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Realtors stick as sales dip

The association expected its membership to drop sharply as sales slipped, but it hasn't happened.

By James Thorner
Published February 27, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: Willie J. Allen] Shane Whitlatch is a local real estate agent that has seen the inventory of houses triple within the last two years.

In January, Tampa Bay area home sales plummeted 41 percent from a year earlier. Catastrophic? You wouldn't think so if you counted all the Realtors still on the job.

In Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough counties, only about 10 percent of Realtors have failed to renew their licenses and memberships in their respective professional organizations.

No one disputes there's less business to go around. Year-to-year home and condo sales dropped from 3,603 to 2,121 in January. But most Realtors have kept their credentials current, hoping for a turnaround.

"The Florida Association of Realtors expected a 20- to 30-percent reduction. We got nowhere near that. We think most Realtors are remaining optimistic," said Heidi Beisner, president of the West Pasco Association of Realtors.

West Pasco's dues-paying membership has actually risen the past year from about 1,000 to 1,200.

The Pinellas Realtor Organization said 88 percent of its members renewed in the past few months. Of roughly 7,800 Realtors and brokers, 7,000 have paid.

"The renewal rate has been much better than we thought," president Ann Guiberson said.

Also defying a sluggish home market, the Greater Tampa Association of Realtors, reported 9,075 members at the end of a 2006, up from 7,315 a year earlier.

By the end of February, membership had slipped 10 percent to 8,700, but it hasn't reached worst case scenario.

Not that the business has avoided bloodbaths in the past year. Craig Beggins, president of Century 21 Beggins Enterprises, based in Apollo Beach, said only 50 of the 120 agents he hired last year have stuck around.

But the employee mill continues to churn. Even in one of the worst year-to-year downturns in decades, Beggins has hired 15 to 20 new agents so far this year. New agents come with new enthusiasm and new families and friends to spur initial home sales.

Beggins' work policy is liberal, allowing agents a lengthy grace period. "They're allowed to go six months without producing something, which is a pretty low standard," he said.

Barriers to entry for Realtors are also low. A short course and a state licensing exam and you're in business. Whether you'll make decent money is another story.

The top sellers - often the men and woman whose mugs grace billboards and park benches - tend to do most of the business. Beginners often have to make do with crumbs.

Neophyte agents with less than three years' experience make a median yearly income of $12,850, the National Association of Realtors reported in a 2004 survey to be updated this spring.

Nancy Conley is among the new agents who missed frantic 2005 but learned the ropes in fickle 2006.

"I was very fearful. The market, of course, went south and I said 'Boy, I picked the wrong time to start,' " said Conley, who left a job as office manager for a commercial developer.

Conley has survived with Beggins, selling about 10 homes the first year, including many waterfront lots in south Hillsborough. The divorcee partly credits a work ethic unbound by demands of a husband.

"For the first year or two it's your own business and you're really having to put a lot of time into it," she said. "Many people try to do it part time and fail."

Observing home sales in January - about 2,121 closings spread across more than 16,000 licensed Realtors - it's clear a good percentage barely earn. And fewer could be joining the fray: Real estate schools report at least 25 percent fewer graduates than at the 2005 peak.

Not everyone abhors a thinning of the herd. Realtors like Beisner rate quality as important as quantity. And quality tended to slip in the 2005 housing gold rush.

"Some people who had gotten lucky at first but didn't have a lot of experience have left," she said. "It's always good to know you're dealing with a real professional."

James Thorner can be reached at thorner@sptimes.com">href="mailto:thorner@sptimes.com" mce_href="mailto:thorner@sptimes.com">thorner@sptimes.com or 813226-3313.

Fast Facts:

The housing market's still gloomy

The National Association of Realtors will release its latest housing figures today. And in what's probably no surprise, things are still not looking good for sales of existing homes in the Tampa Bay area.

A preliminary look at the numbers for Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco counties shows about 41 percent fewer houses and condos sold in January2007 compared with January2006.

Prices have held up better, on the other hand. Overall, they're likely to have risen a tad year over year, though prices have been falling recently across formerly hot suburban markets like central Pasco and south Hillsborough.

[Last modified February 27, 2007, 00:00:54]