San Francisco Gate - "Real estate seminars aim to give agents the edge in a competitive field" (2-9-07)

"During the boom of the last decade, newly licensed agents poured into the business. In 2006, the National Association of Realtors boasted membership of more than 1.25 million, up 63 percent from 2000. Last summer, a story in Homethinking Blog reported that in Miami one out of 17 people is a real estate agent. (When you subtract children and the sizable retired population, that's an astonishing number of agents.) According to a 2003 UC Berkeley study, when home prices go up in a city, more people become agents, but average income from commissions declines. Now that sales volume has also declined, agents are looking for ways to distinguish themselves from their Lexus-driving peers."