The True Story Behind Agent Turnover (And How to Stop It)

I looked at the turnover rate among real estate agents lately. And the numbers are ugly.

Nearly 87% of new agents disappear within the first five years.

Almost 75% fail to make it through the first year. Some brokerages experience such high levels of churn that they reach nearly 90%.

Those figures mean more than data on a spreadsheet. They represent individuals.

They represent dreams that have been derailed. The teams left behind (you) are constantly rebuilding the foundation rather than building the home.

It is draining to continually rebuild.

The true extent of churn

We have to view these numbers with a straight face.

Agent Experience Level	Annual Turnover Rate	Time to Exit
New Agents (0-1 year)	75-90%	1-12 months
Early Career (1-5 years)	50-65%	12-60 months
Experienced Agents	15-25%	Varies
Top Performers	5-10%	Rarely leave

The median agent turnover rate is 15-25%, which is similar to insurance. However, the median masks the blood loss.

New agent churn creates the revolving door. It drains the bank account.

Even worse, it kills the atmosphere. It is difficult to form friendships with the new agent knowing he likely will fail to attend the Christmas party.

Every time someone walks out the door, they take some of the institutional knowledge. They take momentum.

Possibly a couple of clients leave with them. There is a void left behind.

Why do agents really leave

1. Financial instability creates momentum loss

The momentum is lost because the money ran out. Plain and simple.

The commission-only model seems like a fantasy when you are creating your income projections on a whiteboard. You assume X closings equals Y dollars.

Everyone will become wealthy.

Then reality sets in. Rent is due. Pipeline is thin.

People forget that entering this business is expensive. You spend capital on marketing.

Obtaining a license requires funds. Continuing education creates bills.

Then there are technology fees and MLS dues. The money leaves the bank account before it enters.

It is pressure. Real pressure.

You can see the fear in their eyes by month four. The savings account appears bleak.

Fear causes desperation. Desperate sales people are terrible at selling.

2. The client acquisition mountain

Desperation has a smell. Prospects can smell it from a mile away.

Building a client base from scratch is tougher than taking the exam. If you lack a rich uncle purchasing condominiums, or a large sphere of influence, you are stuck.

You cold-call. You purchase leads that often turn out to be garbage.

Lead Source	Conversion Rate	Time to Close	Cost Per Lead
Referrals	25-40%	30-60 days	$0-50
Past Clients	30-50%	45-90 days	$0-25
Cold Leads	1-3%	90-180 days	$50-500
Paid Advertising	2-5%	60-120 days	$100-800

Look at the cold lead conversion numbers. 1 to 3 percent.

That is a grind. You have to speak to hundreds of people to obtain a handful of "maybe's".

It is a volume game. It feels like pushing a boulder up a hill while wearing roller skates.

And they have to push that boulder while they are still trying to figure out how to do the job.

3. The learning curve

They are trying to prevent bankruptcy at the same time they are trying to figure out how to perform the job. The job involves far more than opening doors and smiling.

It includes contract law. Negotiations.

Market analysis. Client counseling.

Whatever new application the brokerage purchased. They are put into the deep end.

Swim or sink. Most sink.

Trial by fire. However, sometimes the fire originates inside the walls of the home.

3 Hidden reasons for agent turnover

1. Favoritism in lead distribution creates toxicity

This is the poison in the water cooler. It is spoken about.

When agents perceive the game is rigged, they leave. "Favoritism kills motivation. I never get the good leads."

You hear it. I hear it.

Often? They are correct.

In the old-school setups, leads flow to the favorites. They go to those that purchased the manager lunch rather than the people that convert.

It creates toxic environments. What is the use in trying to win if the deck is stacked?

2. Performance blind spots cause agents to remain stuck

Even if the deck is loaded fairly, most agents play blind. They have no idea how they compare to others.

They are operating in a vacuum. They believe they are grinding.

They feel busy. However, they continue to repeat the same mistakes.

They fail to realize the top performer (the one owning the nice car) is making 480 call attempts per day. They make 20 and are proud.

Colton Whitney has shared this story elsewhere.

He had an agent that believed he was doing everything correctly. He worked hard. However, he reached a plateau.

Nothing was working. And then Colton reviewed the data.

The truth came to light. The agent requested the appointment approximately 3% of the time.

Just 3%. His peer? The one crushing it? He requested 63% of the time.

That was it. That single insight explained everything.

The agent viewed the number. He altered his method. He went from 3% to 15% in a matter of weeks. He began to win.

Without that data, he would have quit. He would have blamed the market.

He would have blamed the leads. However, the problem was simply a blind spot.

3. Workload feels broken

Then there is the lifestyle part. The hours are odd.

You are always "on." Buyers are anxious, therefore you are anxious.

It drains you. When the equilibrium is broken, and the money fails to arrive, even the passionate ones begin to browse LinkedIn job postings.

Stress Factor	Impact on Retention	Mitigation Strategy
Irregular Schedule	High	Structured time blocking
Income Volatility	Very High	Pipeline management systems
Client Demands	Moderate	Boundary setting protocols
Administrative Burden	High	Technology automation
Isolation	Moderate	Team culture building

Burnout usually stems from a systems failure rather than a personal one.

What is actually going to make agents remain

Willpower is a limited resource. It disappears.

Typically around 2 PM on a Thursday. The agents that remain are rarely the ones with the most grit.

They are the ones with the most efficient rail to run on.

They have systems. Repeating ones.

CRM tools that remind them. Schedules that tell them what to do each hour of the day.

Decision fatigue is real. Systems kill decision fatigue.

One agent chases urgency. They are running around putting out fires.

The other is using a playbook. The playbook wins.

However, that strategy fails if you lack a coach to help you utilize the playbook.

Real mentorship creates growth

Offering a simple "Good Job" fails to constitute mentorship. Telling an agent to "Make More Calls" misses the point of coaching completely.

Real mentorship means getting dirty. It means simulating the calls that cause your hands to sweat.

It includes reviewing the audio of the train wrecks and determining why the crash occurred. It is messy.

It is uncomfortable. But it builds armor.

Transparency in opportunity distribution

When agents understand why they received a lead, or why they failed to receive one, the temperature in the room drops. "You were denied the lead due to your conversion rate decreasing to less than 10%."

That is tough to disagree with. It is math.

Mike Divita at Palisade Realty (big Zillow Flex team) witnessed this occur. They transitioned to distributing merit-based leads.

The complaining ceased. The "lead quality" excuses disappeared.

When you know the rules, you stop blaming the referee and start playing the game.

Data-driven development

Once they cease blaming the manager, they require a way to climb. Generalized training is uninteresting.

It is too vague.

Agents improve when you fix their specific problem rather than a general team issue.

Palisade observed appointment rates increase 55% when they eliminated the generalized training and focused on the skill gaps identified via data. That is an enormous increase.

However, you cannot scale that if you are doing it manually.

The technology most brokerages are missing

Most CRM platforms act as nothing more than a glorified contact list. They contain names.

Numbers. That is great for storage.

However, it fails to solve the issue of turnover. It leaves the skill gap unresolved.

What really works is practice. Practice that is safe.

AI powered sales coaching is the shift. It enables agents to converse with simulated people.

Angry people. Baffled people.

They may fail to impress the real leads.

Kyle Draper stated it best. "Role-playing with another agent and just tossing softballs... real-life conversations proceed differently."

He is correct. Role-playing with your friend is enjoyable.

Simulating conflict with an AI that argues back is realistic. Agents develop the necessary skills on the simulator so they do not destroy the vehicle when they drive it.

You do not want a novice testing the waters on a $2 million listing.

And the accountability? It needs to be automated.

If the system encourages the agent, the manager avoids being the bad guy. It preserves the relationship.

It transforms hours of studying spreadsheets into 15 minutes of mentoring.

What to focus on within your retention plan

Prioritized Factor	Why It Matters	Implementation Cost	Impact on Retention
Development of Skills	Confidence produces persistence	Medium	Very High
Transparency of Leads	Builds trust, eliminates resentment	Low	High
Performance Data	Enables Self-Correction	Medium	High
Automated Systems	Reduces administrative tasks	High	Moderate-High
Access to Mentoring	Expedites learning curve	Low-Moderate	Very High

Consider the long-term value of a human. An agent who remains develops compound returns.

They improve. They attract referrals. They know how to print. They sustain the culture.

It is profitable.

Stop the revolving door with MaverickRE

Automatic accountability. No micro-managing.

Only the truth. When agents have tools, when they witness fairness, and when they receive coaching that truly assists them, they remain.

They grow.

👉 If you are tired of the empty desk in the corner, maybe it is time to change the system. MaverickRE turns retention from a headache into a weapon.