Thursday, October 18, 2012

Thurs Post #2: Vancouver newspaper proclaims - "Greater Vancouver realtors are now forced to quit and find new jobs"



Speaking of Craigslist occupying the time of idle real estate agents, it seems all of them are not content to twiddle their thumbs while clicking a computer mouse.

Month after month now we have chronicled how bad the monthly real estate statistics have been.

And a sign of the turbulent times for real estate agents in the Village on the Edge of the Rainforest has to be this article in the Singtao Chinese newspaper (hat tip VMD via Vancouver Condo Info blog):
Greater Vancouver realtors are now forced to quit and find new jobs  
Mr Shen, a newly minted realtor since 2011 had been working for a year without reaching a single sale. He had just quit RE and is training to be an electrician... 
When interviewed by SingTao, Mr Shen said he had a university degree in business administration. Upon seeing the hot RE market in early 2011, he paid $5000 for a realtor prep-course and obtained his realtor license. 
Ever since he’s working as a realtor. He’s been busy every weekend showing houses, one client even had him show 10 units. 
He had a total of 20 clients in the first half year, but no sale. 
Mr Shen said, in the current housing downturn, even seasoned realtors are having a hard time. 
Another realtor, Mr Sun of Macdonald realty, said that in 2011 he averaged 2 sales per month, this year some months even went without a single sale. 
Many realtors are leasing expensive cars, paying expensive fuel, hosting networking dinners – averaging $2000 per month of overhead. Without sufficient sales numbers, many realtors cannot survive.
The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) states that it has more than 11,000 real estate agents in it's association from Whistler to Maple Ridge to Tsawwassen.

With recent sales often totalling less than 100 per day, these are lean times indeed.

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8 comments:

  1. Now that the easy money Real Estate "gold rush" has ended, these people will have to find real jobs where they actually have to think and labour to earn their salaries.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You have no idea how much work Realtors have to put in... Most realtors work harder and longer hours than most full time employee. For the bulk of us Realtors its a long hard slog to get to the point of closing a sale and actually getting paid. So please spare us your venom and ill wishes. We are all just trying to make a living and pay our rent just as you are. The vast majority of realtors are squeaking by at best these days.

      Delete
  2. This isn't just about realtors, this will bring down the entire economy. You have brokers, lawyers, notaries, furniture stores, appliance stores, too many realty firms, and so much more trickle down like the article says.

    Car leases

    Restaurants, coffee shops, and numerous services from business cards to flowers.

    Next stop will be real estate firms closing due to lack of realtors. I already see loads of ads from these firms trying to get people to take the RE course and work for them, which amounts to paying their rent.

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  3. I anticipate we could see quite a number of the outfits merge over time to combine resources and lower costs as smaller firms just close up shop and disappear. A very large national merger is not out of the question in time.

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  4. "He’s been busy every weekend showing houses, one client even had him show 10 units."

    I am deeply disgusted by this realtor seemingly thinking that it's a big deal to show a client *10* units. Does any real buyer see less than 10 homes before making a decision? Oh wait I forgot this is the BPOE where any home is like a paradise.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Agreed.

      Bubble mind set yet again. Some buyers will put 800 friggin thousand dollars on a house. Its not a new TV.

      Realtors may disapear totally, I dont give a flying (*) about their fate.

      Delete
  5. People come and go ...just like any "seasonal work force". There is a good news : a lot of bad and useless agents will have to get a real job....and there is hundreds of them in BC alone.

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  6. A shrinking market will prove that being a Realtor isn't as easy as it looks to the uninitiated. An experienced Realtor (who's been through ups and downs in the market) is an invaluable guide when you're buying or selling a home. An inexperienced one has to pay some dues and learn a lot besides just what's in the course.

    ReplyDelete