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Playbook
Brandon Wells's Independent Playbook: Culture First, AI Second
On HousingWire's latest podcast, the It's Simple Real Estate president lays out how a regional independent grew without leaning on the franchise toolkit.
Marcus Hall · Apr 27, 2026 · 6 min read
Research
Top Agents Want Leadership, Not Brokerage Management
HousingWire's reporting reframes the retention conversation: producers aren't leaving for splits, they're leaving when leadership stops showing up.
Lena Okafor · Apr 25, 2026 · 6 min read
Market Data
Reading the 2026 RealTrends Rankings as a Recruiting Map
Compass leads on volume, eXp leads on sides, and independents have quietly grown to nearly 29% of the market. Each of those facts is a recruiting story.
Devin Park · Apr 24, 2026 · 5 min read
Playbook
The Repeatable Recruiting Playbook Most Brokerages Skip
Luxury Presence's strategy guide isn't groundbreaking — but it codifies the basic operational habits most brokerages still don't have.
Priya Anand · Apr 23, 2026 · 6 min read
Industry
Stability and Scale Are Becoming the New Recruiting Advantages
Howard Hanna's leadership argues the recruiting pitch is shifting from short-term incentives to long-term opportunity. The data backs them up.
Sam Reyes · Apr 21, 2026 · 5 min read
Retention
The 30-Day Onboarding Window That Decides Retention
Why the agents you lose in year three were almost always lost in week one — and what a good onboarding cadence actually looks like.
Marisa Chen · Apr 20, 2026 · 6 min read
Playbook
The Recruiting Cadence That Actually Compounds
Most brokerages run recruiting in sprints. The shops that grow year over year run it as a metronome.
Marcus Hall · Apr 19, 2026 · 5 min read
Platforms
Why the Best Recruiters Stopped Buying Lists and Started Buying Signal
List-pulls used to be the recruiting unit of work. In 2026, the unit is the signal — and the brokerages that figured that out are pulling away.
Priya Anand · Apr 17, 2026 · 7 min read
Industry
Why Mid-Market Independents Keep Out-Recruiting the Franchises
In dozens of secondary metros, the boutiques are taking share from national brands. The reason isn't a better split — it's a tighter loop.
Sam Reyes · Apr 15, 2026 · 6 min read
Compensation
Splits Aren't the Story Anymore. Net Take-Home Is.
The brokerages quietly winning recruiting conversations stopped arguing about splits and started showing agents their full annual P&L.
Lena Okafor · Apr 14, 2026 · 5 min read
Retention
Your Best Recruiter Is Already on Your Roster
Internal referrals convert at multiples of cold sourcing and stay 70% longer. Most brokerages still spend almost nothing activating them.
Marisa Chen · Apr 13, 2026 · 5 min read
Technology
AI in Recruiting Is Mostly Hype. Two Use Cases Are Real.
Most 'AI recruiting' tools in 2026 are repackaged email automation. But two narrower applications are quietly reshaping how brokers work.
Priya Anand · Apr 11, 2026 · 7 min read
Playbook
The Etiquette of Poaching, Updated for 2026
Industry relationships are smaller than the industry. Here's how the recruiters who keep winning manage the line between aggressive and reckless.
Marcus Hall · Apr 10, 2026 · 6 min read
Retention
The Real Cost of a Bad Recruiting Hire
Brokerages obsess over cost-to-acquire. The cost of acquiring the wrong agent is meaningfully higher — and almost nobody calculates it.
Lena Okafor · Apr 9, 2026 · 5 min read
Platforms
The Data-First Broker Is a Different Animal
Two brokerages, same market, same headcount. The one that runs on signal closes recruits 4x faster. We dug into why.
Priya Anand · Apr 8, 2026 · 8 min read
Industry
The Team Question Every Broker-Owner Has to Answer in 2026
Team-friendly or team-skeptical? You can't be both — and the agents you want most have already decided which one they prefer.
Sam Reyes · Apr 7, 2026 · 5 min read
Playbook
The Agent Database Most Brokerages Still Don't Have
If you can't pull a list of every agent in your market, segmented by production tier, recency of contact, and warmth, you don't have a recruiting program. You have intentions.
Marcus Hall · Apr 6, 2026 · 5 min read
Retention
Where the Broker-Owner Time Budget Actually Goes
Recruiting growth is almost entirely a function of broker-owner attention. A look at where the hours actually leak.
Marisa Chen · Apr 4, 2026 · 6 min read
Market Data
What the Q1 2026 Brokerage Numbers Actually Say
Beyond the headlines: a clearer read on agent migration patterns, model performance, and what it means for the rest of the year.
Devin Park · Apr 3, 2026 · 6 min read
Retention
The Recruiting Meeting Most Brokers Skip
Not the first meeting with the recruit. The second meeting with the agents already on your roster who watched you do it.
Marisa Chen · Apr 1, 2026 · 5 min read
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