Jaguar Realty: A Bridge from Education to Practice for the Next Generation of Real Estate Professionals

Abstract

Jaguar Realty provides undergraduate real estate students with a unique opportunity to augment their real estate education with practice as fully licensed real estate professionals. Through the Jaguar Realty Internship program, students complement their real estate education by passing the state salesperson’s license test and completing internships with participating area real estate companies. Students receive training and mentoring from industry leaders and have opportunities to close deals and earn commissions while in college. The Jaguar Realty Internship model is easily replicated and provides a unique path for undergraduate real estate students to see if a career in real estate might be a good fit. If so, it offers a solid bridge for transitioning from real estate education to practice for the next generation of real estate professionals.

Keywords:

• Real estate education
• real estate practice
• real estate internship

Introduction

The aging of the real estate profession is a troubling trend for an industry that has experienced exponential growth in recent years, but that now faces substantial headwinds in the face of rising interest rates, the most persistently high inflation since the 1970s, and increasing direct competition from blockchain and other digital platforms. While many real estate company owners, executives, and brokers have focused on making as much hay as possible, few have considered two lurking industry questions: Who is recruiting and training the next generation of real estate professionals, and how are they entering the business?

Real estate is a critically important component of the global economy, overshadowing the combined worth of global equity and debt instruments. A recent report pegged the value of global real estate assets at $326.5 trillion, nearly four times the global gross domestic product (Tostevin, 2021). Another estimated that the business of real estate—brokerage, leasing, management—would grow to $3.7 trillion in 2022 (The Business Research Company, 2022a). This is not altogether together surprising since, as an industry sector, real estate has been gaining strength for years (The Business Research Company, 2022b). Consider that U.S. real estate investment trusts have grown from $9 billion to over $1 trillion over the past 25 years. Recognizing real estate’s growing importance, in 2016 the Global Industry Classification System added Real Estate as the newest industry sector, its first addition since 1999 (National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, 2016).

U.S. real estate market growth has soared since the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, pushing U.S. industry employment to 2.36 million in May 2022 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2022a). In 2021, U.S. real estate business amounted to $2.42 trillion, accounting for 10.07% of U.S. gross domestic product (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2022). In contrast, even in the high-flying days prior to the 2008–2009 housing market meltdown and financial crisis, real estate contributed only 8.09% to the national economy in 2007 (Amadeo, 2021).

Nevertheless, while real estate as an asset class and an active industry continues to play an increasingly crucial role in the U.S. economy, industry participants are doing a poor job of recruiting the next generation of real estate professionals. According to the National Association of Realtors®, the median age of its 1.56 million members is 52 years old, which is a significant number considering they account for nearly 67% of all industry employees (National Association of Realtors®, 2022). Examining the median ages of only a handful of other industries illustrates significant age gaps compared to real estate workers. For example, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a median age of 48 years old for all people working in real estate and rental and leasing, higher than those working in finance and insurance (44), construction (42), data hosting (41), and software development (39) (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2022b).

Understandably, this is concerning for many real estate company owners. At industry events from late 2021 through early 2022, I spoke with more than 30 owners or managing brokers from real estate companies in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and Louisiana to find out what they were doing about this worsening problem. I got the sense that all were acutely aware they needed more effective efforts to recruit the next generation of real estate professionals, yet there was no consensus on how to do so. Although the firms employ strategic marketing campaigns designed to attract new industry participants, none of them have a plan for targeting high school seniors or college students.

Jaguar Realty is tackling the problem head-on by engaging industry leaders in internships, scholarships, professional training, and networking for real estate undergraduates. The Jaguar Realty Internship is unique in two distinct, symbiotic ways. First, students are educated in real estate, having completed many, if not all, required real estate courses before beginning their internships. Second, as fully licensed salespersons, students practice real estate by working in a professional real estate firm, where they receive training and mentoring from some of the best in the business. The Jaguar Realty Internship prepares students with real estate education and practice and provides a solid bridge to potential careers in real estate. The Jaguar Realty Internship is an easily replicated model for recruiting, supporting, training, and engaging the next generation of real estate professionals.

The Literature

There is much discussion about business college internships and whether they are effective. The literature takes an optimistic view, reflecting on the positive value that internships provide to students, with many serving as helpful guides to career decisions (Cunningham et al., 2005; Gault et al., 2010); employers, by garnering new employees as some internships turn into permanent positions (Hiltebeitel et al., 2000); and business colleges, as students bring skill sets learned on the job to the classroom (Hardin, 2001). Many colleges have implemented curriculums that require some form of experiential learning experience or internship, and continued positive student outcomes may lead to more widespread adoption (Divine et al., 2007; Hiltebeitel et al., 2000; McCarthy & McCarthy, 2006; Templeton et al., 2012).

Scholars agree that the internship experience can be both eye-opening and life-changing for students. Writing about the real estate learning process, Manning and Roulac (2001) include internships as a critical external component, pointing to their vast potential to reveal and teach far more than a strictly classroom-based education would. Research also confirms that even an unfortunate internship experience can yield positive student outcomes by, in some cases, providing invaluable opportunities for students to avoid poor career choices (Beard & Morton, 1999; Templeton et al., 2012).

There is also a general sense that internships provide valuable life lessons for impressionable undergraduates. Greg Fenves, former President of the University of Texas, perhaps said it best in a recent impassioned article about an internship he completed years earlier at Cornell University. He comments about how his experience helped shape his path forward, saying, “It stoked my curiosity and instilled in me a sense of purpose” (Fenves, 2018, p. 151).

The Idea

Many students enter college without a predetermined course of study or any quantifiable career aspirations. Some use their time in college wisely, narrowing their choices and ruling out some areas altogether while exploring others more deeply. For many students, graduation will arrive without a clear path forward.

So as an option, consider how an opportunity to learn about the real estate field, work with customers and other agents, and earn some money while in college might help aspiring graduates define their postgraduate plans to include a real estate career path. I founded the Jaguar Realty Internship in the Mitchell College of Business at the University of South Alabama to create an opportunity that uses an internship-based approach to build a bridge from education to practice for the next generation of real estate professionals.

The Legal Considerations

Anyone who has ever tried to implement a new program at a university, especially a new program that will be public facing, knows firsthand how complicated the approval process can be. Our critical issue was the form of legal entity the new Jaguar Realty company would take and how it could best operate concerning Alabama real estate license law. In Alabama, licensed real estate companies must designate a licensed broker to serve as the Qualifying Broker. This is a critical leadership role, to be sure, but more importantly, Qualifying Brokers also stand liable for the actions of their agents. University leaders were concerned about the liability the university and the Qualifying Broker would have in supervising the actions of newly licensed, but untrained, student agents. Additionally, because Alabama real estate license law requires physical “sticks and bricks” locations for licensed real estate companies, the question of office space, customer traffic, signage, and a host of other issues connected with operating an office were debated. Ultimately, we decided not to operate a real estate company per se, but to use it as a vehicle for placing licensed real estate students as interns with local real estate companies.

The Structure

The Jaguar Realty Internship is open to any student majoring or minoring in real estate. After completing the required prelicense education taught in the college and passing the state salesperson’s license test, students are placed as paid interns working for participating area real estate companies. During their 15-week internship, students complete 30 hours of statutory postlicense education and perform 65 hours of office work. Students attend company meetings, training programs, and professional association events and work alongside assigned coaches and mentors. When the internship is over, students rely on the insights and perspectives gained from on-the-job training to guide their decisions, and many choose to remain with their firms as full-time agents.

The Management

Thus far, I have provided all development, management, and operation of the Jaguar Realty Internship program. While that may initially sound like a time-consuming task, the fact is that once the program was established, the student agents work directly for participating area real estate companies, so there is little need for management or operation by anyone at the university. I respond to student inquiries about the program and refer those interested and qualified to local firms. Once an agreement is reached between a firm and a student, I prepare the Jaguar Realty Internship Agreement and submit it to the firm for signature. When the internship is over, an assigned faculty member reviews the final internship report prepared and submitted by the student in the same way that all other internship reports are reviewed internally. Finally, because there are no revenues from operations, there is no need for complex accounting. I estimate that I spend 10–15 hours per semester interviewing interested students, communicating with prospective real estate company partners, and completing the necessary paperwork.

The Funding

Funding will be unique to each institution.¹ The Jaguar Realty Internship provides students with a $1,000 scholarship that covers the required three-semester-hour internship course cost. The real estate firm pays the student a $500 internship stipend for the office work they perform.

Everyone involved in early planning conversations recognized the potential for widespread community value and goodwill from a targeted marketing and promotion campaign highlighting students and their unique real estate education and professional practice with area firms through the Jaguar Realty Internship. The firms wanted permission to tie their brand to our institutions. We addressed this by including a provision in the internship agreement that the firms will pay Jaguar Realty a co-branding fee for each sponsored intern, granting them the authority to use the institution’s name and likeness in its marketing, advertising, and promotions. The $500 co-branding fee itself is only a nominal amount. However, raising awareness about the Jaguar Realty Internship has been significant for the students, the firms, and the college (for a co-branding example, see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Example of co-branding image of Jaguar Realty and Roberts Brothers.

The Agreement

Institutions must structure their internship agreements to align with their policies. However, a complex document is not necessary. The Jaguar Realty Internship Agreement is straightforward and clearly outlines the parties, and their obligations, representations, and warranties. Please note that the Jaguar Realty Internship Agreement is offered only to provide an example of the terms and conditions specific to the Jaguar Realty Internship (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. Jaguar Realty Internship Agreement.

The Competition

Nearly 100 colleges and universities in the United States currently offer real estate programs in some form or another. Programs range from undergraduate majors and minors in real estate to graduate programs in real estate development; a few programs offer opportunities for doctoral study. In their 2022–2023 listing of best undergraduate real estate programs, U.S. News & World Report’s top ten programs include the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Pennsylvania, New York University, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Georgia, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Southern California, Florida State University, the University of Florida, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (U.S. News & World Report, 2022). Florida State is the only university offering opportunities for real estate students to complete undergraduate coursework that satisfies their state’s prelicense education requirements. None of the top ten offered any program like or similar to Jaguar Realty. While I did not check all 100 programs, to the best of my knowledge only Middle Tennessee State University offers a similar outlet for real estate students to obtain a real estate license and work as professional agents while still attending classes.

The Promotion

Because I was the one who started the program, I have also been the one who has promoted it. I have spoken to local trade associations and prospective students and their parents. I have worked with area real estate companies to increase awareness and program participation. I have made classroom pitches to first- and second-year students about our real estate concentration and how participation in the Jaguar Realty Internship might be a path to a career in real estate. I have written press releases and short articles about our opportunity in university and local media outlets. Finally, our student services personnel work to promote the program when they host career fairs and recruitment events at area high schools.

The Students’ Value Proposition

To induce students to choose real estate as a major or minor and pursue the Jaguar Realty Internship, they must be convinced that their decisions will provide value. There are several persuasive arguments. Students will have an opportunity to obtain a real estate salesperson’s license, which is theirs to keep and use, no matter the outcome of their internship experiences. Students will receive a $1,000 scholarship toward the internship course tuition. Students will work professionally in participating area real estate firms where they will receive advanced training and focused mentoring. Students will benefit from direct exposure to multiple leadership, management, and professional sales styles. Students will gain valuable knowledge about how the real estate business works, how to interact with customers, agents, lenders, appraisers, title companies, home inspectors, and many others, and what it takes to be a successful real estate professional. Students will be able to start building a broad-based, regional professional network.

The Firms’ Value Proposition

Similarly, company leaders must be convinced that their decision to take part will provide value to their firms. The Jaguar Realty Internship model offers multiple benefits. By participating, firms will not have to spend time or money recruiting area college students as potential agents—Jaguar Realty will introduce them. Firms will have a nearly 4four-month, low-cost opportunity to evaluate students as potential agents. Firms will likely benefit from students’ energy and curiosity, something they should consider leveraging as motivation for their other agents. Firms will enjoy positive recognition in the community by highlighting how the institution and its internship program benefit students, firms, and the community.

The Institutions’ Value Proposition

Finally, business college and institutional leaders also need persuading. Consider that business colleges typically compete against others in attracting and recruiting future students. Competition is often amplified because institutions offer multiple similar programs. Therefore, because differentiation could be the key to success, by promoting a Jaguar Realty Internship type of program, campus recruiters can offer potential students a unique professional opportunity not available elsewhere. Also, because business colleges and their institutions continually seek to spotlight and underscore their value to the community at large and the business community, in particular, supporting a marketing and promotion campaign highlighting this relationship will likely pay substantial public relations dividends.

Conclusion

The Jaguar Realty Internship model offers business schools and colleges with real estate programs a unique approach to building a bridge from education to practice for the next generation of real estate professionals. Our program has seen early successes in student intern placement. Thus far, two students have completed the program, and three more are currently involved in it. One of the students who completed the program has since taken an agent position at a commercial real estate firm. The other is staying on as an active agent after their internship ends. The three students currently involved in the program indicated that real estate would be their career choice.

Although the program is still in its infancy, it is already making a difference in students’ lives. I recently asked some students who have completed their internships a few questions about their experiences.

What is the most important thing you learned from the Jaguar Realty Internship?

“The Jaguar Realty Internship gave me a realistic idea of what the ‘real’ world entails. It helped me gain contacts that I would have not had. It really gave me a sense of who I am outside of school.”

What was it like to work in a fast-moving, sales-driven professional environment?

“It was intense, and at first intimidating. But I would say that it is important to gain as much insight from the professionals that are around you as you can. It taught me how cut-throat and driven one must be to be in this field of work, and how much time outside of the office goes into being successful.”

How did your Jaguar Realty Internship experience help you determine a possible career path?

“I feel that programs like this not only teach you what you want, but also what you don’t want, which is just as important. Learning who you are outside of a classroom setting is SO important and I would encourage everyone to do it. The Jaguar Realty Internship taught me that even if I don’t want to be in sales, there are many other opportunities, you just have to ask to learn more.”

What would you tell other students to expect from the Jaguar Realty Internship?

“You need to be focused, there isn’t someone there pushing you like a professor you might be used to. You will get as much out of the program as you put in, so try your best to take advantage of all the opportunities around. Just be true to yourself and take any opportunity given!”

Comments from the students tell the story best. They believe the experience was valuable and would recommend it to other students. If readers agree there is simply no better authority on how a particular collegiate program benefits students than the students themselves, they will also likely agree that based on comments from the interns themselves, the Jaguar Realty Internship model is a winner that deserves strong consideration for implementation by business schools and colleges.

Notes

1 In our case, we got a fortuitous boost from $50,000 in grand prize money won by two of my student teams in 2018 and 2019 international real estate student team competitions. Using one of our university’s endowed scholarship matching initiatives, I established the $100,000 Jaguar Realty Endowed Scholarship.