Where Are the Youngsters?

Just noticed that the average age of real estate agents is now 51. While that's not old given today's aging population, it made me wonder why more recent college and highschool graduates are not entering this field and pulling the average age down a bit? We've had a great ride in this career and it will rebound (I think big time) soon. If you're looking at alternatives, take a look at prudentcareers.com for some additional information about a career in Illinois real estate sales.
That being said, if you happen to be an older person (like me) thinking of entering a second or third career, we'd be happy to welcome you also.

License Law Passes House and Senate from IAR

License law rewrite clears Illinois House and Senate; now headed to governor. IAR’s Real Estate License Law rewrite (SB 1894) was approved on Oct. 15 by the House and on Oct. 29 by the Senate. The bill now goes to the Gov. Quinn for his approval. In terms of timing, the legislature has a maximum of 30 days to transmit the bill to the Governor, and then the Governor has 60 days to act on the bill. However, IAR anticipates that the bill will be acted upon relatively quickly. If approved, the section of the bill containing the Real Estate License Act is effective December 31, 2009. The bill gives licensees until April 30, 2012 to go through the proficiency exam or coursework requirements. Read IAR's License Law talking points and Q&A to help clear up any misconceptions about the proposal.

New Careers Site is Launched

The new Illinois real estate career web site is now up and running. There you will be able to find information on a career with Prudential Starck Realtors®, links and information about our partner real estate school, Your House Academy, web links to sites we've discovered, material on prelicense course work, the State of Illinois exam, the new format for the Illinois broker exam, some general information about working in real estate, and we'll be adding content frequently. You'll find the site under the old URL of prudentcareers.com. Let us know what you think.

Are You Going to Benefit from the Rebound?

The National Association of Realtors reports that housing affordability was at an all-time high in December. Also reflected in that report was the good news, for us, that the Midwest had the highest affordability index of the four geographic regions. Mortgage rates are as low as I can remember in my 30 years in the business. It was slow back in the early '80's when rates were in the mid to high teens, but when it broke...wow, we had a good number of great years. So is now the time to get into the business? Nobody knows, but when it breaks...