Regardless of the profession, bandied about is the 80-20 rule in which 20 percent of the people do 80 percent of the business. This also is an often-claimed metric among real estate professionals selling houses. But is it true or just a wild guess at how the residential sales market actually performs?
To answer this, the WAV Group surveyed 150 +/- Multiple Listing Services (MLSs) asking numerous questions including the number of listings and closed transactions from January to June 2014 by Realtor® subscriber/participant. These are shown in the following two tables.
So what about the 39 percent that had no closings? And the 43 percent that had no listings? What it says is that many people subscribe to the MLS for reasons other than listing or selling residential housing. They may be Realtors that are primarily commercial but keep a tab on the residential market, appraisers, inspectors or others that evidently benefit from the data within the MLS system and the network of professionals that subscribe.
Interestingly, the study noted that 42 percent of the MLS subscribership did not login daily into their MLS account. That number is pretty close to the 39 percent that had no closings in the first half of 2014 and the 43 percent that had no listings, indicating that roughly four out of 10 MLS subscribers are not necessarily active in housing sales on a daily basis.
This points out marketing considerations and aspects to Realtors, whether it is by technology companies, lenders or title firms. To reach the true players requires a more targeted approach. Sponsoring a luncheon, for example, assures you that 40 percent of the attendees probably have no interest at all in your product or services.
To download and read the entire 10 page report from The WAV Group click http://waves.wavgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/WAVGroupProductivityStudy-RPR-Sponsored.pdf
What the WAV study concluded was that the appropriate rule is not the 80-20, but more perhaps the 40-60 rule, where 60 percent of the real estate professionals completed 100 percent of the business and the other 40 percent do something else.
I encourage you to download and read the WAV Group report if you need a brief and better understanding of the dynamics of real estate sales professionals. Not even touched in this blog are the questions and discussions on use of technology by real estate sales professionals and several other perception issues.
Ted