Four agents have retired their licenses from my office these last two weeks.  I had lunch today with two others who are considering the same thing because it’s that time of year to pay our insurance, renew our dues, get caught up on classes if we haven’t taken enough throughout the last two years (if our licenses are also up for renewal), etc.  It’s VERY expensive in November and December to be a Realtor.

One agent who has retired her license left a bunch of goodies on the table in our meeting room - free except for her metal signs and new brochure boxes.  It was like a feeding frenzy.  Here’s my loot:

Envelopes, cards, stickers!  Plus I nabbed a clear brochure box that you’d set up indoors.  I passed on the open house signs because the times weren’t right for me, but now I’m regretting that because I could’ve gotten some sticky lettering to fix the times.  Oh wellz.

This downsizing we’ll see in the next month - I believe - is a good thing and many leading experts agree,

Next, all of the “skimmers” are leaving the business. Never in real estate history has overall per-agent production been so low. We will now see a dramatic rise in per-agent production because everyone who got into the business to sell their friends one house is leaving. Serious businesspeople are going to be the only ones left standing. The agents who press on and make it happen in this market are going to have their best years during the economic downturn.

We had 65 agents five years ago.  Last year we had about 50.  Now we have 39.  In another month, my prediction is that we’ll have 30 to 32 agent remaining.  While I hate to lose the day-to-day company of my colleagues, I predict that a healthy housing market isn’t as far off as people fear.