Housing News
Agent Commissions Drop, Licenses are Revoked Across U.S.
Big changes in 2009
As you may have already guessed, 2009 was the year of dropping commissions and a great number of agents actually lost their licenses. The past year has been rough not only on homeowners losing their homes, politicians who have tasked themselves with repairing the housing crisis, but for the agents on the ground who have taken a massive hit with dropped sales and having to navigate nearly impossible lending waters.
According to Stefan Swanepoel, “In 2009 the Department of Real Estate revoked the license of 775 real estate agents.” And this is just in the state of California alone.
Carrie Bay of DSNews.com reports that, “the downturn in the real estate market is a big reason disciplinary actions are up, with foreclosure prevention cons a large contributing factor, the state department said.”
Commissions dropping
Predictably, the dollar value of agents’ commissions fell in 2009 “to its lowest level in seven years,” reports The Baltimore Sun, noting that sales commissions dropped 6.2% to $40.6 billion.
Real Estate Blogger Tom Royce said, “Let’s hope 2010 shows some more velocity in the higher ends of the markets so agents will be able to earn a better living.”
As loan rates and demand for loans drop and with 18.9 million homes vacant, along with political blunders like HAMP, 2010 will likely still be a rough year but perhaps the upside is that the strongest in the industry (or those married to those earning a salary) will survive. What silver lining do you see?
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Housing News
Average age of houses on the rise, so is it now better or worse to buy new?
With aging housing in America, are first-time buyers better off buying new or existing homes? The average age of a home is rising, as is the price of new housing, so a shift could be upon us.
The average home age is higher than ever
(REALUOSO.COM) – In a survey from the Department of Housing and Urban Development American Housing Survey (AHS), the median age of homes in the United States was 35 years old. In Texas, homes are a bit younger with the median age between 19 – 29 years. The northeast has the oldest homes, with the median age between 50 – 61 years. In 1985, the median age of a home was only 23 years.
With more houses around 40 years old, the National Association of Realtors asserts that homeowners will have to undertake remodeling and renovation projects before selling unless the home is sold as-is, in which case the buyer will be responsible to update their new residence. Even homeowners who aren’t selling will need to consider remodeling for structural and aesthetic reasons.
Prices of new homes on the rise
Newer homes cost more than they used to. The price differential between new homes and older homes has increased from 10 percent traditionally to around 37 percent in 2014. This is due to rising construction costs, scarcity of lots, and a low inventory of new homes that doesn’t meet the demand.
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Housing News
Are Realtors the real loser in the fight between Zillow Group and Move, Inc.?
The last year has been one of dramatic and rapid change in the real estate tech sector, but Realtors are vulnerable, and we’re worried.
Why Realtors are vulnerable to these rapid changes
(REALUOSO.COM) – Corporate warfare demands headlines in every industry, but in the real estate tech sector, a storm has been brewing for years, which in the last year has come to a head. Zillow Group and Move, Inc. (which is owned by News Corp. and operates ListHub, Realtor.com, TopProducer, and other brands) have been competing for a decade now, and the race has appeared to be an aggressive yet polite boxing match. Last year, the gloves came off, and now, they’ve drawn swords and appear to want blood.
Note: We’ll let you decide which company plays which role in the image above.
So how then, does any of this make Realtors the victims of this sword fight? Let’s get everyone up to speed, and then we’ll discuss.
1. Zillow poaches top talent, Move/NAR sues
It all started last year when the gloves came off – Move’s Chief Strategy Officer (who was also Realtor.com’s President), Errol Samuelson jumped ship and joined Zillow on the same day he phoned in his resignation without notice. He left under questionable circumstances, which has led to a lengthy legal battle (wherein Move and NAR have sued Zillow and Samuelson over allegations of breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and misappropriation of trade secrets), with the most recent motion being for contempt, which a judge granted to Move/NAR after the mysterious “Samuelson Memo” surfaced.
Salt was added to the wound when Move awarded Samuelson’s job to Move veteran, Curt Beardsley, who days after Samuelson left, also defected to Zillow. This too led to a lawsuit, with allegations including breach of contract, violation of corporations code, illegal dumping of stocks, and Move has sought restitution. These charges are extremely serious, but demanded slightly less attention than the ongoing lawsuit against Samuelson.
2. Two major media brands emerge
Last fall, the News Corp. acquisition of Move, Inc. was given the green light by the feds, and this month, Zillow finalized their acquisition of Trulia.
…Click here to continue reading this story…
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Susie Blackmon
February 17, 2010 at 6:16 am
Silver lining? [Nevermind. My comments were way too snarky.]
Yvonne Bondanza-Whittaker
February 17, 2010 at 9:38 am
No commission is worth losing your license! Thanks for the article. It’s a tough time out there! I don’t see a silver lining…Yet. I am just taking one day at a time!
Grant Hammond
February 18, 2010 at 12:30 pm
I am guessing that the 6.2% drop in commission is probably less than the percentage drop in number of agents leaving the business in Cali.