Comments on: Phoenix Area MLS Loses 20% Of It's Members In June

By: foreclosure_expert

foreclosure_expert — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:47:18 +0000

Many good points made here. I agree that the “easy money types” won’t be missed because there are many excellent agents who are full-time professionals. The mortgage industry also had a ton of “easy money” people join their ranks during the boom. And just like bad Realtors, they helped contribute to this mortgage mess were are in.

One additional point: Even though total residential sales were under 6,000, there are other sales that keep Realtors busy that do not make it in the residential MLS: exclusives, land contracts, multi-family housing (including apartments), commercial land, commercial office, and retail spaces. There are probably a few I missed. Many commercial Realtors do not even use the MLS because there are privatized methods of selling such real estate (ie: http://www.loopnet.com, http://www.cimls.com, http://www.cityfeet.com, http://www.marcusmillichap.com to name a few.

By: Tobby

Tobby — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:17:18 +0000

We are seeing the same numbers in Central Florida. The real test will be in November when the $500+ dues for the Board are due. The MLS and the Board of Realtors are separate entities. One does not need to belong to the Board to join the MLS anymore. Although, you do need a real estate license. The theory is that those that are keeping their toes in the water will pay the $300 for MLS, but drop out of the Board in November.

The Board’s budget has bloated from the good times when there were many people joining. They are in for a shock in my opinion. There is also a rival Board starting up that has a bare-bones budget (i.e. no service other than membership). Should be interesting.

By: NVmike

NVmike — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 15:05:01 +0000

The 22% running for the exits over a $100 per year increase in fees won’t be the long-term professionals. Those leaving are the part-time, anyone-can-sell-real-estate, hacks.

And good riddance. Who needs them in this market?

This could finally be some good news for the Phoenix-area professionals still left in the business – the standing inventory of real estate agents just dropped by 22%.

By: twist

twist — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 12:36:01 +0000

AZRob-

Reiss seems to believe that most of them are gone for good. I suspect it’s a good thing for the industry.

The boom attracted a lot of easy money types, and if they don’t renew, they won’t be missed.

That’s not to say there aren’t some great agents who are needing to leave the field- pickings have gotten really slim in a lot of areas.

There are still a bunch of agents [although not everyone who subscribes to the MLS is an agent]out there, and it’s hard for them all to make a decent living, given the current level of sales.

By: azrob

azrob — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 07:44:11 +0000

I think this is a bit sensationalized. Manh of those bumped for failure to pay will probably sign up when they realize they’ve lost service, though I’m sure some are gone for good. Except for some emails, one letter and a pop up screen easily ignored on the MLS, there was little notice of this. I had to call a couple of realtors I work with and remind them to pay, so I imagine

A bunch of my friends get their water turned off occasionaly, I don’t think they will live without water!