Real Estate Schools Attract New Students as Competition Wanes

Area real estate schools that survived the housing crisis say they are benefiting from less competition and a difficult job market, though business is still down from pre-recession levels. Real estate school enrollment has dropped in recent years, which has forced many San Fernando Valley schools out of business, area owners say. Calls to a half-dozen publicly-listed San Fernando Valley real estate schools resulted in non-working numbers or other businesses. Ron Prechtl, owner of Prellis Real Estate School in Granada Hills, said his school is one of the few remaining schools in the Valley that offers live instruction to prepare students for their real estate license exams. “There are fewer and fewer schools — that’s kept our enrollment fairly consistent,” Prechtl said. “We’re getting students from the other schools.” United Educational Services, an online real estate school based in Northridge, saw enrollment drop by about half after the housing bubble burst, said Craig Dubron, the school’s director. However, since real estate agency Pinnacle Estate Properties bought the school nearly three years ago, it has been able to keep enrollment numbers consistent, Dubron said. “One of the reasons why people might be looking at getting into this business is, obviously, the unemployment rate is still high,” Dubron said. Anyone can enter the industry by taking the appropriate courses and the state exam, he said. Statewide, applications for real estate licenses and exam enrollments are still waiting for a comeback, said Tom Pool, a spokesman for the California Department of Real Estate. “When you look at the number of licenses and exams administered, we’ve been bouncing at the bottom,” Pool said. In May, the most recent data available, the department administered 727 real estate broker exams, up 5 percent from 692 exams in the same period a year ago, according to the department’s Web site. The number of salesperson exams the department administered in May fell 22.8 percent to 1,578, from 2,043 in the year-ago period. The department does not break down the data by region. Enrollment activity School owners say they expect enrollments to increase as the housing market improves. Prechtl said in the past two months his school has increased its enrollment by about 40 percent, drawing a total of 40 students a month. The increase breaks nearly a year of flat enrollment, but it’s still below pre-recession levels, when the school averaged about 60 students a month, he said. Dubron said he expects it could take two or three years for the market to improve and for business to pick up. Meanwhile, the school is working to improve its Internet search engine optimization in order to help attract more students. It also relies on its reputation, Dubron said, noting the school has been around for about 25 years and serves students statewide. While many people are avoiding a career in the industry, and others are leaving the profession, Michael Millar, 18, of Thousand Oaks said he is working to get his foot in the door. “There are still homes that are bought and sold,” Millar said. “It’s still a marketplace, and there are people that are going to be needed to help make that transaction possible.” Millar started attending the Prellis Real Estate School last month, immediately after graduating from high school. He said working in real estate will help him earn money while he studies accounting at California Lutheran University, starting this fall. “The fact that people have been discouraged by the market, that’s an advantage for me,” Millar said. Jim Link, CEO of the Southland Regional Association of Realtors said overall membership has been steadily declining since 2008, but in March the number of incoming members started outnumbering those leaving. The Van Nuys-based association, which serves the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys, often adds members when real estate agents receive licenses for the first time, renew their licenses or relocate to the area. Officials say the association is starting to see an uptick in people working in the region’s real estate industry. Currently, about 100 new members are joining the association each month, said Fred Sabine, the association’s president. That’s an improvement from six to nine months ago, when about 70 to 80 members joined the group. But before the housing market collapsed, the association would attract 250 to 300 agents each month, he said. “I think it (membership) will continue to grow,” Sabine said. “What happens when the market starts to get like it’s going to turn? Everybody runs out and gets their license.”