RE/MAX 2000 CLOSES 13 OFFICES IN METRO PHOENIX

It's happening...the bursting real estate bubble is starting to shows signs of its terrific strength. This weekend RE/MAX 2000 shut its doors. If you have a home under contract through them, no worries, the closing will not affect your closing. Some 350 agents have to switch brokers, or, well some were probably not really in business any more. Also, 20 salaried positions were lost. This is why I was so happy to see a positive jobs report for November. I know real estate, title and mortgage companies are dropping like flies. We still created jobs, even though this industry is falling apart. Well the GOOD NEWS is the strong will survive. That is why my team is still hear, still at the office every day and STILL SELLING HOMES! We have 4 sales for December, are in contract negotiations and I was going to write an offer yesterday, but another buyer beat us to the home. Just goes to say, even in a buyer's market when you find the right home don't hesitate.
What's next? I think many more companies will close and people will loose their jobs. I heard a report last week that in California, they are expecting 40% of the real estate agents that were in the business January of 2007, to be out of business by January of 2008. We in Arizona, tend to follow the California trends.
If I were looking for a real estate agent right now, I would make sure I hired a full time, successful and experienced agent. These newbies and the churn of real estate agents is part of why we have a bubble. I can't say I am happy we are in a buyer's market, but I am pleased with some of the results. Hopefully, this will make some permanent changes to the Realtors and Loan officers. One for each would be that new real estate agents go through a period of a 2 years in apprenticeship and for lenders they need to be licensed.