Leading Question

>>Home sales are increasing, and the agent force is growing, too. The Realtors Association of Greater Fort Myers and the Beach has seen a net increase of 600 members for the first six months of 2009. It’s a combination of people returning to real estate and individuals making a career change and new to the industry, says association President Suzanne Sherer with Re/Max Realty Team.

The membership increases mirrors what the Florida Association of Realtors and Naples Area Board of Realtors (NABOR) are seeing. Data from the Florida Real Estate Commission also show that the number of brokers, agents, corporations, instructors and schools with licenses fluctuated this year, but increased slightly in the summer (see Licensed to Sell). The numbers still are significantly down from 2006, 2007 and 2008; they peaked at 350,507 in May 2007.

NABOR President Brett Brown, a Realtor with Downing-Frye Realty spoke to 90 people at a summer orientation class, a significantly larger audience than at past monthly orientations, he says.

“For that to have happened in July is a good indication that people are certainly coming back into the profession,” Brown says.

He’s surprised by the number of college-educated 20-somethings joining the profession. Retirees and folks moving from out of state also are adding to NABOR’s roster, which has 4,000 members, down about 20 percent from its peak in 2005.

One of the reasons he sees for the influx in agents is individuals’ frustration at finding jobs and their desire to be in charge of their work life. “This is one business that you can get into that you have a little more control of your time, you’re a little more independent and yet it’s recognized as a profession,” he says.

Sherer says newcomers are showing more interest in attaining real estate designations and educating themselves than in the past, particularly about handling foreclosures.

“In the boom years we had a lot of people. It was like you crossed the state line and you had to get your real estate license,” she says. “The people coming along now, they are looking at this as a profession.”

Getting those foreclosures off the market appears to be a key toward recovery, so agents armed with knowledge of those transactions could be a plus for 2010. And Brown believes adding gung-ho new agents with listings and potential buyers could be a boon.