I have heard it so often: “10% of all agents do 90 % of the business.” There are numerous variation on this theme. 20-80, 7-93, and so on. What bothers me is that these numbers are espoused by some of the industry’s leading figures. They are a gross distortion of the truth. More important, it denigrates the hard working members of our profession who make up the vast majority of unit sales.

A small minority of mega-agents is likely promulgating this myth. It caters to their obvious self-serving interests. Arguably real estate is the most overpopulated profession around.

My cousin Rachel, who is a Realtor in Baltimore, is a case in point. Her husband does well. Her real estate ambitions are to do four ends per year so that she can afford to pay for trips to visit her children who are dispersed all over the US.

Rachel is among the approximately 68% of all real estate professionals who do 4 deals or less in the US (Canada is not much different). Does that make her a poor agent? Is she less capable than some mega-agent with a support staff of 15 people? Not at all. She has her goals and ambitions, which she meets consistently. She often refers business to others. She premeditates that her life is about more than just real estate.

There are thousands upon thousands of Rachels who make up the backbone of the real estate community. This vast army of honest hard working real estate professionals is what real estate is all about. Their numbers vastly overwhelms the overachievers and uber-producers. By its inherent commission nature, there are very few boards that require a full time commitment. In the few boards that do require full timers, it is perhaps possible to find a figure approaching the myth, as there tend to be fewer agents participating (much to the joy of the active agents, I should add.)

Compounding the 90-10 myth is that many of the “Icon agents” who form teams, usurp the achievements of their team members. They credit themselves as owners of the deals on which their team members slaved. This achievement theft shows them as better mega agents than they are, and robs hundreds of agents of a performance records and likely skews overall production results.

It is interesting to compare Canadian versus US results. I randomly picked 4 large American and Canadian cities in the chart below.

In column B, find the total deals (sales x 2, listing end and selling end).
In column C, find the closest I could come to 90% of the participants.
In column D, find the number of deals these 90% of participants did.
In column E, find the percent that the 90% constitute.
In column F, find the percent that the 10% constitute.

I have tried to compare cities as evenly as possible. Working on this comparison, I noticed the disparity of the US to Canadian ratios - which is something I will put my mind to and welcome your comments on.

So the next time someone gives you the 90-10 myth, tell them that just about 90% of the people get this fact wrong by 30%.

Feedback

"Thank you so much for your article on 'Debunking the Myth'.

"For the 20+ years I have been in the business as an upper-middle producer, averaging about 15 sales per year through all the ups and downs, I have heard this info, as I was paying the bills for my employers along the way, and watching the “mini-offices” within my office and so many “blazing stars” get the bulk of the credit for production.

"You are right, it is the ones who slog away in the trenches who do the majority of the community work, promote harmony in the office, keep their companies out of court, and try to lead a balanced lifestyle. There are no trophies or newspaper announcements for the realtors who deal with life’s trials like raising well balanced children, mental illness in the family, or even dealing with personal health problems while trying to care for their clients’ needs. A prima donna couldn’t do it! And there are so many like us in this business.

"Bravo!"

- Anonymous