“If hordes of inexperienced [real estate] agents are scrapping for business…that can only lead to a ‘race to the bottom in fees.’”
-- Christopher Galler, SVP of Minnesota Assn. of Realtors, Wall Street Journal, Page B6, 2/7/07.
No surprise: Mr. Galler adds that competitive commissions are not good for consumers and that they will result in poor service. More productive agents, he argues, are better at “solving problems.”
The article indicates the total number of agents nationwide reached a peak last year at 1.4 million but their ranks will drop between 6% and 8% this year. A former golf pro who gave up the links to sell houses is featured. He recently left the real estate business to take up a new profession, training dogs.
Business 2.0, one of the few magazines dedicated to the internet that stuck after the dot com bust, has published a list of cities where they think bargains can be had in real estate. As longtime fans of baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers all the way back to the team's Brooklyn days, we found our interest piqued by the magazine's second choice. It's Vero Beach, FL, where for more than half a century the Boys of Summer have honed their skills in the pre-season.
Alas, sadly, soon no more. The Dodgers are pulling up stakes after 2008 and moving their spring training facilities west to join every other west coast team in the springtime. Dodgertown, long known as one of the best, if not the best, training facilities in baseball, is for sale. The complex includes a modest nine-hole course, but across the street is an 18-holer, Dodger Pines, that includes a major league 600+ yard par 5. Former Dodger great Maury Wills learned to play golf at Dodgertown; it was the only course in the area that permitted access to African-Americans.
It will be a sad day in 2008 when spring training ends in Vero Beach.
For a list of Business 2.0's top cities for real estate now, see http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/
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