Real Estate Agents Feel More Competition, even with a 15% drop in license renewal
Chicago, IL – February 22, 2011 – (RealEstateRama) — Chicago Agent magazine recently surveyed its readers and found that many agents think the real estate industry is getting more competitive, but conflicting statistics prove otherwise.
According to Chicago Agent’s survey, 49 percent of respondents feel the industry is getting more competitive. Twenty percent of agents think it’s becoming less competitive, while 31 percent think industry competition is about the same. In addition, recent statistics from the Chicago Association of Realtors reveal that more than 15 percent of Chicago area agents did not renew their license in 2010.
In its same survey, Chicago Agent asked which marketing activities agents say they will focus on this year to try to attract and stay in touch with clients. “Creating a plan to contact past clients regularly” was an answer for 72 percent, followed by attending networking events (60.53 percent), sending e-newsletters to past clients (50 percent), sending holiday gifts and cards (50 percent), actively posting on Facebook (49.34 percent), snail mailing postcards (36.18 percent) and having and maintaining a website independent of the brokerage (32.89 percent).
The way agents are marketing themselves may come into play. “Name recognition is still at the top,” Tina Johnson from Premier Living Properties.com said. “Consumers think that because they may see an agent’s name everywhere that they are a top producer – or are they just the agent spending the most on marketing?” Agents know that they need to keep in the public eye as social networking has become as a necessary marketing tool. “I know that the Internet and Facebook is the way to succeed this year,” Jackie Reed of Re/Max Unlimited Northwest said.
Although the industry may seem increasingly more competitive as agents struggle for closings, it may be that many of the lesser skilled agents are taking a break from the industry and the agents who remain have stronger skills, more experience and better marketing skills.
About Chicago Agent Magazine
Chicago Agent magazine and ChicagoAgentMagazine.com is a subsidiary of Agent Publishing, the only media company that unites the residential housing industry in local markets across the U.S. Realtors, developers, lenders and industry affiliates look to Chicago Agent for news, information, advice and important data relevant to the Chicagoland area. The only company that addresses the business and personal needs of the real estate professional, Chicago Agent magazine is delivered to thousands of agents in hundreds of realty offices in the Chicagoland area. For more information, visit ChicagoAgentMagazine.com.
