NAR Report: Realtor trends across demographics reveal interesting consistencies

Data makes the world go round. Money does as well, but that isn’t the main point today. Data also comes in many different forms. Points of connection between two seemingly different things can pull together planets (seriously, that’s how gravity functions). Understanding how those things come together is how you can access the world around you in new and interesting ways. From that train of thought, then, knowing your demographics in business can give you insight into a vast realm of possibilities.

Starting in 2017 the National Association of Realtors, America’s largest trade association with 1.4 million members, did a deep dive into their members. They took a look at not only their financial accomplishments but their genders, orientations, races, and even personality traits. Some of their other questionnaires seem to even delve into personal life decisions. The resulting inferences create an intriguing picture across demographics.

So, are you a Gemini, who can split their personality in two? Maybe you’re a Taurus whose stubborn streak makes a glacier seem fast when it comes to changing your mind. An essential piece of someone, their personality. Knowing the personality attributes that can help someone be successful in a job is exceedingly beneficial. You can plan out a path ahead of time before jumping into something without knowing if it’ll work out. Through their surveys, NAR discovered that 62% of residential realtors chose their own career path. The vast majority of them proclaim that being self-motivated is a must to be successful. Other skills such as people skills, communication, and problem-solving actually rank lower while still being needed. Think about that for a moment. You need to be self-motivated to go out and do this job, but all of these successful people basically confirm that “It is mandatory to self-motivate”. Without this skill, you will not thrive.

NAR also did an analysis on how people got interested in real-estate in the first place. These numbers definitely reflect a corresponding link with the personality analysis. Less than 25% of people who answered the survey were brought into real-estate by someone else. This reveals yet again that self-motivated people are the ones who succeed across demographics.

But what they found is that the main draws of the job were also common. Being your own boss helps a majority in the commercial groups. Controlling your own workday with flexible hours was what pulled people into the more residential real estate. Both of these factors again lend towards a driven individual with a strong work ethic.

Interestingly, a lot of variation was found between demographics when it came to income comparisons between races. According to the NAR vice president Jessica Lautz “income may be lower as the typical home price in a neighborhood is lower, for other they may work only part-time and others may be new to the profession and have no ownership in the firm.” The associated numbers involved reveal that White/Caucasian members have the highest median gross personal income and then subsequently we have Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, and Black/African-American.

There was also a correlation between the White/Caucasian group and the Black/African-Americans that showed that the former also used real-estate sales as their main or only source of income. Whereas the latter had the highest percentage of people who only used it as a part-time occupation. Having a second job to bring up their overall income. Racial lines also seem to be divided by different types of real-estate. Hispanic/Latino and White/Caucasian were much more likely to be in the suburbs. Asian/Pacific Islander seem to focus in small towns or rural areas. Black/African-American members showed their greatest areas as urban or city sites.

An interesting mound of data was the statistics around LGBTQ+ people that came of this. The information showed that these members were focused in the urban or city areas at almost 50% more than their heterosexual counterparts. These members also spoke highly of some extra skills needed to succeed in this career. Sales and marketing acumen were something that was rated very high on their lists, surpassed only by superior communication and problem-solving skills. This group also surpassed their counterparts in both median number of residential transactions (4-5) and sales volume ($1.6 million – $1.3 million).

A lot of the different aspects of these surveys creates a picture of the type of person who would do well as a realtor. If someone is a self-starting, determined, and an excellent communicator then they’d have a spectacular start. They would have to put in effort for marketing and build a network but it’s a start.