A Model of Real Estate Sales as a Career Choice

This article develops a model of the probability that individuals choose careers in real estate sales. The model is estimated using Census data. Females are found to be significantly more likely than males to enter the field. For males, the probability of entering the field grows with schooling up through four years of college, and declines thereafter. For females, the probability falls with increased schooling beyond high school. Real estate sales is a career that is more appealing to both males and females with more labor market experience. For females, the probability of choosing a real estate career rises at a decreasing rate with experience. For males, the probability grows at an increasing rate. Both females and males are very responsive in their career choice decisions to changes in real earnings. The supply price elasticity, evaluated at the mean, is estimated to be +3.18 for males and +2.76 for females.

Contract Incentives and Effort

In a prevailing employment contract, the agent receives a proportional split of commissions. Alternatively, the agent receives a contract paying 100% of revenue above a fixed payment to the firm. In this contract the firm has a prior payment position, similar to a landlord or lender. The coexistence of these equity-only and debt-equity type contracts allows testing incentives for productivity and effort for U.S. real estate licensees. Hourly wages and productivity are increasing in the agent's split, up to and including 100%. Effort as measured by hours worked also positively affected by the split. The contract incentives motivate productivity and induce effort without requiring monitoring.

The Impact of Auctions on Residential Sales Prices in New Zealand

The use of an auction to sell residential real estate in the United States is often associated with distressed sales such as foreclosure, bankruptcy or estate settlement. In other areas of the world, auctions are more commonly used and viewed as a viable, preferred method of selling a house. This article uses hedonic pricing methodology to compare the sale prices of houses in Christchurch, New Zealand sold at auction with those sold by private treaty. The results indicate that in some cases auctions can result in premium sale prices. In none of the cases studied did auctions result in lower prices than private-treaty sales.

The Supply Adjustment Process in Retail Space Markets

Previous research has reported that the real estate market for retail space is slow to adjust, however, comparatively little research has investigated the supply of retail space for individual metropolitan markets. This study presents our findings by metropolitan statistical area (MSA) of the mean retail space supply lag, the short- and long-run retail space supply elasticities with respect to retail sales and the response of retail space supply to interest rate changes. The considerable variation in mean retail space supply lags and supply elasticities for our sample of fifty-six major MSAs has important implications for investors, developers and others who hold financial stakes in the supply of retail space.

Time on the Market: The Impact of Residential Brokerage

IThis paper examines the impact of brokers, brokerage firms and marketing strategy on time on the market (TOM) in the residential housing market. Using a duration model methodology, the study finds duration dependence to be positive, suggesting that the probability of sale increases with TOM. Pricing-related marketing strategies are found to strongly influence TOM, but individual agent and firm characteristics are not statistically significant. These results are consistent with an efficient market within a multiple listing serviceÐÐno group of agents or firms appears to possess special advantages enabling them to sell homes more quickly than their rivals.

Franchising in Residential Brokerage

This paper explores the profitability of real estate franchises. The database for the study consists of observations from the National Association of Realtors©' 2001 survey of real estate brokerage firms. Franchises are found to generate additional revenue for franchisees. However, net margins defined as the difference between revenues received and expenses paid (including franchise royalties) are lower for firms with franchises. The findings indicate that franchisors appear to extract the excess rents from the franchisee.

Technology and Real Estate Brokerage Firm Financial Performance

This study investigates the impact of Internet usage on the financial performance of residential real estate brokerage firms using a database of over 1,700 observations. Factor loadings and a factor score for Internet usage are developed. The results show that Internet use is positively related to revenue and net income, and negatively related to net margin. In a second stage analysis, Internet use is found to be positively associated with franchise affiliation, affiliation with a referral /relocation network and firm size, while negatively related to firm age, single-office firms and location in the West and South (relative to the Northeast).

The Pricing of Dutch Auction Rate Preferred Stock

Daniel T. Winkler is an Assistant Professor of Finance in thc Joseph M. Bryan School of Business and Economics, Department of Finance at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Tony R. Wingler is an Associate Professor of Finance in the Joseph M. Bryan School of Business and Economics, Department of Finance at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Atypicalities and Apartment Rent Concessions

This paper examines the use and value of rental concession using a 1988 sample of apartment rents in the Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem (North Carolina) MSA. The first section develops an approach to the problem and the second section estimates a logit model to predict the use of concessions as a pricing strategy based on characteristics of the apartment. The third section employs a hedonic pricing model to measure the average value of rental concessions in the Greensboro market. The final section summarizes relevant findings.

Insulator-to-Metal Transition in Selenium-Hyperdoped Silicon: Observation and Origin

Hyperdoping has emerged as a promising method for designing semiconductors with unique optical and electronic properties, although such properties currently lack a clear microscopic explanation. Combining computational and experimental evidence, we probe the origin of sub-band gap optical absorption and metallicity in Se-hyperdoped Si. We show that sub-band gap absorption arises from direct defect-to-conduction band transitions rather than free carrier absorption. Density functional theory predicts the Se-induced insulator-to-metal transition arises from merging of defect and conduction bands, at a concentration in excellent agreement with experiment. Quantum Monte Carlo calculations confirm the critical concentration, demonstrate that correlation is important to describing the transition accurately, and suggest that it is a classic impurity-driven Mott transition.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures (PRL formatted