Florida Realtors: Still Hanging in There
Karl Mooney recently wrapped up a nine-day training session with Signature GMAC Realty in the Orlando housing market - to become a sales agent. Residential real-estate sales have been slowing locally and nationally, yet many are still flocking to the field.
“Some people might question our sanity,” said Mooney, a longtime educator and former University of Central Florida athletic-department executive. But Mooney, 57, said real estate still offers opportunities, and he figures that, with the market slower, “it’s a good time to get in and learn the business.”
Membership in the Orlando Regional Realtor Association has fallen from a peak of 12,400 last December to 11,970, reflecting the recent slowdown in housing sales.
The 3.5 percent membership drop is less than the trade group had anticipated, but Randy Martin, president of the Orlando Association, said he still expects the group’s membership to dwindle further this year.
“The business is just not out there. Some people haven’t had a closing in a year,” said Martin, an agent with Re/Max 200 Realty in Winter Park.
The size of the reduction will become clearer later this month, when Multiple Listing Service fees are paid, and again at the end of the year, when Realtor fees are due, he said. One indicator shows that the pipeline for future Realtors is shrinking: Real-estate classes are attracting fewer students.
“The numbers are definitely down at all of the larger schools around the state,” said Dick Fryer, founder and president of the Institute of Florida Real Estate Careers, the largest private real-estate school in the Orlando area.
IFREC, which in recent years has taught more than 20,000 students a year in 11 counties, has seen its student population drop this year by about 40 percent.
“We’re all seeing about a 40 percent reduction,” Fryer said, and “it has to translate to lower membership [for Realtor associations] down the line.”
With real estate sales agents leaving the field and unemployment rates at near-historic lows, other industries are looking to attract applicants ready for a new career in the face of stagnant Florida mortgage loan demand.
New York Life Insurance Co., for example, recently ran a recruitment ad in Realtor magazine, and company representatives note that many of the skills that Realtors possess are easily transferable to the insurance field.
Even in some of the region’s faster-growing counties, such as Osceola, the number of Florida real estate agents is heading down. Membership in the Osceola County Association of Realtors, for example, has dipped 4.5 percent from 2,975 late last year.
Still, about 70 people a month have continued to join so far this year, nearly double the number the group had anticipated, said David Bennett, its chief executive officer.
Even the Orlando Regional Realtor Association’s membership, despite the drop from its December peak, is still up more than 2 percent from about this time a year ago, when the Florida housing market was much stronger.
It is getting tougher to make money in the business, though, as sales have slowed and commissions have been cut by competition from the Internet and discount Florida mortgage brokerages.
Median income for Realtors nationwide last year was $47,700, down from $49,300 in 2004 and nearly 9 percent less than the $52,200 median in 2002, according to a national survey. The National Association of Realtors’ membership survey showed that, for newcomers in the field, the pickings are slim as they compete with veterans.
Realtors in the business for two years or less earned a median of $15,300 last year; those with at least 16 years of experience earned $76,200.
Despite the pinch in income, membership in the National Association of Realtors rose again in 2006, to nearly 1.36 million, from 1.26 million in 2005. A Realtor is a member of the national association, and about half of all people with a real-estate license hold the designation.
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