The Associated Press:<\/a><\/p>\n Damage from the nation’s slumping housing market is evident throughout the economy and permeates financial markets. Add real estate agents to the growing list of victims, although they know few tears will be shed for them.<\/p>\n The National Association of Realtors expects membership rolls to decline this year for the first time in a decade. The group ended 2006 with nearly 1.4 million members — almost double the roughly 716,000 it had in 1997 — but expects 2007 to close with 1.3 million, a drop of more than 4 percent.<\/p>\n Agents’ ranks continued to rise even after the market began to cool about two years ago because of the 18-month lag between the downturn in sales and membership, says NAR spokesman Walter Molony.<\/p>\n Trade groups in two of the hardest-hit states — California and Florida — also forecast membership drops. The California Association of Realtors is expecting its first decline since 1997, forecasting a year-end tally of 185,000 members compared with more than 199,000 last year. The Florida Association of Realtors currently has about 154,000 members compared with more than 161,000 last year at this time, but expects flat membership by year-end.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Not to rob graves, but people working — successfully — in bigger brokerages should be attentive to the folks who are leaving the business. Not only will they have stuff to sell, like half-price lockboxes, but they are possessed of warm networks that will need to be serviced in the coming years. Not everyone can make a living selling real estate, but just about everybody likes to live indoors. If you can be the Realtor-of-choice for your former colleagues, you can work with a lot of people who will come to you pre-sold. And while I would never, ever suggest that anyone violate state laws by paying referral fees to formerly-licensed former-Realtors, it remains that gratitude is simply a matter of graciousness — and gift cards come in many denominations. Technorati Tags: real estate<\/a>, real estate marketing<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Associated Press: Damage from the nation’s slumping housing market is evident throughout the economy and permeates financial markets. Add real estate agents to the growing list of victims, although they know few tears will be shed for them. The National Association of Realtors expects membership rolls to decline this year for the first time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1836","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-marketing","7":"category-real-estate","9":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1880,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1880\/the-very-best-alternative-to-the-national-association-of-realtors\/","url_meta":{"origin":1836,"position":0},"title":"The “Very Best” Alternative to the National Association of Realtors","author":"Cooksquared","date":"September 2, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"There has been a lot of talk about how to fix the National Association of Realtors or even how to supplant the organization completely.\u00a0 As an outsider looking in, I have one simply question:\u00a0 Why are realtors paying good money to an organization that they hate?\u00a0 As an investor I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8358,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/8358\/nar-idx-fubar-rules\/","url_meta":{"origin":1836,"position":1},"title":"NAR + IDX = FUBAR Rules","author":"John Rowles","date":"May 11, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Thanks to Ryan's earlier post, I have spent the morning digging into the NAR's attempt to label the Google Search Engine a \"scraper\". Clearly, the intent is to stifle Realtor.com's competition. There is no other explanation for a rule that specifically targets SEO by dictating that we cannot put the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Real Estate"","block_context":{"text":"Real Estate","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/real-estate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1040,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1040\/hillary-clinton-and-rotarian-socialism-whats-wrong-with-the-nar\/","url_meta":{"origin":1836,"position":2},"title":"Hillary Clinton and Rotarian Socialism: What’s wrong with the NAR?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"February 13, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Business Week's Hot Property wrote yesterday about the NAR's having gotten into bed with Hillary Clinton -- who is \"sponsoring a bill that bars commercial banks from hiring real estate brokers\/agents\" -- but that's just the tip of the iceberg. The National Association of Realtor is routinely, habitually, congenitally anti-free\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disintermediation"","block_context":{"text":"Disintermediation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/disintermediation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17483,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/17483\/overnight-news-why-would-i-pay-the-nar-to-threaten-my-livelihood\/","url_meta":{"origin":1836,"position":3},"title":"Overnight News: Why would I pay the #NAR to threaten my\u00a0livelihood?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"November 17, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm in the process of extricating myself from the National Association of Realtors. Every agent should be asking the question in the headline, but my reason is more comprehensive: I know who speech codes are for. I am very lucky to live in a free country \u2013 for now \u2013\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Group Therapy"","block_context":{"text":"Group Therapy","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/group-therapy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ya think it's easy?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/BHBNewTopImage-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8541,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/8541\/is-nar-criminal-or-clueless-what-difference-does-it-make\/","url_meta":{"origin":1836,"position":4},"title":"Is NAR Criminal or Clueless? What difference does it make?","author":"John Rowles","date":"May 22, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u00a0 read the give and take between Greg and Mike DiMella (full disclosure, Mike is a client) with interest, because I respect them both, and it is always interesting when smart people agree to disagree and do so with civility and eloquence and without resorting to the ad hominem. When\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Mother"","block_context":{"text":"Big Mother","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/big-mother\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17500,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/17500\/overnight-news-doj-sues-nar-nothing-that-matters-changes-redfin-rejoices\/","url_meta":{"origin":1836,"position":5},"title":"Overnight News: DOJ sues NAR. Nothing that matters changes. Redfin rejoices.","author":"Greg Swann","date":"November 20, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I saw Housing Wire's story on the Department of Justice's anti-trust suit against the National Association of Realtors, and I thought: \"Yeehaw!\" But then I read Glenn Kelman's odd rejoicing, and I realized that the \"lawsuit\" is a done deal, and nothing that matters will have changed. 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\n<\/p>\n