During the real estate boom of the past five years, thousands of people joined the real estate industry to become agents and Realtors in record numbers.

Many of these people had no prior knowledge of the industry, and jumped into the profession on a whim.

There were stories of people making thousands (if not millions) of dollars in commissions and many people who were not thrilled with their prior career wanted to try their hand at selling houses.

Now, as the housing market continues to stall, many real estate agents who have only been at their profession for a few years have no idea what to do in a slowdown.  Unlike the few seasoned veterans who dominate the industry, these newcomers are not used to having to work to sell a home.

A November 7, 2006 article by Chris Isidore of CNNMoney.com, “Real estate: Babes in bear land,” discusses how most new agents are used to the boom of year’s past and are finding it hard to stay a float in a slow market.

“Just more than half of members of the National Association of Realtors (NAR) had four years or less of experience in a 2005 survey - which means they came into this year's real estate downturn knowing nothing but boom times.”

“Home sales set record after record from 2001 through 2005, as prices rose to record levels as well. But the pace of sales is off 14 percent so far this year and the year-over-year change in existing home prices has fallen in the past two monthly reports from NAR. That's the first time there has been a decline in that key price measure in 11 years - not even one in three Realtors today was around back then.”

Although there is nothing wrong with new people handling home sales in today’s market, it just may be hard for them because they are not familiar with it.

After all, the market of today is extremely different from even how it was as little as a year ago.  This can be a hard thing for both sellers and agents to grasp.

“Buyers and sellers are negotiating this rapidly changing market with the advice and guidance of agents who may not be terribly familiar with the current landscape.”

“‘We've picked up 400,000 to 500,000 new agents, and having people in the field not used to cycles is not going to help smooth out this down cycle,’ said Nicolas Retsinas, director of Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies. ‘Is it the top of my worries about what's going on? No. But the point (about inexperience) is well taken.’”

Many new agents may have an even tougher time in the slow market because this industry is hard to start out in, in the first place.

Agents excel in the business through referrals and word-of-mouth, which could be difficult to get when not nearly as many people are buying.

Many analysts have expected there to be a decrease in the amount of people in the profession as the market continues to stall, but that will probably not occur until people get really desperate.

The number of those working in real estate has continued to grow this year. In its most recent reading, for September, the Labor Department said there were 1.5 million people in the business, down 0.4 percent from the record high in June but still 22,700 ahead of a year ago. “We've found in the past there's about an 18-month lag until there's a downturn in membership,’ said Walter Molony, spokesman for NAR.”