With the first month of the new year nearly behind us, real estate professionals are buckling down as they find their stride and set the tone for the months ahead. Coming off another tough year, brokerage leaders are moving quickly in order to take advantage of a gradually improving market.
But where do the biggest opportunities lie? This was the focus of the session titled, “Taking 2026 by Storm – Seizing the Opportunities in Today’s Market,” during RISMedia’s Real Estate’s Rocking in the New Year virtual event earlier this month—where panelists shared their best strategies for building business right out of the gate.
Moderated by Bess Freedman, CEO of Brown Harris Stevens, panelists included Michele Harrington, CEO of First Team Real Estate; Bill Scavone, president of Weichert Real Estate Affiliates, Inc.; and Chris Kelly, president and CEO of HomeServices of America.
Kicking off the conversation, Harrington pointed to creating amazing habits as her biggest piece of advice for agents—both new and experienced—to consider in 2026.
“You can get easily distracted by working on your CRM or making really cool flyers in Canva, but that’s not what’s going to move the needle. In 2026, you really need to focus on prospecting, building your pipeline and being disciplined every day,” said Harrington, who pointed to the amount of freedom real estate professionals have as both the best and worst thing about working in the industry.
“We don’t have the structure that we need to really be successful unless we structure ourselves and make sure we’re doing the hard things first every day,” she added. “Freedom’s great, but you want to make sure you structure yourself.”
For Kelly, it’s all about looking outside the industry for inspiration.
“Most of the consumers you interact with aren’t going to be comparing you to the last real estate professional they worked with because it was likely more than a decade ago. What they’re really going to be comparing you to is the last best customer experience they had,” explained Kelly, who encouraged attendees to take note of great customer experiences in their lives and think about how to apply them to their own business.
And while there’s opportunity everywhere we look these days, Scavone emphasized that cultivating a growth mindset should be a top priority for real estate professionals across the board this year.
“If you put an incredible growth mindset together with calendering, focusing on activities over results and making those routines—that’s almost like you’re guaranteeing success,” he said.
“When we wake up every day, we have thousands of choices we make—and I think new agents have a tremendous opportunity to be great and elite,” added Scavone, who reiterated the importance of discipline when it comes to making things happen and getting the tough things done. “That’s the discipline; the choices that you make.”
Preparing for the next market cycle
The conversation then turned to the market, with panelists offering insight into how brokerage leaders can capitalize on the gradual improvements economists are forecasting to position their firms for success.
“I think the biggest thing is that you can’t control the economy, you can’t control politics, and you can’t control the interest rates. But you can control your actions,” said Scavone, who believes things will be getting better as rates come down and inventory increases.
“If you can do the activities every single day, and be consistent, you don’t have to worry about the economy and things that are out of your control,” he added. “Control what you can control every single day, and avoid all the distractions.”
“The good thing about our industry is that buying or selling a home is rarely a purely economic decision. There are typically life circumstances that dictate it, regardless of what the interest rate is and regardless of what home prices are,” said Kelly, who cautioned attendees to avoid falling into the trap of creating fencesitters.
“You’ve got to be careful with the way you condition and talk to your clients and sphere. As professionals, we have to make sure we educate the consumer, that we’re always talking about ‘this is what it means for you right now’—and individualize as opposed to conditioning them for something that’s outside of their control to be happening and then it’s a good time to move or a good time to sell,” continued Kelly.
Despite Southern California’s low inventory and affordability challenges, Harrington remains optimistic about the opportunities in today’s market.
“Now’s the time to build the things you want to build for the future and to capitalize on the opportunities that are out there,” she said. “If we just look for those key opportunities and think about building for the future, because when the market gets better—if you have your team, if you’ve grown your company—then it’s going to be that much better for you in the long run.”
Seizing opportunities to stay ahead
Building on the theme of opportunity, panelists weighed in on where they see the strongest growth potential for agents and brokerages this year.
For Scavone, it all boils down to execution—or the lack thereof he sees throughout the industry as a whole.
“We have so many tools out there, so it’s really not a lack of tools or resources. It’s really a lack of execution, and that comes back to not worrying about your outcome,” he said. “You’ve got to focus on the process. Love the process, and you’ll love the end result.”
Drilling down further, Kelly pointed to deploying capital resources, time or whatever it may be into the wrong buckets as one of the biggest mistakes he sees among real estate professionals and brokerages alike.
“People will pour so much time and resource and money into chasing leads as opposed to investing in where probably 80% of their business comes from,” explained Kelly, who encouraged attendees to lean into what makes us human.
“Take advantage of all the AI and all the technologies out there, but use them to support yourself and give you more time to lean into those relationships. If you lean further into that, you’ll have a very healthy, sustainable career,” he added.
“There are so many opportunities,” reiterated Harrington, emphasizing the importance of standing out from the crowd and playing the long game. “When you see all these companies consolidating, that provides the ability to have a point of differentiation—and as a brokerage, you want that point of differentiation. Also, I love when I see Realtors® treat their business like a business.”
