Real estate agents have rarely ranked among the most trusted professions—usually nurses, doctors and the military are at the top. But with media coverage (stemming from lawsuits and policy changes) and a historically tough housing market, many industry leaders have worried that real estate professionals might take another hit to their reputation.
Gallup’s annual job ethics survey for 2025 data shows that the honesty and ethics rating for real estate agents is close to its record-low point, with only 17% of Americans rating real estate agents as honest. Nurses, doctors and pharmacists on the other hand, are the top three professions on the honesty and ethical standards scale, coming in at 75%, 57% and 53%, respectively.
Over time, the public’s view of real estate agents is largely unchanged, according to Coldwell Banker Realty’s Christophe Choo, a top agent with almost four decades of real estate experience based in Beverly Hills, California.
“Since I started close to four decades ago, there’s always been that perception that real estate agents are like used car salesmen,” he tells RISMedia. “It’s our job as an industry to not take it defensively, but take it seriously in order to elevate that perception.”
Michael Davis—a partner at Worthington Realty based in Fort Myers, Florida—summed up consumer expectations in an interview with RISMedia.
“We get paid when someone says yes, and we get paid well. People know that, and it would be strange if it didn’t affect how they read our advice,” he said.
According to Davis, the nature of homebuying exacerbates the problem people have with agents. “Most people only buy or sell a few times in their lives, so one transaction, or even one story from a friend they trust, carries enormous weight,” he said.
For Choo, the lack of barriers to entry for agents can lead to poor home-buying experiences.
“We were all brand new at one time. However, in the real estate agency industry primarily, you get your license, but there’s no real training per se. You don’t really know how to sell or contract. That’s just part of the after-license process,” he said. “However, I think a lot of agents, particularly more so today than I’ve ever seen, don’t take it as seriously as they should.”
Hitting closer to home(buyers), an appellate court recently upheld a 2024 settlement agreement, the lawsuit which pushed the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) and big brokerages to alter their practices, notably affirming a previous ruling that many power players in the industry conspired to raise prices. That NAR deal also banned offers of compensation from the MLS, something ostensibly designed to benefit consumers.
Court of public opinion
Gallup researchers went a step further and measured how Americans judge each profession on a tilt scale—very high, high, average, low or very low. For real estate agents, the majority of Americans voted them as average (56%), but 26% voted them as low/very low. Because the low ratings outweigh the high ones, Gallup reports the public perception for agents leans negatively, leaving room for improvement.
Consumers will oftentimes liken real estate agents to car salesmen, believing that agents are more focused on getting the highest commission possible out of the transaction and not keeping their client’s best interest in mind.
Changing living conditions is not an easy process, Davis notes. Clients may have “a child on the way, an empty nest, a new job,” or even unfortunate circumstances that put them in perilous situations.
“The client is working through a life change, and what they want to know is whether you understand what matters to them and can help them make a good decision,” he said.
What stood out to Davis, on the other hand, was agents’ mediocre ratings in the Gallup survey. He pointed out that if consumers don’t feel negatively, they will likely feel indifferent toward agents.
“The most interesting number to me is the 56% who chose ‘average.’ Or as my teenage daughter would say, just ‘meh,’” he continues. “People aren’t calling us dishonest. They don’t know what to expect. But every good experience gives someone a new story to tell about what working with a real estate agent can be like.”
Cautious clients are nothing new to agents. Davis described how commissions can make clients see agents in an unflattering light in an article earlier this year.
“You make money when the deal closes, and the person sitting across from you knows that. So every recommendation carries a question underneath it: is this what’s best for me, or is this what gets you paid?” he wrote.
Commission-driven mission
Generally, commissions are an agents’ bread and butter.
But the game has changed since NAR’s landmark commission lawsuit, which settled in 2024 and established new standards for commissions and practices. In the early post-settlement days, commission rates fell in 2024 to 4.96%, according to RISMedia’s study.
In 2025, however, rates rose and averaged about 5.39%, according to the company’s 2025 Contract & Commission Study. Generally, commission rates have sat within the mid-5% range, but that share can impact how clients choose to place their trust in agents.
The idea that agents are getting a huge cut of a home price is often cited by industry critics, even as the median salary for real estate agents hovers around $56,000.
How can real estate professionals change this narrative?
Some of the blame is on agents, Choo said. He points to agents’ misunderstandings about the industry and states that many prospective agents see their role as a “get rich quick” scheme.
“There’s a lot of very young agents starting out with their licenses because they see ‘Million Dollar Listings.’” he said. “They see these young guys on TV walk into a $40 million house, five minutes later they have a listing and 30 minutes later they have it sold. So these young people see that and think, ‘I can do that and make a lot of money.’ They don’t realize that it’s fake, and it’s a professional industry. I think that we as an industry and agents need to constantly elevate ourselves in the business.”
Davis echoes this sentiment and notes that clients are mindful of any biases agents may have, especially when their paycheck is on the line.
“It starts with a clear conversation, and it starts early. Explain how you’re paid, what you’ll do, what choices the client has and what they should expect from you,” he continues. “Then deliver what you promised, even when that costs you. A seller may be better off waiting. A listing may be priced too high. A buyer may need to walk away from a house they love. The question I come back to is simple: Would I give the same advice if I were not getting paid?”
Adapt or die
The main rhetoric agents will hear is to be thoughtful and honest with clients, but there’s more to buying or selling a home than just the human element. Real estate is an industry, and with all industries, technology is at the forefront of change—including how agents get in front of people, and the lens they are viewed through.
Recently, AI’s integration into search engines has changed how we traverse the internet and has ramifications for how agents will be viewed by potential homebuyers. Homebuying has now become an online process, as Choo recounted that one client he worked with—who was over 80 years old—discovered Choo by asking ChatGPT which agents he should reach out to. His strong online presence and a specialization in luxury properties is likely the reason why the AI recommended him, Choo says.
“People now are basically using AI at every age as opposed to just Google or standard searches,” he says.
Prior to AI’s introduction, Choo says he was one of the first agents to start a YouTube channel and show listings online. “I had a lot of flack and people were upset about that, but I did it.”
Despite being in the industry for nearly 40 years, Choo states that he continues to learn as an agent and seeks new opportunities or investments constantly.
“Since I started at 18 years old, I didn’t know anything about real estate. So I started getting educated from my company and going to programs and seminars and listening continuously,” Choo reminisced. “To this day, 37 years later, I still do that. I’m always going to conferences. I’m always listening to podcasts and learning and educating myself. I think it’s critically important as an agent.”
Inversely, Davis prioritizes the power of face-to-face networking and advises newly certified agents to focus on building client relationships, rather than their online persona.
“Start with the people you already know,” he says. “Your first 10 clients will probably matter more to your reputation than ten thousand social media followers. Serve those people well enough that each one has a specific story to tell about how you helped them. That’s how trust grows. I think it’s how the reputation of the whole profession grows, too.”
While both strategies can offer returns, each agent acknowledges that becoming a seasoned real estate agent will take time, and it may take even longer to transform the public’s perception of real estate agents.
“We will receive the respect we deserve when we provide the services that the clients expect and deserve,” Choo said.
