When the market slows down, joining a real estate team can feel like the obvious answer.
Leads are harder to come by. Buyers are cautious. It’s hard for sellers to put a price on it. Trading takes more time. So the agent looks around and thinks, “Maybe if I join the team, everything will be easier.”
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Sometimes that’s the right thing to do.
But sometimes it’s just a panic decision disguised as a business strategy.
Joining a team is a great way to gain support, structure, mentorship, and other opportunities. It can also be a great way to lose time, give up margin, and tie your business to someone else’s goals without realizing it until you’re deep into someone else’s system.
5 Questions to Ask Before Joining a Real Estate Team
Before joining a real estate team, ask these five questions.
1. What are my long-term goals in real estate?
Before you ask your team leader anything, first ask yourself the following questions: Really, what do you want your real estate business to look like in five years?
If your goal is to become a strong solo agent, the team you join will help you build the skills, systems, and confidence that will eventually allow you to be independent. If your goal is to one day start your own team, look for a team that will teach you leadership, operations, lead generation, and business math from the inside.
But if your goal is to stay with the team long-term and focus primarily on sales, that’s a different decision. You may need strong support, consistent lead flow, clear responsibilities, and a structure that allows you to be proactive.
None of these goals are wrong.
The problem is that you join a team before you know which team you fit into. Choosing the right team is difficult if you haven’t defined what you want your team to build.
2. What are the team leader’s long-term goals?
Once you know your goals, you need to understand them.
Ask your team leaders about their long-term plans. are they growing? Will it stay the same size? Is the market changing? Are they going public, expanding, coaching, recruiting, etc.?
I once heard from an agent who joined the team and loved it within the first six months. The system was solid, the people were good, and she was finally starting to find a rhythm. The team leader then announced that he would be retiring a few months later and disbanding the team.
That’s a cruel surprise.
She spent months learning their systems, adjusting their business, and building a team structure that was on the verge of extinction. I should have asked that question earlier.
If your team leader’s future doesn’t align with the future you’re trying to build, you need to know that before you join.
3. What is the team’s actual business?
Many agents join a team because they hear the team is highly productive. That sounds great, but it doesn’t tell us much.
You need to know what kind of business you are actually doing.
Are they buyer focused? Are you focused on sellers? Are you focused on investors? New construction – Is it heavy? Transfer based? luxury? First-time buyers? Geographical farms? Paid leads? Is it referral based?
This is important because you need to know where you fit.
If your team is built around listings and you’ve never worked with a seller before, it can be a great learning opportunity, but it can also be a steep learning curve depending on the support the seller provides.
If your team is buyer-focused and hates running around showing homes on nights and weekends, it may not be the right fit for you.
You should also ask about the people side. Will you fit into the team culture? Can you adapt to the way they communicate? Can you adapt to the way they distribute leads, create accountability, and manage expectations?
Your team is more than just a lead source. Operating environment. Make sure it’s something you can actually succeed at.
4. What does the team leader prioritize?
This question can tell you a lot if you listen carefully.
Ask your team leaders what they’re tracking, what they’re focused on, and what they’re trying to improve within the company. If they only talk about GCI, volumes, units, awards, and rankings, be careful.
While these numbers aren’t automatically bad, they are often vanity metrics. They say business looks busy. That doesn’t necessarily mean the business is healthy.
A better team leader should be able to talk about things like profitability, net commission, cost per win, lead conversion, agent retention, client experience, repeat business, and the number of deals needed to break even.
You can learn from such people.
If your long-term goal is to build a real business, do you want to learn from someone who understands business math, or someone who just knows how to appear successful online?
The way team leaders talk about their business can give you a good idea of what you’re really getting into.
5. Where is most of their business located?
This seems like a no-brainer, but agents miss it all the time.
Don’t assume just because a team is in MLS that most of their business is in the expected city or region. Your team can operate across large markets, and your actual lead flow may be concentrated in a completely different location than where you want to work.
I learned this personally.
A very good team member left because we couldn’t have a clear enough conversation about where most of our lists were. This was important because the leads on our list are from that area. She thought there would be a concentration of businesses close to where she wanted to work, but it ended up being a long drive away from her location.
It was avoidable.
Ask where most of the buyers and sellers on your team are located. Ask where the leads on your list are coming from. Ask how far the agent is expected to drive. Geography affects your time, energy, profitability, and ability to serve your customers well.
Teams should be strategies, not rescue plans
Joining a real estate team may be a smart move, but it’s not an automatic fix for a depressed market.
Sometimes the better answer is to go solo, sit down, learn new skills, improve your lead generation, and build a stronger business. Your team may also provide you with the mentorship, structure, and opportunities you need to grow faster.
Don’t join a team just because the market is tough. Join us because you will have the opportunity to learn from someone who aligns with your goals, aligns with your team leader’s direction, aligns with the type of business you want to build, and understands more than vanity metrics.
The right team will accelerate your career. If you choose the wrong team, you may be delayed.
In June, Inman takes a deep dive into the real estate team. What it takes to join a team, how to build a team worth joining, and yes, when to quit. For Teams Month, we invite some of the best team leaders in the country to bring you insights, frameworks, and hard-learned lessons that don’t typically make their way onto highlight reels.
Josh Ries is a real estate agent and lead generation consultant. You can connect with him on TikTok and Instagram.
