More Las Vegans joining Realtor ranks

It's fashionable to be a real estate agent in Las Vegas and the rest of Nevada again.

A study ranks Las Vegas as the 10th best city in country to be a real estate agent. Reno ranks No. 1.

And just like a decade ago when home prices and sales rose, more and more Las Vegas residents see the opportunity to bolster their incomes and enter the profession. Many who left the industry are returning, and there are lots of newcomers pursing a part-time career with the hope of making it more full time.

That's reflected in the latest membership rolls of the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors, which has grown to 12,737 members, a jump of more than 6 percent from last year's membership number of 11,981. It's up from a post-housing downturn low of 11,379 in 2013. That's two years in a row the GLVAR has seen an uptick in membership since the market topped out at 17,358 in 2006, when the Las Vegas housing market peaked.

The trend shows no signs of slowing. Real estate classes to gain GLVAR membership are packed, and the organization is graduating more than 200 real estate agents a month as new members. The current numbers are where the GLVAR was at the end of 2004 during the upswing and again in 2009 when Las Vegas was recovering from the housing bust.

"We're right where we were at before the big uplift in the market, and we've had to have two orientations a month the last few months just to keep up with the registrations and signing up Realtors," said GLVAR President Keith Lynam. "It's a great opportunity for those split-timers that have jobs and steady income and want to do real estate at the same time. We see a lot of returning Realtors jumping back into a market that's healthy and stable."

STRONG NUMBERS

The latest GLVAR numbers bear that out. The median price of homes sold in August through its Multiple Listing Service was $220,000, 10 percent higher than August 2014. Through the end of August, the GLVAR reported 26,225 sales of homes, condos and townhomes, up 5 percent from 24,965 through August 2014.

More sales and higher prices lead to more commission revenue for Realtors.

SmartAssets, a New York-based financial technology company, said the median income for Las Vegas real estate agents for 2015 ending in July was $55,360, up from $51,910 in 2014 when the firm ranked Las Vegas as the No. 1 city to be a real estate agent.

AJ Smith, SmartAssets' vice president of content and managing editor who oversaw the research, said the Las Vegas ranking went down because appreciation wasn't as high in 2015, 7.5 percent increase vs. 24 percent, and the turnover rate of homes went from 10.2 percent in 2014 to 8.4 percent in 2015.

"Las Vegas is a great place to be a real estate agent," Smith said. "It looks like the comeback there is strong. The fact that prices are still going up but not at 24 percent may not be a bad thing. It could indicate that this won't be a bubble, and it will continue to rise at that rate, which I think most real estate agents would prefer."

Smith said Reno saw its median home sales price rise 17.6 percent between the first quarter of 2014 and first quarter of 2015. Its agents had a median annual income of $52,250 and there were 29 sales per agent, the third most of any city in the top 20. Las Vegas, by contrast, had averaged six sales per agent in 2015, she said.

ADDED INCOME

Agents are looking to get a piece of that growing pie.

Las Vegas native Tiesha Moore has recorded two sales since she became an agent in April. Moore, 38, who works for Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices-Nevada Properties, is a CPA who does some financial bookkeeping for her husband's electrical contracting company. Mostly, she's been a stay-at home mom for her four children, but with her youngest now in school, Moore, who long had an interest in real estate through, said she likes helping people.

"My kids are in school and the profession of real estate is a flexible one," Moore said. "I needed something flexible where I can be there for the kids as well if I needed to do something for myself. I think seeing an uptick in the market drew me in as well."

Rosalind Colbert got her state real estate license at the end of July and is a few weeks away from gaining her GLVAR membership. The 45-year-old agent with Keller Williams said she's taking one GLVAR class and has two more to go but there's so much interest she's had to wait to get in classes.

A Las Vegas resident of 12 years, Colbert said she wanted to get in real estate a decade ago but had to wait until her 13-year-old daughter was grown. She works as a contract nail technician but said the future in that profession isn't as promising and thinks she will do better financially in the long run by working in real estate.

"I always wanted to learn about real estate," Colbert said. "I like to go look at houses and help people. It's fun and exciting to do, and it's a great opportunity. Everybody needs a place to live. I think it's a profession where people have to trust you, and if they do, the better you can do."

Lynam said no matter Las Vegas' ranking is No. 1 or No. 10 in the latest study, the industry will take what's happening in Southern Nevada. The appreciation that's happening is healthy and the market is becoming stable. An influx of new agents isn't a concern, and a lot who are returning to their previous career are coming back to the industry wiser and that's good for them and homeowners. What's good for homeowners is good for Realtors, he said.

"The market took care of that in a heartbeat," Lynam said of the membership reduction during the downturn. "If we had too many, it wiped it out overnight. The market will always take care of that. You'll be successful if you connect with (people you know). If you're looking to jump in, it's not an easy career because you have to stay connected to your community."

NOTICEABLE CHANGES

For those agents who entered the industry at the bottom of the market, the changes in the industry in the last couple of years have been noticeable.

Azim Jessa, 35, a Realtor with Urban Nest Realty, said he did nothing but short sales in the first three years of his career. Talking with people wanting to buy and sell homes is a sea change from talking with banks and sparked more interest in the profession, he said. Three members of his team have joined the profession in the last several months.

"People have seen the market go up, and they think it's a good time to get in real estate," Jessa said. "They came to us because they needed flexibility with kids in school, and it's a good job if you need flexibility."

Shyla Magee, 28, a Realtor with Windermere Realty, said the job is much different than when she became an agent in 2011 after relocating from Texas where she graduated with a degree in finance from Texas Tech University. It's no longer a short sale and foreclosure dominated market, and says she's on pace to have her best year.

Magee said she understands why more people are entering the profession given they are more confident given the increase in sales and commissions since the downturn.

"It's a great time to be an agent, but there's a lot of competition out there," Magee said. "The numbers are steadily increasing over the last year. A lot of people who dropped out in the crash are joining again and newer agents coming in is not a bad thing. If they get training, it shouldn't be a problem."

Miguel Landrove, 37, an agent with Miguel Landrove Platinum Real Estate, said appreciation has sparked interest in the profession again because income is higher in the commission-based industry. An agent for five years, Landrove, who previously worked with agents dealing with foreclosures, said it's more rewarding to be an agent today.

"I saw a lot of heartbreak of people losing property and the stories they would tell me because they were guided down the wrong path with loans," Landrove said. "I like to help people buy a home and accomplish that dream of home ownership. It's great to be on the good side."