What I Saw at Inman Will Shock You (Choose Your Side)

Hi ,

I just wrapped up Inman this week alongside the teams from Homes.com and Rocket Mortgage, and one thing became crystal clear: the real estate world is splitting into two distinct camps.

On one side, you’ve got agents lining up with companies like Zillow, chasing the promise of leads and momentum, but handing over massive chunks of their hard earned commissions in the process. They’re choosing the path of dependency, where someone else controls their pipeline and their profit margins.

On the other side, there’s the agent of the future. This agent grows through attraction, not extraction. They build their own systems, cultivate their own relationships, and refuse to work with many companies that slice away huge portions of their commission. They understand that real wealth in real estate comes from ownership, ownership of your data, your leads, your relationships, and your revenue.

Which camp are you choosing? Because the agents gaining ground right now aren’t guessing, they’re tracking. They’re building systems that work for them, not against them. Set one hour a day for real prospecting, no multitasking, no checking email in between. Five conversations before noon, one handwritten note at lunch, one new face-to-face by 5 p.m. You don’t need to feel ready. You just need to move.

About to list something? Don’t ease it in, launch it. Photos at daylight and golden hour. One solid reel that works across IG, YouTube Shorts, and TikTok. Use a Matterport scan if you’ve got it. Drop it mid week for the MLS bump. Plan an open house with something memorable: iced coffee bar, sunset spritzes, fresh pastries. Print flyers with QR codes and canvas the nearby streets. Then tighten the feedback loop, text agents same day, and send your seller a weekly dashboard that makes them feel informed and empowered.

Pick one thing today, just one, and lock it in. The handwritten note, the expired audit, the video, the vendor share. Because the only thing that builds confidence faster than clarity… is action.

This is how agents of the future separate themselves from the pack. They don’t wait for leads to be delivered. They don’t hand over control of their business to tech giants. They build, they attract, they own.

Let’s go!