Highlights
Real estate agents, also known as sales agents and brokers, facilitate or negotiate the sale or purchase of any property, most frequently a home. An agent is usually the person managing a specific deal; a broker is usually the person running a firm that hires the agent. "Realtor" is the common name for an agent, although it is actually the formal title for a member of the National Association of Realtors, a trade organization that requires adherence to a code of ethics. The law does not require buyers and sellers hire an agent and a recent trend is a deal handled primarily between the two parties.
Because transactions are often complicated, every state requires agents and brokers be...
Because transactions are often complicated, every state requires agents and brokers be...
Real estate agents, also known as sales agents and brokers, facilitate or negotiate the sale or purchase of any property, most frequently a home. An agent is usually the person managing a specific deal; a broker is usually the person running a firm that hires the agent. "Realtor" is the common name for an agent, although it is actually the formal title for a member of the National Association of Realtors, a trade organization that requires adherence to a code of ethics. The law does not require buyers and sellers hire an agent and a recent trend is a deal handled primarily between the two parties.
Because transactions are often complicated, every state requires agents and brokers be licensed. They must be high school graduates and pass a written test on basic transactions and laws. Most states require classroom instruction, training and, for some advanced positions, some experience selling property. Licenses usually must be renewed every few years and some states require continuing education credits to remain licensed. Agents can work for a buyer or the property owner. They usually are self-employed people providing services as a contractor to a broker's firm. They locate houses to be sold, advertise the property, locate buyers, match buyers to properties that fit their needs, negotiate a price, prepare the paperwork, arrange financing and numerous other tasks. In 2004, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated about 460,000 people worked in the industry. Many worked part time, combining their real estate activities with other careers, because two sales can be days or months apart. The median annual earnings of salaried real estate sales agents, including commissions, were $35,670 in May 2004. Commissions on sales are the main source of earnings, usually a percentage of the sale price. The money is usually split between the agent who listed the property and agent who made the sale to a buyer. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics warns that getting a job is easy, but competition is stiff from experienced agents and is dependent on the volatile swings of the housing market. The job has been made easier in recent decades because of computerization, which allows potential buyers to screen out scores of possible homes with online virtual tours.
Because transactions are often complicated, every state requires agents and brokers be licensed. They must be high school graduates and pass a written test on basic transactions and laws. Most states require classroom instruction, training and, for some advanced positions, some experience selling property. Licenses usually must be renewed every few years and some states require continuing education credits to remain licensed. Agents can work for a buyer or the property owner. They usually are self-employed people providing services as a contractor to a broker's firm. They locate houses to be sold, advertise the property, locate buyers, match buyers to properties that fit their needs, negotiate a price, prepare the paperwork, arrange financing and numerous other tasks. In 2004, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated about 460,000 people worked in the industry. Many worked part time, combining their real estate activities with other careers, because two sales can be days or months apart. The median annual earnings of salaried real estate sales agents, including commissions, were $35,670 in May 2004. Commissions on sales are the main source of earnings, usually a percentage of the sale price. The money is usually split between the agent who listed the property and agent who made the sale to a buyer. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics warns that getting a job is easy, but competition is stiff from experienced agents and is dependent on the volatile swings of the housing market. The job has been made easier in recent decades because of computerization, which allows potential buyers to screen out scores of possible homes with online virtual tours.
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Ohio police say college adviser ran prostitute raffle
South Florida Sun-SentinelAn Ohio State University academic adviser and a real estate agent held a $10-a-ticket raffle that offered an evening with a prostitute who is also a child sex-abuse caseworker, police said. Christopher S. Johnson, 33, an academic adviser at OSU's...Tags: Crimes, Jim Lynch, Prostitution, Ohio State University, Police
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Suspect denies motive in killing of lawyer
erik.german@newsday.com and andrew.strickler@newsday.comFar from wanting James DiMartino dead, Ronald Thornton had every reason to keep his business partner alive, Thornton's lawyer said Monday as his client pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. Suffolk prosecutors have charged Thornton with hiring a...Tags: James DiMartino, Crimes, Riverhead (Riverhead, New York), Assault, Police
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South Florida cities and counties get federal grants to take over foreclosed homes
South Florida Sun-SentinelLocal governments across South Florida are gearing up to flip properties, become landlords or dole out grants — all to combat the foreclosure crisis. Cities such as Plantation, Margate and West Palm Beach each anticipate buying a dozen or more...Tags: Coconut Creek, Coral Springs, Condos and Houses, Lauderhill, Boynton Beach
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More call center work being done at home
The Associated PressAn operator is standing by -- at home. Companies that supply customer service agents to businesses around the world say they are saving money and attracting better employees by letting them work from their own houses. Using Internet telephone technology,...Tags: Consumer Electronics Industry, Vehicles, Procter & Gamble Company, Consumers, National Government
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Autos
General Motors Corp. said Friday it would sell and lease back some of its non-manufacturing operations in Europe as part of its efforts to raise cash quickly. The company's European division has retained real estate agent Jones Lang LaSalle to help...Tags: General Motors Corp., Real Estate Buyers, Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated, Suzuki Motor Corp.
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It's time to end Florida gay adoption ban
Wayne LaRue Smith was outside the Andrews Diner in Wilton Manors on Friday when he interrupted our phone conversation.
"I'll have to call you back," Smith said. "My son just came out and told me my breakfast is on the table. You don't know how good it...Tags: Key West, Miami Beach, Judges, Family, Justice System
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HOT SHOTS
At midmorning, sunlight streams through three sets of windows, creating an elongated pane pattern on the floor of a Reisterstown house.
"This is nice, because you have this floor, you have nice shadows on the wood," says photographer Craig Westerman,...Tags: Photography, Ellicott City, Stock Broking, Ron Howard, Facebook
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Friday's market movers
GENERAL MOTORS $0.43 (9%) to $5.24 Shares of the leading U.S. automaker jumped amid reports it is considering selling half its U.S. brands and cutting debt and labor costs to help secure government assistance. Ford Motor Co. stock also rose, climbing...Tags: Sales, Ford Motor Co., Automotive Equipment
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Murder charge upgraded in Nesconset man's killing
andrew.strickler@newsday.comThe friend and business partner of a Nesconset businessman killed last month will face first-degree murder charges with two others, according to online court records, after a Queens stripper also charged in the crime admitted being part of a murder-for-...Tags: Court Administration, James DiMartino, Bars and Clubs, Crimes, Dining and Drinking
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In Mexico, Casita Linda is building hope
Just a few miles from multimillion-dollar homes in this central Mexican resort town, the countryside yields to dirt-floor lean-tos made of sticks, rocks, cardboard, blankets or tarps. If residents are lucky, they have a panel of sheet metal as the roof....Tags: Architecture, Metal and Mineral, Wages and Pensions, Economic Policy, Environmental Politics
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Frances Virginia Dentry, registered nurse
Frances Virginia Dentry, a retired registered nurse and family historian, died of cancer Nov. 20 at her Towson home. She was 88. Born Frances Virginia Bortner in Baltimore and raised on a family farm in White Hall, she was a 1937 Sparks High School...Tags: Death and Dying, Medical Staff, Baltimore County, Hospitals and Clinics, Hunt Valley
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From Bust to Broom: Mortgage crisis a boon for foreclosure cleanup businesses
Associated Press WriterFORT EDWARD, N.Y. (AP) _ Several men wordlessly carry out furniture, broken computers and boxes of garbage from a large blue house on a quiet upstate street on a brisk autumn morning. Rusting bikes and an old grill lay discarded in the overgrown...Tags: Metal and Mineral, Mortgages, Crimes, Theft, Financial and Business Services
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