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What to Do When a Client Chooses Another Real Estate Agent
What to Do When a Client Chooses Another Real Estate Agent
Somewhere between the listing presentation and the “we went with someone else” text, a little piece of your confidence takes a hit. If you have been in this business for more than five minutes, you know exactly the feeling I am talking about.
I am Phil, a Field Marketing Specialist at Coldwell Banker, and I spend most of my time helping Real Estate Agents get comfortable with the tools that make this job easier. But today I want to talk about something that has nothing to do with a feature list and everything to do with what happens right after a client rejects you.
It Happens to Every Real Estate Agent, Even the Good Ones
Losing a client is not a reflection of your skill, your effort, or your worth as a Real Estate Agent. Sometimes a seller’s cousin has a license. Sometimes a buyer gets cold feet about the whole process. Sometimes the timing is just off.
None of that makes the moment sting less. But it does mean the story is not over, it just took an unexpected turn.
Give Yourself a Minute Before You Do Anything Else
Before you touch your CRM or fire off a follow up text, let yourself actually feel the disappointment for a second. Real Estate Agents are expected to bounce back instantly, and that expectation is not fair or realistic.
Take the breath. Then, when you are ready, let’s turn this into something productive instead of something you carry around all week.
Turn the Moment Into Data, Not Dwelling
Here is where the mindset shift happens. A “no” today is information you can actually use, not evidence that you did something wrong.
Log What Happened While It’s Fresh
Open the contact’s profile in Home Platform and add a quick note. What did they say? Why did they go another direction? Was it price, timing, a personal connection, something else?
You are not writing this to relive the rejection. You are writing it so future you has real context the next time this contact resurfaces, and so you can spot patterns across your business over time.
Five Steps to Take Inside Home Platform After a Client Says No
Once you have processed the moment and logged the details, here is exactly what I recommend doing inside Home Platform. Each of these takes two minutes or less.
1. Tag the Contact Instead of Deleting Them
Resist the urge to archive them and move on. Add a tag like “Lost Listing” or “Circle Back” instead. Home Platform allows up to 50 tags per contact, so you have plenty of room to keep your CRM organized without losing track of anyone.
Tagging keeps the relationship alive in your system even when it is not active in your day to day attention.
2. Move Them to Nurturing, Not Closed
Inside Business Tracker, shift the contact’s pipeline stage from wherever it was to Nurturing. This one small action reframes the entire relationship in your own head. It is not a closed door, it is a client on a slower timeline.
3. Set a Future Check In Task
Add a task inside Home Platform to reach back out in three months, six months, or whenever feels appropriate for the situation. Let the platform hold that date for you instead of relying on memory or, worse, guilt.
4. Enroll Them in a Long Term Action Plan
If it fits the relationship, enroll the contact in a longer nurture Action Plan. Action Plans in Home Platform run as a drip sequence, and you can enroll up to 100 contacts into a single plan at a time. That means you can build one plan for all your “not right now” contacts and let it quietly work in the background.
5. Let the System Carry the Relationship So You Don’t Have To
This is the part I really want Real Estate Agents to internalize. Once the tag is set, the stage is updated, the task is scheduled, and the Action Plan is running, you do not need to keep this client top of mind out of anxiety. The system is doing that job now. You are free to focus on your next opportunity.
Why “Not Right Now” Isn’t the Same as “Never”
I have talked to enough Real Estate Agents to know that some of your best future clients are sitting in a “lost” pile somewhere in your CRM right now. Circumstances change. The other agent’s contract ends. The timeline shifts. When that happens, you want to be the one who stayed visible, not the one who disappeared after the first no.
The Real Takeaway for Real Estate Agents
Rejection is part of this business, full stop. What separates burnt out agents from resilient ones is not that resilient agents never lose a client, it is that they have a system for what happens next.
Home Platform gives you that system already built in. You do not need a separate spreadsheet or a sticky note on your monitor. You need five minutes and the steps above.
Let’s Build a Follow Up System That Actually Works for You
If you want help setting up tags, Business Tracker stages, or your first long term Action Plan inside Home Platform, I would love to walk through it with you. Grab some time on my calendar and we will get your follow up system running so the next “not right now” turns into a “yes” down the road.
Your Daily Home Platform Checklist: A 10-Minute Cadence for Real Estate Agents
A few weeks ago I posted a quick carousel about the Home Platform and got a comment that stuck with me. Someone asked if anyone had put together a Home Platform daily checklist, something simple to check and do in the platform every day. That question is exactly why I wanted to write this post.
I work with Real Estate Agents across 19 offices in New Jersey and New York as a Field Marketing Specialist for Coldwell Banker, and the Home Platform question I hear most often is not “what does this tool do.” It is “what do I actually do with it every day.” Here is the Home Platform daily checklist I am telling my agents to start with.
Why a Daily Checklist Matters More Than the Platform Itself
Any new CRM or production platform can feel overwhelming in the first few weeks. Home Platform has a lot packed into it, from your contacts and Business Tracker to Marketing Center and an AI Assistant.
The Real Estate Agents who get real value out of a daily checklist are not the ones who explore every feature. They are the ones who build a short, repeatable routine and stick to it. Ten focused minutes a day beats a two hour deep dive once a month, every time.
The 6-Step Home Platform Daily Checklist
1. Start With Your AI Assistant’s Daily Briefing
Open the AI Assistant panel from the top nav and look for the “Get Daily Briefing” prompt. It will generate a daily briefing that pulls together what actually needs your attention that day.
I like starting here because it sets the agenda before you get pulled into your inbox. Think of it as your first stop, not an extra step.
2. Scan Your Home Dashboard
Your Home dashboard is built from widgets like Saved Searches, My Buyers, and My Sellers. Give it a quick scan for anything new since yesterday, a new search result, a buyer who has gone quiet, a seller lead that needs a follow up.
This should take you two minutes, not twenty. You are scanning for what changed, not re-reading everything.
3. Work Your Likely to Sell List
The Likely to Sell tool scores your own contacts based on things like how long they have owned their home, local sales trends, and appreciation. It is sitting right there under the Needs Outreach tab.
This is one of the most underused features I see. These are warm contacts the platform has already flagged for you. Reach out to two or three of them a day and you will notice your pipeline filling in ways cold prospecting never delivers as consistently.
4. Clear Your Tasks
Head to Tasks and clear anything marked Overdue first, then work through what is due Today. This sounds obvious, but an overdue task list is one of the fastest ways to lose trust with a client who is waiting to hear from you.
If you are using Action Plans to enroll contacts in a drip sequence, this is also where you will catch anything that needs a personal touch instead of an automated one.
5. Check Business Tracker
For every active deal, open Business Tracker and look at the Today and Up Next section on the Overview tab. Log a quick note while the details are still fresh instead of trying to remember them at the end of the week.
Business Tracker is meant to be your transaction command center. It only works that way if you actually update it daily instead of only when something goes wrong.
6. Review Your Message Engagement
Last stop, check your Messages tab for opens, clicks, and replies on anything you have sent recently. If someone opened your last email three times, that is a signal, not a coincidence.
Following up with an engaged contact the same day you notice the activity is one of the simplest ways to turn a quiet lead into a live conversation.
What This Home Platform Daily Checklist Gets You
None of these six steps take long on their own. Together, they take most Real Estate Agents about ten minutes, and this checklist touches every part of the platform that actually drives business: your AI Assistant, your dashboard, your warmest leads, your open tasks, your active deals, and your engagement signals.
The real value is not any single feature. It is the habit. Real Estate Agents who run through the same checklist every day stop letting leads go cold and stop scrambling to remember where a deal stands.
Make It Stick This Week
Here is how I would put this into practice starting tomorrow morning.
Set a recurring ten minute block on your calendar before you open your regular email inbox. Run through the six steps in order every time so it becomes automatic instead of something you have to think through. Keep a saved screenshot of this Home Platform daily checklist until it sticks, most Real Estate Agents have it memorized within two weeks.
If you already have your own version of a daily checklist that works for you, I would love to hear it. Drop me a message or bring it up next time we talk shop.
Let’s Build Your Routine Together
If you want help building out your own Home Platform checklist, or just want to talk through what is working and what is not, let’s grab some time. I would rather help you get this right than watch you figure it out alone. You can find more tips like this one on the marketingwithphil.com blog.
Book a quick session with me here and let’s map out your cadence together.
What the 2026 Luxury Mid-Year Report Really Means for Your Marketing
The Coldwell Banker Global Luxury 2026 Mid-Year Report just dropped, and if you work anywhere near the high end of this business, it is worth your time. Luxury real estate marketing 2026 looks different than it did even a year ago, and this report explains exactly why. I spend my days as a Field Marketing Specialist at Coldwell Banker helping Real Estate Agents turn market information into marketing that actually moves people, so I read these reports with a specific question in mind.
Not just what does the data say. But what do I do with it on Monday morning.
That is what this post is about. I will walk through the numbers that matter, share where I think the real story lives, and then give you practical ways to put it to work in your own marketing.
The Headline Numbers Everyone Will Quote
Let’s get the stats out of the way first, because you will see these floating around LinkedIn for the next month.
- Luxury sales grew 1.2% year over year, nearly double the 0.7% growth in the broader market
- Median sold price for luxury single family homes climbed 4.7% to just over $1.83 million
- Average monthly luxury inventory fell 3.7% for single family homes and 6.1% for attached properties
- The top 5% of transactions accounted for 65.6% of total dollar volume in the single family segment
- Over 78% of surveyed Luxury Property Specialists reported feeling confident about the second half of 2026
- Global luxury inquiries on JamesEdition jumped 50.8% in the first five months of the year
Solid numbers. Genuinely encouraging ones. But the real work of luxury real estate marketing 2026 starts after you read the stats. But here is the thing about statistics in real estate marketing: everyone has access to the same data. Quoting it is not a differentiator. Interpreting it is.
What Most People Will Miss About Luxury Real Estate Marketing 2026
I read this report three times. The second and third passes are where it got interesting for me.
The Market Split in Two, and Your Marketing Should Too
The report describes a K-shaped luxury market, and I think this is the single most useful concept in the whole document. Single family homes are climbing. Attached properties are contracting. Median prices for luxury single family homes rose 4.7% while attached properties fell 2.4%. Days on market for single family held steady at 33 days while attached stretched to 37.
Those are two different markets wearing the same label.
If you market both segments with the same messaging, the same visuals, and the same urgency, one of those campaigns is going to underperform. Detached buyers are responding to space, land, and privacy. Attached buyers need a different value proposition entirely, one built around location, lifestyle convenience, and lock and leave flexibility.
Segment your messaging. It sounds obvious. Most agents still do not do it.
Scarcity Became the Selling Point
Inventory is down, and the natural instinct is to frame that as a challenge. The report reframes it beautifully, and I think Real Estate Agents should borrow this framing wholesale.
When exceptional properties are genuinely scarce, competition intensifies among a buyer pool that has plenty of capital and nowhere better to put it. Scarcity is not suppressing demand here. It is concentrating it.
There is also a fascinating detail about shadow inventory. Nearly 59% of surveyed specialists expect inventory to rise slightly by year end, largely from sellers currently sitting on the sidelines waiting for the right moment. That is a listing conversation waiting to happen.
Buyers Slowed Down on Purpose
This one changed how I think about luxury real estate marketing content.
The report introduces the low compromise buyer, and 43% of surveyed specialists named this refusal to settle as the top buying trend in their market, a big jump from 30% the year before. On top of that, 51% said luxury buyers rarely make trade offs during closing.
Meanwhile, agents across the network are reporting that buyers are showing up with AI research already done. They have compared neighborhoods, run appreciation models, and pulled school data before the first showing. If that shift interests you, my guide on getting recommended by AI is a good companion read.
Urgency based marketing does not work on this buyer. Information based marketing does.
Five Luxury Real Estate Marketing 2026 Moves You Can Make This Week
Here is where I want to be genuinely useful. These are things you can act on immediately.
1. Rewrite Your Listing Copy Around Irreplaceability
The report is clear that buyers are paying premiums for properties that cannot be recreated. Historic character, waterfront acreage, architectural pedigree, protected views.
Go look at your three most recent listing descriptions. Count how many sentences describe features versus how many describe what makes the property genuinely impossible to duplicate. If feature lists are winning, rewrite them. Lead with the irreplaceable thing in the first line.
2. Build a Simple Market Update You Actually Send
Most agents either send nothing or send a data dump nobody reads. Pick three numbers from this report, add two sentences of your own interpretation for your local market, and send it monthly.
That is it. Consistency beats comprehensiveness every single time in this business.
3. Lead Your Listing Presentations With the Scarcity Story
Sellers who have been waiting need a reason to move now. The scarcity dynamic gives you one that is honest and data supported.
Frame it simply: fewer comparable properties on the market means less competition for your seller’s home and more concentrated attention from serious buyers. That is a stronger argument than any pressure tactic.
4. Give the Analytical Buyer Something to Analyze
If today’s buyer is going to research anyway, be their source. Add pricing history context to your listing pages. Include neighborhood appreciation data in your follow up. Create a one page property brief with the details they would otherwise go dig up themselves.
Local search matters here too. Making sure your Google Business Profile is fully optimized means these research-driven buyers actually find you while they are digging.
5. Start the Generational Wealth Conversation Early
The report cites an estimated $38.3 trillion generational wealth transfer already underway, and just over 33% of surveyed specialists named it the single most important force reshaping the high end market over the next 12 to 24 months.
Your past clients have adult children. Those children are becoming buyers, often with family capital behind them. Building relationships with the next generation now is one of the highest leverage marketing moves available to you, and almost nobody is doing it deliberately.
The Bigger Lesson for Luxury Real Estate Marketing 2026
If I had to compress this entire report into one marketing principle, it would be this.
The luxury market is rewarding patience, precision, and genuine expertise. Buyers are more informed, more selective, and less reactive than they have been in years. That means marketing built on urgency and volume is losing ground, while marketing built on insight and trust is gaining it.
That is good news if you are willing to do the work. It means the agents who understand their market deeply and communicate it clearly have a real, durable advantage over the ones just posting listings.
Data is only powerful when someone translates it into a story a client can act on. That translation is the actual job, and it is the heart of effective luxury real estate marketing.
Let’s Talk About Your Marketing
If you are a Real Estate Agent trying to figure out how to turn market insights like these into marketing that fits your brand and your market, I would genuinely love to help.
We can look at what you are currently doing, find the gaps, and build something practical you will actually keep up with.
Google Business Profile for Real Estate Agents: Your Step-by-Step Optimization Guide
Google Business Profile for Real Estate Agents: Your Step-by-Step Optimization Guide
If you’ve claimed your Google Business Profile but haven’t touched it since, you’re leaving one of the most powerful (and completely free) digital marketing tools sitting idle. As a Field Marketing Specialist at Coldwell Banker, I work one-on-one with agents across my region, and the Google Business Profile is one of the first things I look at. More often than not, it’s incomplete, under-utilized, or both.
The good news? Fixing it doesn’t take long, and the payoff is real. A well-optimized Google Business Profile helps you show up in local search, get discovered by AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity, and build the kind of credibility that converts strangers into clients.
Here’s exactly what to do — step by step.
Why Your Google Business Profile Matters More Than Ever
When someone searches “real estate agent near me” or “trusted agent in [your town],” Google doesn’t just pull up websites, it surfaces Business Profiles. These appear in the local map pack, in knowledge panels, and increasingly, they feed the AI tools your potential clients are already using to find recommendations.
I worked with an agent in Southern New Jersey who had zero social media presence — no Instagram, no Facebook, nothing — but had accumulated over 55 five-star Google reviews filled with keyword-rich language like “trusted real estate agent” and “knowledgeable about the local market.” A buyer searching for a trusted agent in that area found them through an AI tool. That’s what a strong, active Google Business Profile can do.
This isn’t about vanity metrics. It’s about making sure you exist where your future clients are looking.
Step 1 — Write a Keyword-Rich Business Description
What the Description Field Actually Does
Your Google Business Profile description is prime real estate (pun intended) for search optimization. This short block of text tells Google, and AI search tools, exactly who you are, who you serve, and where you work. If you leave it blank, you’re letting Google guess.
How to Write a Description That Works
Use AI to write it — seriously. Open ChatGPT, Claude, or whatever AI tool you’re comfortable with and say something like:
“Write me an SEO-optimized description for my Google Business Profile. I’m a real estate agent specializing in [your market]. I work with [luxury buyers / first-time buyers / relocating families — whatever fits you]. My key service areas are [list your towns].”
The keywords you want woven into that description are:
- Your primary location(s): The specific towns and neighborhoods where you close deals
- Your specialty: Luxury, first-time buyers, waterfront, investment properties, relocations, etc.
- Credentials: If you hold a designation (Global Luxury Certified, Buyer Specialist, etc.), include it
- Who you help: Be specific — “helping families find their forever home in Westchester” lands differently than “real estate services”
Once you have a draft you like, paste it into the description field in your profile editor. It doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to be there.
Step 2 — Add Your Website and Social Media Profiles
Your Website Link
This one is straightforward but often missing. Go into your profile editor, scroll to the website field, and add your agent website URL. Google uses this to cross-reference your online presence and verify that your business is legitimate and active.
Your Social Media Links (And Why LinkedIn Matters Most for AI)
Google Business Profile lets you add links to your social accounts — Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and others. Add every platform where you have an active presence.
Here’s something most agents don’t realize: LinkedIn is one of the most heavily indexed platforms by AI tools. When AI search engines are pulling information about a professional, LinkedIn data surfaces frequently. If your LinkedIn is connected to your Google Business Profile, you’re increasing the chance that AI recommends you when someone asks for a trusted agent in your market.
To find your social URLs, simply open each platform in a new browser tab, navigate to your profile page, and copy the full URL from the address bar. Paste each one into your Google Business Profile under “Social Profiles.”
Step 3 — Add Photos Consistently (Once a Week Is Enough)
What Photos Signal to Google
You don’t need a professional photoshoot every week. The goal of regular photo uploads isn’t to impress your visitors — it’s to signal to Google that your business is active.
Think of it this way: Google is constantly asking, “Is this business still operating?” Every photo you upload is your answer: “Yes. Still here. Still working.”
What to Post
- A photo of a new listing
- A photo of yourself at a closing
- A snapshot from an open house
- A shot of your market area or a neighborhood you love
- A headshot or personal photo that shows your face
It doesn’t need to be groundbreaking content. One photo per week is enough to keep your account looking alive and relevant. Over time, those photos cycle through your profile and keep refreshing your visual presence in Google search.
Step 4 — Use Google Posts to Feed the Algorithm
What Google Posts Are (And Who Actually Sees Them)
Here’s a truth I tell every agent I work with: I have never once, in my life, read a Google Business post for any business. And neither have most people. But that’s not the point.
Google Posts are not for your human audience. They’re for Google’s algorithm. Every time you write a post, you’re feeding the system a fresh batch of keywords and signals that say: “This is who I am, this is what I do, and this is the market I serve.”
How to Use the Posts Feature
In your Google Business Profile dashboard, you’ll see a “Posts” tab. Click “Add Post” and you’ll have a few options:
- Update posts: General content about your business or market — great for a quick market insight or a neighborhood spotlight
- Event posts: Open houses, client events, workshops — add the date, time, and details, and Google will display it as a time-sensitive event
- Offer posts: Useful for promotions or free consultations
Add a photo, write a short description (use AI to write it — just say: “Write a short Google Business post about [topic] for a real estate agent in [your market]”), and either publish it or schedule it out.
The Scheduling Trick That Saves You Hours
You can schedule posts in advance inside the platform. Set aside 20 minutes, write four posts at once, and schedule one per week for the next month. You’re done for 30 days.
Aim for at least one post or one photo per week. That’s your floor. If you do more, great — but the minimum is one touch per week to keep your profile healthy.
Step 5 — Build Your Google Reviews Strategy
Why Reviews Are Your Secret AI Weapon
Reviews are where Google Business Profiles get powerful. When a buyer asks an AI tool, “Who is a trusted real estate agent in [town]?” — those AI systems look at reviews. They read them. They pull language from them.
If your reviews consistently use phrases like “trusted agent,” “knowledgeable about the local market,” “made the process stress-free,” or “great communicator” — you are training AI to describe you in exactly those terms. That’s not an accident. That’s strategy.
How to Get Your Review Link
In your Google Business Profile dashboard, you’ll see an “Ask for Reviews” button. Click it and you’ll get a direct link that, when clicked, takes someone straight to your review form — no searching required. Copy that link and save it somewhere accessible.
How to Ask for Reviews (Without Being Awkward)
The best time to ask is right after a closing or any positive touchpoint — a successful showing, a referral, a helpful phone call. Send a quick text or email:
“It was such a pleasure working with you! If you have a moment, I’d love if you could share your experience — it means the world and helps other buyers/sellers find the right support. Here’s a direct link: [your review link]”
A few things to keep in mind:
- Anyone with a Google account can leave a review, which gives you a lot of options for who to reach out to
- Be selective. Google reviews are very difficult to have removed. Only send the link to people you’re confident will have something positive to say
- Consistency beats volume. A few new reviews per month is better than 20 at once and then nothing for a year
The Mindset Shift That Makes All of This Easier
The biggest blocker I see with agents isn’t lack of time or lack of knowledge — it’s overthinking. They worry that their photo isn’t polished enough, their post isn’t clever enough, their video isn’t produced enough.
Here’s the reframe I come back to over and over: You’re not performing for a massive audience. You’re speaking to one person and feeding a computer system.
When you post on Google or on social media, imagine you’re talking directly to one future client — and at the same time, you’re teaching a search engine who you are. That’s it. That’s all it is. The moment you internalize that, it stops feeling like a performance and starts feeling like part of running your business.
Your Google Business Profile is a living document. It is never “done.” It grows stronger the more consistently you update it. Start today, stay consistent, and watch your visibility — in search and in AI — begin to build over time.
Frequently Asked Questions About Google Business Profile for Real Estate Agents
Do I need a physical office address to have a Google Business Profile?
No. You can set up a service-area business and list the geographic areas you serve without displaying a specific address. This is a common setup for real estate agents who operate throughout a region. If you’ve been struggling to “Get Verified” this is the best option for you.
How often should I update my Google Business Profile?
At minimum, aim for one update per week — either a photo or a post. The goal is to signal to Google that your business is active and current.
Do Google Business Profile posts help with SEO?
Yes. While posts may not rank the same way website content does, they contribute to your overall Google presence and help feed keyword signals to the algorithm. Think of them as low-effort, high-frequency content inputs.
How important are Google reviews for real estate agents?
Extremely important — and increasingly so as AI tools are used more frequently for finding service providers. Reviews that naturally include location names, specialty phrases, and descriptive language about your service quality can help AI systems surface your name in recommendations.
Can I use AI to help write my Google Business Profile content?
Absolutely. AI is well-suited for writing optimized descriptions, post copy, and review request messages. Give it your specific details — name, market area, specialty, credentials — and ask it to write keyword-friendly content.
What’s the difference between Google photos and Google posts?
Both serve a similar purpose — keeping your profile active and feeding content to Google. Photos show up in your profile’s image gallery and help with visual representation. Posts appear in search results and allow you to include more text, events, and calls to action. Ideally, you use both.
Ready to Take Your Online Presence to the Next Level?
Your Google Business Profile is one piece of a larger visibility strategy. As a Field Marketing Specialist at Coldwell Banker, I help agents build a presence that gets found — in traditional search, in AI tools, and in the communities they serve. If you want to walk through your own profile, talk about your social media strategy, or build out a content plan that actually works for your schedule, I’d love to connect.
CONTINUE READING…
SEO/AEO framework
Coldwell Banker Social Media Mastermind Recap: Platform Changes, Strategy Shifts, and What’s Actually Working
Coldwell Banker Social Media Mastermind Recap: The 2026 Mid-Year Update Every Agent Needs to See
Every month, the Coldwell Banker social media team brings in a special guest agent to talk shop. This month was different…and in a good way. Instead of a guest, June’s session was a 2026 mid-year update, with the CB social media team (Ariana Berta, Tiffany Giles, and Nicole Gladstone, with national manager Emma Ramirez out on maternity leave welcoming twin girls — congratulations, Emma!) walking agents through everything that’s changed on the platforms so far this year, what strategies are actually working, and a live Q&A that ended up being just as valuable as the prepared content.
As a Field Marketing Specialist at Coldwell Banker, I sit in on these sessions every month, and I have to say, this one was packed with practical, immediately usable information. If you weren’t able to attend live, here’s everything you need to know.
Part One: What’s New on Instagram
The platform changes that dropped over the first half of 2026 are significant, and most agents haven’t caught up with all of them yet.
You Can Now Edit Your Comments
A small but welcome change. You no longer need to delete and retype a comment if you made a typo or want to revise it. Edit it in place.
Reels Can Now Be Linked Into Series
This is a meaningful one for agents who create recurring content. If you have a format like “Monday Market Updates,” you can now link your reels together into a series, so when someone finishes watching one, the next episode in your series plays automatically. It’s a built-in way to keep viewers engaged with your content instead of losing them to someone else’s.
Instant Sharing Experience
Instagram rolled out a “Be Real”-style instant sharing feature where photos disappear and the experience is meant to feel spontaneous and in-the-moment. The CB social media team’s take: it’s fun to explore, but not something they’re currently recommending as a core strategy for real estate agents. Worth knowing it exists — not worth building your strategy around yet.
You Can Reorganize Your Grid
This is a feature every agent should be using. You’ve always been able to pin three posts to the top of your profile, but now you can drag and reorganize your first six to nine posts to put your strongest content front and center. The posts that make the best first impression when someone lands on your profile for the first time.
Carousel Reordering and Individual Captions
Two big upgrades to carousel posts:
- You can now reorder the photos within a carousel after the fact. Posted a listing and wish you’d led with a stronger photo? Fix it.
- You can add an individual caption to each photo in a carousel. This is a meaningful SEO and AEO opportunity. Describe the front of the house in photo one, dive into interior features in photo two, and so on. More specific, keyword-rich captions per image means more searchable content per post.
And here’s the engagement math that matters: every single swipe through a carousel counts as a separate view. A six-photo carousel that someone swipes all the way through registers six views. This directly boosts how the algorithm treats your post. This is exactly why carousels have become one of the most effective formats on the platform right now.
New DM Features
Instagram added the ability to schedule outgoing messages and translate incoming messages in different languages. Both useful if you’re managing client communication across time zones or language barriers. There are also new AI editing tools for stories, including background swaps and AI-generated effects.
Part Two: What’s Actually Working in 2026 — Strategy Breakdown
Tiffany Giles walked through three major strategic shifts the CB social media team has been seeing take hold.
1. Social Media Is Now a Search Engine
This is one of the most important things every agent needs to understand right now: Instagram is indexed with Google. That means your Instagram posts can show up directly in a Google search, and people are increasingly using Instagram and Facebook as search engines instead of starting with Google at all.
What this means practically: the words you use, in your captions, and even the text overlay on the post itself, now function as searchable keywords. A caption that reads “content I’d post if I was a brand new agent” isn’t just a caption anymore; it’s a phrase someone might literally type into a search bar.
As a real estate marketing specialist, I can’t stress this enough: keyword strategy is no longer just a website or blog concern. It applies directly to your social captions and on-image text now too.
2. Carousels Are Closing the Gap with Reels
Carousels aren’t outperforming reels yet, but they’re close. And they offer a major advantage for agents who don’t love being on camera. The mechanism is simple: the longer someone spends swiping through your post, the more engagement signal you send to the algorithm, which is the same principle that makes video perform well. If you’re carousel-averse, this is your sign to start.
3. Show the Process, Not Just the Result
The team highlighted a great example from agent Grant, whose video showed him literally cleaning gutters at a listing. Not a polished “just sold” graphic, but the unglamorous behind-the-scenes work that goes into getting a home ready and sold. The takeaway: audiences don’t just want to see that you closed a deal. They want to see what it actually took to get there. That’s what builds trust and differentiates you from every other agent posting the same “Just Sold!” graphic.
Part Three: The July Content Challenge
To make this actionable, Nicole Gladstone rolled out a five-part content challenge agents can use throughout July when they’re not sure what to post:
- Current Listing Spotlight — feature what you have on the market right now.
- Weekend Recommendations — local events, farmers markets, restaurants. Bonus: tag and collaborate with the business, and you’ll often gain exposure to their followers too.
- Client Love Story — share a testimonial, thank-you note, or recent win. Stories (the 24-hour kind) are perfect for this — low lift, high impact, keeps you top of mind.
- Behind the Scenes — the nitty-gritty work most clients never see.
- Market Minute — a quick stat or insight your clients should know right now. Keep it short, keep it simple, and if you’re stuck on the caption, ask ChatGPT to help frame it.
One tip worth repeating from the session: Google yourself. The team encourages every agent to regularly search their own name and see what comes up. If your Instagram or social profile isn’t appearing in the top five results, that’s a sign your social presence is underutilized as a free tool that should be helping you rank.
Part Four: Live Q&A Highlights
The back half of the session opened up to agent questions, and the answers were some of the most useful content of the whole call.
Does Mentioning You’re a “New Agent” Tag Your Whole Account That Way?
No. Keywords and context are evaluated at the individual post level, not your entire account. If you write “this is a luxury condo in South Florida,” that post becomes searchable for people looking for luxury condos in South Florida. It does not relabel your whole profile. Closed captioning on videos is also pulled into this keyword indexing, so don’t skip captions.
The Listing Video Debate: Features vs. Lifestyle
This turned into one of the best discussions of the session. Agent Grant Evans raised the point that most listing videos default to the same formula. Walk through the features, end with “contact me for a private showing” — and proposed that agents should instead lean into showcasing the lifestyle of living in the home: the view from the patio, the neighborhood park, the feeling of the space rather than just its specs.
The team agreed enthusiastically, and Tiffany added two key principles:
- Don’t be afraid to be specific. You’re only selling the home to one buyer and one family. Being broadly appealing to everyone often means connecting deeply with no one. The more specific your messaging, the more precisely you attract the right buyer.
- Use a multi-content approach for every listing. Never just one video. A features video, a lifestyle-focused video, a carousel, standalone photos — covering a listing from multiple content angles does double duty: it gets more eyes on the property, and it demonstrates to future sellers that you have an actual marketing strategy, which is something you can speak to directly in listing appointments.
Kyle, who hosts CB’s video-focused workshops, added a production tip worth flagging to anyone working with a videographer: make sure your video deliverables are shot vertically and edited specifically for social media. Not just a cropped-down version of the horizontal MLS walkthrough video. A 15–30 second vertical clip performs far better than a chopped-down two-minute horizontal tour.
Another agent shared a great real-world example: she filmed casual jet-ski footage near a lakefront listing, added a simple “the lake is calling” text overlay, and posted it ahead of the property walkthrough. That single reel got 2,000 views compared to her usual 200. A direct result of leading with lifestyle and atmosphere instead of the listing itself.
Getting Started on LinkedIn
For agents looking to get serious about LinkedIn, the advice was to start with profile optimization. Treat it like a digital resume. Make sure your experience, bio, service areas, and specialties are complete and clear. From there, curate three featured posts that showcase credibility: an award, a notable listing, a market insight, or something that demonstrates community expertise. CB has a self-audit guide available to walk through this step by step.
How Much Time Should You Spend on Social Media Per Week?
The recommendation: time-block it. Pick one day a month, or one day every two weeks, dedicated specifically to creating and scheduling content. Trying to post reactively, day-to-day, means it competes with client fires and tends to fall to the bottom of your priority list. Batch-creating and scheduling ahead of time (Meta Business Suite is free and allows drafts and scheduling) keeps it consistent without becoming a daily burden.
How Often Should You Actually Be Posting?
The team’s realistic recommendation: two to three solid posts per week, plus stories two or more times a week if you can. Start with two, get comfortable, then build to three or four. Stories specifically are low-effort and a great way to open DMs and start conversations — ideally posted daily if you can manage it.
Reels vs. Carousels vs. Stories — What Matters Most?
In order of priority: reels are still the top-performing content type and get pushed by the algorithm for up to 75 days after posting. Carousels are close behind and closing the gap. Stories should be a daily habit — low effort, high return for starting conversations.
What About Trial Reels?
The team’s collective take: not particularly useful. Trial reels only push your content to non-followers Instagram thinks might be interested — they don’t post to your own feed or go out to your existing followers. The team hasn’t seen a meaningful difference in performance and generally doesn’t recommend leaning on this feature.
A Platform Worth Watching: Threads
If you used to enjoy Twitter, Threads (Instagram’s Twitter-style platform) is worth a look. The team reported strong organic engagement, minimal ad clutter so far, and a more conversational feel that can also drive traffic back to your Instagram profile.
Security: Be Careful Who Manages Your Account
A great caution for any agent considering outsourcing social media management: never hand over your actual login and password. Several agents have been locked out of their own accounts after a hired social media manager disappeared or stopped responding. If you bring in help, use Instagram’s admin/collaborator access features instead of sharing direct login credentials. And vet anyone you give account access to carefully.
Stuck on the Tech? Use a College Intern
One agent on the call shared a great resource tip: reach out to your local college’s career center. Posting a simple social media marketing role description (ChatGPT can help draft one) can connect you with a student intern looking for credit hours — often for free. The caveat: bringing in help with execution doesn’t replace having your own content strategy and game plan. The intern can help you produce — the vision still needs to be yours.
Resources Mentioned in the Session
- Weekly Social Media Newsletter — sign up at socialmediasignup.com for done-for-you weekly content and captions, plus a CBR social spotlight and an AI prompt of the week.
- Live Monthly Social Media Workshops — register at cbrmarketingworkshops.com.
- LinkedIn Self-Audit Guide — available through the CB social media team for optimizing your LinkedIn profile.
- Meta Class — covers Facebook and Instagram basics; best paired with following dedicated tutorial creators on the platform itself for hands-on learning.
Closing Thoughts
This mid-year update was a great reminder that the platforms, and the strategies that work on them, never stay still for long. Carousels closing the gap with reels, Instagram functioning as a literal search engine, lifestyle-driven listing content outperforming feature lists. These are real shifts, not minor tweaks, and they directly affect how agents should be showing up online right now.
As your Field Marketing Specialist, this is exactly the kind of insight I want every agent in my network plugged into. The agents asking the sharpest questions in that Q&A — about carousels, LinkedIn, time management, security — are the same agents who are going to be ahead of the curve in the back half of 2026.
If you weren’t able to join live, mark your calendar: these masterminds happen every last Wednesday of the month, typically with a guest agent. Don’t miss the next one.
📅 Want to Talk Through Your Social Media Strategy?
As a Field Marketing Specialist at Coldwell Banker, I help agents turn sessions like this into an actual plan — content calendars, platform strategy, and execution. Let’s set up time to talk through where you are and where you want to be.
GEO for Real Estate Agents: A Beginner’s Guide to Getting Recommended by AI
GEO for Real Estate Agents: A Beginner’s Guide to Getting Recommended by AI
By Phil Brown, Field Marketing Specialist, Coldwell Banker Realty
If you’ve started noticing buyers and sellers mention ChatGPT or asking AI tools “who’s a good agent near me?” instead of Googling it, you’re not imagining a trend…you’re watching the biggest shift in how clients find agents since the internet itself. There’s a name for the skill that determines whether AI mentions you in that moment: Generative Engine Optimization, or GEO.
I work as a Field Marketing Specialist at Coldwell Banker Realty, and a big part of my job is helping agents across North Jersey and Westchester understand exactly this kind of shift before it becomes “everyone’s doing it”. Back when getting ahead of it still means something. So let’s break GEO down in plain English: what it is, why it matters to you specifically, and how to start showing up when AI recommends an agent.
What Is GEO, Really? (No Jargon, Promise)
Generative Engine Optimization is the practice of structuring your online presence so that AI tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google’s AI Overviews, Gemini, Claude, name you when someone asks a question about real estate in your market.
Think about the old way search worked. Someone Googled “best realtor in [your town]” and got ten blue links to scroll through. They clicked a few, compared websites, maybe checked reviews, and eventually called someone.
That’s not how it works anymore. Increasingly, that same person opens ChatGPT or asks Google’s AI Overview and types something like, “Who’s a good buyer’s agent in my town?” Instead of ten links, they get one answer. Often naming one to three agents by name, with a sentence or two about why.
That’s the entire game now. You either make it into that answer, or you don’t exist in that conversation at all. There’s no page two. There’s no “scroll down further.” GEO is how you become one of the names the AI says out loud.
GEO vs. SEO vs. AEO — Quick Definitions
You’ll see all three terms thrown around, sometimes interchangeably. Here’s the simple version:
- SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Getting your website to rank high in a list of Google links.
- AEO (Answer Engine Optimization): Structuring content to directly answer specific questions (think featured snippets, FAQ sections).
- GEO (Generative Engine Optimization): Getting AI tools to cite, mention, or recommend you by name when they generate a conversational answer.
They overlap heavily, and the same groundwork (good content, strong reviews, consistent information) feeds all three. But GEO is the newest layer, and it’s the one most agents haven’t touched yet — which is exactly your opportunity.
Why This Matters for Your Business Right Now
This isn’t a “someday” trend. A few numbers worth sitting with:
- AI chatbot traffic has grown dramatically year over year, while traditional search traffic has been declining over that same window.
- Google’s AI Overviews now appear in roughly a quarter of all searches, meaning a large share of “blue link” queries are already being replaced by a single synthesized answer.
- Surveys show a majority of U.S. adults already use AI tools like ChatGPT regularly, and that number keeps climbing.
Here’s the part that should really get your attention: when someone asks an AI tool to recommend a real estate agent, they’re not getting a list to browse. They’re getting a direct, named recommendation, and they often act on it without ever visiting a website or comparing other options. If your name isn’t in that answer, you don’t just rank lower. You’re invisible to that buyer or seller entirely, and you’ll likely never even know the lead existed.
The good news? Almost none of your local competitors are thinking about this yet. The agents who build their digital presence intentionally over the next year will have a real head start, the same kind of advantage early adopters of strong Google Business Profiles or social media had a decade ago.
How AI Actually Decides Who to Recommend
AI tools aren’t picking names out of a hat. When ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google’s AI answers “who’s a good agent in [town],” it’s synthesizing information it has gathered from across the web…your website, your Google Business Profile, reviews, articles that mention you, your social media, and third-party directories like Zillow or Realtor.com.
A handful of signals consistently move the needle:
1. Consistency of Information
AI rewards agents whose name, brokerage, service area, and contact details appear the same way everywhere…your website, Google Business Profile, Zillow, Realtor.com, Facebook, LinkedIn. Inconsistent or outdated info (an old brokerage name, a wrong phone number) creates doubt that AI tools pick up on.
2. Depth and Structure of Content
AI tools favor content that’s easy to “lift” and trust. Clear headings, specific facts, local detail, and direct answers to real questions. A vague “Five Tips for Selling Your Home” post does less for you than a detailed, locally specific guide that actually answers something a buyer or seller in your market would ask.
3. Reviews and Reputation
AI doesn’t pull star ratings directly into an answer (yet), but it absorbs sentiment from everything it reads. If dozens of pages across the web describe you as responsive, knowledgeable, or a strong negotiator, that language can surface in an AI’s answer almost verbatim in spirit.
4. Third-Party Authority
Getting mentioned on “Top Agent” lists, in local news, on community blogs, or in podcast or video content builds the kind of cross-referenced authority AI tools trust more than a single self-published claim.
5. A Complete, Active Google Business Profile
This remains one of the single most important pieces, especially for local queries. Nearly every real estate question is local. Hours, services, photos, and recent reviews all matter.
Practical Ways Agents Can Start Using GEO Today
Here’s where this gets actionable. You don’t need a developer or a big budget…you need consistency and a handful of habits.
Audit Your Digital Footprint First
Before creating anything new, search your own name and “best agent in [your town]” in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google. See who comes up. If it’s not you, that’s your baseline — and a useful gut check on where the gaps are.
Write Locally Specific, Question-Based Content
Instead of generic posts, write content that mirrors how people actually ask AI things: “What should I know before buying a home in [neighborhood]?” or “Is now a good time to sell in [town]?” Question-and-answer formatting is one of the most consistently cited content structures because it matches exactly how people phrase prompts to AI tools.
Keep Every Profile Identical and Current
Go through your Google Business Profile, Zillow, Realtor.com, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Make sure your name, brokerage, headshot, and service areas match exactly. This sounds basic, but it’s one of the most overlooked fixes. And one of the fastest to make.
Build a Habit of Earning Third-Party Mentions
Pitch yourself for local “top agent” roundups, contribute a quote to a local news story, guest on a podcast, or get featured in a community newsletter. Each mention is another data point AI can draw from when forming an opinion about who’s credible in your market.
Actively Manage Reviews Everywhere — Not Just One Platform
Respond to reviews on Google, Zillow, and Facebook consistently. The language clients use to describe you in their reviews often becomes the language AI uses to describe you in its answers.
Test Yourself Monthly
Pick your top neighborhoods or towns and run the same prompts in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google every month: “Best buyer’s agent in [neighborhood].” Track whether you start appearing, and pay attention to which competitors do — and why.
A Quick Reality Check
GEO isn’t magic, and it isn’t a replacement for the fundamentals that already make you a strong agent — relationships, follow-up, negotiation skill, local knowledge. What it is is the layer that determines whether a prospective client ever gets the chance to discover you in the first place. AI isn’t going anywhere, and the agents willing to learn this now will simply have more chances to be chosen later.
If you want help thinking through what this looks like specifically for your business — your content, your profiles, your local positioning — that’s exactly the kind of conversation I have with agents regularly as a Field Marketing Specialist at Coldwell Banker Realty.
Ready to talk through your own GEO strategy? Schedule a time with me
Better Together Podcast — Luxury Financing Edition
Why Luxury Financing Is the Secret Weapon Coldwell Banker Agents Are Sleeping On
As a Field Marketing Specialist at Coldwell Banker, one of my favorite parts of this job is translating complex, high-value conversations into actionable insights that agents can actually use to win more business. Episode three of the Better Together Podcast did exactly that. And if you haven’t watched it yet, I’m going to make sure you don’t miss a single takeaway.
The episode is hosted by Lindsay Listanski, VP of Marketing at Coldwell Banker, alongside Dave Dicki, President and Chief Production Officer of Guaranteed Rate Affinity, and Kate Amore, EVP and Head of Product at Guaranteed Rate Affinity — making her first appearance on the podcast. Together, the three of them deliver one of the most agent-useful conversations I’ve come across in a long time, focused entirely on what luxury financing looks like in today’s market and how Coldwell Banker agents can use it to their advantage.
Let me break it all down for you.
What Is the Better Together Podcast and Why Should You Be Watching?
The Better Together Podcast is a joint production between Coldwell Banker Realty and Guaranteed Rate Affinity. It exists for one reason: to give Coldwell Banker agents a deeper understanding of the financing tools and partnership resources available to them and their clients.
Lindsay Listanski hosts each episode with a clear and intentional lens. Translating complex mortgage and financing topics into the kind of practical language agents can bring directly into listing appointments, buyer consultations, and client conversations. As she puts it, it’s the Coldwell Banker marketing team’s job to take what Guaranteed Rate Affinity offers and frame it as value agents can use to win.
This isn’t a generic mortgage podcast. This is your competitive edge, packaged into digestible episodes.
Episode three zeroes in on the luxury market. Jumbo loans, ultra-high-net-worth buyers, crypto-backed financing, and the kind of client experience that separates a trusted advisor from just another agent in the room.
Guaranteed Rate Affinity’s Role in the Luxury Lending Space
Here’s something that might surprise you: most people don’t associate an independent mortgage bank with luxury lending dominance. That assumption is costing agents opportunities.
Dave Dicki explained that Guaranteed Rate Affinity is one of the biggest players in what he calls “optionality”. Non-agency jumbo products, portfolio loans, and non-QM (non-qualified mortgage) solutions. When the market shifted hard in 2022 and liquidity dried up across the jumbo lending space, Guaranteed Rate Affinity was the first independent mortgage bank to return to jumbo lending through their own securitization product. While competitors were sitting on the sidelines, they were already back at the table.
That kind of leadership matters when you’re representing a luxury client and need a financing partner you can stake your reputation on.
Why This Matters at Your Next Listing Appointment
Lindsay framed this perfectly for agents during the episode. It’s worth repeating verbatim as a mindset shift. When you’re sitting at a listing appointment and you want to communicate the strength of your lending partnership, here are three things worth knowing and saying out loud:
- They’re the largest independent mortgage bank in the luxury lending space
- They were the first to return post-2022 market shift — showing both stability and boldness
- 94% of their clients said the mortgage process was easy — and in luxury, discretion and ease aren’t nice-to-haves, they’re deal-makers
That last stat is worth pausing on. 94%. Dave noted that this number is actually continuing to climb. It was sitting at 90% not long ago. In a category where clients are accustomed to white-glove service across every touchpoint, being able to say your lending partner makes the process easy is a genuine differentiator. Lindsay summed it up well: ease and discretion carry heavy weight with luxury clients.
Jumbo, Super Jumbo, and Beyond. What Agents Need to Know
Kate Amore broke down the loan tiers in a way that every agent working above the $1M price point should have memorized.
The Jumbo Loan Tiers Explained
- Jumbo loans start at $1.2 million. Yes, that threshold has moved, and it reflects today’s market reality
- Super Jumbo covers the $2.5 million to $5 million range
- In-house underwriting handles loans up to $10 million with all premium features intact. Assets as income, quick turn times, non-warrantable condo solutions
- Above $10 million options exist up to $30 million in select situations
Kate also dropped a stat that stopped Lindsay mid-conversation: 60% of buyers at the $10 million-plus price point are still purchasing in cash. Which means 40% still need financing. That’s not a small number. Those buyers need a lending partner with the infrastructure to handle their complexity.
Lindsay’s follow-up observation was sharp: not only do you have jumbo and super jumbo options, but the in-house underwriting capability for ultra-high-net-worth individuals is something most agents don’t even know exists. Knowing it does is the kind of detail that builds real credibility in a luxury listing conversation.
As a Coldwell Banker agent, you have access to that partner.
GRA vs. Private Banks. Understanding the Difference
Lindsay pushed Dave on a question many agents face in the room with luxury clients: when a buyer has their wealth at a private or depository bank that also offers financing, why would they look elsewhere?
Dave’s answer was straightforward. Private and wealth banks can be a solid option. And sometimes offer competitive rates, but they come with strings: pledging assets, freezing assets, or being required to liquidate part of a portfolio as a condition of the loan. That creates friction for clients who’ve spent years building their wealth picture carefully.
Where Guaranteed Rate Affinity stands out, Dave explained, is sheer breadth of products and solutions, a portfolio that simply dwarfs the competition, including other independent mortgage banks. Kate added important context here: roughly 40% of the products and programs GRA uses today didn’t even exist two to three years ago. That level of product innovation is a direct result of the work Kate has led since joining the team, and it means agents are working with a partner that is actively expanding what’s possible for complex clients.
The GRA Portfolio Product. Kate’s Favorite and Most Underutilized Tool
When Lindsay gave Kate the microphone and asked her to name the single most underutilized product in the GRA lineup, Kate didn’t hesitate: the GRA Portfolio Product Line.
Who Is This Product Built For?
This product was specifically designed for:
- Self-employed individuals whose tax returns don’t reflect their true income
- Business owners whose CPAs write down income aggressively
- Investors looking to qualify using assets or business cash flow
- Short-term rental buyers who want to use projected rental income to qualify
Kate’s framing was memorable: the product supports the American dream of building wealth while minimizing taxes. If your client has a CPA who does their job well, their tax returns may actually work against them in a traditional mortgage process. This product flips that dynamic. Letting buyers qualify for a larger luxury loan than they expected, using assets as income, business cash flow, or rental revenue streams instead.
How to Position This With Clients
This is the kind of product knowledge that moves you from being an agent to being a true advisor. When a self-employed buyer tells you they’re worried about qualifying, the answer isn’t “let’s look at less expensive homes.” The answer is “let me connect you with our lending partner. They’ve likely got a loan for that.”
That shift in positioning is powerful. It builds trust, keeps transactions alive, and sets you apart from every other agent who would have just shrugged.
RateFi — Financing for the Crypto-Wealthy Buyer
This was the moment in the episode that clearly excited Lindsay most. It’s the product I think agents are least prepared to talk about.
One in four adults in the United States now owns cryptocurrency. Of those, 42% are Gen Z and 36% are millennials. Crypto wealth is real, it’s growing, and it’s increasingly showing up in luxury real estate transactions.
The Problem With Crypto and Traditional Mortgages
Historically, using crypto toward a home purchase meant one of two things: liquidate it (triggering a capital gains event) or navigate an opaque, complicated lending process that required handing over control of your assets to a third party. Neither option is attractive to a sophisticated buyer. Lindsay noted that with recent changes at the government level, crypto is being increasingly normalized as an asset class. Which makes having a clean financing solution for it even more timely.
What RateFi Changes
Guaranteed Rate Affinity’s RateFi product was built to solve this problem directly. Here’s what makes it different:
- Clients keep their crypto. No forced liquidation, no capital gains event
- No requirement to hand over or freeze digital assets
- Borrowers qualify for their loan the same way they would with any other asset. Cleanly and without unnecessary friction
Kate described it as a common sense, easy, bespoke experience. And for a buyer whose wealth is tied to digital assets, that framing is everything.
As an agent, you don’t need to be a crypto expert. You just need to know this product exists and be able to say, “Our lending partner has a solution for that.” That sentence alone could be the difference between winning and losing a luxury buyer client.
The Bigger Picture. Being an Advisor, Not Just an Agent
Dave closed the episode with a distinction that Lindsay clearly appreciated, and one that applies just as much to real estate agents as it does to loan officers.
He drew a line between a mortgage consultant and a mortgage advisor. A consultant processes the transaction. An advisor understands the full picture, brings options to the table, and helps clients make decisions they feel confident about. The more time agents and loan officers spend together — not just on active deals, but proactively understanding the product landscape. The more naturally that advisor role shows up in every client conversation.
Lindsay closed the episode with a line that stuck with me: individual power on both sides, but together we bring collective strength. That’s exactly what this partnership is designed to do.
The First Move Dave and Kate Recommend
Both Dave and Kate gave the same essential advice for agents who want to start leveraging this partnership more strategically:
Spend time with your loan officer. Understand the product landscape together. Make a shared commitment to bring options into every client conversation. Even when you’re not sure they’ll be needed. The awareness you build in those conversations will show up in your listings, your negotiations, and your reputation.
Watch the Full Episode
I’m Phil Brown, Field Marketing Specialist at Coldwell Banker, and my job is to help agents find and use every competitive advantage available to them. The Better Together Podcast — hosted by Lindsay Listanski, VP of Marketing at Coldwell Banker — is exactly that: a resource built specifically for Coldwell Banker agents who want to go deeper on financing strategy and win more business in any market.
👉 Watch Episode 3 and the full Better Together Podcast playlist here: Better Together Podcast on YouTube
Coldwell Banker Social Media Mastermind Recap: What Every Real Estate Agent Needs to Hear Right Now
Coldwell Banker Social Media Mastermind Recap: Real Talk on Video, Authenticity, and Growing Your Business Online
There are moments in this work that genuinely stop you in your tracks. Not because of a big sale or a major campaign milestone, but because you watch someone you’ve worked alongside step into the spotlight and absolutely own it.
That’s exactly what happened at Coldwell Banker’s May Social Media Mastermind.
As a Field Marketing Specialist at Coldwell Banker, I spend a lot of my time helping agents unlock their potential online — coaching them on content, branding, tools, and strategy. So when Betsy Ronel, one of my Westchester agents, was invited to be the featured guest for this national mastermind, I won’t lie: I felt proud. Really proud. She has been putting in the work, showing up authentically, and building something real on social media, and watching her share that story with Coldwell Banker agents across the country was one of those genuinely rewarding moments in this job.
If you missed the session — or if you were there and want to revisit everything that was covered — this recap is for you. What followed was one of the most honest, practical, and motivating conversations about real estate social media marketing I’ve heard in a long time.
Who Was in the Room (or on the Screen)
The session was hosted by Coldwell Banker’s national social media team: Nicole Gladstone, representing the South; Tiffany Giles, representing the Midwest; and Arianna Berta, Social Media Specialist for the West Coast.
The featured guest was Betsy Ronel, a Coldwell Banker agent out of Northern Westchester, New York, who specializes in towns like Bedford, Pound Ridge, Katonah, Mount Kisco, North Salem, and South Salem. Betsy started her real estate career eight years ago, from scratch, in an area where she knew no one, with no referral network and no roots. She leaned into social media when other agents in her market weren’t, and it became the engine that built her business. Hearing her story again, in front of a national audience, reminded me exactly why we champion agents like her.
The Top Takeaways from the Session
1. Face-Forward Content Is the Highest-Performing Content You Can Create
This was Betsy’s number one answer when asked what consistently performs best, and it’s something the entire Coldwell Banker social media team echoed throughout the session.
People follow you. Not your infographics. Not your market stats. Not even your listings. They follow you because they like you, and they want to see your face.
Betsy put it memorably:
“Even Cindy Crawford doesn’t wake up looking like Cindy Crawford.”
Stop waiting until your hair is perfect or your lighting is right. Show up. Say what you have to say. That is the content that outperforms everything else, every time.
As a real estate marketing specialist, this is one of the single most important things I tell agents, and Betsy validated it beautifully: your humanity is your greatest competitive advantage online.
2. You Don’t Need to Spend Money to Win at Social Media
Betsy has been doing social media entirely on a budget of essentially zero, and she’s not apologetic about it.
Her toolkit:
- InShot (free) — video editing
- CapCut (free) — video editing
- Canva (free) — graphics and design
The Coldwell Banker social media team confirmed these are tools they use and recommend as well. The session also mentioned Edits, an Instagram-developed app similar to CapCut, which will be the subject of an upcoming workshop.
If you feel like you’re not tech-savvy enough to use these tools, Betsy’s advice was refreshingly direct: learn during your downtime, or find a college student who can show you the ropes for an hour. Either way, there’s no budget barrier standing between you and a strong social media presence.
3. The Biggest Mistake Agents Make Is Not Getting on Camera
When asked directly what the single biggest mistake real estate agents make on social media, Betsy didn’t hesitate: not getting in front of the camera.
She reframed it in a way that I think every agent needs to hear. You are not on social media to be judged on your appearance. You are there to establish your authority and give people information about your market. No one is looking at you the way you look at yourself. They’re watching because they want to know what you know.
“Take your agency and authority back,” she said. “We are advisors. We have a lot of information on our respective markets. Just start talking.”
Whether it’s a new restaurant that opened in town, an update on local market stats, or a quick open house walkthrough. Pick up your phone and start talking to it as if you’re talking to someone you love and trust. The discomfort fades fast, and the results compound over time.
4. Hook Them in Three Seconds or You’ve Lost Them
On video length and strategy, Betsy was equally direct: audiences today have a skip rate of anywhere from 40 to 50 percent, and if you don’t hook someone in the first three seconds, they’re gone.
Her advice: lead with your point. Think in soundbites. Hit hard right from the start, then go into the detail. For length, aim for under two minutes. Under one minute whenever possible.
Arianna from the social media team reinforced the science behind this: the first three seconds is when you either earn attention or lose it. Your opening line is not a warm-up, it’s a hook.
5. Posted Is Better Than Perfect — Just Post
The session’s most quoted theme, repeated by both Betsy and the Coldwell Banker social media team, was a simple one: just post.
Stop optimizing. Stop waiting for the perfect moment or the perfect caption or the perfect outfit. You’ll film 50 takes and no one will ever know. You’ll piece together the best parts of three different clips. That’s normal. That’s fine. No one sees your outtakes.
“If you can sell real estate and walk into a house with a stranger, you can put yourself out there on a video,” Betsy said. “It’s just that logical.”
On the question of timing — whether there are better days or hours to post — Betsy’s honest answer was that Instagram’s insights will show you your own personal best windows, but the priority is consistency and volume, not scheduling perfection. Post. That’s the move.
6. Your Content Mix Should Be Listings, Local, and Personal
When asked how she divides her content, Betsy’s approach was practical and refreshingly balanced:
- Just listed and just sold posts
- Open house announcements
- Buyer tours
- Local happenings — coffee shops, restaurants, events, day trips
- Personal moments — birthdays, family milestones, what’s happening in her life
She offered a smart strategy for agents going through a dry spell with no listings of their own: ask a colleague in your office if you can post their listing. Credit them in the caption (legally required in many markets, including Westchester), and you keep showing up in your audience’s feed as an active, engaged agent.
If you have no listings and no content, go film local. Take a day trip within an hour of your market. Batch the content and dip into it throughout the week. Something is always better than nothing.
7. Carousels Are Now Neck and Neck with Video
One of the most significant platform updates shared during the session came from Emma Ramirez, who noted that carousels — multi-image posts you swipe through — are now performing on par with video in the algorithm.
Here’s why that matters: every swipe on a carousel counts as a view. So a six-image carousel that keeps someone engaged through all six images registers as six views on a single post. For agents who are not yet comfortable on camera, this is a powerful entry point. Start in Canva, pull from the content drops the CB social media team provides, and build out your carousel game while you work up to video.
The algorithms are constantly changing, which is exactly why the monthly mastermind format exists. To keep agents ahead of what’s shifting.
8. Forget Follower Count. Focus on Authentic Reach.
Betsy was characteristically blunt about buying followers: don’t do it. The algorithm is onto it, and inflated follower counts with low engagement hurt your reach more than they help your image.
Instagram recently conducted a major cleanup of bot accounts precisely because fake followers distort the engagement signal. If you have 20,000 followers but two likes per post, the platform flags you and reduces your organic reach. A clean account with 2,000 real, engaged followers will outperform a fake-inflated account every time.
Her approach: follow accounts that bring her joy or intellectual curiosity, engage authentically, and let her follower count be a byproduct of good content rather than a goal in itself.
9. Social Media Is Always Working for You — Even When You’re Not
One of the most valuable reframes of the entire session came near the end of the Betsy conversation, and it’s something I repeat to agents constantly as a real estate marketing specialist.
Social media is not just about generating direct leads. It’s about establishing presence, building credibility, and influencing where you show up when someone Googles your name or searches for agents in your area. People are watching you even when you don’t know they’re watching. They’re doing their research before they ever reach out.
“It’s like an investment account,” Betsy said. “It’s always making money for you.”
Your social media presence works while you sleep, between listing appointments, during the slow months. If you treat it as a holistic part of your marketing ecosystem rather than a direct-response channel, the numbers start to make a lot more sense.
10. The Podcast Play: When Your Personal Brand Extends Beyond Real Estate
A significant portion of the session was devoted to Betsy’s podcast, Heavens to Betsy! — a personal, lifestyle-focused show that has nothing to do with real estate on the surface, and everything to do with it in practice.
Betsy didn’t launch it to generate leads. She launched it because a producer who believed in her voice gave her a push, and because she needed a creative outlet that was entirely her own. What happened organically is that the authentic connection she built through the podcast. With local guests, with listeners, with people who would never have found her through a listing alert, translated into real estate business.
The lesson is bigger than podcasting: when you show up as your full, real self in any medium, you attract people who like you. And people who like you call you when they need a real estate agent.
For agents looking for a model of what storytelling-driven content can look like, the team also highlighted Connor Jorgensen (@homesutah), a Coldwell Banker agent out of Utah whose reels use property storytelling and agent collaborations as the foundation for his content. Worth a follow.
11. Coldwell Banker Tools Are Underused and Underrated
Betsy, who has been at three brokerages, was candid about this: she thinks Coldwell Banker’s tools are outstanding, and she uses them. Including Prospect Square for newsletters and the CB CRM. Her only marketing expense is essentially zero because the platform provides what she needs.
For agents who aren’t yet fully tapped into the Coldwell Banker ecosystem, this is worth paying attention to. Tools like Prospect Square make it easy to distribute market stats, personalized newsletters, and branded content without needing an outside vendor.
On the Compass/Coldwell Banker merger and tech integration, Betsy’s take was optimistic, and honest, given she has worked at Compass before: the combination of CB’s branding and tools with Compass’s intuitive tech platform is shaping up to be something genuinely exciting for agents. The rollout is close, and it’s worth watching.
Closing Thoughts: Why Sessions Like This Matter
I’ve been doing this work long enough to know that the gap between agents who succeed at social media and agents who don’t usually isn’t tools, budget, or even talent. It’s courage and consistency.
What Betsy Ronel modeled for every agent in that room, and what the Coldwell Banker social media team reinforces month after month in these masterminds, is that showing up as yourself, repeatedly, generously, and without overthinking it, is the strategy. Everything else is a tactic.
Watching Betsy hold her own in front of a national audience, speaking the same truths I’ve been sharing with agents in Westchester and beyond, was genuinely one of the highlights of my month. She has earned every bit of that spotlight.
If you’re a Coldwell Banker agent and you’re not attending these monthly masterminds, start. The level of practical, current, actionable guidance you’ll walk away with is hard to find anywhere else.
📅 Ready to Talk Real Estate Marketing Strategy?
As a Field Marketing Specialist at Coldwell Banker, I work directly with agents to build the kind of social media presence that generates real results. If you want to talk about your current approach and where to take it next, let’s connect.
How to Build Your Digital Book: What Real Estate Agents Need to Know About Online Authority
Why This Presentation
Meant Something to Me
I almost did not get to be in that room.
There are over 80 Field Marketing Specialists across Coldwell Banker Realty. When I joined the company, I was not eager to launch a social media presence. After a decade running marketing for luxury real estate brands — first at a Sotheby's International Realty affiliate in the Caribbean for ten years, then at The Corcoran Group in Miami — I was, honestly, burned out on it.
But a few months into my role covering North Jersey and Westchester, I realized something uncomfortable: my own agents barely knew who I was. I was showing up, doing the work, sending emails — and getting nothing back. So I gave in. I built a presence. I posted consistently. I leaned into the exact strategy I am about to teach you.
"If I'm gonna do this, let's go all in. It was the only way I could get attention from agents. My emails weren't getting read — but suddenly people were responding to everything I posted on Instagram."
— Phil Brown, Field Marketing Specialist at Coldwell Banker RealtyThat strategy worked. Linda Dickinson, the Coldwell Banker manager who invited me to present to her Haddonfield and Moorestown offices, did not find me through a company directory. She found me online — through my content, because I had built my book. The fact that the method I was about to teach had directly put me in that room was not lost on anyone in the audience.
That is not a coincidence. That is proof of concept. And it is exactly why everything in this post matters.
Think of Yourself as a
Book in a Digital Library
The mental model I use with every agent I work with starts here. Imagine a digital library open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Every potential buyer and seller in your market walks in every day and asks the librarian to recommend someone. The librarian has access to every book on the shelf — and your job is to make yours the most complete one there.
Right now, most agents — and I say this respectfully, because it is true in every market I work in — are pamphlets. They exist. They can be found if someone searches specifically for their name. But the moment someone walks in with a general question, the pamphlet gets passed over for the fuller book sitting next to it.
25 years of experience. Still the first place most people start their search. Optimizing your Google presence — Business Profile, website keywords, consistent posting — is the foundation everything else is built on.
If your footprint is strong here, you show up in results, your profile looks authoritative, and local clients find you before they find anyone else.
Experience vs.
Evidence
This comparison tends to land with agents immediately. Two agents. Different levels of experience. Completely different digital footprints.
- Google Business Profile: 14 reviews, last updated 8 months ago, no keyword description, 3 photos
- Instagram: 287 followers, last posted 6 weeks ago, bio reads "Realtor helping families find their dream home" — no location
- YouTube: No channel
"The librarian cannot recommend what it cannot find."
Agent B is not a better agent. But in a digital library, proof beats experience every time. The good news? Most agents in Haddonfield, Moorestown, and across South Jersey have not figured this out yet — their books are thin. That means the window to build something your competition does not have is wide open right now.
SEO, AEO, and GEO —
You Don't Need to Master All Three Today
As a Field Marketing Specialist at Coldwell Banker, one of the things I emphasize with agents is that online visibility works at three levels of sophistication. You do not need to understand the technical mechanics — you just need to understand how to feed them. Consistent, keyword-rich, locally specific content is the strategy for all three.
Search Engine Optimization
Someone searches "real estate agent Haddonfield NJ" and you show up. Keywords on your website, Google Business Profile, social bios, and posts all contribute. This is the baseline — and it is absolutely worth getting right first.
The foundation
Answer Engine Optimization
A client asks a specific question — "Who is the best agent for first-time buyers in Moorestown?" — and AI recommends you by name. This happens when you have enough content directly answering what your ideal clients are asking. One answer. One name. Yours.
The next level
Google Business Profile —
The Cover of Your Book
If someone searches for you on Google and lands on your profile, what do they see? An empty profile with three photos and a generic bio is the equivalent of a book with a blank cover. People judge it. They move on.
Here are the four layers that matter most — think of each one as a different feature of your cover and inside pages.
Category & Description
Your book's cover. Include your location keywords, specialty, and years of experience. "Haddonfield and Moorestown real estate agent specializing in first-time buyers" does more work than any generic bio.
Reviews
Reader testimonials. Ask clients to mention where they were located and what you helped them accomplish. The more neighborhood-specific, the more powerful as a ranking signal.
Weekly Posts
Post at minimum once a week — a listing, a market insight, a client question answered. Google sees your book being actively written. Go quiet for months, and Google assumes you've gone out of business.
Photos
Illustrations that make your book feel real and local. Update them regularly. They signal active business and give potential clients a tangible sense of who you are and where you work.
Your Clients Are Handing You
Your Content Calendar Every Day
The most common question I get from agents: What do I even post about? The answer is sitting in your inbox, in your phone calls, and in every client conversation you have. Every question a client asks you is a page waiting to be written.
Should I waive the inspection contingency? That is a page. What does days on market mean in South Jersey? That is a page. What is it like to live in Moorestown versus Cherry Hill? That is a page.
"Act as a content strategist for a real estate agent in Haddonfield and Moorestown, New Jersey. I will give you one client question. Answer it and turn it into: a 30-second Instagram Reel script, a Google Business Profile post, a YouTube video outline, a LinkedIn insight post, and a short email to my database. Keep everything specific to South Jersey and my local market. Prioritize clarity, authority, and local keywords. Avoid generic advice. Here is my client question: [PASTE HERE]"
Run this in Copilot, ChatGPT, or any AI tool. One question becomes five pieces of content — all keyword-rich, all locally specific, all adding pages to your book.
During the live demo at the Haddonfield presentation, I ran the question "What is the inspection process in New Jersey?" through this prompt in real time. In under two minutes, we had a 30-second Reel script that opened with "Buying a home in Haddonfield or Moorestown? Don't skip this step" — a hook that immediately signals location, authority, and relevance to any algorithm indexing the content.
AI is not replacing your expertise. It is helping you get what you already know out of your head and onto the internet, where it can work for you around the clock.
Phil Brown
Real Estate Marketing Specialist · Coldwell Banker Realty
A decade of real estate marketing across three countries, two coasts, and every platform that matters — now channeled into helping Coldwell Banker agents in New Jersey and New York show up with clarity, confidence, and content that actually works. Phil covers 19 offices across NJ and NY, building AI-powered tools and running workshops that make complex marketing strategy feel genuinely achievable.
What the 2026 Home Shopping Season Report Means for Your Real Estate Marketing Right Now
What the 2026 Home Shopping Season Report Means for Your Real Estate Marketing Right Now
Every spring, agents ask the same question: Is this the year the market finally opens back up?
This year, Coldwell Banker just answered it — with data.
The 2026 Home Shopping Season Report surveyed more than 700 real estate agents nationwide to capture a real-time pulse on buyer and seller behavior this spring. The findings are packed with insight. But raw data isn’t enough. What matters is what you do with it — how you use it to sharpen your messaging, position yourself as the local expert, and connect with clients who are ready to move.
As a Real Estate Marketing Specialist at Coldwell Banker, I read through the full report and pulled out the five trends every agent should be paying attention to — along with exactly how to use each one in your marketing.
The 2026 Spring Market Is Moving — and Your Marketing Should Be Too
Forty-three percent of agents surveyed say this spring is busier than last year. That’s not a minor uptick — that’s a signal worth acting on. The market is shifting, and the agents who communicate that shift clearly and confidently are the ones who will capture attention right now.
This report gives you that credibility. Let’s break down each trend and what it means for your strategy.
Trend #1 — The Rate Lock-In Effect Is Starting to Loosen
What the Data Says
One of the most significant findings in the 2026 report: 35% of sellers currently working with Coldwell Banker affiliated agents have mortgage rates below 5% — and they’re still planning to sell this spring. Additionally, 39% of agents say the lock-in effect is no longer a meaningful factor in seller decisions, or only a minor one.
That said, 61% of agents still report it as a major or moderate factor. So this isn’t a resolved issue — it’s an evolving one, and that evolution creates a window of opportunity.
What This Means for Your Marketing
If you’ve been waiting for sellers to “come back,” some of them already have. The message that works right now isn’t about rates — it’s about circumstances. Life doesn’t wait for perfect market conditions. Sellers are listing because they need to, not because the numbers are ideal.
Your listing-focused content should lead with empathy and life transitions: relocation, growing families, downsizing, job changes. That’s the real motivator. If your marketing is still anchored to “wait for rates to drop,” you’re speaking to the wrong emotion.
Marketing action: Create a short-form video or carousel post addressing the “I’m locked in at 3% — should I still sell?” question directly. Lead with compassion, not market logic. This is one of the most Googled questions in real estate right now.
Trend #2 — “Comeback Buyers” Are Re-Entering the Market
What the Data Says
Seventy-seven percent of agents say they are currently working with buyers who stepped away from the market in the last two years and are now re-entering. These “comeback buyers” represent approximately 20% of all active homebuyers right now. Most of them (75%) are returning with a similar budget to when they first looked, while 24% have actually increased their buying power.
What This Means for Your Marketing
This is one of the most powerful audience segments you can speak to right now — and most agents aren’t addressing them specifically. Comeback buyers are emotionally invested. They’ve already been through the process. They’re motivated. And they may be in your database right now, sitting dormant.
This is a reactivation opportunity hiding in plain sight.
Marketing action: Pull your database from the last 18–24 months and segment out leads who went cold. Send them a “The market has changed since we last spoke” email or DM referencing that now may be the right moment to re-engage. This is not a mass blast — it’s a personal, data-informed touchpoint. Pair it with a market update post that speaks directly to the “I looked before and stepped back” buyer.
Trend #3 — Buyers Aren’t Waiting for Rates to Drop
What the Data Says
This one might surprise you: 80% of agents say their buyers are actively in the market and not holding out for lower mortgage rates or better conditions. Only 20% of buyers are in a “wait and see” posture this spring. In the Northeast, active buyer activity is especially strong.
What This Means for Your Marketing
If you’ve been crafting content around “when rates drop, buyers will move” — that narrative is largely outdated. The majority of serious buyers have already moved past rates as a barrier. They want homes. They want guidance. They want an agent who understands the current reality.
Your buyer-focused content should reflect urgency without pressure. The message isn’t “hurry before rates go up.” The message is “serious buyers are already out there — are you positioning yourself in front of them?”
Marketing action: Update your buyer-facing content to stop leading with rate predictions. Instead, lead with what active buyers need: guidance on negotiation, how to evaluate homes in a competitive local market, and the value of working with a knowledgeable agent who understands 2026 market conditions specifically. Use this data point as a hook: “80% of today’s buyers aren’t waiting — are you ready for them?”
Trend #4 — Climate Risk Is Becoming a Real Buying Factor
What the Data Says
Thirty-one percent of agents nationally say climate-related concerns — including wildfire risk, flood zones, hurricane exposure, and rising home insurance costs — are playing a bigger role in buyer decisions compared to just one year ago. That number rises to 35% in the South and 39% in the West.
What This Means for Your Marketing
This is a trend most agents are not yet talking about in their content — which makes it a significant opportunity to stand out as a knowledgeable, forward-thinking resource. Buyers are doing this research with or without you. If you become the agent who speaks to it clearly and honestly, you become invaluable.
You don’t have to be an insurance expert or a climate scientist. You simply need to be the person who acknowledges it, knows where to point clients for reliable information, and helps them think through these factors as part of their decision-making process.
Marketing action: If you work in a market with notable climate risk exposure, consider writing or recording a short piece on “What buyers should know about insurance costs and climate risk when purchasing a home in [your market].” This is highly searchable, locally specific, and positions you as a trusted resource rather than just a salesperson. It’s also exactly the kind of content AI search engines surface when buyers are asking these questions.
Trend #5 — The Regional Market Divide Is the Deepest It’s Been in Decades
What the Data Says
This may be the most structurally important finding in the entire report. The U.S. housing market is no longer moving as one — it’s fractured along regional lines in a way that hasn’t been seen since before the Global Financial Crisis.
- Midwest: 70% of agents describe their market as a seller’s market
- Northeast: 74% of agents describe their market as a seller’s market
- South: 56% of agents describe it as a buyer’s market
- West: 46% of agents describe it as a buyer’s market
Nationally, only 25% of agents say their local market is balanced.
What This Means for Your Marketing
National real estate headlines are almost useless to your clients right now. Agents who win in 2026 are the ones who localize the data — who take the national story and translate it for their specific ZIP code, neighborhood, or city.
If you’re in a seller’s market, your content should be showing sellers why now is a strong time to list, backed by local data. If you’re in a buyer’s market, your content should be empowering buyers with the message that they have negotiating power that hasn’t existed in years.
Either way, generic content is a missed opportunity. Hyper-local content built on real data is what gets agents remembered, shared, and referred.
Marketing action: Pull your local market stats (days on market, list-to-sale ratio, inventory levels) and pair them with the regional finding from this report. A post that says “Nationally, markets are split — here’s exactly what’s happening in [Your City]” is instantly more valuable than anything a buyer or seller could find from a national source.
How to Use This Report Across Your Marketing Channels
Data this rich deserves more than one post. Here’s how to stretch it across your content calendar:
Social Media
Break each trend into its own post — that’s five pieces of content from a single source. Use the data point as your hook, then add your local interpretation. “1 in 3 sellers is giving up a rate below 5% — here’s what I’m seeing from sellers in [Your Market].”
Email Newsletter
Send a market update email to your database with a subject line like: “I just read Coldwell Banker’s 2026 Housing Report — here’s what it means for you.” Personalize it by speaking directly to buyers and sellers separately if you have segmented lists.
Video Content
A 3–5 minute breakdown video of the five trends, filmed in your car or at your desk, creates instant authority. You’re not reading the report at them — you’re interpreting it as a local expert. That’s the difference between being informative and being indispensable.
Lead Conversations
When a prospect asks “how’s the market?” — this report is your answer. You’re not guessing. You’re pulling from a survey of 700+ agents and layering in local context. That’s a different level of credibility.
Bottom Line for Real Estate Agents This Spring
The 2026 Home Shopping Season Report from Coldwell Banker makes one thing clear: the market is moving. Sellers are letting go of historic rates. Buyers who stepped away are coming back. And the agents who show up with clear, confident, data-informed communication are the ones who are going to win this season.
Don’t let the data sit on a blog somewhere. Put it to work.
What to Read Next:
Sources for this Article:
- “2026 Home Shopping Season Report” from Coldwell Banker blog post
- Optionally link to a credible source on climate risk in real estate (e.g., First Street Foundation or a national publication)
