‘Unfiltered’: Over $480B in sales moved with agents last year 

Editor's note: The Real Estate Insiders Unfiltered podcast explores the people and forces that shape the real estate industry. Check out our top takeaways and watch the latest episode from NextHome co-CEOs James Dwiggins and Keith Robinson.

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On this episode of Real Estate Insiders Unfiltered, Sean Soderstrom, founder and CEO of Courted, discusses the financial reality of agent turnover and shares his advice for brokerage leaders seeking to attract new agents and retain existing talent.

Soderstrom works with brokerages at Courted, an "agent recruitment, agent retention and market research platform" he founded in 2021 following stints at management consulting firm McKinsey & Company and Compass, where he led expansion efforts for three years.

These days, Soderstrom assesses data that can help brokerage leaders identify which agents are more likely to seek work opportunities elsewhere. The bottom line? "From the purposes of recruiting and retention, the human touch is very important," he said — and staying "in front of people as much as you possibly can" would be his top recommendation for agents and owners in 2025.

Agent movement has a massive financial impact: "More than $480 billion of sales volume and more than $12 billion of commissions moved from one brokerage to another last year," Soderstrom said. To put that in perspective, those amounts are roughly double what Compass generates.

While the dollar amounts vary, 16-18% of the industry's sales volume changed hands annually over the last five years, according to Soderstrom. He noted that the data is "generally positively correlated with the underlying real estate market," with more agents switching brokerages when the market is thriving. 

"Intuitively, brokerages get more competitive with one another because they have more money to spend," Soderstrom added.

Why agents leave: Past data released by the National Association of Realtors suggests 87% of new agents drop out of the industry after two years, a number Soderstrom believes was likely higher in 2023 and 2024 amid a "depressed" market. 

"When we have that many of the new entrants dropping out, and then that many of the agents who are producing moving, it makes for a very volatile population," he said.

Early predictors of potential agent turnover include big increases or decreases in production, managerial changes or existing attrition. Soderstrom said his company can "forecast four out of five agents before they leave their company with 12 months of notice" by analyzing these kinds of variables.

Agents want more money — or more support: For brokers focused on recruitment, two business models have proven successful in recent years, Soderstrom noted. 

The first is a compensation-based approach, where "the agents are saying, 'Well, it's a down market. I'm going to go to that company because I want a bigger slice of my pie,'" Soderstrom said.

The second model places more emphasis on providing support — including in-house marketing and technology tools — that agents can use to grow their business. "I think that really does appeal to agents in a down market," Soderstrom said.

Don't take your people for granted: Agents who are plugging away at their brokerage might be the "lowest risk" for a firm worried about losing talent, but those individuals still need recognition for their achievements. "They just want to be celebrated, and they don't want you to miss their milestones," Soderstrom said. Technology can help, but it's "only useful if you actually reach out to them in a genuine and authentic way."

"The personalization of the communication — and then a heartfelt follow-up — is, of course, really important," he added.