I built an independent real estate team and expanded it to over 200 agents. I’ve been in the field of exploration, enduring unstable schedules, and feeling the pressure of trying to grow a real business in a broken system. Because of this experience, I can confidently say that real estate agent recruitment has not kept up with how the industry actually works today.
Teams and intermediaries are consolidating. The margins will become thinner. Growth is more competitive than it has been in recent years. And all of this is happening while the market remains relatively quiet.
Real estate fluctuates cyclically. As volumes recover, the gap between organizations that prepared early and those that did not will widen rapidly. Some teams plan to scale up. Others will suffer badly.
Humaniz has facilitated referrals between over 28,000 agents and hundreds of teams and brokers over the past 12 months. The pattern is consistent. Just because leaders don’t care doesn’t mean your recruiting efforts are doomed. This industry is broken not because of a tool problem, but because of an input problem. Most platforms still rely on data sources that are not designed to support large-scale adoption.
real problem
Most team leaders will tell you that hiring is a priority. Their calendar tells a different story. Take time to review the agent’s profile, analyze production numbers, and discuss cultural fit. I feel productive. But when you see an agent in the software, it doesn’t mean they’re recruiting. Recruiting only happens after real conversations occur, and agents spend time iterating on your brand, message, and value proposition.
The difference between effective and ineffective recruitment is structure, not effort. Most recruiting efforts are passive, inconsistent, and dependent on bursts of motivation. What works is intentional, repeatable, and designed to be done even when leaders are busy.
Adopted as a flywheel
Great teams treat recruiting like marketing. That means proactive outreach working alongside inbound demand from paid advertising, organic content, and direct mail. Outbound creates awareness. Inbound creates familiarity. Over time, it compounds into a flywheel where agents recognize your brand before the first call.
What people call “luck” in recruiting is usually a collision of repetition and timing. The teams that are winning today are not magically more charismatic. A more visible, more consistent, and harder team to ignore.
Why traditional tools are not enough
Most recruiting software is built on MLS data. MLS data is a system designed for transaction management and compliance purposes, not for identifying and contacting agents. If the MLS knows nothing about the agent, neither does the platform. This is a fundamental limitation that no amount of UI improvements can fix.
Why build AgentIntelligence?
This is why we’re building Humaniz’s AgentIntelligence. It is an AI-powered recruiting platform developed completely outside the constraints of MLS. It is built on a proprietary agent data matrix designed to capture signals that MLS was never intended to track. That is, the agent’s career position, market presence, online footprint, and reachability. The platform is designed to automate outbound communications and inbound marketing to continuously generate real-world recruiting conversations.
Rather than relying on manual work or inconsistent activity, the system runs continuously in the background. Leaders will spend less time chasing activity and more time doing the only thing they should be doing: having real conversations and dispatching the right agents.
The market is changing. Trading volume will return. Leaders who are building their recruiting infrastructure now will have an even greater advantage once they do so. Leaders who wait find it difficult to maintain growth.
Growth in this industry does not come from good intentions. It comes from better input and systems built around it.
Humaniz specializes in agent recruitment for real estate teams and brokerage firms. The company is currently developing AgentIntelligence, an AI-powered platform that combines automation and omnichannel marketing to help organizations build a predictable and scalable recruiting engine. For more information, please visit humaniz.com.
