Real estate has rarely been hotter, or more attractive, to newcomers all across the country than in 2021. And that’s not only for property buyers and sellers, but for career seekers as well.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that, in January 2021, there were more real estate agents than homes for sale in the U.S. — and the same holds true for Pasadena.
There are approximately 206 available homes currently for sale in Pasadena.
Local professional realtors organization Pasadena-Foothills Area Realtors Association lists over 1,000 Pasadena Realtors among its membership. There are just over 206 available homes currently for sale in Pasadena.
In a city with a vibrant real estate economy, the competition is strong. While Pasadena is a long-established marketplace with almost historic relationships, new Realtors face an uphill challenge when first breaking into the local market.
“There has been steady interest in real estate as a career choice for many Californians, including Pasadena’s residents,” Carla Dane, CEO of PFAR, told Pasadena Now in an email.
“At PFAR, our membership numbers, including new Realtor applicants, have remained steady and consistent since prior to COVID,” said Dane. “As with any new venture, there may be challenges, but we have a robust member education program to help support our new members.”
Dane pointed out that The Department of Real Estate’s inability to host a normal testing schedule in 2020 due to COVID likely affected the number of new licensees going forward , but to what extent is unknown. Full data on 2020 and first half of 2021 should be available in the next couple of months on their site, she said.
The Wall Street Journal also noted that the pandemic eliminated millions of jobs, especially in industries like restaurant and hospitality, which have been decimated in some places. At the same time, a booming housing market suggested there is a lot of money to be made selling homes. And in most states, it doesn’t take much more than taking a course and passing an exam to get a residential real-estate license, the article reported.
George Penner, a principal at Deasy Penner Podley acknowledged an increase in new agents, but concedes that they may not find their first career job with his company.
“Deasy Penner Podley does not usually hire brand new licensed agents without prior experience at another brokerage firm,” Penner said, adding, “On some rare occasions, we will bring in folks that have tremendous talent and potential, and we go ahead and put them through not only our ‘DDP University,’ but we assign them to a more senior agent who acts as a mentor, for the first three transactions to make sure that that, they’re on the right track for success.”
Larry Herweg, a veteran Realtor in Pasadena currently working at Deasy Penner Podley, agreed that the number of new real estate hopefuls is still likely high.
Said Herweg, “I think there’s always a lot of people coming in. I remember taking my exam, and there’d be a line of people to go into the exams.”
Herweg also explained that while the payoff can be substantial, new Realtors face a long, hard climb to their first sale. Some realtors may earn as little as $8,000 in their first year, said the Journal. According to the National Association of Realtors, (NAR) the median gross income for all NAR agents in 2019 was $49,700, up from $41,800 in 2018.
“It took me about 12 months to get my first sale under my belt,” said Herweg. “In those 12 months, I was basically trying to get anything I could—leases, helping with the property management team, anything like that I could do to kind of get more experience and maybe establish more clients and network., that kind of thing.
“But, he continued, “I do think it is hard to get some momentum in the industry, but once you do one sale, it kind of leads to another. And then,if you have good transactions and good experience with your clients, you know, they hopefully will pass your name on to their sphere of influence and the people in their network and then, slowly but surely your name starts to just get out there more and more. And then over the years, you’ve established a good base of clients.”
Herweg’s advice to new real estate hopefuls?: “Stick with it. Don’t get discouraged.”
