New Challenges For Real Estate Agents

With new laws, the recovering housing market and the internet adding their influence on the industry, the role of a real estate agent is changing. With competition picking up it is more important than ever for real estate firms to identify challenges and create solutions.

Majority of real estate firms are expecting increased profits for 2014, but with increased profits come increased competition. Increased competition generally drives down costs which in this case mean incentives to buyers and sellers, i.e. Fee for service arrangements and rebates.

Local or regional economic conditions can also be a great challenge, in areas hit the hardest by the recession they are struggling to move homes. Other areas are struggling to maintain a proper inventory of homes; areas like Houston for example are moving extremely fast, which leads to a very low inventory available.

Technology will continue to be a challenge for the foreseeable future, every day it seems a new technology emerges and it is just one more thing to master and use efficiently.

Many companies are also always looking to acquire and keep high quality agents, they are reporting that nearly 70% of agents have an academic degree and more than 80% have a professional certification. Many companies now offer training and education programs to their agents as a means to attract the top candidates, with a slow-growing number of companies offering health benefits to their agents, as many companies consider their agents independent contractors.