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And then POOF! 100,000 realtors on commission went away. Only 1.3 million left to go... Buggy whip salesmen. Travel agents. 8-track tape manufacturers. Milli Vanilli fans. And now unneeded realtors on commission.

Buh Bye!

Amid housing woes, trade group forecasts fewer realtors by year-end for first time in a decade

Plummeting stock prices. Mortgage lenders filing for bankruptcy or shutting down. Layoffs at homebuilders and banks. Soaring foreclosures and loan defaults.

Damage from the nation's slumping housing market is evident throughout the economy and permeates financial markets. Add real estate agents to the growing list of victims, although they know few tears will be shed for them.

The National Association of Realtors expects membership rolls to decline this year for the first time in a decade. The group ended 2006 with nearly 1.4 million members – almost double the roughly 716,000 it had in 1997 – but expects 2007 to close with 1.3 million, a drop of more than 4 percent.

Posted by blogger at 9/11/2007 Labels: can you spell disintermediation, realtors are not smart people, the nar is run by monkeys 
Let me know when it drops to under a million, then I'll loosen my gripe on my wallet, until then I am steering clear of the whole damn thing!!!

September 11, 2007 2:39 AM 
A realtor actually walked into my store today cold call me on a 2 million dollar building. I was speechless.

September 11, 2007 2:57 AM 
Still way too many

September 11, 2007 3:01 AM 
4% - that's it? Perhaps, they re- hired David Lereah to head their HR department.
What do you call 100,000 realtors on the bottom of the ocean?
I smiled this morning watching a well dressed bottom feeder in a 5-series BMW with an open house sign in the back seat.
All the TV, radio, newspaper ads can't save you now...
Just reeks of desperation.

September 11, 2007 3:26 AM 
One at a time baby....one at a time!


September 11, 2007 3:27 AM 
Q. Whats 300 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?

Ans. A Good Start

Q. What's 100,000 realtors at the bottom of the ocean?

Ans. No where near good enough

September 11, 2007 3:41 AM 
Send them to Iraq. 100,000 Realtor Division. They can swindle and jawbone the insurgents to death.

September 11, 2007 5:20 AM 
...isn't that's a 7% change, not 4%?


September 11, 2007 7:24 AM LauraV said...

Here in the east bay, There is a noticable difference in commuter traffic these days.

A realtor I know who has been in the business for 12 years said she hasnt sold a house in two months.

September 11, 2007 1:05 PM 
does this make the real estate programs at various schools of higher learning, somewhat obsolete at this juncture? just think about it. you can go to texas a & m and get yourself a PHd. in real estate. that way you can be extremely qualified while you are giving potential clients the pipe...

September 11, 2007 10:25 PM 6% Realtor said...

We need to get back to the 700,000 figure. Then we'll see a good balance. Add a dash of real ethics and oversight and tighter barriers to entry and my profession may gain some of it's reputation back.

700,000 Realtors by 2009. That's what I'd like!

September 12, 2007 2:51 AM 
I bet Glenn Gary Glenn Ross is playing out in every Real Estate agency in the country right now!

September 12, 2007 3:38 PM