TOO MANY AGENTS FOR THE AMOUNT OF SALES

At the end of 2011 the number of agents nationwide stood about 28% higher than the number of agents before the real estate bubble began (2001). Although the number of agents is declining, there is still a tremendous amount of agents in the market for the amount of sales.

This is a subject that we have touched upon before that even though the number of sales have reverted back to pre bubble years the number of agents have not. The large number of agents continues to be an issue for sellers and buyers as, unknown to them, have to work with many sub par agents. In metro Milwaukee the average agent closed just shy of 5 transactions last year. That's barely one sale every other month, hardly enough to maintain real estate expertise.

The reason for so many agents is that the traditional, hefty commission companies continue to hire unsuspecting agents. You see, besides some initial training, there is no ongoing expense to the real estate office. Furthermore having as many bodies around only helps the bottom line. Not only does the office can count on the occasional friend or relative who would work with the rookies but the companies also pay these low production agents less commission (split). Each brokerage has a few high volume agents and they're paid higher splits sometimes as high as 80% of the commission earned. The army of agents who do very few deals a year get usually only 50% or less of the commission.
We are one of very few real estate companies in the country and to our knowledge the only one in Metro-Milwaukee that do not operate this way. We maintain the high volume sales production per agent by not adding to our roster at our low attrition rate. We want all our clients to be working with a top selling Realtor who has been in business many more years than the average agent (17 years vs 4.5).

The real estate profession should eventually change, as consumers become more aware of the issues, to a more efficient and effective program such as ours. Fewer agents who negotiate and close a lot of sales each year, who are extremely proficient in real estate yet charge a low commission but enough to make a decent living.