PHOTO: Realtors
Last year 55-year-old Jill Ballantyne took a big chance. She left the stability of a 27-year career in education to pursue a long-time passion: Selling real estate.
“It’s something I really believe in,” she says.
Ballantyne isn’t alone in making the leap. A decade after housing crisis, Americans are once again in love with buying, remodeling and selling homes. Cable television shows like “House Hunters” and “Million Dollar Listing” attract millions of viewers. Nationally, home prices are again at record highs.
In June, membership in the National Association of Realtors reached an all-time high of 1.373 million, eclipsing the pre-financial crisis peak set in October 2006.
“This is a trend you always see when the market is doing well –– the number of licensees increases,” says Ken Johnson, a real estate economist at Florida Atlantic University who was a real estate agent before moving to academia in 1995. He recalls an expression from his own real estate days: “We always said the rookies are here to take the icing off the cake.”
At first glance, working in real estate seems like an attractive proposition, with competitive pay and the promise of setting your own hours. And let’s face it: Who doesn’t like looking at homes? Still, pros caution it may not be as easy as it looks. Commissions look fat at first glance, but agents are typically required to work under more highly-credentialed brokers –– who might take a significant cut. While there is money to be made in real estate, most of the big paychecks go to the top-producing agents.
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