How viable is the real estate profession in Austin now? (Lakeway: sales, insurance) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

inthecut · 07-30-2009, 05:14 PM

I've lived here for 3 years, was licensed for 10 back in Illinois, and am considering getting in the field out here.....how are the agents doing in general in Austin? Is there room for many more to get in the field out here? Where do you see the profession out here in Austin in the next 3-5 years as well.....any input would be appreciated..

CATXTransplant · 07-30-2009, 06:10 PM

I'm doing fine, but people I know who are new are struggling. 75% of my listings are in the 300-400K range, and those are selling. The ones over $750,000 are not. So a lot of the "top" agents in my office (in Lakeway) are struggling because that's their market. I'd rather have two $400,000 listings that sell than one $800,000 that won't sell and costs a TON to market. I have about $1500 per month in marketing expenses (depending on how many listings I have), but I spend roughly 50% of all commissions on taxes, insurance, advertising, education, gas, websites, etc... So, if you wanted to make $50,000 a year, you'd have to sell approx. 3.3M to net $50K. If you're selling at the 300K range, that's about a house a month, which is pretty hard for a new agent to do. We just had a new agent join our office and he knows EVERYone in town as he's owned a successful restaurant for years, was born and raised here, etc.... He hasn't sold anything yet. It's been about 4 months. As you know from before, it's a tough life - one that I LOVE, but it's tough. I got in the business 10 years ago because I thought it would give me flexibility. But, for someone who's as Type A as I am, it's close to impossible to turn it off at the end of the day. I can honestly that in 10 years, I have NEVER had a whole day off. I showed property on my wedding day!

Feel free to PM me if you would like to chat in person.

inthecut · 07-30-2009, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CATXTransplant

I'm doing fine, but people I know who are new are struggling. 75% of my listings are in the 300-400K range, and those are selling. The ones over $750,000 are not. So a lot of the "top" agents in my office (in Lakeway) are struggling because that's their market. I'd rather have two $400,000 listings that sell than one $800,000 that won't sell and costs a TON to market. I have about $1500 per month in marketing expenses (depending on how many listings I have), but I spend roughly 50% of all commissions on taxes, insurance, advertising, education, gas, websites, etc... So, if you wanted to make $50,000 a year, you'd have to sell approx. 3.3M to net $50K. If you're selling at the 300K range, that's about a house a month, which is pretty hard for a new agent to do. We just had a new agent join our office and he knows EVERYone in town as he's owned a successful restaurant for years, was born and raised here, etc.... He hasn't sold anything yet. It's been about 4 months. As you know from before, it's a tough life - one that I LOVE, but it's tough. I got in the business 10 years ago because I thought it would give me flexibility. But, for someone who's as Type A as I am, it's close to impossible to turn it off at the end of the day. I can honestly that in 10 years, I have NEVER had a whole day off. I showed property on my wedding day!

Feel free to PM me if you would like to chat in person.

My old office in Illinois had a 100% commission plan, so I would make about 25K per 1 million gross comm........we only got 2.5 on the buying side, so Austin would comeout about the same per their 3.0% standard on buyer's sides.....Actually, I worked really rough south side chicago markets, with awful credit even in good times, so I don't think it would be as bad as for people coming from high end california markets and such...I struggled for every penny I made, and many deals were lost per financial difficulties....some med bill or student loan payment would mysteriously pop up and screw up the ratios, so many silly things....

Thanks for the advice!

ROY DUBOSE · 07-31-2009, 07:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by inthecut

I've lived here for 3 years, was licensed for 10 back in Illinois, and am considering getting in the field out here.....how are the agents doing in general in Austin? Is there room for many more to get in the field out here? Where do you see the profession out here in Austin in the next 3-5 years as well.....any input would be appreciated..

from a different perspective -- year to date there have been approx 9000 residential sales in the msa -- let's just call it 18,000 "sides" -- austin board of realtors claims approx 7,000 dues paying realtors -- that's 2.5 transactions per license -- at an average sales price of $200,000, that's $500,000 @ 3% = $15,000 in gross commissions/average agent

as you know, the 80/20 rule applies so, with 20% of the agents doing 80% of the business, the numbers skew in a dramatic way -

if there's room or 7,000 agents, one more isn't going to overload the boat -- i see austin getting more and more impacted by the 30-40 yr old demographic in the next 3-5 years -- that means agents need to adapt technology to impact market expansion/reach -- "go with the flow"

jobert · 07-31-2009, 09:33 AM

The RE market could be a lot worse, you could be in S. Florida:

Not So Suite Life: Family Wants Out of Living Alone in 32-Story Condo - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com

inthecut · 08-01-2009, 12:33 PM

Thanks for the info, guys....yeah, I'll get the Texas R.E.L. later this year.....truth be told, I burnt out on it after 10 years full-time in Chicago, and needed a break.....I'm going nuts brushing against RE comments and agents on here, so I fig why not get back in the game out here.....good luck to you guys the reest of the year, as things seem to be picking up..

This was just on Yahoo Sat....

Welcome to the bottom: Housing begins slow rebound - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090801/ap_on_bi_ge/us_housing_mid_year_outlook - broken link)