The Realtor associations and many real estate companies prefer to use pictures of people in their 20s and 30s in their advertising and recruiting materials.
When you see the pictures, you might assume that most Realtors are young and wear suits.
The pictures are lies. The median age of Realtors is 57 years old. That means that half of us are older than that, and half are younger. Only 12% of Realtors are under the age of 39. Yup, that is right, only 12% and the rest are over 40.
When older people are pictured, they are almost always male, yet 63% of Realtors are female, and that is down from 65% last year.
There isn’t age discrimination on the job, but I get the impression that real estate companies and associations prefer younger members. In fact, for a time, they were making an extra effort to recruit younger members for leadership positions. Many of those leaders are now over 50.
It is fairly unusual for someone to become a real estate agent right out of college. Most have had careers before real estate. I used to be a business analyst, project manager, and consultant. Before that, I worked for Metro Transit in the IT department of the maintenance division. I got licensed to sell real estate in 2002 and became a licensed Minnesota real estate broker in 2007.
Most real estate salespeople work on a 100% commission basis, which is why new agents are more likely to be older rather than younger.
There are some advantages in being older. Experience matters. I just wish our Realtor associations would embrace the idea that it is not only OK to be old but that older people might just be better Realtors.
