[matthewowen]

It's two weeks of classes and a test.

85% of realtors drop out of the industry within 18 months. My impression is that this is because "becoming a realtor" is very easy.

A counterpoint might be that it's because being a _good_ realtor is hard, and I believe that that is true to some extent. But that means you aren't _really_ paying someone "for having passed a test saying that he/she is capable of representing you in accordance with the law", because the licensing burden is really small. For instance, it's much smaller than the licensing burden you need to start cutting peoples hair.

[dustindiamond]

You still need a broker to work under, you then need to pay desk fees, real estate board membership fee, MLS fee, and then actually advertise.

[matthewowen]

But the barriers to entry for these things are also small. It's money for the fees, and given that these people are 100% commission finding a broker is not a big challenge.

Do you honestly disagree that the barrier to entry to being a practicing real estate agent is low? Doesn't mean it isn't hard to be a _successful_ one, but the basic barrier to entry just doesn't seem that high.

[dustindiamond]

I thing the barrier to entry is not that low, otherwise we would have a ton of HN folks getting their license to make leadgen sites and collect 25% referral fees (from the 3%) for having to really not deal with the customer.

[iends]

Nobody outs their niches. If something is super easy nobody is going to confirm that for you.