Former agents continue to hang it up

Nevada’s unemployment rate hit another new high in July.  See Jobless rate hits new high.

According to the RGJ article Washoe County’s jobless rate now stands at 12.2%, and statewide the unemployment rate has hit 12.5%.  For those of you keeping score Nevada now holds the third-highest jobless rate in the country.  Only Michigan, at 15 percent, and Rhode Island at 12.7 percent have higher rates.

One of the many thoughts that crossed my mind as I read these figures was how many real estate agents have left the building?  Longtime readers will recall that I occasionally post local real estate licensee statistics.  These stats presented through Nevada’s Real Estate Division show the number of Active and Inactive licensees by County.

Over the past couple years, though we have observed a decrease in total (both “active” and “inactive”) licensees, the decline has not been as pronounced as one might expect.  Instead, Agents simply have been placing their licenses in “inactive” status rather than totally terminating their licenses.

Btw, an inactive status means that the real estate professional is not currently affiliated with a broker and is not allowed to conduct any real estate transactions.  However, inactive agents are still required to renew their inactive license annually (and pay the $180 renewal fee); they just can’t conduct any business.

Why place one’s license in “inactive” status then?  Well, there is a substantial cost savings from not having to pay MLS, lockbox, RSAR, NVAR and NAR membership dues while inactive.  Additionally, when the time comes to reenter the business, activating an inactive license is much easier and less expensive than going through the licensing process all over again.

However, that being said, even the $180.00 renewal fee for maintaining one’s inactive status becomes too much for some and eventually the license is simply “let go”.  And that is what the most current numbers from the Nevada Real Estate Division show.

From March 2009 (the last time NRED released licensee stats) to August, the number of Active licensees in Washoe declined by only 45 agents, or 1.6%.  However, the number of licensees in “Inactive” status fell by 205 agents, or 20% of March’s Inactives during the same time period.

Washoe County currently has 2,725 Active licensees.  This number is down 15.6% from the peak of 3,229 licensees in August of 2007.

See all the numbers below.

Source: Nevada Real Estate Division – August 2009
http://www.red.state.nv.us/realestate/stats/stats_history.htm