I started in 1968. I work in Toronto, Canada. When I started, the real estate board had maybe 6,500 members. Today, we are the world’s most giant board, pushing to 60,000 probably sometime in 2020 or 2021. Even 30 years ago, in 1990, the number of agents was increasing, and part-time agents were becoming more common. For a part-time agent who is say making $50,000 a year, selling one house a year and cutting their commission may still yield them $10,000 to $15,000, so for them, that is akin to a lottery win. If many people list and sell one house a year, then they cut into the production of top producers. The rise of the part-time agent started about 30 years ago and continues today.
Another thing, in Toronto, we are in about the 23rd straight year of a rising market. Today, $1 Million buys a basic semi-detached house in the core. In 1990, we had climbed out the real estate depression of the 1980s, and agents knew what a down market was all about. In 1990, it was a boom year again, but by 1991 our market collapsed, and prices went south deep south. Fortunes were lost; Agents were having trouble giving away houses. It was a horrible time. Agents had to be tough to survive and work very hard. Selling was not easy. Agents had to understand creative financing techniques and how to sell to a willing buyer when there were not a lot of willing lenders. We could not sell unless we grasped mortgage financing.
Today, agents just contact a mortgage broker or lender and let them handle that aspect. Most cannot manipulate the system to work for their buyers.
Buyer agency was just coming on its own in 1990, and today, it is established.
We also had to spend a great deal on print advertising as listings had to go into the real estate columns in the newspapers, so good agents knew how to write excellent and action-based copy.
In 1990, although we had pagers, car phones, cellphones, we were not as easily accessible as today. Today, we expect to return a call or text within minutes. We are always on the go. We had a better life-work balance.
One of the most significant changes in real estate of all is the advent of teams. In 1990, there were few teams in the game. Today, organizations are dominating in many markets, and groups are the future. That is a significant innovation.
Training, although there was Jerry Bresser, Floyd Wickman, Tom Hopkins, and a few more, our practice was not strong. Today, coaching for the top producers is the norm.
Brokerages. I may be a heretic as I am a RE/MAX broker, but the RE/MAX model broke the mold, and independent brokerages had trouble staying in the game. Oh, they still exist, but the profit margins for a brokerage today are weak in comparison to 30 years ago. We worked for a broker, a broker who trained us, was there for us, and would fire us. Today, we rarely go into our offices. We work from home, and brokerages who have monthly desk fees keep anyone who keeps paying and is not in trouble. The brokers have lost control. So, teams emerged to recreate the brokerage structure that used to exist. Ironic. RE/MAX has teams that resemble the 1970s brokerages when they broke the eggshell of brokerage.
And of course, more national brands in real estate and worldwide.
I can go on, but one last thing that has truly changed, the newer agent today, the younger ones. They are in the business but not the career. Many are in to make money and move on. Real estate as a career, a life career, was our norm 30 years ago. Today, more are transaction-driven and not focused on the client.
And come back in 10 years to 2030, and I predict that the changes in the next ten years will be more revolutionary than what has transpired over the past 30, 40, or 50 years.
The times they are changing!
===
Not much different from 30 years ago and 40 years ago except we had to walk everywhere cause a horse and buggy were expensive.
Forty years ago, there are no computers, no fax machines, no pagers, and MLS books printed every other week. No internet.
Thirty years ago, we transitioned from teletypes to dumb terminals, basic PCs, beginnings of (PC) networks, and the start of cellphones and copy machines and thermal fax machines.
Twenty years ago, the elimination of the MLS published books, the removal of published home magazines. The rejection of the pager and thermal fax paper. The creation of (beginnings) information on demand. Searching anything on the internet was spotty at best. If you didn’t know what you could search for, you didn’t know what you were missing. This time can be expanded so much like the creation of databases, online calendars, cell phones, and many more.
Ten years ago, everything came of synchronization: your digital cellphone, your laptop, desktop pc, and your tablet. You can schedule an appointment on your phone. Your assistant sees it in real-time, moments on their desktop; Nobody knows what a printed MLS book let alone a homes magazine. The digital age with Trulia and Zillow trying to capture leads then selling them to us.
I laugh at Zillow and the bunch. I don’t work with many buyers. I restrict the sharing of the information on the internet for the first 10–14 days. (makes the buyers call the sign and commit to something) The internet commits, and they can hide anonymously. Hard to do when you cannot find it.
I love the mixture of the old way and today's technology, The agents of today would sink like a rock in quicksand so ill-prepared. But at the same time, I can watch my 70–80 listings (a year) sell-by all the newbies that have no clue and generally have no idea of technology. Then they walk around trying to impress everyone that they do.
What old-timers bring to the table is a mixture of hard work, ethics, and a career in mind. The difference is enormous.
===
Mary, I can’t speak to the full 30 years, but I have been a Realtor for 25 years. When I started in 1995, the internet had just begun. We still had to take photos with a camera with film and have it developed and then mailed to an out-of-state client instead of sending pictures online to them.
There wasn’t such fierce competition for space on Page 1 of Google. Zillow, Trulia, Homes.com, Find Real Estate, Homes for Sale, Apartments & Houses for Rent | realtor.com® didn’t exist to take the lion’s share of Page 1. We didn’t have Realtors who hired staff to write SEO ladened content for their websites (some locally who have 3–4 employees that are all they do 40 hours a week).
There weren’t as many competitors. Right now, we have over 8,500 Realtors in the two counties I serve, and we need no more than 1,000 to do the work for the entire year. Each one of those additional agents who help a friend or family member to buy or sell their home takes income off the table of the ones who work full-time in the industry.
When I began as a real estate appraiser in 1991, we didn’t have listings available online. We used books that were published every couple of weeks, so data within them had to be verified just to confirm the home was still possible to show.
We moved into an online version of the MLS shortly before I started as a Realtor.
Lots of items have been invented and updated over the years. Lots of shiny objects that get purchased because we thought they would save time or money and just sit on a shelf unused in some cases.
We had tape measures in the beginning (and most of us still have one or two in our cars), but there are now laser measuring devices that help you to measure a room’s dimension.
That is a brief account of some of the changes.
===
Thirty years ago, there was no internet, so agents where the only way for buyers to get listings and information. Today buyers have everything at their fingertips, so agents are now more consults to get the most for their sellers and help buyers get the home they want at the best value. Agents help guide the process and do everything from remodels and staging to finding off-market or creative options for buyers in low inventory areas.
===
I have been retired (semi-retired) now for about 17 years. So much has changed that I no longer know what high tech has brought to the real estate environment. Given where I live, a rural-suburban climate, it appears that real estate has gone from more everyday personalized (shake the hand introduction) to high tech. Email list building and mass mailings or flyers at the door. As they say, “it's a numbers game,” and the competition is stiff.
===
I was not a real estate agent 30 years ago, but have a good friend who was one. I would say that the most significant difference is technology. With all the house finding apps out there, anyone can locate a place to live without the help of an agent. So making yourself valuable to the consumer is essential. You have to add value, or you won't survive.