Typical Florida real estate firm a one-office company

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Oct. 3, 2006 -- What's a "typical" Florida real estate firm look like? An survey commissioned by the Florida Association of Realtors® (FAR) and conducted by the National Association of Realtors finds that it has one office, invested more in technology last year, and increased its spending on training.

Other survey highlights include:

Characteristics of real estate firms
 
• In Florida, real estate firms have been in the business for a median of 12 years and 45 percent of firms have been in the real estate business 15 years or more.
• Seventy-one percent of firms operate one office.
• Eighty-seven percent of Florida firms did not open a new office in 2005 and 96 percent did not close any offices.
• Slightly more than half of Florida firms don’t own any of their offices compared with 43 percent of firms nationally.
• Eighty-three percent of firms are corporations, 7 percent are proprietorships and 2 percent are partnerships.
• The median number of licensees in Florida firms is five, one among all firms and three among those firms with part-time licensees.
• Among all firms in Florida, twice as many licensees joined firms in 2005 as left. A median 4 licensees joined firms compared with 2 licensees leaving.
• Firms with 3 offices and 4 or more offices each have a median of 26 licensees compared with a median of 14 licensees among firms with 3 offices and a median 12 licensees among firms with 4 or more offices nationally.
• Seventy-two percent of residential firms in Florida are actively recruiting agents mostly as a means to help grow their primary real estate business.
• Sixty-five percent of firms have 1 to 4 employees (non-licensees) on staff per office.
• Six percent of independent, non-franchised firms offer vacation or sick days to their independent contractors compared with 23 percent of independent, franchised company firms.

Business activity of real estate firms
 
• Eighty-three percent of Florida firms indicated that residential brokerage was their primary real estate activity in 2005 compared with 71 percent in 2004.
• More than half of firms indicated property management as a secondary business activity; 38 percent commercial brokerage and 23 percent land or development.
• Thirty-two percent of Florida real estate firms offer business brokerage in-house; 34 percent offer relocation services and 14 percent offer mortgage lending in-house. More than half of firms offer mortgage lending through outsourcing or through a business relationship with another firm.
• Thirty-four percent of all Florida real estate firms and 45 percent of Florida residential firms offer relocation services in-house compared with 24 percent and 29 percent of firms respectively in the U.S.
• Sixty-six percent of firms report that their referral or relocation activities have improved their sales volume, and 62 percent report they improved their profitability.
• Eighty-three percent of firms report an increase in profitability in 2005 compared with 66 percent of real estate firms in the U.S.
 
The role of technology
 
• Sixty-eight percent of firms reported that, for at least half of them, communications with their clients was conducted by email.
• Six percent of real estate firms charge a technology fee, mainly for use of shared computer workstations, e-mail and business software.
• Eighty- three percent of Florida firms have a Web site through which a median of 9 leads are generated.
• Seventy-five percent of firms increased their technology spending in 2005 compared to 2004.
• Eighty percent of Florida firms indicated an increase in sales volume and 80 percent reported an increase in profitability.

© 2006 FLORIDA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® 

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