Leigh Thomas Brown tells real estate agents they're facing the fastest industry change ever, driven by iBuyers, COVID, interest rates, and shifting buyer and seller behavior. Agents who don't adapt in the next 18-24 months risk becoming obsolete, while those who learn the new landscape now can gain a decisive edge.
there's always been like one big wave coming in residential, right? First it was iBuyers and then it was, right? Like there's always one big wave coming. I don't recall a time in my 28 years where there were like this many waves coming in a row at the same time, stacking up on top of each other. And it's a lot to process. This is what we would be doing anyway. We would just do it, doing it at lunch and happy hours and brunches and, you know, hotel lobbies, right? Like this. So this is what we would be doing anyway. But it's not what most agents would be doing anyway. Most agents don't sit there and pontificate about the future of residential real estate. That, that also too, that isn't really their job. Their job is to figure out how to serve their clients at the highest level. And being forced to deal with the fastest rate change in the history, not to mention a global lockdown, not to mention buyers backing out 'cause of price change, sellers feeling stuck because their interest rate is 3% and the new interest rate is 7%, right? Like any one of those was a wave. That is a lot to deal with. You stack all those on top of each other and it's not surprising to me. I guess I'm trying not to scold the industry, not that you were, but I hear a lot of people trying to scold the industry into paying attention and I'd rather just tell 'em, look, choose your hard. I would pick paying attention right now 'cause I get you are tired, but do it tired. I get you're a little burnt out on all these changes, but do it burnt out. Because otherwise this monumental change, these stacked changes mean that the deck is brand new. It's gonna be brand new. And in the next 18, 24 months, there will be agents who've been doing it for 30 years that don't know how to do it anymore. And there'll be agents who've been doing it for 18 minutes that actually have a competitive advantage. So I don't wanna scold you and make you feel bad for not doing it. I just want to tell you that you have to start, like the time for starting to process these changes is running out. And you're gonna lose this career path. There's a real opportunity to lose this beautiful, amazing servant heart, great income, theoretical, some freedom in your life career path if you don't pay attention over these next 18 to 24 months.
