Well, I have been doing this for over 15 years and I'll tell ya, its not much fun right now. I have a very strong and loyal client base which had grown every year until 08 and now my earnings suck the big wind. '07 was half of '06 and '08 dropped another half. Unfortunately, expenses do not go away although they are cut way back. All my listings are competing with short sales and REO's so it is very difficult for normal Sellers to get a fair offer. My Buyers, naturally, want to steal a house from someone in trouble, so they are only looking at stressed properties. My counsel to Sellers is to wait this out, and to Buyers, grab a good deal. Used to be that dealing with REO's was crappy, now it is much more preferable than the short sale nightmare.My MLS membership has lost about 25% of its agents, and will likely lose many more, which is good for me. In the good times, it was pretty easy for a new agent to get started and survive, now you will need to count on using up 12 - 24 months of savings to get your business established and cash flowing.
Good luck if you do this but plan it out very well!
PM me if you want any more good news.
