Are real estate teams dying off? Learn why so many teams are failing and the 3 unknown factors that are key to team survival.
Are real estate teams dying off?
Yes. And not slowly.
Since mortgage rates rose, teams across the country have disappeared at an alarming rate. In many markets, as much as 60% of real estate teams are gone. Cities that once supported dozens of teams are now left with a handful. That kind of contraction isn’t coincidence — it’s exposure.
But here’s the critical distinction most people miss:
Teams aren’t dying because the team model doesn’t work.
They’re dying because most teams were never built to withstand pressure.
The market didn’t break teams. It revealed structural flaws that were already there.
The teams that survived weren’t lucky. They were engineered correctly. Success follows clues, and today, I’m going to share some clues that our most successful clients have followed to help get them through and past the real estate team death zone.
VIDEO: Are Real Estate Teams Dying Off? How the Strong Survive
Why So Many Real Estate Teams Are Collapsing
When you strip away the noise, nearly every failing team shares the same core problems. They don’t understand their real numbers. They don’t see a clear career path. And they rely on systems that can’t scale past a small headcount.
Those three issues feed each other — and once they collide, the team enters what I call the real estate team death zone.
The First Failure: Not Understanding the True P&L
Most team leaders believe their teams aren’t profitable.
In reality, many of them are far more profitable than they think — but they don’t know how to read their own financials correctly.
Personal expenses, lifestyle costs, and solo-agent business write-offs are often embedded inside the team’s operating expenses. Accountants do this intentionally to minimize tax exposure, but the side effect is dangerous: the P&L tells a distorted story.
Leaders look at the numbers and conclude they’re barely winning — or worse, losing.
That misunderstanding alone is enough to kill momentum. When leaders think the team isn’t paying off, they stop investing, stop growing, and start questioning the entire model. In many cases, the team is actually saving them two to three times more than what the P&L shows.
This is why experienced coaching matters. Not motivation — interpretation. If you don’t understand what the business is truly doing for you, every decision you make will be emotionally driven instead of strategic.
The Real Estate Team Death Zone
Most teams don’t die when they get big.
They die when they stay small for too long.
The death zone usually shows up when a team hovers under 20 agents. At that stage, the leader is still heavily in production, overhead is increasing, and the emotional energy of managing people starts outweighing the financial reward.
The leader gives away personal business to support the team, yet ends up making roughly the same income as before — sometimes less — while carrying far more responsibility.
That’s when frustration sets in.
Instead of focusing on growth, leaders fixate on underperforming agents. They become resentful of the very people they recruited. They forget why they started the team in the first place: leverage, leadership, and long-term freedom.
Standing in the death zone feels like walking across hot coals. If you don’t see what’s on the other side, you turn back. And that’s exactly why so many teams retreat to solo production and quietly dissolve.
No Career Path Means No Commitment
One of the biggest reasons people ask are real estate teams dying off is because agents keep leaving teams.
That’s not primarily a split issue.
It’s a vision issue.
Agents leave when they can’t see how they grow inside the organization. If the only future you offer is “sell more at the same split,” your best people will eventually leave — regardless of culture or camaraderie.
Strong teams create visible advancement paths. They allow agents to move into leadership, earn elevated splits on agent-generated business, manage pods, or step into recruiting and training roles.
When agents can see a future beyond production, loyalty increases dramatically. When they can’t, they start building their exit plan — often quietly.
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Quick View
Real Estate Team Lead Management (Icenhower Institute)
ICT Online CourseReal Estate Team Lead Management
Learn how to manage, route, and convert leads effectively to create a consistent pipeline and boost team production.
Understand the full lead management process from capture to conversion
Learn how to route leads efficiently using systems that match agents with the right opportunities
Gain insight into tracking KPIs, monitoring lead sources, and improving conversion rates
Discover follow-up systems and accountability models that increase agent performance
Build dashboards and tracking tools to visualize lead flow and performance data
Includes downloadable scripts, spreadsheets, and customizable lead management templates
Build a Scalable Lead Conversion System
Implement proven processes for routing, tracking, and converting online leads with consistency.
Train Agents to Succeed from Day One
Set new hires up for long-term success with structured onboarding, clear expectations, and self-managed systems.
Lead with Data, Not Guesswork
Use dashboards and key performance indicators (KPIs) to coach your agents and grow your team with confidence.
Designed for all learning types
Video Training
In-depth video training walking you through each module of the course, explaining the strategies, tips, and best practices for using Canva for real estate agents.
Written Workbook
Detailed and downloadable written workbook that provides you with a bullet point outline, summarized text, action steps, key takeaways, as well as space for taking notes.
Instructor Materials
Teach this course at your organization with the help of our downloadable presentation notes, presentation files, and Instructor's Manual.
Mergers & Acquisitions
Click to watch more about this real estate training course
Program curriculum
Enrollment includes access to the following course materials for 6 months.
The Matching StandardHow Real Estate Teams Attract Top Producing Agents
Your Dashboard, Splits, & Introducing The Matching Standard
The Matching Standard
Audio: Your Dashboard, Splits, & Introducing The Matching Standard
Audio: How Real Estate Teams Attract Top Producing Agents
Audio:The Matching Standard
Workbook: The Matching Standard
Instructor’s Manual: The Matching Standard
Presentation Outline: The Matching Standard
Presentation: The Matching Standard
Flowchart: Is it a Team Lead or an Agent Lead?
- Online Lead Sources
- Audio: Sourcing Online Leads & Setting Expectations
- Workbook: Sourcing Online Leads & Setting Expectations
- Instructor’s Manual: Sourcing Online Leads & Setting Expectations
- Presentation Outline: Sourcing Online Leads & Setting Expectations
- Presentation: Sourcing Online Leads & Setting Expectations
- Online Lead Referral Services
- Module 2 Quiz
Making Initial Contact With Online Leads
Audio: Making Initial Contact with Online Leads
Workbook: Making Initial Contact With Online Leads
Instructor’s Manual: Making Initial Contact With Online Leads
Presentation Outline: Making Initial Contact With Online Leads
Presentation: Making Initial Contact With Online Leads
How to Set Up Your CRM
SOI Call & Text Contact Cycle
Two-Week Assault Plan & Scripts
Online Lead Follow-Up Plans
Audio: Online Lead Follow-Up Plans
Workbook: Online Lead Follow-Up Plans
Instructor’s Manual: Online Lead Follow-Up Plans
Presentation Outline: Online Lead Follow-Up Plans
Presentation: Online Lead Follow-Up Plans
Script: I’ll Do You One Better
Lead Follow-Up Campaign Categories
Two-Week Assault Plan & Scripts
- Tracking Online Lead Key Performance Indicators
- Audio: Tracking Online Lead Key Performance Indicators
- Workbook: Tracking Online Lead Key Performance Indicators
- Instructor’s Manual: Tracking Online Lead Key Performance Indicators
- Presentation Outline: Tracking Online Lead Key Performance Indicators
- Presentation: Tracking Online Lead Key Performance Indicators
- Drive Growth With A Dashboard Video
Audio: Drive Growth with a Dashboard
Workbook: Drive Growth with a Dashboard
- Instructor’s Manual: Drive Growth with a Dashboard
- Presentation Outline: Drive Growth with a Dashboard
- Presentation: Drive Growth with a Dashboard
- Sample Dashboard
- Sample Dashboard Graphic
- ICT Team Dashboard
- DISC Profiles
- DISC Behavioral Assessment
- DISC Style Identification
- ICT Broker Scoreboard
- Quiz: Drive Growth with a Dashboard
- Agent Onboarding Calendar
- Audio: Agent Onboarding Calendar
- Workbook: Team Onboarding
- Instructor’s Manual: Team Onboarding
- Presentation Outline: Team Onboarding
- Presentation: Team Onboarding
- Team Onboarding Calendar Weeks 1-8
About this course
- $450.00
- 7 modules; 66 lessons
- 90 days of access to course materials
Reviews
"I use ICT systems, the Icenhower Institute, and the coaching program to coach and train my team of over 30 agents. I use the ICT dashboard systems to keep my entire team accountable for their activities and set proper expectations."
Jake Rockwell
Over 500 Units Sold Annually
"I have coached with ICT for over five years. ICT has helped me quadruple my luxury business through marketing strategies so that I receive listings and sales through lead generation and multiple pillars of income."
Dennis Adelpour
Luxury Agent - West Los Angeles
"When we started coaching with ICT we worked all the time with some degree of success. Now, seven years later, we have grown to have the #1 market share in our area, we more than tripled our income and production, while also improving our work-life balance to enjoy our personal life with family and friends."
Tammi Humphrey
#1 Market Share & 100 Million in Annual Sales Volume
InstructorBrian Icenhower.
Ready to turn more leads into closings? Enroll now and build a scalable lead management system that fuels your team’s success.
If you’re ready to stop leaving lead conversion to chance and start creating real, predictable growth for your real estate team, this course is for you. I’ll walk you step-by-step through the exact systems and leadership strategies we use with top-producing teams across the country.
Inside this course, you’ll learn how to:
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Set a clear Matching Standard to distribute leads fairly and effectively
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Evaluate your lead sources and manage your cost per lead
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Create contact expectations and follow-up systems that actually work
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Track the KPIs that matter most to your bottom line
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Use dashboards to keep your pipeline healthy and your agents accountable
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Build an onboarding experience that turns new agents into producers—fast
I’ve packed this course with frameworks, downloads, and practical strategies that will help you lead with confidence and scale your results. If you're ready to build a system that drives consistent conversion—and doesn’t depend on chasing agents or micromanaging—then let’s get started.
Sign up now and let’s take your team’s lead management to the next level.
Build a scalable lead management system that fuels your team’s success.
Build a Scalable Lead Conversion System
Implement proven processes for routing, tracking, and converting online leads with consistency.Train Agents to Succeed from Day One
Set new hires up for long-term success with structured onboarding, clear expectations, and self-managed systems.Lead with Data, Not Guesswork
Add to Cart
Use dashboards and key performance indicators (KPIs) to coach your agents and grow your team with confidence.Talk to a coach
If you've been considering hiring a coach, now's the time. Book a FREE coaching consultation session with your purchase of this course! Book Your Call
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Team Coaching Program
The Team Real Estate Coaching Program is for smaller teams looking for internal structure, leverage and leadership.
Why the Matching Standard Keeps Teams Intact
Lead distribution is where most teams unintentionally sabotage themselves.
Some teams give everyone equal leads regardless of effort. Others use leads to create dependency. Both models fail because neither rewards ownership.
The matching standard solves this by aligning incentives correctly.
At its core, the principle is simple: agents should receive more transactions from the team than they personally generate. When that balance is maintained, splits make sense and retention stabilizes.
But this system also reveals something important — flight risk.
When an agent begins matching or exceeding team-provided production, they are telling you something: they are becoming independent. If leadership doesn’t adjust their role, compensation, or opportunity, someone else will.
Strong teams anticipate this moment. Weak teams react after the resignation letter is already written.
Small Teams Fail Because They’re Too Rigid
Here’s a hard truth most leaders don’t want to hear:
Small teams rely on rigid systems. Large teams rely on adaptive leadership.
If you want to escape the death zone, you have to stop operating like a small team — even while you are one.
That means adjusting splits early when talent reveals itself. It means promoting leaders before your org chart feels “ready.” It means watching dashboards closely enough to spot problems before agents become disengaged.
Waiting for annual reviews or rigid milestones is how talent walks out the door.
Recruiting Is the Only True Growth Lever
Trying to squeeze more production out of existing agents eventually hits a ceiling. Accountability can only go so far before it turns into burnout.
Recruiting is what breaks the ceiling.
Not recruiting bodies — recruiting people who meet you halfway, who want to build a business, and who are willing to grow within structure. When leaders stop obsessing over non-producers and instead double down on growth, momentum returns.
Non-producing agents are not the enemy. Toxic agents are. If someone isn’t hurting culture and isn’t costing you money, they’re not your biggest problem — stagnation is.
Teaching Agents to Fish Is Non-Negotiable
Teams that fail often operate like boiler rooms. Endless prospecting, suppressed splits, no emphasis on SOI, and no ownership mindset.
That model creates dependency — and dependency never lasts.
Strong teams use leads as supplemental leverage, not a leash. They teach agents to build databases, develop relationships, and create long-term income streams. The team supports growth rather than replacing it.
When agents feel stronger inside your organization than they would on their own, retention becomes natural.
Final Answer: Are Real Estate Teams Dying Off?
Yes — poorly structured teams are dying off fast.
But teams built with:
Clear financial understanding
Defined career paths
Scalable leadership roles
Intelligent lead distribution
Consistent recruiting
are not just surviving. They’re separating from the pack.
The market didn’t kill real estate teams. It exposed which ones were never real businesses to begin with.
If you’re looking to separate from the pack and get through the death zone, speak with an ICT coach today on a free call. One of our expert team coaches can help you set yourself up for success and create a path for growth.
