Realtors, an Educated Crowd?
June 24th, 2009
Categories:Off Topic
Is the real estate industry filled with professional, educated and experienced Realtors? Or are they just a bunch of high school dropouts?
Arizona is home to over 63,000 Realtors. Ready for another surprising statistic? According to ARMLS, just over 9,000 homes were sold in Arizona last month… which means there are 7 Realtors for every home that sold last month. Which clearly points out there are far too many Realtors in this industry and not enough of them are serious about their career.
The beautiful part about becoming a Realtor in Arizona is that obtaining a license only requires 90 hours of class and passing a test. All of which has nothing to do with being a quality service provider.
Which begs the question…
“How educated are Realtors?”
Last year NAR published theses statistics about Realtors.
% of Realtors with the Education Level Listed Below:
- Graduate Degree – 10%
- Bachelor’s Degree - 34%
- Some College Experience - 46%
- High School Graduate - 10%
According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), over half the Realtors practicing a limited form of law and looking over your largest investment don’t hold a college degree.
For this reason, designations have become a popular form of continued education for Realtors. Some designations specialize in specific areas, others cover several aspects of the industry to help develop the real estate agent.
Here are a few of the well known designations:
ABR – Accredited Buyer’s Representative:
- 3 Days of class devoted to protecting the buyer and providing a high quality buying experience.
- Requires the experience of successfully closing 5 transactions as the buyer’s representative.
- NAR states 13% of Realtors hold this designation
GRI – Graduate Realtor Institute:
- 90 hours of education designed to teach the Realtor everything they need to know to get started as a Realtor.
- This designation takes time and commitment to obtain, and is often recommended as the first designation a new agent should obtain.
- NAR states 18% of Realtors hold this designation
CRS – Counsel of Residential Specialists:
- The CRS is a less education intensive, and more experience intensive designation.
- This designation is often the mark of a successful Realtor who has been in the industry for a long time and has establish him or herself as a dedicated and career minded individual.
- CRS reports 4% of Realtors have this designation.
Our work experience, college education and designations are what define us as Realtors. The next time you interview a Realtor, ask them… Are you in the top 10% of the Realtors?
All it takes to be in the top 10% is a desire to educate themselves so they can protect you, your investment and provide a safe environment for you to buy or sell your home.
At Flinsk Real Estate we are in the Top 3% and intend to remain there. Daily education and improvement is our goal to help home buyers successfully purchase homes.
Need help deciphering all those letters on a Realtor’s card? Send us an e-mail and we’ll decipher the code for you.
Related posts:
- CRS Designation
- GRI Designation
- ABR Designation
- ACRE Designation
- Top 10 Myths Shared by First Time Homebuyers
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