Realtors in Mississauga Choose the Right Realtor from the flood of Realtors

It’s common knowledge that the GTA is going through a real-estate boom. Houses are being sold at record prices, especially in the Greater Toronto Area. This spells good news in many sectors but also spawns a few concerns. One of them is the sheer volume of Realtors that now clutter the market.

Recently, we came across an article in the Financial Times that was eye opening for not just many Realtors out there but also home buyers and sellers. The number of people selling real estate has reached 108,706 within just the first quarter of the year, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association.

To put it another way, that’s one Realtor for every 245 Canadians over the age of 19. Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) has more than 39,000 Realtors or about one for every 140 people in the Greater Toronto Area. Just over a year ago in December, 2012, that number was 35,000. That number grew from 31,000 a year earlier. TREB had about 20,000 members a decade ago.

OREA says the average student takes about 11 months to complete the course although they have up to 18 months after they start. Once registered with RECO, students have two years to complete the articling segment of the training program with a broker. The total program costs about $3,180 but that just makes you a salesperson.

So you can see that it is pretty easy for anyone to become an agent.

Because of these lax educational requirements, the real estate industry is increasingly being dominated by part-time agents.

Rookie Agents and Part-Time Realtors in Mississauga

There is a good portion of new registrants who are licensed but inexperienced. They are Part-time Realtors who do just one or two good deals a year to subsidize their income as opposed to looking out for the interests of their client.

Many of these 20 something Part-Time Realtors are students out to make a fast buck. They are untrained and inexperienced to handle a range of complex real-estate related needs. Most of them don’t even have a university degree. The fact is, you don’t even need to be a high school graduate to be a licensed realtor.

Others are young people from diverse cultural backgrounds who have been unemployed for months. They don’t have better options and assume that a being a realtor is “easy” and lucrative. When nothing works, they get into real estate, thinking it’s a “get-rich-quick” way out.

“We see a very diverse mix in our classes. They’re made of a combination of high school graduates, folks at university doing it on the side, retirees and a diverse mix in terms of cultural background,” says Shelley Koral, director of the OREA College.

A huge jump in the number of Realtors in just one year is a matter of concern. These days market has been flooded with discount brokerages where sales people who have done just a deal or two can quickly join the bandwagon.

“They are really only brokerages in name only,” says Mr. Soper, the CEO at Royal LePage Real Estate Services Inc. “They have hundreds or thousands of people, there is no training, there is no management.”

There is yet another real estate brokerage model. These brokerages do not appoint their own agents but provide an online platform where agents from different brokerages come on board on a referral sharing basis. The brokerages make money by connecting prospective home buyers and sellers to this network of agents.

As per one of the estimates percentage of part-time agents represent approximately 78% of the total membership. Interestingly, over the past 12 months 27% of all agents registered with TREB have not sold a single house listed on the MLS. Two thirds of agents have sold fewer than 3 houses which means they are likely taking home an income similar to a minimum wage job.

At the end of the day, it is up to you to make your own choice when it comes to the biggest purchase or sale in your life. Who you want to represent you can make your future or put you at risk. Choose with care.

If you are looking for a committed, full-time, well-experienced Realtor in Mississauga, give Team Amit Kalia a call at 905-339-5111