them are first-time buyers. These three factors may help you to define your target market and your specialty.

Now, more than ever a real estate agent has to understand that they are in business for themselves. That means you have to take a close look at the fees you are paying to your broker, on real estate agent commission splits, on how much broker given leads really costing you, on the expenses that come out of your pocket, on the time you spend driving to the broker office and back, the gas you spend on commute and the time you waste in the office.


4 Comments

Admin · January 22, 2012 at 7:52 pm

we just have updated our website.

Eddy · May 12, 2012 at 12:56 pm

Just like any sales position .you have to put the time in. However, wronikg long hours doesn’t always equal big commissions. You have to work smart and efficient. Part of wronikg smart involves planning your schedule and sticking to it aka time blocking .always set time for meetings, making calls, updating your database, and even vacation. It works.

Jonathan · October 9, 2012 at 2:52 am

First I would read any contracts I had snegid when hiring’ my agent or the actual offer. Then I would ask for my money back immediately. If they can’t or won’t issue a check I would go to and file a complaint with the CA Dept. of Real Estate. They have zero tolerance with trust fund violations. If the owner rejected your offer, there was no deal for the buyer to back out of and the check should not have been cashed if they used a CAR offer form. I would ask my next agent if they are a REALTOR.

Mariyam · July 29, 2013 at 8:30 pm

What I love is when the realtors try to say not to inslut the seller with a so-called “low-ball offer”, as if it would be rude to threaten the seller’s fragile ego by challenging their 2005-based price expectations. So why are sellers not concerned with not insluting an informed buyer with unrealistic prices, which are elevated primarily based on the false expectation of future appreciation? We’ve shown that claim (“real estate only goes UP”), to be pure BS, and we’re seeing at least a 10% appreciation in most markets in the next year. So WHY exactly are they asking people to pay a price derived on 2001-2006 results, now in 2007?Haven’t the sellers heard the old mantra, “past performance is no guarantee of future returns”? Criminy, they’re trying to see a speculative investment like a lottery ticket AFTER the lottery was held, and we’ve found the ticket is a LOSER of an investment at this point. Worse, buying right now for most of us is a guaranteed bleeding investment in short-term (next 5-10 years).I guess in their minds, the old chestnut “real estate always goes UP” outweighs the even more universal rule of finance that “what goes up, must go down”.Screw em’: I won’t even waste time trying to teach the fiscally uneducated masses who are asking unrealistic prices what kind of market we’re now in.

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