0
0
0

Finding the Truth

by Stephanie Sims

stephanie-sims

Stephanie Sims is Chicago Agent’s managing editor.

The best thing about our Truth About Agents issue is when we take a look at the latest survey results and compare them to previous years; it’s always interesting to see where the industry and market are going.

Usually, what’s most telling of this survey is when splits are renegotiated. In 2013, a whopping 77 percent of agents renegotiated their split, and in 2014, only 31 percent did, leading Chicago Agent to conclude that agents were less satisfied with their split in 2013. Not surprisingly, it appears office satisfaction and office loyalty were up last year, too – most likely as a result of 2013’s renegotiations.

The most popular marketing service? Even in this digital age, postcards and mailers ranked as the most effective marketing tool, with 63 percent of agents sending them out. Advertising on Zillow, Trulia and realtor.com was the second most popular marketing tool, used by 35.8 percent of agents.

Almost half of all agents had zero to 10 listings that required a price change in 2014. The reason? There’s ample buyer demand with how little inventory there is on the market; multiple-offer situations are plentiful.

We analyzed the data within the data, too, to further understand agents and the market. For instance, the average income of agents with tablets is 1.8 times higher than those without tablets; the difference in age among agents with and without tablets is only two years, with the younger agents being only slightly more likely to own one. Also tech-related, we found that, on average, agents who managed their online reputation were five years younger than the agents who were not. In addition, the question of whether the recession is over or not is also a bit of a generational split: 72 percent of those born after 1970 believe it is over, compared to 43 percent born before 1970.

Flip to our cover story on page 12 to read more about the results we found – and thanks to you, our readers, for participating in the survey. What do you think about our results? Do you agree with our conclusions about the market? Let me know your feedback on this issue; email me at stephanie@agentpublishing.com.

Read More Related to This Post

Join the conversation

New Subscribe

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.