Challenge: Recruiting Younger Agents

Finding the right talent — younger talent, in particular — is what's most on the minds of top real estate executives, according to the 2013 Imprev Thought Leader Survey.

Although recruiting is a perennial issue, leaders of the nation's major brokerages who were surveyed about the issues that concern them most put an even finer point on it, citing "recruiting younger agents" as their top business challenge; it was selected by 70 percent of respondents. "Recruiting top talent" is the second-most crucial business challenge, specified by 65 percent.

"The real estate business is aging out," said Renwick Congdon, chief executive officer of Imprev, the real estate marketing software firm that works with 150,000 agents and brokers nationwide. "Broker-owners and other top real estate executives are under pressure to find new talent."

National Association of Realtors® data show that a mere 6 percent of its membership is under the age of 34 — and that in the past 15 years, the percentage of members in their 40s has dropped by one-third. Additionally, more than 40 percent of all Realtors® are older than 60 and one in four is 65 or older.

Other key findings:

• Top execs want younger managers: The Imprev Thought Leader Survey's probe into key business challenges for broker-owners and top real estate executives also shows a strong need for a new generation of management: More than one in three say "recruiting younger managers" is a top business concern (38 percent), surpassing such business challenges as agent compensation, better use of social media, listing syndication issues and the value of multiple listing service membership.

• Recruiting is a pervasive topic: When asked the open-ended question, "What is your firm's single biggest challenge today?" nearly 40 percent of the written answers cite recruiting. Profitability garners the second spot, cited by 14 percent of the executives, with 13 percent mentioning technology.

• "Staying ahead of competitors" ranks as the third biggest business challenge with 45 percent of those surveyed. The number is consistent with the responses in last year's Thought Leader survey: Forty-four percent in 2012 also selected "staying ahead of the competition" as a top business concern.

• "Quality of leads for agents" emerged as a new crucial business challenge, selected by 41 percent of executives. "Agent satisfaction" rounded out the top five business challenges.

Approximately 70 percent of the respondents run brokerages with more than 100 agents; 26 percent have more than 500 agents; 12 percent have more than 1,000 agents.

This article originally appeared on the REAL Trends Blog. Reprinted with permission of REAL Trends Inc. Copyright © 2013