By Mike Bodeen · 25 January 2021
Last week was part one of what became a two part article about the in-your-face bad odds of being able to make it full time in real estate. Key words: “full time.” Anyone can get licensed and join a real estate company. You can see the number below of active agents who do just that. In this case active agents just means they’re annually paying board and Multiple Listing Service dues under a broker, such as our company, HomeSmart. Making a livelihood (your career) is a completely different ball game.
Those numbers (updated):
5,666 – The number of active home listings on ARMLS located in Phoenix Metro.
5,556 – The number of Broker’s offices* in the ARMLS database
18,005 – The number of homes currently under contract (1/24/2021)
30,000 – Guestimate of “sale sides” in a deal (buyer agent-seller agent)
44,500 – Active agents paying dues to belong to the ARMLS system
For every active listing there are 8 MLS members. So, there’s approximately one (1) listing per office* (rounded), and one listing per 8 members.
(*One office means one “Designated Broker.” Most often, a one person company)
To further bum your trip, thousands of agents have multiple deals going at once. For example, Jonathan and I had eleven escrows as of last week. So, reality is that a very high percentage of agents don’t do any business at all, or maybe one deal per year – or three years. They are PT! (Part Timers) They keep licensed because it’s financially worth their while to do so. Even if they only sold one house every three years, it’s not a bad payday. But woe to their client., who may or may not realize they are dealing with an inexperienced agent.
‘Highly strategic and creative offers are necessary to compete, and even then the odds are long.’
Three years ago, if an agent was pulling comparable sales to determine the value of a seller’s soon-to-be listed home, the industry/appraisal norm would be to find sales that closed in the past 6 months. This past year, the industry norm became 3 months. Now, we’re asking, what went under contract this past week? These changing market dynamics are happening in real time. Does a PT understand this? Most do not. Hopefully, PT’s would have some professional relationships within their company who can help guide them.
And what about PT’s representing buyers? OMG! Our current market is very reminiscent of 2005 as far as craziness for buyers to find a home and actually get it under contract. Highly strategic and creative offers are necessary to compete, and even then the odds are long.
We use to say the three most important words in real estate were location, location, location. (Still true of course) But now three very important words for buyers are patience, patience, patience.
Should you check real estate out as a full-time career? I would say this. If you have myriad supply of continuous prospects, you “genuinely” like AND give a rip for people, you have the means to take the time to learn to earn, to financially survive, then thrive. Do it. It’s the best.
-MIKE BODEEN
P.S. The Record Arizona Home Sale Price Per Square Foot just sold! Check it out!