I have been selling real estate in Cleveland Ohio since 1985. This has been my most challenging environment yet. However, some of the top producers in the area are still doing very well. The adjustments to the market conditions have been very painful for the general public. The values of properties have  adjusted and continue to adjust downward. The State has been offically designated as declining. Properties are still selling. It is an extremely price sensitive market. Until the price of a property is desirable the property sits. Once the property is priced well no matter what condition it will sell. Unfortuately a lot of sellers are coming to the closing table writing a check instead of getting one. The foreclosures are dragging the values down on properties in general. If you do not have a property in pristine condition the foreclosure market is really going to hurt you. Why would a consumer pay retail for your property that needs work when they can buy wholesale,  a bank owned property. My biggest fear about this shake up in the real estate industry is losing the good agents. The part time mediocre Realtor will probably weather this storm. It is the full time Realtor that hasn't been able to adjust to this new climate that will find another way to make a living. I have already seen a lot of real quality people leave the business. I also seem to be doing business with more and more new agents. Most of these agents have other full time jobs. While it is still business as usual, you work with some great agents and some who make the deal harder than it should be. I have to admit the ones that made the deal harder and were tough to work with  were the seasoned ones. Not all of them of course. The new part time agents that I have worked with this year have been surprisingly professional. It will be interesting to see the fall out after this storm. I hope that as an industry we can come across as a needed resource and  something of value .