Real estate is an interesting career choice, on many levels. As a market driven business, it experiences a cyclical motion...up then down then up then down...it's not a stable plateau item. It's also about people's homes, and that introduces an emotional component to the transaction equation. Often, people have to sell for sad reasons...death, divorce, moving to assisted living.
In a seller's market, it simply means low inventory, a lot of buyers, corresponding price increases, seller's in charge of the process. In a buyer's market, it simply means large inventory, few buyers, corresponding price decreases, buyer's in charge of the process.
Of course, a buyer is always the one who creates the market. Realtors and appraisers are simply the interpreters, and sellers are the ones who either benefit or not from the buyer's decisions.
In good times, people often decide to "go into" real estate. I've always thought that was an interesting way of describing it. It is a career that can suck one up, as the realtor is totally dependent, in a commission driven business model, on the buyer's readyness. There can be a lot of cancelled personal committments, due to having to be at the buyer's timetable. In a secondary home/discretionary marketplace, such as that found on Salt Spring Island and on the Southern Gulf Islands, no one "has to" move here; it's all by choice. In a downmarket, such a decision for a second or third home can be put on hold.
I remember a realtor telling me that the Real Estate Course purveyors (the Sauder School of Business, at the University of B.C.) should really warn people that they need 100,000 in the bank, before going into a real estate career. That's probably true, but I don't think it would happen very often! From the outside looking in, it always seems simple. It is, however, an expensive business, and the realtor has to shoulder all the expenses, and carry through difficult/down times, and be able to pay those expenses. It's probably a good idea for a new realtor, then, to choose to work for a company that offers a training programme and a "split", at least until the realtor becomes established, and especially in a downmarket moment.
After a full two years of "inactivity" on the Gulf Islands, it does seem that there are tiny baby steps towards action. No doubt, though, that price points have been seriously reduced from the heady days of early to mid 2005.
More info? Please contact me. liread33@gmail.com
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