Real Estate News

According to a recent survey, 2005 was a very good year for Florida brokers and sales associates. Profits increased for 83 percent of the Florida firms that responded to the survey conducted by the National Association of Realtors®. In the 2004 survey, 66 percent reported higher profits. 2006 profit figures will probably reflect the slowdown in the market, but those figures are not yet available.

Lots of New Brokerage Offices

Other statistics in the report give some insights into the Florida real estate industry. For example, while 45 percent of real estate firms have been in business for at least 15 years, a full 15 percent of firms were less than one year old, a statistic that reflects the large number of broker applicants on the state exam.

Sales Associate Turnover

Turnover among licensees is higher than in brokerage firms specializing in residential properties (37 percent of the firms lost between 10 and 50 percent of their licensees, versus 28 percent for all types of real estate firms). More persons joined firms in 2005 than left, however, with the median firm gaining four associates while losing only one.

Franchises Help the Broker

86 percent of brokers who have franchise affiliations believe the franchise name helped in acquiring listings and increased their sales volume. 81 percent believed the franchise improved their training, and that the franchise helped them recruit sales associates.

The Brokers’ Bread and Butter is Residential Property

82 percent of Florida brokerage firms specialize in residential property. Commercial property firms are a distant second, with 8 percent.

Expenditures on Training Programs Increased

Because there were so many new sales associates, 61 percent of Residential brokers increased the amount spent on training. Less than two percent reduced training expenses.

Web Site Content

90 percent of brokerage firms feature property listings. Most have profiles of their sales associates available. Providing financial calculators, information on the community, and information on buying and selling real estate is common.

You can find the full report at: http://www.planetrealtor.com/Florida/…

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 25th, 2006 at 4:51 pm and is filed under Real Estate School News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Bookmark on del.icio.us