The Number Of People Becoming Realtors Is Exploding

Wikimedia CommonsHere's a sign the housing market is maybe, possibly, overheating: the number of people becoming realtors is surging.

ChicagoGrid.com's Emmy Storms reports the Chicago Association of Realtors added 600 new members this spring, at a rate of 75 to 100 enrolled each month.

Meanwhile, Miami Association of Realtors vice president Lynda Fernandez says there's been a 25% increase in the growth rate for new members, from to 3,800 YOY from June 2012 to this year, compared with 3,000 for June 2011-June 2012. She said only a small percentage were likely to be transfers from other associations.

Chicagoland housing market analyst Gary Lucido, who linked to Storms' post, blogs that this puts us in deja-vu territory:

During the height of the real estate bubble every doorman, bar tender, and tax driver became a real estate agent so they would have a ticket to earn the outrageous commissions from friends, family, and casual acquaintances. ...

Flash forward a few years and we're almost back to those golden days, though the licensing standards are a tad more rigorous (but not much more) and money isn't exactly easy.

Given that inventory remains constrained in most parts of the country, the figures are only likely to increase.