By Mike Bodeen · 18 May 2026
Changes Are Ahead
For the last two weeks, we’ve looked at who makes up a present-day Realtor.* We saw that the current Realtor, according to data from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), was a 49-year-old woman with some college, working for a large real estate company in California and earning $55,000 per year. Further, she would be married, with kids still at home.
*REALTOR is a trademark of the National Association of Realtors and is not to be confused with the generic term for a real estate agent.
Will these combined demographics change the makeup of a future Realtor? It will, but probably not in the near future.
The industry itself will change. Indeed, it is changing now. Only a slow, mostly buyer’s market is preventing a massive tectonic shift in the industry, but in time, that will change.
Just how will it change?
Fewer People Will Enter Real Estate and More Will Exit.
The biggest change may be the matter of compensation that a buyer’s agent will be paid, and who will be paying them. The net effect of that will be far fewer people becoming Realtors, and more Realtors dropping out of the business. The average income of many (most) Realtors will drop.
Large brokerages will design systems that continue to pay a listing agent’s company 3%, while only paying a total of zero to 1% to a buyer’s agent’s company. The original agent who showed the home may be paid hourly or a salary with perhaps a bonus – think Builder’s agents.
“But it will be near curtains for newbies to get into and stay in the market. I mean, it’s tough now, how much more so when commission incomes are fewer and lesser.”
The new system may include buyer’s agents within the same company whose sole job will be just to show the home to prospective buyers—that’s it. This could involve showing homes to buyers or holding open houses. Once a buyer is interested enough to make an offer, they will be turned over to an agent specializing in writing offers and negotiating. When a deal is struck, a transaction coordinator team will finish the process. Think car sales.
In a seller’s market, the buyer’s company’s normal fee will be greatly reduced unless they can convince a buyer to hire them at a much larger fee. Indeed, some buyers will do this as they see the value of separate representation and valuable experience that a professional buyer’s agent can bring to the table.
But it will be near curtains for newbies to get into and stay in the market. I mean, it’s tough enough now, how much more so if commission incomes are lower?
Much of the above is predicated on the return of a Phoenix seller’s market. Right now, buyers and their agents are in the driver’s seat, as buyers remain too important—and most sellers are savvy enough to get that.
As you can see from the chart above, our market is now in its 16th consecutive month of a buyer’s market. (90–100 indicates a balanced market.)