AGENTS OF CHANGE; VETERANS, ROOKIES JUMP INTO REALTY REBOUND.

Byline: Gregory J. Wilcox Daily News Staff Writer

After a three-year hiatus, veteran agent Peggy Betts is back in the San Fernando Valley real estate game.

Greg Bloom, in search of a career, thinks the business could be his fast track to financial success.

And David Farmer, a hiring broker at Quality Properties in Woodland Hills, is just looking for a few good agents.

As the Valley's housing market finally exhibits signs of a strong sales upswing and properties again appreciate in value, the industry's employment picture is likewise improving. Some former agents are returning to the field, new ones are entering and agencies are hiring.

Sales and prices began slumping in mid-1991. As it became apparent that Southern California's struggling economy wouldn't help prices or sales volume, real estate agents began leaving the field.

For example, membership in the San Fernando Valley Association of Realtors, which typically has about 98 percent of the area's active agents on its rolls, declined steadily from a decade high of 9,730 in 1990 to 5,381 by the end of last year.

Now that trend is reversing. By September, the association's membership had grown to 5,554. That's the first year-over-year gain in seven years.

Jim Link, executive vice president of the association, said membership in the group always slides after a recession, noting that the same thing happened during the economic slump of the early 1980s.

``We're starting to see more people come back into the business, but more importantly we're seeing fewer people drop out,'' Link said.

Membership in the organization is voluntary. It costs $100 to join the group and sales agents pay annual dues of $80. Brokers, who head offices, pay annual dues of $120.

The group provides continuing education and marketing tools, sets professional standards, and distributes computer software and a variety of statistics.

And the reason membership rolls are growing is simply that business is getting better. Not great, but better.

``We're beginning to see an increase in new applications - that started a couple of months ago,'' Link said. ``But I don't see the huge increase in new members that happened when the market started to boom in the late 1980s.''

Some former agents like Betts simply stopped selling homes, but maintained their licenses and association affiliations during the slump. She lived off her savings during the hiatus.

Now she has renewed a nearly 20-year business relationship with longtime Valley broker Pat A. Zicarelli, owner of Style Realty in Reseda.

Her ``open house'' signs are packed in the trunk of her car, her nameplate is back on the desk at Style - where she was one of the top producers during the mid-1980s - and she's checking out properties across the Valley.

``People are much more optimistic,'' she said of today's local market. ``There seems to be a lot less inventory and a lot more buyers than there were two or three years ago.''

An agent since 1976, Betts rode the market to its crest, then bailed out as it wallowed in the recessionary funk and selling homes became a tougher, less satisfying business.

``I left because it was hard to make any money,'' said Betts.

And there was the angst of dealing with people she had placed in a home only to see it lose value.

``In a year they were looking at you like, `You got me into this home and it's not worth what I paid for it,' '' she said.

That was quite a turnaround from the late, great glory days of the Valley's housing market - the late 1980s and early 1990s - when you couldn't go anywhere without rubbing elbows with a real estate agent.

It seemed like everybody knew somebody who was either selling property full-time or part-time or studying for the real estate exam. Drop by Gelson's, Monty's Steakhouse, the Sportsmen's Lodge or Du Par's Restaurants & Bakeries and the buzz was about real estate.

The reason, in a word, was money. And real estate was where it was at.

Equity piled up at such a rapid rate that some homeowners traded in houses quicker than they did cars.

``When new condos and town houses were being built a lot of agents would double pop them. Put offers on them, tie them up in escrows and sell them before escrow even closed,'' said Betts. ``A lot of people would make a $10,000 profit on just having put a hold on something, so to speak.''

While business is now better than it has been in years, no one expects the frenzied kind of appreciation that occurred nearly a decade ago.

``I find it hard to believe it will ever be that way again,'' Betts said. ``In fact, I think we're much better off if we're not that way again. The whole country was going nuts, interest rates were skyrocketing and I don't think that's really healthy.''

Link notes that as the local market changes - for example, much of today's sales activity comes from first-time buyers - so is the mix of agents different from the past.

They are younger today, with a lot of them entering real estate as their first career. New agents now have more formal education and computer training than did agents getting into the business a decade ago.

``And the number of people that get into the business as a part-time occupation is way down from where it was in the late 1980s,'' he said.

Farmer, the hiring broker at Quality Properties, said employment at his Century 21 office has increased by 14 new agents this year and there is enough business for about a dozen more. Century is even running some radio ads touting real estate as an attractive occupation.

``It's the first time since 1991 that we've hired more agents than we've lost,'' he said. ``There's always business to be done, even in poor times, but when the market becomes more buoyant, there is more interest and that's what's spurred the recent recruitment.''

Bloom is one of those new agents, entering the business about four months ago.

``I've always been in sales and I've enjoyed working with people and interacting with others,'' he said of becoming an agent. ``It wasn't a job behind a desk every day. I could go out and see the community and interact with others.''

It took him about two months to make his first sale and he supplemented his income by taking a part-time job delivering food for a local restaurant.

So far, he has no complaints.

``It's worked out pretty well. Everyone says it takes time and that's what I'm finding out,'' Bloom said. ``I'd eventually like to sell three homes a month. At least that would be a good start. But, definitely, the sky is the limit.''

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, Chart

Photo: (1--Color) Realtor Peggy Betts, back in the Valley real estate business after leaving during a market slump three years ago, surveys some property in Tarzana.

(2--Color) No capton (Peggy Betts

Gus Ruelas/Daily News

Chart: (Color) BACK IN BUSINESS

As the San Fernando Valley; housing market began a tail spin in the early 1990s, the number of Realtors dwindles. Now, as sales and prices improve, some of those agents are getting back into the business and new ones are entering the field.