Slump thins local Realtors' ranks - al.com

Slump thins local Realtors' ranks - al.com: "Sluggish sales have slashed the real estate ranks in Baldwin County, where a red-hot resort market has long cooled and agents are trading their commission-driven vocation for a steady paycheck.

Dues-paying members dropped 17.6 percent to 1,400 people in the past year at the Baldwin County Realtors Association, according to Martha Taylor, executive director. The group's numbers peaked at almost 2,000 in 2005, at the height of the sizzling resort market. She expects to lose more members when association dues start renewing on Jan. 1, 2009.

Many of the agents who dropped out were 'order tak ers,' during the boom market, Taylor said."