You're not getting older - you're getting better, says a new survey from the National Association of REALTORS®. According to the results, the typical member of the National Association of REALTORS® is better educated, embraces new technology and has more training than agents in the past.

"The 1998 National Association of Realtors Member Profile'' describes the typical Realtor as 52 years-old, working 45 hours a week, and as having been in the business for 13 years. The typical Realtor grossed $43,500 in 1998. The median gross income for a broker was $63,100, while the typical real estate agent earned $30,300. Fifty-four percent of the NAR membership is female.

Realtors are educated professionals, says the survey. About 87 percent of Realtors have some college education compared with 49 percent of the general adult population in the United States.

NAR President Sharon A. Millett believes that having higher education translates into higher incomes for Realtors. "Real estate professionals who have completed at least some college work have incomes $8,000 higher than their counterparts,'' said Millett. "The difference is even wider for those with bachelor degrees, where incomes are nearly one-third higher than members without degrees,'' she added.

A quarter of NAR members have achieved at least a bachelor's degree, while 18 percent have done some graduate work or have finished a graduate degree. However, 49 percent of brokers have a bachelor's degree and 23 percent have done at least some graduate work, an 8 percentage point increase since 1978.

The survey also showed that nearly half of all NAR members hold at least one professional designation, with one-quarter of the membership holding the Graduate Realtor Institute (GRI) designation, awarded to members completing 90 hours of classroom instruction covering a variety of residential real estate subjects. Fifteen percent of NAR members belong to at lease one of the association's affiliated institutes, societies and councils.

Technology statistics are much more optimistic for Realtors than in the past. In fact, the profession has taken a pounding for being behind the technology curve. But according to the latest statistics, nearly nine out of ten Realtors own or lease a computer, and 62 percent surveyed said they use e-mail and the Internet for business purposes. Nearly three out of ten individual members have a Web page (74 percent said their company has a Web page), and 57 percent report at least 1 percent of their business is generated from on-line services. Professionals who use a computer earn $22,600 more than their counterparts who do not, the survey found.

"Data from other NAR surveys show use of the Internet in the home search process has mushroomed in the last four years, rising from only 2 percent in 1995 to 23 percent currently,'' Millett said. "This upward trend in the growing use of technology means more and more home buyers are doing their homework on-line, and real estate professionals are playing a greater role in interpreting information and providing transactional services,'' she added.

Other statistical evidence exists that the actual number of Realtors using the Internet for business is directly affected by whether or not their MLS information service providers offer Internet access software or a browser-based Internet MLS. According to Jerry Matthews, executive vice president with the Florida Association of REALTORS®, over 90% of Realtors have access to the Internet, but he says less than 25% use the Internet for business due to lack of Internet-based information services, a situation he hopes to correct with the introduction of FAR's "Powerhouse," an Internet-based MLS system co-designed by MLSToday to FAR's specifications. Powerhouse has been rolled out in an offering to MLS organization members of the Living Network states, includi ng California, Connecticut, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Mexico, North Dakota, Tennessee and Wyoming.

The Middle Tennessee Regional MLS put its entire membership on an Internet MLS over a year ago with great success according to the MLS organizations COO, Stuart White. White's goal was to look at what the MLS should be doing - helping agents on the transaction side. With the technological help of Marketlinx, the two companies created a virtual MLS for its 7,000 members to gain the upper hand on online transaction management. According to White, the members were ecstatic, and the MTMLS is on its way to becoming one of the first MLSs in the nation to restore control of the real estate transaction back in the hands of its members through the development of online transaction management and third-party service.

As the Internet provides an international outreach, so does the gift of language. Dr. Fred Flick, vice president of economic research for NAR, said that 16 percent of Realtors conducted at least 1 percent of their business in a language other than English during 1998. "Interestingly, the typical real estate professional who conducts business in other languages earns more money -- $50,600 in 1998 compared with $42,000 for professionals using English only,'' he said.

The typical Realtor is associated with an independently owned, non- franchised firm (52 percent) that has one sales office and an average of 18 sales associates. Most agents have worked for only one other firm in their careers, and are staying with their current firms longer (5 years). Nearly a quarter of all NAR members, including almost half of brokers, have an ownership stake in their firms. Thirty-eight percent of the total membership is affiliated with a franchise, while 9 percent are affiliated with a national or regional corporation.

Fifty-three percent of Realtors practice buyer agency, seller agency and disclosed dual agency for in-company transactions. Nineteen percent practice single agency (for buyer or seller but not both in the same transaction), 13 percent practice seller agency exclusively and 8 percent practice buyer agency exclusively. In addition, 22 percent use at least one personal assistant in their real estate dealings. Three out of five members maintain a home office.

Most of the association membership, 82 percent, focus primarily on residential brokerage. Secondary activities most cited include land brokerage (31 percent), relocation and commercial brokerage (21 percent each), and property management (15 percent).

Editor's Note: "The 1999 National Association of Realtors Member Profile'' randomly surveyed 40,000 members on the demographic, economic and professional characteristics of NAR members. The response rate was just over 19 percent with a margin of error of about 1 percentage point.

Published: July 14, 1999

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