Where Have All the Agents Gone?

Just a few years ago, I was getting my hair cut when the barber told me she was buying a new home. Since I had already helped others in her salon, I said “Great! Have you already picked out a neighborhood?” She let me know that she was already in the transaction and that her neighbor was a real estate agent and was working for her. I asked the agents name and found it was no one I had ever heard of, someone with a small brokerage who was offering a discount.

It seemed at the time that everyone was an agent. My friends’ wife’s ex-boyfriends brother-in-law; my plumber-and-real-estate-agent; my sisters’ old college roommate. Everyone jumped into the business when the market was hot and made a quick buck, even though they really didn’t know what they were doing, didn’t know a basic contract and had no idea what to look out for in property disclosures.

Today, now that the market has cooled and leveled off, I look around and see some of those same old agents at the home improvement center selling me my dishwasher. It’s not a bad place to work – it’s air conditioned, out of the sun, no continuing education requirements, no licensing fees or insurance costs, and the customers come to them.

The costs of maintaining a real estate license are quite significant: Association dues to the California Association of Realtors, the National Association of Realtors and to the local Boards, the costs of Errors and Omissions Insurance, additional automobile liability insurance, the time and money to meet continuing education requirements, marketing and advertising costs…the list goes on.

When the easy money faded away, many agents decided not to renew their memberships to the National Board of Realtors, meaning they were no longer “Realtors”, just “agents”. They no longer had the National Association backing them. No longer being “Realtors”, the could no longer belong to the California Association of Realtors – no backing on the state level, no free contracts or forms, no online forms, no legal hotline. Next, lower the auto liability coverage – no more taking clients around in the car. Put off getting those continuing education requirements met, wait a while on the marketing and, finally, don’t pay the E&O insurance – no broker will carry them without it and *POOF*, they are no longer active agents, they no longer have an active license.

It’s the Tortoise and the Hare all over again. The quick money falls by the wayside, the steady workers are in it for the long haul. In the Desert, everyone slams on their breaks for a tortoise; on the sad side of the same coin, how many dead rabbits do we keep seeing alongside the roads?

As a friend who has been in this business for over 30 years keeps telling me, “In a neutral market, this business is the toughest way to make an easy buck.”

The lesson here is to look for a Realtor who works full-time in Real Estate and works even when business is slow, even when the weather is hot, even when the market is not. At least you will know that your agent will be there for you after his or her commission check clears the bank; otherwise, hunt them down at your local super-center.

-Gary Drake
The Thomas and Drake Group
Palm Desert, CA