Well, at least regarding the number of Active licensed real estate agents, the bottom may have been reached. For the first time since August of 2007 the number of active licensees in Washoe County has actually risen — with 97 additional agents joining the ranks (see tables below).
Does this mean agents feel the time is right to get back into the real estate business? …I think I’ll wait until next quarter’s licensee numbers are released before I answer that question. As I mentioned in the last update on this topic, with our monthly MLS fees and lockbox key fees increasing January 1st (to $60/month), as well as the annual Realtor membership dues ($530) due by February, I expect to see a number of agents electing not to renew their licenses for 2009.
|
|
Active |
Inactive |
Total |
|
December 2008 |
2,888 |
1,001 |
3,889 |
|
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 |
|
|
Active |
Inactive |
Total |
|
December 2008 |
24,327 |
7,457 |
31,784 |
|
September 2008 |
23,814 |
7,345 |
31,159 |
|
June 2008 |
25,986 |
7,518 |
33,504 |
|
January 2008 |
26,997 |
7,470 |
34,467 |
|
October 2007 |
28,115 |
6,970 |
35,085 |
|
August 2007 |
28,548 |
6,988 |
35,536 |
|
June 2007 |
28,763 |
7,418 |
36,181 |
|
April 2007 |
28,886 |
7,723 |
36,609 |
Source: Nevada Real Estate Division – January 2009
http://www.red.state.nv.us/realestate/stats/stats_history.htm
KillBill
Maybe the increase can be attributed to the unemployment rate…
When the little pool of unemployed agents see the great pool of unemployed maybe some decide to coming back.
The bottom has not been reached, we’re just scraping some scarp around the trench. Evil pessimist that I am!
smarten
As a number of us have observed, we won’t know we’ve reached bottom until some number of months AFTERWARDS. So to be making calls based upon figures several days old serves little purpose but for entertainment.
Actually, took another trip down to the Bay Area yesterday. Noticed the price of regular gasoline is UP about 30 cents/gallon compared to two weeks. Based upon this factual data, has the bottom been reached?
Perry
Check out this cool video someone made of the Sacramento real estate bubble. It’s basically a graphical time laps of MLS listings with color representing listing prices. If someone had the time I bet Reno would be very similar. One is a link to his blog and the other a direct link to the youtube video.
http://sacrealstats.blogspot.com/2008/12/housing-market-meltdown-google-earth.html?ref=patrick.net
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR8iHMRTv74&eurl=http://sacrealstats.blogspot.com/2008/12/housing-market-meltdown-google-earth.html?ref=patrick.net&feature=player_embedded
Gustavo Blachman
Nope my brother, it only means that it is still easy and cheaper to have a license, specially if you can’t find a JOB..
Regards. from Miami and Happy 2009
smarten
Hey FWIW, our buddy in St. James Village has reduced the price of his lot down to $239K [you can see the new listing at: http://reno.craigslist.org/reo/977607308.html ]! Gone is all the flowery language he has used in the past.
Another independent example that the bottom may have been reached.
Marka
The next statistic to track is the increase in our fees and dues. For the past two years, MLS, ekey and association dues have increased while commissions and buyers have decreased. It’s like condo assoc dues, for each condo that goes vacant the dues for the other owners increases.
It’s a vicious circle.
My only hope is that if more agents join the ranks, they take their position seriously. We don’t need anymore used car salesmen.