How Real Estate Agents Can Thrive in a Changing Market

The market moved. The opportunity did not disappear, it relocated. Here are the strategies I taught in a recent Power Players session for finding listings, fixing follow-up, and building systems that hold up when business gets harder.

Key Insight

Real estate agents thrive in a changing market by studying local days on market, solving harder seller problems like expired and distressed listings, expanding their reach through collaboration, replacing "just checking in" with real value, and running a daily system they actually review. The market did not remove opportunity. It moved it toward the agents willing to do more work.

What you will get in this post

• Know your local market better than the headlines
• Stop running yesterday's playbook
• Go where the problems are
• Expired listings: diagnose before you relist
• Expand your reach, then collaborate
• Have more real conversations
• Use AI as leverage, not an easy button
• Use new construction and hyperlocal content to get found
• Bonus: the daily system that holds it all together

Real estate changes. Sometimes slowly. Sometimes it feels like somebody flipped a switch.

The strategies that worked when homes sold in a weekend do not produce the same results when properties sit, sellers hold onto old expectations, and buyers have real choices again.

The numbers back that up. The National Association of Realtors reported membership at 1,438,569 as of late June 2026, with the typical member now carrying 13 years of experience, up from 12. That is happening against an existing-home sales pace just above 4 million units, the lowest level since 1995. Fewer transactions, more experienced competition.

In a recent Power Players coaching conversation, I pushed agents to stop waiting for the old market to come back and start asking a better question.

Where is the opportunity in the market we actually have?

That question changes everything. Here is what came out of that session.

1. Know Your Local Market Better Than the Headlines

You cannot advise a seller if you do not know what is happening around you. My challenge to agents in that session was simple: know your days on market.

Not nationally. Not whatever somebody posted on Instagram. Know your city, your price range, your neighborhood, your property type.

For reference, NAR put the national median time on market at 41 days in its most recent research update. That is a starting point, not an answer. Your zip code and price band could be double it.

What to actually track every week

• Days on market by price band. The $400K story and the $1.2M story are rarely the same.
• Where inventory is building. That tells you which sellers are about to get nervous.
• Price reductions and withdrawals. Every one of those is a conversation waiting to happen.
• What is failing to sell and why. Price, condition, marketing, or communication.
• New construction pressure nearby. Builder incentives reset the comps in a hurry.

2. Stop Running Yesterday's Playbook

The biggest mistake in this business is using an old strategy in a new environment.

Every cycle has demanded a different skill. There were years when agents had to understand short sales and foreclosures. Years built entirely around managing multiple offers. Years where investment analysis mattered more than staging.

The principle outlives the cycle. When the market changes, your skill set has to change with it.

Better questions than "how do I get more leads"

• What problems are homeowners facing right now that I am not equipped to solve?
• Which properties in my market are not selling, and what do they have in common?
• What part of my license am I underusing?
• Where are the buyers who are still active actually finding value?
• What skill would make me harder to replace 12 months from now?

Why this matters more than lead volume

• Leads are a commodity. Problem-solving is not.
• Complicated situations have less competition.
• Skills compound. Purchased leads reset to zero every month.
• Sellers with hard problems refer harder than easy sellers do.
• Your best 2027 niche is probably something you have not learned yet.

3. Go Where the Problems Are

My own pivot was simple. I started paying much closer attention to people in complicated property situations instead of chasing the same easy conversations everybody else was chasing.

In the 30 days after that shift, my business generated roughly 13 new listings and seven properties under contract. That was not a market change. That was an approach change.

Where the harder problems live

• Expired listings. Proven intent to sell, plus a bad experience nobody has debriefed.
• Distressed properties. Condition, repairs, or timing problems most agents avoid.
• Absentee owners. People who are tired of managing a property from a distance.
• Owners behind on taxes or payments. Real urgency, handled with real care.
• Sellers who need alternative structures. Creative options like novation and other problem-solving strategies.

Show up as a problem solver, not another pitch

An expired seller has already heard a pitch. What they have not had is somebody willing to ask what actually went wrong and then listen to the whole answer.

4. Expired Listings: Diagnose Before You Relist

I took a listing appointment in Monroe, North Carolina on an expired property. More than an hour of driving for one conversation.

I did not open by criticizing the previous agent. I opened by asking the seller what happened. She told me the whole story. From there we talked about how the original price was set and where the property realistically needed to be positioned.

Then something else surfaced. The home had an in-law suite producing rental income, and that had never been used effectively in the marketing. That single detail changed the entire value story.

The expired listing diagnostic

• Pricing history. How was the original number set, and who set it?
• Showing and feedback data. No showings is a price problem. Showings with no offers is a condition or expectation problem.
• Hidden value. Income potential, flex space, land, lake access, anything the marketing missed.
• Communication gaps. Most expired sellers are angrier about silence than about price.
• What the seller needs now. Their goal may have changed since the first listing.

5. Expand Your Reach, Then Collaborate

How far are you willing to drive for the right opportunity? Most agents built their geographic boundaries during an easy market and never revisited them.

I expanded my MLS footprint to cover 47 counties and started looking at Charlotte, Greensboro, the Triad, Greater Greenville, Coastal Carolina, North Myrtle Beach, and toward the mountains.

One absentee-owner conversation that started around a Greensboro property eventually surfaced a North Myrtle Beach property I valued around $1.1 million. One conversation uncovered an opportunity I was never looking for.

Before you expand, answer these

• What areas am I legally licensed and equipped to serve?
• Does my brokerage support work in that market?
• Should I join another MLS, or partner instead?
• Is there enough opportunity to justify the drive time?
• Would a referral actually serve the client better than my ego would?

Collaboration beats pretending to be local everywhere

On the North Myrtle Beach opportunity I found a local agent who was hungry, available, and willing to work. That is leverage, not weakness.

One agent brings the relationship, the strategy, the negotiation, and the marketing systems. The other brings local knowledge, showing availability, and community context. The client gets both instead of one agent guessing.

6. Have More Real Conversations

Technology gives us incredible tools. It also gives us an excellent hiding place.

Sending 300 text messages is not the same as having 300 conversations. Automation reminds you. A CRM organizes you. Eventually somebody still has to talk to the client.

NAR found that 96% of members use a smartphone daily for business and 73% maintain a business website. Nearly everybody has the tools. Far fewer are having the conversations.

Track conversations, not activity

• Set a daily conversation number. Meaningful two-way conversations, not dials.
• Ask before you present. Motivation, timeline, and pressure points come first.
• Listen longer than feels comfortable. The real objection usually shows up second.
• Log what you learned. A note you can use later is worth more than a checkbox.
• Count it honestly. A mass text blast is one action, not one hundred conversations.

7. Use AI as Leverage, Not an Easy Button

We spent real time on AI in that session. ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, CRM integrations, automated content, follow-up systems. I am not anti-AI. I use it daily.

My warning is different. Do not let AI replace the fundamental work. Spending your whole day experimenting with tools while avoiding prospects is not productivity, it is procrastination with better software.

Why leads ghost you

Here is the honest answer most agents do not want. Leads stop responding because you stopped giving them value.

Nobody is waiting on another message that says "just checking in." They need a reason to reply.

Use AI to build follow-up worth opening

• Research their specific area. New development, schools, roads, retail, hospital projects.
• Turn it into two sentences. Short, useful, not salesy, easy to reply to.
• Tie it to their situation. Reference the thing they actually told you months ago.
• Build a recurring research routine. Let the tool surface topics on a schedule.
• Verify before you send. AI is your assistant, not your fact-checker.

That makes AI the researcher and you the relationship. Never the other way around.

8. Use New Construction and Hyperlocal Content to Get Found

Builders can structure incentives that an individual homeowner cannot match. Complaining about it does not change it.

So learn the incentives instead. Study the communities in your normal driving routine and turn what you find into content. A two-minute video explaining a builder incentive can pull in a buyer who was already circling that neighborhood.

The goal is not to advertise for the builder. It is to become the local resource people search for.

Hyperlocal content that actually gets searched

• What is being built near me. The single most searched local real estate question.
• New grocery, hospital, and retail projects. People care about their daily life, not your listing count.
• Traffic and road changes. Boring to you, urgent to a relocating buyer.
• Builder incentives this month. Timely, specific, and hard for competitors to copy.
• Neighborhood comparisons. Cornelius versus Davidson versus Huntersville, honestly answered.

Build content around places you already go

School drop-off. Church. Gym. Grocery store. Client appointments. If you pass a growing subdivision three times a week, that becomes a recurring content series with almost no added friction.

Consistency gets dramatically easier when the content lives on your existing route instead of requiring a special trip.

Resources to build your local content around

• Neighborhood Guides (model for your own hyperlocal pages)
• Recent Sold Homes (pull real numbers for your market updates)
• Brock's Broadcast (see how a recurring show gets built)
• Social Media Team (what a content support system looks like)
• UpScale Virtual Assistant Agency (leverage so production does not stop)

Bonus: The Daily System That Holds It All Together

I write out my calendar by hand every morning even though I also use Google Calendar. At the end of the day I review it. Completed items get a check. Incomplete items get circled.

Then comes the part most agents skip. I ask why it did not get done, instead of just dragging it to tomorrow. Same way a coach reviews game film. A failed play is not "that did not work." It is a question with an answer.

The five-step end-of-day review

• Check what got done. Give yourself the credit, it matters.
• Circle what did not. No excuses written yet, just facts.
• Name the real reason. Distraction, unrealistic schedule, or avoidance of something uncomfortable.
• Ask if it even belongs on tomorrow's list. Some tasks deserve to die.
• Ask the needle question. Does this move the needle? If not, stop protecting it.

Control your environment and your accountability

• Treat the workday like work. Get dressed, set hours, kill the notifications.
• Name your alarms after your goal. A phone that says your target out loud hits differently.
• Get a real accountability partner. Someone who will ask the uncomfortable question.
• Make commitments measurable. "Create more video" is vague. "Five videos in two weeks" is trackable. That was my commitment in that session.
• Protect outside-the-box time. One block daily for expireds, absentee calls, a builder visit, or a new niche.

The Agent Who Adapts Has the Advantage

A changing market exposes weak systems. It also creates opportunity for anyone willing to build stronger ones.

When business was easy, an agent could survive with shallow market knowledge, inconsistent prospecting, and lazy follow-up. This market asks for more. And 75% of Realtors told NAR they are very certain they will stay in this business at least two more years, so the competition is not leaving.

You have to know your market. Communicate. Follow up with real value. Solve harder problems. Build systems you actually review.

The market will keep changing. That part is settled. The better question is whether you will change with it.

Helpful links from Brock

For agents and coaching clients

• Brock as Coach
• BZ Three Coaching
• Brock as Speaker
• Upcoming Events
• Join Brock's Team

Systems, team, and services

• BZ Three Team
• Admin Team
• Novation Services
• Brock's Books
• Community Involvement

Client tools worth sharing with your database

• Search Listings
• Buyer Game Plan
• Seller Game Plan
• Sell Your Home
• Free Home Valuation

Calculators, lenders, and proof

• Mortgage Calculator
• Affordability Calculator
• Preferred Lenders
• Reviews
• Brock as Realtor

Follow along

• Read More Brock Blogs
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Contact Brock

Frequently Asked Questions

• How can real estate agents succeed in a changing market?
  Study your local market at the price-band level, solve harder seller problems, increase meaningful daily conversations, replace check-in follow-up with real value, expand your reach through collaboration, and run a daily system you review at night instead of just carrying tasks forward.
• Where can agents find more listing opportunities right now?
  Expired listings, distressed properties, absentee owners, owners behind on taxes or payments, geographic expansion, and agent-to-agent referrals. Complicated situations have the least competition.
• Are expired listings still worth prospecting?
  Yes. An expired listing is a homeowner who already proved intent to sell. The advantage goes to whoever diagnoses why it failed instead of assuming price was the only issue.
• What should I ask an expired seller first?
  Ask what happened. Not what the last agent did wrong. Then work through pricing history, showing activity, buyer feedback, communication, hidden value, and what the seller needs to accomplish now.
• How do agents find absentee owner leads?
  Data platforms like PropStream and PropWire can surface absentee ownership. Verify the data, follow your state rules, brokerage policy, and do-not-call requirements, and focus on starting a useful conversation rather than working a list.
• What sources work for expired listings?
  Tools such as Arch Agent and Vulcan7 are commonly used for expired data. As with any list, compliance and conversation quality matter more than volume.
• Should I expand my service area or refer the business out?
  It depends on genuine local knowledge. If you cannot advise credibly on schools, inventory, and neighborhood nuance, partner with a local agent or refer it. The client experience comes first.
• How do I structure a co-broke or collaboration deal?
  Define who owns the relationship, who handles showings and local logistics, who leads pricing and negotiation, and how compensation is documented before the first appointment. Get it in writing with your brokerage's approval.
• Why do real estate leads stop responding?
  Because the follow-up stopped being useful. "Just checking in" gives nobody a reason to reply. Relevant local news, a matching property, or an answer to their old question does.
• How do I follow up without sounding salesy?
  Send something they can use, tied to their location and situation, in two sentences or less, with no ask attached. Give value three times before you ask once.
• How should real estate agents use AI?
  Use it for local research, content drafts, follow-up ideas, summarizing market data, and recurring research routines. Do not use it to replace conversations, and verify anything factual before you send it.
• Can AI replace prospecting?
  No. Automation reminds, organizes, and drafts. It does not build trust. If your whole day was spent inside tools and nobody heard your voice, that was not a workday.
• How can agents compete with new construction incentives?
  Stop competing and start informing. Learn what builders in your area are offering, explain it in local content, and use builder activity as a buyer lead source rather than a complaint.
• What hyperlocal content should Realtors create?
  New construction updates, grocery and hospital projects, road and traffic changes, school news, builder incentives, and honest neighborhood comparisons. Consumers search their life, not your listings.
• How many conversations should an agent have each day?
  Pick a number you can defend and track it honestly. The number matters less than the definition: a real two-way conversation, not a text blast counted as 100 touches.
• How do I build a more productive real estate schedule?
  Write the plan daily, review it at night, check what got done, circle what did not, name the real reason, and ask whether each activity moves the needle before it earns tomorrow's calendar.
• Does Brock Zevan coach real estate agents?
  Yes. Brock coaches agents and teams through BZ Three Coaching and speaks nationally on strategy, prospecting, and mindset. Start at Brock as Coach or call 704-345-3400.

What Clients Are Saying

Real results from real people working with Coach Brock.

Final thought

The agents who create opportunity instead of waiting for it are the ones still standing in every market. Pick one strategy from this list, run it for 30 days, and let the results argue with you.

Call or text Brock at 704-345-3400

About Brock Zevan

Brock Zevan is a Lake Norman and Charlotte-area real estate broker with Real Brokerage LLC, specializing in waterfront homes, luxury listings, relocation, downsizing, and strategic seller representation in Cornelius, Davidson, Huntersville, and Mooresville. He is also a national real estate coach and speaker through BZ Three Enterprises, working with agents and teams on prospecting, listing strategy, systems, and mindset.

Learn more: Brock as Realtor · Brock as Coach · Brock as Speaker · Brock as Dad

Brock Zevan, Broker, North Carolina Real Estate License #256028, affiliated with Real Brokerage LLC. Coaching and speaking services provided through BZ Three Enterprises. This article is educational content for real estate professionals and is not legal, tax, financial, or brokerage compliance advice. Prospecting practices including expired listing and absentee owner outreach are subject to federal and state do-not-call rules, telephone and text messaging regulations, and individual brokerage policy. Verify all requirements with your broker-in-charge and legal counsel before implementing. Industry figures referenced are from the National Association of Realtors 2026 Member Profile and NAR research updates published in 2026 and may change. Business results described are individual experiences and are not a guarantee or projection of results for any other agent. Equal Housing Opportunity.