Changing Brokerages
Signs It Is Time to Change Brokerages: A Self-Check Before You Move
Updated
Bottom line: Change brokerages when you can name the gap, whether it is support, mentorship or a tool stack that eats your week, and the new office closes it. In Mike DelPrete's interviews, money and technology were the baseline, not the reason agents left.
How often do producing agents actually change brokerages?
HousingWire reported that, by Courted's count, between 16% and 18% of agents each year since 2020 have moved to a new brokerage. The same HousingWire report found that 76% of the agents who moved in 2025 had sales volume between $1 million and $25 million that year.
Mike DelPrete's 12-month analysis came in lower. Once non-producers were set aside, 14 percent of active agents changed brokerages. Mike DelPrete also found that the odds of a move fall as an agent's years in the industry grow, and that producers in the $1–$10M range moved most often.
A move is common, then, but agents with years behind them make it less often. If you are weighing one, give the reason a name before you take a call.
What do experienced agents say pushed them to leave?
Mike DelPrete interviewed 10 agents in June 2025. Each had at least five years in the business, each had left a brokerage within the previous six months, and each sold between $3.5M and $35M a year.
Mike DelPrete reported that those agents named a lack of support and an overloaded tool stack among their sorest points. In the same study, Mike DelPrete found that good technology and strong financial incentives counted as the entry fee, and that the deciding factors were softer ones such as support, mentorship and belonging.
Mike DelPrete wrote that agents going from a large brokerage to a small one often wanted more autonomy, a personal connection and mentorship. If one of those is your gap, it gives you a specific question to ask any office you talk to.
Does the size of your office have anything to do with it?
Mike DelPrete's churn analysis found that the biggest offices had the highest share of agents joining and leaving, and that agents in offices of more than 500 were 33% more likely to leave than agents in small ones.
If you work out of a large office and nobody there knows your pipeline, that is worth noting on your self-check. A smaller structure fixes the problem only when someone in it is assigned to you by name, so ask who that person would be.
Where does the split belong in the decision?
Mike DelPrete's compensation analysis describes what an agent keeps as the result of splits, fees and revenue sharing together, so the headline split is one line among several. Mike DelPrete also argued that with fewer transactions and tighter budgets, agents should weigh commission splits carefully when picking where to work.
Read the terms line by line, side by side with what you have now. Then set them next to the support question, because in Mike DelPrete's interviews the money rarely decided the move on its own.
What would change in your week on Houston Properties Team?
Every agent on Houston Properties Team has a designated mentor through our Squad Leader Program, who works on strategy with you and keeps you accountable to your goals. You can shadow client appointments and live deals, with real-time feedback from that mentor.
For experienced agents, our 30/60/90 day plan opens ISA appointments after the first 30 days. In the next 30 days, you meet weekly with your Squad Leader and the Success Team to clear bottlenecks.
The Success Team works in six areas: client management and database support, listing preparation and management, content and marketing, email and communication, client acquisition and lead conversion, and transaction coordination and compliance. When you are away, the Success Team keeps operations running and a teammate on your squad covers your clients.
You also get our automated CMA comps tool, 34 buyer guides, our listing presentation materials and 2,837 pre-written email templates, with three client newsletters a month going to your sphere.
What should you check before you decide?
Name the gap. Is it help on files, a mentor who knows your numbers, or tools that take hours you would rather spend with clients?
Ask whether a move would fix it. If the gap is a person, ask the new office who that person is and how often you would talk.
Read the full terms: split, fees and any revenue sharing, next to your current ones.
If the gap you named is support or mentorship, you can talk to a current member of our team before you decide anything.
Filed in The team.
Questions & answers
What do Houston agents ask about this?
How do I know it is time to change brokerages?
Start by naming what is missing. Mike DelPrete interviewed agents with at least five years in the business who had recently left a brokerage. They named a lack of support and too many tools among their biggest pain points, and they treated technology and financial incentives as the baseline. If you can name a gap like that, and your current office has no person or system to close it, a move is worth weighing.
Mike DelPrete also found that agents going from a large brokerage to a small one often wanted more autonomy, a personal connection and mentorship. If any of those is the gap, ask a prospective office who would actually fill it and how often you would hear from them. Office size is worth a look as well. In Mike DelPrete's 12-month churn analysis, the largest offices, those with over 500 agents, had the highest share of agents both joining and leaving.
How many agents change brokerages each year?
HousingWire reported that Courted's data has kept the yearly figure in a band of 16% to 18% of agents since 2020. Mike DelPrete's 12-month analysis came in lower. Once non-producers were set aside, 14 percent of active agents changed brokerages. The two counts measure different groups, so read each one on its own terms rather than as a single number.
HousingWire also reported that 76% of the agents who moved in 2025 had between $1 million and $25 million in sales volume that year. Mike DelPrete found that the odds of switching drop as an agent's years in the business add up. He also found that producers in the $1–$10M range changed brokerages most often.
Should the commission split decide whether I change brokerages?
The split matters, but it rarely decides a move by itself. Mike DelPrete's compensation analysis shows that what you keep comes from a combination of commission splits, fees and revenue sharing. He argued that in a period of fewer transactions, agents should weigh splits carefully when choosing where to work. His interviews with experienced agents, though, found money treated as the baseline, with support and mentorship deciding where they went.
Put the full terms side by side with what you have now: the split, every fee, and any revenue sharing. Then ask the separate question of who will help you on a file when it goes sideways. In Mike DelPrete's interviews, a lack of support ranked among the biggest pain points for agents who had recently moved.
What changes in my first months on Houston Properties Team?
On our 30/60/90 day plan for experienced agents, you gain access to ISA appointments after the first 30 days. In the 30 days after that, you meet weekly with your Squad Leader and the Success Team to remove bottlenecks. Every agent here has a designated mentor through the Squad Leader Program, who works on strategy with you and keeps you accountable to your goals.
The plan sets weekly targets for calls or conversations and monthly targets for appointments. From the start, the Success Team handles transaction coordination and compliance, listing preparation, database work and lead follow-up. You can also shadow client appointments and live deals, with real-time feedback from your mentor.