Among the real estate agent in my area who claim to be doing poorly, I have found many have simply stopped working.  I try to make appointments to show listings and find a third of the agents not returning phone calls or e-mails in any reasonable period of time.  Hard to sell a home if no one can view them.

In our market, prices of home sales have stabilized.  Some parts of Oahu have seen price decreases; some have had increases, while many have stayed flat for the last couple of years.  The big change is in sales volume.  Sales volume of homes has gone down tremendously from the peak of the market in 2005.

Many real estate agents have seen major drops in their business.  I hear them complaining about how bad the market is.  Yet in this changing market there are several of us who have seen our business grow.  June was my biggest month ever.

Let me give my opinion on why some are busy while others are dying:

• Many agents are not spending money or time marketing themselves or their listings, if they have any.  They are not sitting open houses or working office floor time.  In other words they are completely missing in action.
• Another common denominator I am seeing is they are not spending much or any time or effort on education.  Education is an important factor for those trying to thrive in a challenging market.
• Many part time and limited service agents are fading fast, while full time professionals are gaining market share.  To be successful in a slowing market clients need to find you and feel you are an expert in the community and you will bring them success.  They are reading so much negative press and are concerned about the economy and the lending industry problems.  They want a top professional to navigate them through the rough waters.

I was talking to an agent about their business and how they were struggling.  I asked what they had been doing.  Because things were so slow, that agent has been going to the beach, the movies and sitting home.  HELLO!