The guys that wrote Freakonomics have an interesting article in the New York Times Magazine about real estate agents.  Not surprisingly they see real estate agents’ business being blown up by the internet much like stockbrokers and travel agents in the recent past.  What is surprising is that they think being a real estate agent in one of the hottest housing markets ever in the US was also a bad idea.  Here’s why:

As it turns out, however, most agents don’t make very much money during
a boom, because of one simple fact: the boom attracts way too many of
them. Over the past 10 years, membership in the N.A.R. has risen by
more than 75 percent. And why not? Compared with most professions,
becoming a real-estate agent is quick, cheap and relatively painless.
In economics, this phenomenon is known as free entry…

From 2002 to 2004, during one of the hottest real-estate markets in
American history, the median income for Realtors actually fell — to
$49,300 from $52,200. This is not to say that some agents haven’t
become rich. As in most sales professions, whether the product is
diamond rings or crack cocaine, the people at the top of the pyramid
make an awful lot more money than those down below. It’s just that the
base of the real-estate agent pyramid grows significantly during a boom.

So if you’re looking to get into real estate I’d suggest becoming a fixed-fee broker or some such thing.  But that’s just me and I don’t know much.