Picture this: a newly licensed agent steps into the industry, full of energy and big ideas. Within a year, they’re overwhelmed, frustrated and walking away, disillusioned about a career they were once excited to pursue.
We see this scenario play out too often. And while the real estate industry may feel crowded today, the problem isn’t simply about too many agents. It’s about how we’re supporting them—or failing to.
More agents entering the field doesn’t necessarily mean a stronger industry. In fact, an oversaturated market filled with underprepared professionals weakens all of us. Poor client experiences, high turnover and wasted potential erode the professionalism and trust that real estate is built on.
If we want this industry to flourish, it’s on us—experienced agents, brokers and leaders—to make sure new agents aren’t just surviving, they’re thriving.
The real risks of neglecting new agents
Let’s talk about the bigger picture. When new agents don’t receive the support they need, it creates challenges that affect more than just them. The consequences are felt across brokerages, teams, and even client relationships.
- Professional standards slip
A crowded industry with poorly trained agents lowers the bar for service quality. Mistakes happen when new agents lack guidance, and those mistakes damage the trust clients place in all of us.
- Turnover hurts everyone
High turnover isn’t just exhausting for brokerages—it’s expensive. Recruitment, onboarding and retraining take up time and resources that could be better spent improving systems and growing businesses.
- Missed opportunities for innovation
New agents often bring energy and fresh ideas, from adopting new technologies to rethinking how we approach marketing and service. When they leave, we lose that potential to evolve and adapt.
- Client trust declines
Every poor experience a client has with an underprepared agent reflects on all of us. If clients lose faith in working with professionals, they’ll start turning to alternatives that cut us out of the process altogether.
How we can do better
Supporting new agents doesn’t have to mean overhauling your business or spending hours mentoring every week. Small, intentional actions can go a long way in helping new agents find their footing. Here’s what works:
- Mentorship
A little guidance can make all the difference. Invite new agents to shadow you at a showing or share advice over coffee. These moments create clarity and confidence for agents still figuring things out.
- Modelling consistency
Real estate isn’t about grand gestures—it’s about showing up every day. Demonstrating consistent habits, like prospecting, following up and managing client relationships, shows new agents what it takes to succeed.
- Hands-on training
Theory is helpful, but real-world experience is where the magic happens. Let new agents join you for open houses, negotiations, or listing presentations so they can see how it’s done.
- Simplify technology
Technology is essential, but it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Help new agents focus on the tools that truly matter—CRMs, social media and virtual tours—and teach them how to use those effectively.
- Celebrate progress
Success isn’t just about closing deals. It’s about building relationships, growing your network and mastering new skills. Helping new agents recognize their wins, no matter how small, keeps them motivated.
- Accountability without micromanagement
While new agents thrive with clear goals and regular check-ins, they also need space to learn and grow. Balancing accountability with independence gives them the structure they need to stay on track.
A shared responsibility
We’ve all been new agents at some point. We know how hard it is to find your footing in this industry and how much it means to have someone in your corner. The success of new agents isn’t just their story—it’s ours too. It reflects the strength of our teams, our brokerages and our profession as a whole.
This isn’t about making grand gestures. It’s about being intentional. It’s about offering mentorship when you can, sharing tools and resources, and showing new agents what’s possible. Because when we invest in them, we invest in the future of the industry.
Real estate is built on relationships, not just with our clients but with each other. Supporting new agents isn’t just an act of kindness—it’s how we ensure this profession continues to grow, adapt and thrive. Let’s commit to building an industry where new agents feel supported, valued and ready to succeed.
Matt Richling is a seasoned Ottawa realtor with nearly 20 years of experience in the business. He founded and leads New Purveyors, a team of 15 with a boutique-style office in downtown Ottawa. He is a director at the Ottawa Real Estate Board, and is an Inman News Ambassador – he has a passion for organized real estate and works tirelessly to improve the industry. You may have also seen Matt featured in The Residential Specialist or Realtor.ca, seen him speak at countless real estate conferences across North America, or heard of him through the Ottawa Clothing Drive – which he founded and quickly became Ontario’s largest clothing drive. Matt is also a father of two twin girls and an avid skier in his spare time.
There are already too many realtors in most markets. This is the main reason it is difficult for new agents to thrive. The industry is dominated by big names who spend a lot on marketing thus preventing new recruits from gaining traction. The biggest job an agent has is marketing themselves. There are simply too many of us.
Well written article with some great insights. Yes a mentoring program would certainly benefit new sales reps. Working with an active agent would allow this new sales rep to immediately gain experience and build skills. These large teams are perfect for mentoring programs as they have ongoing business. Greed may be the motivation behind some of these failures. Top producers want the lions share of the money. So they overwork new sales reps, underpay them and the sale rep decides to move on. Success is also about the sales reps working together and supporting each other. Maybe it the business model of brokerages that needs to change not so much the number new sales reps entering the business. And think about all the opportunities for new sales reps. It is not just selling residential homes. There are appraisal opportunities with further education, property management with further education, commercial opportunities many new sales reps do not explore because of the fear of commercial real estate.
Good article, Matt. Totally agree with your thoughts on giving a little help to new reps whenever possible, which will ultimately raise the bar for the entire industry! Unfortunately, in Ontario, we fall short on oversight of newly registered salespeople… and sadly, many new reps choose brokerages that offer little to no training and guidance.
MANDATORY Mentoring for two years OR 20 transactions
If you choose to hire new Agent’s, it is your responsibility to train the new Agents.
Asking for help from the experienced Agents to train your new Agents indicates to me you do not have the ability to train all of the new Agents you have hired to be productive. How about hiring only what you can handle ?
A smaller pool of full time professional Agents will serve the public with a much higher level of Integrity, Commitment and Excellence, to the public’s joy and satisfaction, knowing the largest investment in most of their lives, will being handled by a professional Realtor.
If the industry truly wants to help new Agents, RECO should implement a mandatory mentorship program for all new Agents.
1. A new Agent can’t touch a sale without a mentor for a specific period of time.
2. The mentors will be experienced/ retiring Agents who must meet strict standards and requirements.
3. The mentors data base developed over years of service will be passed on to the new Agents and continue to be serviced as they always have been.
4. A fee and commission split is worked out between the mentor and the new Agent
We have a win – win – win program for the Mentor, New Agent and most importantly, the Public.
The retiring Agent is passing on knowledge, skills and a data base of clients.
The new Agent is given the time they need to learn and understand the requirements and skills to manage the largest investment in most people’s lives.
The public and their hard earned money are being serviced and cared for ethically and professionally by qualified, full time, Realtors.
Actively selling professional, full time Realtors should continue to focus on their client’s and what they do best; selling real estate, and leave the responsibility of training new Agents to RECO, OREA, CREA, the Brokerages who hire them and can leverage the training companies available to teach them.
I agree with Robert, mandatory mentoring.
When I joined RLP Royal City Realty 18 years ago I was assigned an experienced agent to work with . She was great ! Taught me all the things I was never taught in Real Estate School and checked all my offers and listings before I submitted them. Even after a few years on my own I would still call her for advice. I can’t imagine that some brokerages don’t do this. I always thought it was done everywhere. But that aside, there are still too many agents in the game.
Well said Matt
It’s not about mentoring. Many of the new entrants are adults with many years in the working world. In contrast, networking & marketing and brokerage support are key in encountering an 80/20 kind of industry. Many outfits’ awards clubs in effect promote this – maybe a modified approach to aid success for everyone. And the industry is personally very demanding – not a convenient 8-4 Monday to Friday job – so not for everybody. New agents like old agents pay fees to brokerages – the fees go to the brokerage bottom line – but what do they get in return?
Great article, well thought out. I don’t necessarily believe that the mentor-protege model is the correct route. It can be an added value, but I believe the brokerage model is broken; no pun was intended. When I started 39 years ago, the broker policy was that before any listing went live, the manager had to sign off on it. No offers went out for signatures until the manager signed off on it, and the manager monitored all negotiations. A busy manager ran an office of 20, maybe 30 salespeople. The broker-owner and manager were honestly held responsible, and they did not push off their responsibilities onto E&O. To run a company, you needed five years of experience, and the broker was a respected position in the industry, not anymore. Today, business is no longer a race to the top. It is a race to the bottom. With brokerage now capping fees, it is no longer in the brokerage’s best interest to turn out top-producing, high-earning professionals. After a salesperson hits their cap, why would a brokerage want them to do more? There is no incentive, so what do they do? They play the numbers game. Add more salespeople who meet the cap, which becomes a vicious circle. There should be greater education and responsibility to be a broker and make it easier to become a licensed REALTOR. This will allow more people to enter the industry, taking the burden off brokers to pay compensation at a level that can not support good oversight. Take it from someone who witnessed salespeople getting paid 60% and living a better lifestyle than the majority, getting 95%+ today; why? Because the broker demanded minimum standards, and if you could not meet them, they would let the salesperson go because they knew they had a reliable supply of new candidates. Still, today, the criteria are so high to get licenced that it makes the existing stock of salespeople more valuable, hence the high splits, low success rate and significant accountability issues. I would be curious to know the answer to this question. There are jurisdictions in North America where you can achieve a real estate license in less than 60 days. I wonder if they have more E@O claims or ethics violations than the jurisdictions where it sometimes takes up to a year or more to get a license. This would be worth looking into. With technology today, the salesperson no longer has to sit and write out a clause or create an offer. It is already done for you in most traditional transactions; what we don’t have is professionalism and accountability. In my books, that falls squarely on the back of the company that oversees that salesperson. The only way this will happen is to fix the brokerage model and allow the brokerage to have a consistent flow of eager people wanting to make real estate a career for life and for the brokerage to feel comfortable enforcing minimum standards. The government should stay out of the way and let market forces fix the problem, reinstate respect for the broker, and a good broker will run a good shop. If they don’t, the market will fix that too, or their E@O costs will skyrocket, forcing them to shut the doors.