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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The makings of a short sale
Graphic artist Alexandra Kael bought a home on Glenmore Boulevard near the Glendale (2) Freeway in 2004 for about $675,000. Last year, she said, she lost her job and faced a bleak freelance market. She had to scrape together money to make her mortgage....Tags: Homes, La Crescenta, Real Estate Sellers, Financial and Business Services, Property
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Alarm firm buys in Glendale
Bells will be ringing in industrial south Glendale, where Bay Alarm Inc. just bought a building for its Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley headquarters. The company paid $1.72 million for a 9,700-square-foot building on Standard Avenue, near San...Tags: Economy, Business and Finance, Employees, Calabasas, Glendale (Los Angeles, California), Burbank (Los Angeles, California)
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Inventory of unsold homes grows
More Glendale and Burbank homes are for sale this year as the well of potential buyers continues to dry up.
In August, 332 Glendale homes were on the market, 43% more than in same period last year. In Burbank, 246 homes were on the market, 69% more than...Tags: Homes, Real Estate, Inventories, La Crescenta, Real Estate Sellers
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'Life Begins Again'
When Sonny Fox and June August lost their husbands almost five years ago, little did they know that a chance meeting at a bereavement group would lead to a therapeutic collaboration on a musical about love, loss and recovery.
"Life Begins Again"...Tags: Family, Real Estate, Homes, Music Theater, Entertainment
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Town Council candidates focus on development
Several Crescenta Valley Town Council candidates on Wednesday called for more limitations on the height and size of residential developments in the unincorporated areas. The La Crescenta-Montrose Community Standards District, enforced by the Los Angeles...Tags: Family, Real Estate, Homes, Long Beach (Los Angeles, California), La Crescenta
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Number 9, number 9
David Krohn was disappointed when he didn't get any trick-or-treaters the first year he and his wife moved into their home on a cul-de-sac in La Crescenta. So he and his friends started a tradition of creating a haunted house on his property.
Nine years...Tags: Transportation Accidents, Homes, YouTube, The Walt Disney Co., Disasters and Accidents
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Big plans downtown are getting smaller
CITY HALL — With the flood of iconic high-rises that were supposed to transform downtown having been halted by the economic recession, Glendale's skyline won't be changing anytime soon. During a 2008 hearing on Verdugo Gardens, a planned 24-...Tags: Public Officials, Orange (Orange, California), Real Estate, Property, California
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Class A building sent back a grade
More than a year after it was completed, the gleaming and still empty Glendale office building known as 207 Goode has changed hands. The Los Angeles-based property developer MPG Office Trust gave rights to the empty building back to the bank at a steep...Tags: Management Change, Glendale (Los Angeles, California), Homes, Real Estate, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA
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Council sides with Caruso
The owners of a hotel and vacant building adjacent to the Americana at Brand will have 45 days to negotiate a sell price with developer Rick Caruso, submit their own plans for redevelopment, or face possible eminent domain proceedings. Push turned...Tags: Real Estate, Colorado, Property, Rick Caruso, Hotel and Accommodation Industry
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Chandler property gave way to Capistrano Circle
When the attorney for F.P. Newport Co. and the Verdugo syndicate that developed Verdugo Woodlands visited the area, he decided to purchase 3 acres on Caņada Boulevard for his own family. The property was later developed as Capistrano Circle.
The...Tags: Family, Homes, Paramount Pictures, Lawyers, Physical Conditions
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Local housing market better than most
Glendale and Burbank are among the best-performing cities in a slumping regional real estate market, according to figures released Tuesday by the Los Angeles County Assessor's Office. Some 49,000 residential properties in Glendale are worth nearly $22.9...Tags: Glendale (Los Angeles, California), Real Estate, Lancaster (Lancaster, Virginia), Marketing, Health and Safety at School
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Building is winning the space race
As the amount of empty top-tier office space in Glendale continues to grow, at least one major property is upping its game in an effort to keep tenants coming. The vacancy rate in top commercial buildings in Glendale — at 23% in the third quarter,...Tags: Economy, Business and Finance, Marketing, Energy Saving, Companies and Corporations, Credit Ratings
Aug 30, 2010
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