ELAINE HOFF
Supplemental income

Can’t find a job? Try real estate.

That’s what many of today’s unemployed job hunters are doing. The economic downturn, job layoffs and hiring freezes are encouraging more people to seek a career in residential real estate, according to some Realtors.

The number of licenses issued to new real estate sales agents and brokers in Massachusetts surged last year and is on pace to be even higher this year.

The reason for the spike?

Some observers say that people who have been unlucky in job searches in other fields and industries are increasingly attracted to real estate as a career. This is particularly true in areas like Greater Boston, where the real estate market has remained strong during the last several years while other industries floundered.

At ZipRealty, an Internet-based real estate company with agents serving the Greater Boston area and Worcester, recruiting managers are noticing more interest from newcomers. ZipRealty managers in the Boston area have interviewed about 50 people from April through June of this year, and since July have talked with another 40 applicants. Between February and August of last year, ZipRealty employed five agents in the region. Now the company has 20.

“I think that’s playing a real factor in it,” said Scott Kucirek, a ZipRealty executive, referring to how the economy is influencing greater numbers of people to enter the field.

Not all of the interviewees, however, are new to the field. Some of the people interviewing at ZipRealty are existing agents who have heard about ZipRealty and are curious about working for a different brokerage model, said Kucirek. Unlike what happens at traditional real estate agencies, ZipRealty agents get their customer and client leads from the agency’s Web site, spending less time prospecting for new leads.

The Division of Professional Licensure’s Board of Registration of Real Estate Brokers and Salespeople issued 4,220 new licenses last year, up 19 percent from the 3,539 new licenses issued in 2000. So far this year, the board has issued 4,095 licenses. About 85 percent of the new licensees are salespeople, according to the board.

Instructors at the Eastern Middlesex Real Estate Academy have seen a jump in the number of people enrolling in school’s licensing course. Last year, the academy had four sessions of classes from January through June with 60 students attending. This year, the academy had to add two educational sessions, conducting classes through the summer months, because of the increased demand. Some 159 students have enrolled in the licensing course since the beginning of the year.

Right now, the academy is averaging about 27 people per class, whereas before there would be about 20, said Pam Jenks, education coordinator.

“It’s [enrollment] increased dramatically,” said Jenks. “We have also seen an increase in the number of people just calling to get information [about the courses].”

Elaine Hoff, who is president of the Eastern Middlesex Association of Realtors, said many of the academy students taking the licensing course are seeking a career change, and a lot of them have come from prior jobs in the high-tech industry.

“When there’s a fall-off in a certain industry we get a higher number of folks interested” in the classes, said Hoff, who also serves as chairman of the committee for the academy.

‘So Lucrative’

Hoff has also noticed that there are a lot of people taking classes – particularly builders and developers – who want to supplement their annual incomes from other careers by selling real estate.

“They’ve seen that the real estate market is so lucrative and that piques their interest,” she said.

Jackie Forman, manager of Century 21 Citiwide in Revere, which runs a real estate school, said money is probably a big motivating factor for many seeking a real estate license.

“I think because so much property is moving and the prices are so high people think they can make a lot of money,” said Forman.

At Century 21 Citiwide Real Estate License School, average class size for the licensing course used to be six. Today, the average class size is over 20 students, said Forman. Last year, there were a total of 65 students taking the class, whereas this year already 125 students have taken the course.

Many of the newer licensees, however, don’t understand the nature of the business and don’t fully comprehend that real estate agents must aggressively seek leads to be successful, said Forman. She pointed out that about 20 percent of the agents handle 80 percent of the real estate transactions.

Strong Market, Slow Economy Spark Interest in R.E. Careers

by Banker & Tradesman time to read: 3 min
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