Reality of realty: Number of realtors continue to drop

MINNEAPOLIS -- The housing boom that occured around 2003 created the availability of many houses to buy and a market in which homes were easy to sell.

"You can stick a sign in a yard and it would sell," said Faith McGown, a realtor at McGown/Grossman in Minneapolis.

The Minnesota Association of Realtors report that 2006 was the peak for realtor memberships.  But since then, the number of realtors have continued to drop.

"We started an average of a 9% decrease in membership from 2007, 2008 and 2009," said Steve Havig with Lakes Area Realty.

The foreclosure business is partly to blame as well as the current economic climate.

"We believe the difficulty in the real estate market of 2009 with the new category of foreclosures has been difficult for real estate members.  The move up buyers have been slow due to consumer confidence," said Havig.

"I see some people in the office less and less often, then you eventually stop seeing them," said McGown.  "My opinion is that it would be extremely tough for someone new in the business to make a living at it right now with the condition of the market."

Although many real estate agents have left the office, they haven't left the field.

"I know that a lot of realtors have purchased rental properties on their own and they spend time doing that.  I've also known people that have completely left the field," said McGown.

Havig says he didn't see many people trying to break in the business to quickly buy and resell in hopes of turning a profit.

"People that are coming in to be licensed aren't coming in for the quick turn, their coming in for the long haul," said Havig.

Not counting the people like contractors, for example, that buy properties with goals of fixing them up and reselling. 

Meanwhile, a new report came out from the Mortgage Bankers Association saying that mortgage borrowers are falling behind on their payments.  It says 9.64% of all mortgage loans were delinquent.  That is due to more people losing their jobs.

If you have made a late mortgage payment or worried about one, here are some tips:

1. Determine how many days you are late. If you are past 15 days, you are going to get charged a fee. Call the mortgage company immediately. DO NOT WAIT!!

2. Ask your lender to give you an extension of your grace period BEFORE you are charged a fee. You may need to set up your payment for a specified date in order to have fees waived, as most lenders charge a "payment-by-phone" charge.

3. Most lenders will offer a waiver of fees for setting up an automatic payment for a future date. Knowing the payment is coming to them, they are less likely to call you for payment.

4. If your payment is going on 30 days or more late, call your lender. Let them know when you will be able to make a payment, set it up if you can. If you are struggling to make the payment, let them know!

5. Most lenders offer payment reduction programs (6-month programs) to reduce your payment for a while until you can regain income, change jobs, military duty, family emergencies, etc. Check with your lender to see if you qualify as early as possible if you know life-changing situations are on the horizon.

6. Once you are 90 days past due, your mortgage will be sent to foreclosure proceedings. Further fees and costs will be added, and your credit report will be jeopardized. This can impede your future credit transactions, home and business purchases.

7. With so many foreclosures on the market today, most lenders are willing to work with their customers up to a certain point. The more contact and honesty you have with your lender as early as possible, the better your situation may be.

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