<HTML> <HEAD> <title>WebForm1</title> <meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 7.1"> <meta name="CODE_LANGUAGE" content="Visual Basic .NET 7.1"> <meta name="vs_defaultClientScript" content="JavaScript"> <meta name="vs_targetSchema" content="http://schemas.microsoft.com/intellisense/ie5"> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content='text/html; charset=UTF-8'> </HEAD> <body > <TABLE id="Table1" cellSpacing="1" cellPadding="1" width="100%" border="0"> <TR> <TD><b>Comment Number:</b></TD> <TD>518795-00330</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Received Date:</b></TD> <TD>11/8/2005 6:35:44 PM</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Organization:</b></TD> <TD>Weichert Realtors</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Commenter:</b></TD> <TD>Ohlinger, Keith</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>State:</b></TD> <TD>MD</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Agency:</b></TD> <TD>Federal Trade Commission</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Rule:</b></TD> <TD>Competition Policy and the Real Estate Industry</TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><b>Docket ID:</b></TD> <TD>To Be Added</TD> </TR> <TR> <td colspan='2'>No Attachments</td> </TR> </TABLE> <hr/> <b>Comments:</b><br/><br/> Dear Federal Trade Commission: I work as a trainer for Weichert Realtors in Bethesda MD. I meet with and train between 100-200 new and experienced agents per week. The single biggest issue that shocks new agents is how competitive real estate is, followed by the second biggest issue of how hard they will have to work to succeed. I started three years ago and of my training class of over 50 people only 5 of us remain. Our local real estate association, GCAAR, has over 11,000 members and within that number we have seen a 41% turnover since 2003! Real estate is extremely competitive, and I ask someone who disagrees to kindly quit their current job and join our ranks. They will soon find out the real truth. </body> </HTML>