There are varying opinions office to office as to whether the local area is showing signs of joining the national home market trend of tanking. In general most agents I have spoken with over the past several weeks are saying that things locally aren't really too bad. In some cases agents are actually having a good year. The fact that this area was never really a part of the housing boom may have a good deal to do with that scenario. Data from the West Penn Multi List does indicate that there is about a 28% slip in residential closings for May of 08 vs the same period of May 2007. This chart shows actual closed units only and does not take into consideration the local market selling prices, something I may look into for a future topic. The firms shown in the graph are Keller Williams; Coldwell Banker; Howard Hanna; Northwood and Century 21.



Interestingly, we are still getting new agents entering the business at about the same rate as we generally have. Six new agents I recently spoke with at their Realtor® orientation classes were typical of those across the country, they're younger folks who are looking for their dream job. Several had even left a full time day job to become a real estate agent, a bold move to say the least given the current business and economic environment. How long these newbies will survive the rigors of the job remains a mystery, but if the statistics bear fruit only one will be left standing after the first year. The competition for business is brutal. I'm glad I'm semi-retired!

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