On March 23rd, 2013, US News and World Report published an article that went largely unnoticed by the real estate community. Perhaps you missed it too. The article laid out some sobering facts about how the demographics of the US population is changing. Here is the opening paragraph:
There are 75 million baby boomers who are on the verge of retirement. For the next twenty years, an average of 10,000 people each day will reach age 65, which has historically been the retirement phase of life.
As startling as that is, the next paragraph goes on to hammer the point home:
Between 2000 and 2010, the number of people age 65 to 84 in the U.S. grew by 3.3 million. While 13 percent of Americans are currently age 65 or older, that proportion will jump to 18 percent by 2030. The current 40 million senior citizens will balloon to 89 million by 2050.
If you are planning on staying in the business for the next 5 to 10 years, you owe it to yourself to go read the entire article at http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/on-retirement/2012/03/23/the-baby-boomer-number-game.
So what can you do to make sure that you are able to capitalize on serving this market? The very first thing that I suggest is to educate yourself on their special needs. The best way that I know to do that is to obtain the Seniors Real Estate Specialist designation from NAR. Here is what is taught in that course:
The SRES® designation course seeks to instill knowledge and understanding of and empathy for 50+ real estate clients and customers.
Yo will develop the business building skills and resources needed for specialization in the 50+ real estate market. Assuming you stay awake in class!
You can get more information at http://www.seniorsrealestate.com/
You night be questioning the value of obtaining a designation, consider this:
According to the 2013 NAR Member Profile survey data, the median income of REALTORS® with no designations was $33,500. However, REALTORS® who invest in their careers and obtain at least one professional designation earn an average of $61,000 annually—a difference of $27,000. That’s an average income boost of just over 45%. The report is available here:
https://www.nar.realtor/sites/default/files/2013-member-profile-highlights-2013-05.pdf
If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area and are reading this before the end of March, you have two choices of time and location to take the course in live, classroom style with me as your instructor.
In Walnut Creek on February 16th and 17th – https://www.ccartoday.com/education/sres-feb2017
And in San Jose on March 28th and 29th – http://www.sccaor.com/#toggle-id-26
Maybe I’ll see you at one of the upcoming classes!
