Survey Reveals Qualities of Agents Who Make $100k or More

Real estate professionals who earn $100,000 or more per year show quite a few differences in how they do their job and the technology they use compared to real estate professionals who make $30,000 to $50,000 a year, according to a new survey conducted by InmanNext, a Web site operated by Inman News.

Surveying about 1,300 real estate agents, InmanNext found some of the following characteristics common to those who make $100,000 or more per year versus those who make less.

-- Close more transactions: Sixty-six percent of real estate agents who make $100,000 or more per year say they closed 20 or more transactions in the year compared to about half of those who earn $30,000 to $50,000 who say they closed 10 or fewer transactions.

-- Appeal to the high-end market: High-income agents tended to specialize in luxury homes, condos, and townhouses, and they were less likely to work with first-time buyers or REOs compared to mid-range earners.

-- Work longer hours: Forty-two percent of high-income agents say they work between 40 to 50 hours a week, and 41 percent say they work more than 50 hours a week.

-- Spend more on marketing: High-income agents tend to spend more money on their marketing. About 62 percent of middle-income agents reported spending less than $2,500 on their marketing for their business. On the other hand, 63 percent of high-income earners said they spent $5,000 or more per year on marketing.

-- Spend more on technology: High-income earners also tend to spend more on technology purchases to aid them in their business. More than half said they spend $2,500 or more on technology each year, and a quarter spend $5,000 or more. Meanwhile, about 84 percent of middle-income earners say they spend less than $2,500 on technology purchases a year. As for technology preferences, high-income earners show a preference toward Apple Macintosh computers and iPhones, more so than mid-range earners.

-- Use social networking and Web sites: Nearly half of high-income earners say they update their Web site at least a few times a week, while 39 percent of mid-range earners report updating their Web site or blog only once a month. High-income earners are also more connected on Facebook, with nearly half reporting 500 or more friends on Facebook compared to more than two-thirds of middle-income earners who say they have 500 or fewer friends on Facebook. High-income agents also were more likely to have a YouTube account and Twitter account and to have more followers than mid-range earners.

Source: “Survey: High-Income Real Estate Agents Lead the Pack on Technology,” Inman News (Feb. 14, 2012)