The Nevada Real Estate Division releases (roughly) quarterly stats showing the number of licensed (both active and inactive) real estate practitioners in the state. These numbers are broken out by county and type of license (i.e. broker, sales person, etc). To see all the numbers click here: Nevada Real Estate Division
The latest statistics are current through September. And not surprisingly the number of licensed agents continues to decline – both at the state and county level.
In Washoe County, for example, September’s stats showed a more than a 10% reduction in the number of Active licensed agents since the beginning of the year. In real numbers, September’s decrease of 313 agents since January equates to one agent a day leaving the business.
Statewide the decrease in the number of active licensed agents has been a bit more than 13%.
With the monthly MLS fees and lockbox key fees increasing January 1st ($60/month), as well as the annual Realtor membership dues ($530) due by February, expect to see a large number of agents electing not to renew their licenses for 2009. I have heard estimates around the office of a 20% decrease in the number of licensed agents after January.
| Active | Inactive | Total | |
| September 2008 | 2,791 | 1,011 | 3,802 |
| June 2008 | 2,984 | 1,085 | 4,069 |
| January 2008 | 3,104 | 1,142 | 4,246 |
| October 2007 | 3,176 | 1,134 | 4,310 |
| August 2007 | 3,229 | 1,137 | 4,366 |
| June 2007 | 3,221 | 1,237 | 4,458 |
| April 2007 | 3,166 | 1,304 | 4,470 |
Source: Nevada Real Estate Division – December 2008
http://www.red.state.nv.us/realestate/stats/stats_history.htm
RGJ
‘real estate practitioners’….Please! Practitioner of medicine – Practitioner of law – Practitioner of engineering – Ok>>>But real estate.
Real estate has almost ZERO barriers to entry… that’s why three years ago EVERYONE was either a RE agent or mortgage broker. Pay your money and take a test and you are now an agent…. stop paying your dues and you are no longer an agent.
Practitioners in real professions don’t get in and out like this because it generally takes years of specialized education, years of being an understudy to experienced practitioners, and incredible commitment to their profession of interest.
Real estate practitioner today…office receptionist tomorrow!
Marla
There was an article in the LA Times recently that makes the same point. There is one realtor for every fifty residents in CA. The article suggests that is likely because it is more difficult to get a beauticians license than it is to get a realtors license.
What I find amazing is that there are still 2800 active realtors. 2800 realtors chasing after 350 deals a month. Ugly. But I suppose that many of the “active” are not really active in the business. They just paid their dues last time around. How many realtors are really working, in the sense of getting up every day and really hustling real estate? Maybe 800?
smarten
Marla states, “there is one realtor for every fifty residents in CA.”
I wonder if she realizes there is nearly one lawyer for every one-hundred residents in California?
That beautician’s license is starting to look pretty good!
Gary
Thinning the herd will definitely be a plus. Hopefully my real estate agent won’t interrupt my haircut three times while she answers her cell phone to schedule another showing. My hair really suffered during the real estate boom 😉
Diminishing numbers will also help return more respectability to those who are left standing.
Tom
A substantial percentage of those California lawyers are from proprietary, non-ABA schools, or if from ABA schools, are graduates of minor league law schools whom the first tier law firms won’t even interview. I have always felt the large number of “licensed” lawyers in California is misleading. Probably half could be discounted, because they aren’t really in the category where the established law firms use them anyway. There is a world of difference among “lawyers,” and the same is probably true for other professions and trade groups, including real estate agents.
RoyalFlush
Tom
A lawyer is a lawyer.
Sorry.
Whether you’re from Yale or Lawyers R’ Us – we certainly could do without ya.
Tom
Until you need one, RoyalFlush, to get you out of a jam you got into by being a do-it-all-yourself businessman.
RGJ
Honest, hard working contributors to society typically only need a lawyer when they are being sued by another lawyer representing those looking for an easy payday!
You only need to look as far as commercials on television. Ads stating ‘if you are hurt in an accident…….’ means big paydays for the ambulance chasers!
Tom
Respectfully, RGJ, that comment reflects the views of a typical middle-class wage-earner who only deals with lawyers after a traffic accident, in a divorce, or at death. We have many clients who need transactional assistance or who create entities, then grow businesses inside those entities, which employ people who are probably among your friends and neighbors. These are not people who only use a lawyer when someone is sued, or when they get divorced or when someone dies. These are actually the engines of our society, who create jobs and help their local communities grow. They are also hard-working contributors to society, just as much as the hypothetical hard-workers in your example, who you say only need a lawyer when sued.
I invite you to consider sometime that there are people out there in all categories, doing many things, for we do not live in a society comprised wholly of wage-earners. And if you form your opinions from commercials on television, you will be sorrowfully mislead.
RoyalFlush
Tom
Although some of what you said is true…
In my experience, lawyers justify the existence of lawyers – period. Bad ones increase this positive feedback loop ten fold. Grad schools and lawyers should do society a favor and declare a moratorium on conferring degrees.
BanteringBear
While I agree that there are good people in almost all professions, I have yet to meet an honest lawyer. I’m sure they exist, but they get lost in a sea of sleaze. I’d love to rattle off the names of 3 scumbag attorneys in Reno, but I don’t think that would be appropriate.
KB
BB,
Only Three
BanteringBear
KB:
I’m sure there are many more, but these are 3 which I’ve had the extreme displeasure of knowing. One acts and seems like a kindly old man until you realize he’s just ripping off the sick and the poor like it’s going out of style. He’s pure evil.
CommercialLender
In my profession, every deal we do has a lender’s counsel and a borrower’s counsel. I don’t choose the latter, but do the former and have only very good things to say about them. 2 are very close friends from over a decade ago who I still use today. They are genuine, I know their families/kids and would trust them with anything.
I’ve never used any other attorney, only transaction R.E. attornies, so how can I say all are good? Well, how can you say all are bad? Let’s not be stereotypical, as I displays ignorance.
Transplant
Every profession has its share of low-lifes. Maybe the legal field has more than most. It could very well be that the US has too many lawyers, but the opposite situation of too few lawyers creates problems of its own. Japan is a case in point. Until recently they had tight annual limits to keep the number of legal grads very low. So if you needed a lawyer, first of all good luck finding one to take your case, and second there was no way you could afford him anyway. As a result, the serious-looking guys who come to your door don’t serve you papers, they smash your kneecaps. That is, the Yakuza are a lot cheaper, more responsive and much more readily available than a lawyer. One way or another, Justice will be served.
MikeZ
In my profession, every deal we do has a lender’s counsel and a borrower’s counsel.
I have never nor will ever close on a property transaction, buying or selling, without my own legal counsel reviewing the documents and being present at the closing.
It still amazes me that I’m the exception, not the rule.