Mark Hyman of Mooving Too, Inc. wrote an interesting post today on Inman:
“More and more Colleges/Universities offer many courses in the Real Estate Industry. The students who are taking these courses, many of which will probably start out as a Real Estate agents especially due to the current job market. I believe everybody who is presently a Real Estate Professional should prepare now for what is coming. These kids are smart, tech savvy and are extremely involved in Social Marketing. It is true that 85% of people searching for a home, start their search online. But how people search and how they are going to choose their Real Estate Agent is going to change. The top search engines are presently working with Computer Science Teams that will take the unstructured web and build it into a more structured web.”
Upon researching this, I found that 237 colleges and universities in the United States offer a degree in real estate. Let me state that again. They offer a DEGREE in real estate. This goes WAY beyond a piddly little licensing class and a few hours of Quick Start training.
A few years ago, I entered the Graduate program in Real Estate and Land Development at Virginia Commonwealth University. I was extremely grateful I paid attention in calculus class many years back as I definitely needed it for the Real Estate Finance class. The forecasting and investment analysis I learned was invaluable. The professors (yes, some of them held a PhD in Real Estate) were the brightest of real world real estate investing, development and economic theory as it relates to the housing market.
Anyway, my experience in graduate school along with Mark’s post got me to thinking….is the real estate agent of the future an actual graduate of a collegiate real estate program? Will managers be those experienced graduates who continue their studies to receive master’s degrees in real estate?
Let’s face it, in some states it is easier to become a real estate agent than it is to become a hair dresser. Most real estate company’s hiring requirements only consist of a pulse and a real estate license. Continuing education requirements, while they mean well, do not provide the real education an agent should have. Electricians, plumbers….they are required to be a student of their trade for years before being permitted to venture out on their own. Where is the accountability in the real estate industry? Where is the education in the trade?
In addition, will this new wave of college educated real estate licensees want the traditional real estate agent experience? I doubt it. They will be expecting college internships. Salary + bonuses. They may even want BENEFITS! Brick and mortar offices? Who needs them?
A hurricane may be blowing through the industry in a few years…..or has it already started????
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Like what you’ve got here….
Interesting how we hear (and have to listen to) the constant complaints about our industry. Hmmm, you think they might figure out that what we’re complaining about, we built!
“Where is the accountability in the real estate industry? Where is the education in the trade?”…
Let’s hope the improvements we’ve gained by leveraging what technology provides, haven’t masked the problem – a lack of preparation, and continued training. Hope we get to a degree requirement, perhaps a two year (specifically real estate coursework) to begin with.