Just in time for the National Association of Realtors' (NAR) annual mid-year legislative meetings May 14th through May 19, 2007, the trade organization has released its annual Member Profile for 2007.

According to the introduction, the residential and commercial real estate industries contribute about 20 percent of the gross national product including sales, property management, appraisals, relocation services, and more services essential to transactions.

With professionals assisting in a majority of real estate transactions, it's important for the public, vendors, lawmakers and other Realtors to understand who these real estate professionals are.

First, the survey covers only Realtors (members in good standing of the NAR,) not other licensed real estate professionals. Seventy-five percent of Realtors specialize in residential real estate, with a majority (63 percent) holding a salesperson's license. Twenty-two percent are brokers, while 22 percent are broker-associates. Only three percent of NAR members hold appraisers' licenses.

Interestingly, Realtors are slowly expanding into other areas of real estate besides sales. In 1996, 87 percent of Realtors were involved in residential brokerage. In 2007, only 75 percent specialized in residential brokerage, with four percent in counseling, six percent in relocation, two percent in international real estate, specialties which were less than zero in 1996. The same percentage of Realtors were in commercial brokerage (two percent) and property management (four percent) in 1996 and 2007. Realtors increased in land development by only one percent from 1996 to 2007.

While most operate primarily as salespeople, Realtors also have secondary business specialties including relocation (27 percent), land development (18 percent), commercial brokerage (18 percent), counseling (16 percent), residential brokerage (12 percent), commercial property management (11 percent) and residential property management (eight percent,) as well as residential appraisal, international sales, auctions and commercial appraisals.

Thirteen percent of Realtors have one year or less experience, while 17 percent have six to 10 years and 18 percent have 16 to 25 years experience, suggesting a relatively rapid turnover for newcomers. In a related finding, the NAR says that experience tends to matter -- 18 percent of Realtors with two years of experience have zero transactions while only 10 percent of those with three to five years experience have zero transactions and 18 percent have between six and ten transactions.

This translates into earnings. A whopping 42 percent of Realtors with two years or experience or less grossed less than $10,000 in 2006, while only 13 percent of those with three to five years experience made that amount. The median earnings for those with two years experience or less was $15,300 while the most experienced Realtors - those with 16 years experience or more -- grossed a median of $76,200.

The median gross income for all Realtors in 2006 was $47,700, down slightly from 2004 when the median earnings were $49,300.

Several reasons could apply to the downsizing of Realtor earnings, including the softening of the housing market in key areas. Realtors sold 6.5 million homes in 2006, but had sold a record seven million in 2005. While the decline is slight, the sales were dramatically lower in key markets.

Income has steadily declined as membership has expanded in the NAR. In 2004, median earnings had decreased 5.6 percent between 2002 and 2004 while NAR membership increased 26.6 percent to 1.1 million.

Also, new members don't have one of the greatest sources of income -- repeat business and referrals by past clients.

"I think one of the more interesting findings is on the growth of repeat and referral business over time, underscoring an important contributor at to how people become successful," notes Walt Molony, spokesperson for NAR.

He points out that one of the reasons experienced Realtors do better than newcomers is referrals from past clients and repeat business. One out of five residential Realtors reported that up to 25 percent of their business was from referrals or repeat customers and 27 percent reported that more than 50 percent of their business in 2006 came from referrals and repeat customers.

The share of business from customer referrals was just one of several new features of the Member Survey. Also added were:

• Frequency with which REALTORS® use blogs or podcasts for business purposes.

• The share of customers whose primary language is something other than English

• The share of foreign nationals among clients and customers

"The reasons we added these questions to this member survey were generally to get a better sense of how the REALTORS® business activities are evolving," says Paul C. Bishop, spokesperson for NAR, research division. "In the area of technology we wanted to get a sense of the penetration of newer communications technologies in the real estate business. In the demographics area we also want to sharpen our understanding of the customers and clients that REALTORS are serving. We also differentiate more clearly between gross personal income (before taxes and expenses) and net personal income (after taxes and expenses) in this survey than in past member surveys."

Published: May 11, 2007

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Blanche Evans is the award-winning senior editor of Realty Times, the Internet's leading independent real estate news service. She is featured daily on the Realty Times Video Network in the "Realty Viewpoint" segment. Blanche has been named one of the "25 Most Influential People In Real Estate" by REALTOR Magazine, and has been twice recognized as a "notable." In 2005, she was named "Top Reporter Covering the NAR" by Delahaye-Bacon's. Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68. Order Now Review - Honors In 2006, Blanche was selected among scores of candidates to author two consumer real estate guidebooks for the National Association of Realtors: The NAR Guide to Home Buying, and The NAR Guide to Home Selling, Wiley & Sons. She is currently planning two new books for the NAR and its members.       Known for her keen insight into real estate industry issues and for her ability to make complex subjects easy to understand, Blanche is a sought-after keynote and continuing education speaker. Real estate organizations from MLSs, to brokerages, to franchisors, to associations hire her to provide up-to-the-minute analysis of real estate industry news and advice on how to improve revenues. Her passionate delivery, peppered with stinging wit, is a huge hit with audiences and fans. Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors, Blanche Evans, Richard Courtney, president 2007, GRAR "The GNAR membership meeting last week featured Blanche Evans as the keynote speaker. Her comments and insights resonated extremely well with those in attendance and we have had many requests for copies of her PowerPoint Presentation. She was a terrific part of the membership meeting and convention program!" - Don Klein, CEO Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Coverage from WSMV, Nashville - 8-14-2007 That Interview Guy - Get Inside The Head Of Today's Generation 2007 AE Institute Session - To purchase 2006 AE Institute Session - Parts 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HouseValues Mastermind call - Parts 1 2 Blanche's fireside chat with Jeremy Conaway, HAR - Click here. To contact Blanche, email her at . For more articles by Blanche, click here.