The Starv-O-Meter: Realtors Tough it Out

Ever wondered how easy it is to be a Realtor?


This first chart , The Starv-O-Meter, shows that the "average" Weber county Realtor sold 4.5 to 5.5 homes per year from 1996 to 2004. That is the normal range for the market place. Its been a tough road ever since. From 2004-2006, the ranks of the profession swelled as people hoped to make easy money from the market boom. Agents continued to rush in even up until the mortgage market shock in 2007. All these agents competed, and still compete, with each other for listings, buyers, and income. Many are not surviving. Today, there are almost twice as many Realtors as there are transactions to properly feed them all.

I called the board today to get the stats on total membership. Here are the numbers they reported:


These numbers were very surprising. It costs about $1500/year just to be a Realtor. I thought that many more Realtor's would have been flushed out in 2008. I guess not. Let's look forward to a proper flushing in 2009. Over time, market forces will push our average transaction-to-agent numbers back to the 4.5-5.5 equilibrium range. If we go back to 2003 agent levels we should be almost there.