I read a Baltimore Sun article a few days back that noted the struggles that young people face when choosing the real estate industry as a profession. In very basic terms, the factors noted in the article are self-evident. That is, people looking to buy or sell a home or commercial property will often “discriminate” on the basis of age when choosing a real estate agent to represent them. This is nothing new, and is common in similar industries such as investment advising, insurance sales, etc.

On a related note, some real estate agents who are “unlucky” enough to still look like they’re just out of college even as they’re approaching 30 will go to great lengths to look and act older, such as always dressing formally, speaking formally, growing facial hair, driving an expensive car, etc. In short, anything that can be done to look older and more “experienced.” The whole situation is rather unfortunate, because there is no inherent disadvantage to being young when working in the real estate industry, other than perhaps a lack of experience. The reality, however, is that with a few years of experience as an agent, you’ll pretty much know everything (or at least most) of what you need to know to represent clients in an exemplary manner. This is especially true in the residential sector, where sales are fairly basic and don’t involve a tremendous amount of analysis. In fact, a 23-year-old who has been in the industry for 2 years is much more capable of representing a client than a 50-year-old “newbie,” but age, and note experience level, is the only attribute that can be easily determined on first inspection.

Of course, another factor at play in the current real estate market is that there are a lot of houses for sale, i.e. - a lot of “inventory,” but not many people out there to buy. This in itself is an oddity, as interest rates are low (the Fed cut the Fed Funds rate by .75% yesterday, March 18, 2008) and home prices are dropping. Despite all that, the market is fairly stagnant, so that the difficulties of starting a real estate career exist across the board, regardless of age and business experience. For those young folks wanting to get into the game, the deck is truly stacked against them.

My advice, as one who has been a business owner at a very young age (23) and who has a brother who worked in commercial real estate as a 23-year-old, is to simply study hard, act professionally, drive the nicest car you can afford (sorry, fancy cars project wealth and experience, no matter what) and be BETTER than the agent who is twice your age. It’s true that you’ll lose would-be clients due to your age and supposed lack of experience, but once you’ve served a client well, they will hopefully be a source of ongoing referrals going forward.

Tags: real estate agent jobs, real estate careers, real estate job search, real estate jobs

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