57% of California Realtors Quit within Five Years
A recent study by the California Association of Realtors suggests that more than half of that state’s real estate agents quit within their first five years on the job.
The Association selected 100 new Realtors starting in 2000, and followed them through the first five years of their careers. By 2005, 57 of the agents had given up in search of a more lucrative line of work.
Although membership in the California Association of Realtors is currently hitting record highs of more than 161,000 members, turnover rates are also higher than ever before.
42,000 new Realtors joined the Association in 2004 alone, many of them attracted by one of the hottest housing years ever in the state. Unfortunately, however, the strong market brought in more agents than it could sustain, leading to fierce competition, and the inability of many agents to make a decent living.
Although real estate has been known to produce a six-figure income for many agents in California, these Realtors represent just a select few among the thousands of new hopefuls joining the profession each and every month.