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Talent Acquisition

50 Top Opportunity Markets For Building Real Estate Teams in 2019

Real estate team expansion can happen anywhere, but you can increase your odds of expansion success if you focus on areas ripe for the taking.  Today we introduce the Hiring Opportunity Report, designed with the needs of the growth-hungry real estate professional in mind. The report assigns local markets with a score from zero to 10 with 10’s indicating the hottest markets in which to build a real estate team.  If you’re looking to build a new real estate business or expand your existing team’s reach, this report will tell you exactly where the opportunities are the greatest today.

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The Opportunity Score

We knew the opportunity for real estate team expansion abounded, but we wanted to quantify it. Our research started with analyzing the 300 largest markets in the United States. We then identified the top markets by evaluating each area’s 2019 real estate health projections, assessing whether there’s room for additional real estate teams in the market, and if there is available talent (sales agents) to hire onto a team.  After narrowing it down to large markets with the healthiest real estate projections, we constrained our analysis even further.  We identified areas within our sample where the overall real estate market is currently booming based on new home construction, affordability and real estate investment opportunities. Added to that was the number of real estate transactions and average home sale prices that are expected to increase in 2019, making the sample even smaller.  Our criteria revealed 119 suitable markets from the 300 largest markets in the United States. To target the best markets for recruiting, we ranked each market based on the number of licensed real estate agents actively seeking new opportunities relative to the number of open real estate job opportunities within a market. We call this the Opportunity Score and it helps us compare the relative ease of hiring within in a market. Using the Opportunity Score, we narrowed our rankings to the top 50 markets to grow a real estate team in 2019.

How Top Markets Are Sorted

Markets are divided into 4 segments: 
  1. Big Opportunities                                       

Typically mid-size markets (100K populations) that show promise for a healthy real estate climate into the future and are not on everyone’s radar. Relative to other areas, these are markets where more available talent resides and where there may not be as much competition from other teams in recruiting. These are ideal markets to build a real estate team.
  1. Worth a Look

These are hot housing markets with lots of competition from other agents, teams and brokerages. Talent is in short supply, so team leads will need to take their recruiting responsibility very seriously.
  1. Mature Market

These are not the hottest markets, and thus have a lower income potential for agents. Relative to other markets, these areas have fewer available agents, and may have more incumbents to compete with. All of these setbacks may be overcome with the right recruiting strategy. These areas provide excellent opportunities for solo agents.
  1. Easy Street

These are cooler housing markets with relatively more limited income potential for agents. Recruiting is easier in these markets as many licensed agents are eager for new opportunities. These markets may easily be dominated by a small set of real estate teams or an expansion team.

Who Should Use This Report

The Hiring Opportunity Report shares much more than just average home prices and average days on the market. While that data is part of the numbers we crunched, we also considered the available sales talent needed to build your team and your reach. The Opportunity Market Score identifies hot markets in a whole new way. Any real estate professional with an eye on expanding their current business or a fledgling leader starting up a new team can benefit from this information. Plus, agents looking to improve their individual GCI can identify their next strategic move. 

Biggest Opportunity Markets

  1. YUBA CITY, CA
  • Average Days on Market: 58.5
  • Median Home Price: $317,700
  • Agents Seeking New Positions: 179
  • Opportunity Score: 10.0
  1. PUEBLO, CO
  • Average Days on Market: 53
  • Median Home Price: $252,900
  • Agents Seeking New Positions: 69 
  • Opportunity Score: 10.0
  1. BEAUMONT-PORT ARTHUR, TX
  • Average Days on Market: 55.5
  • Median Home Price: $183,008.50 
  • Agents Seeking New Positions: 113 
  • Opportunity Score: 9.7
  1. SALINAS, CA
  • Average Days on Market: 78.5
  • Median Home Price: $887,000
  • Agents Seeking New Positions: 179 
  • Opportunity Score: 9.4
  1. LAFAYETTE-WEST LAFAYETTE, IN
  • Average Days on Market: 70.25
  • Median Home Price: $195,425
  • Agents Seeking New Positions: 49 
  • Opportunity Score 9.2
  1. TYLER, TX
  • Average Days on Market: 83
  • Median Home Price: $278,250
  • Agents Seeking New Positions: 138 
  • Opportunity Score: 9.1
  1. MODESTO, CA
  • Average Days on Market: 47.5
  • Median Home Price: $348,242.50
  • Agents Seeking New Positions: 427 
  • Opportunity Score: 8.2
  1. SPRINGFIELD, MA
  • Average Days on Market: 74.5
  • Median Home Price: $239,000
  • Agents Seeking New Positions: 501 
  • Opportunity Score: 8.2
  1. AMARILLO, TX
  • Average Days on Market: 49
  • Median Home Price: $229,950
  • Agents Seeking New Positions: 87 
  • Opportunity Score: 8.1
  1. ROCKFORD, IL
  • Average Days on Market: 80.5
  • Median Home Price: $129,950
  • Agents Seeking New Positions: 1,354 
  • Opportunity Score: 8.0
For the list of the full 50 opportunity markets, read the report here

How The Opportunity Score Was Born

We used many different data sources in the creation of our Opportunity Score. The Market Hotness Score is trademarked from realtor.com and allowed us to determine the best markets for realtors to sell. The number of homebuyers and real estate investors in an area weighs heavily here. U.S. Census Bureau’s statistics on homeownership and vacancies was referenced, along with unemployment rates. NAR’s (National Association of Realtors) team survey provided insights into the prevalence of real estate teams in the industry. We used data from zillow.com to determine which markets were the hottest. The Recruiting Potential data came from several sources including indeed.com, realtrends.com and our data as well. We used our hiring trend data and analytics that we’ve gathered through our 3,000 customers in the real estate industry. This is for all of you real estate professionals on a mission to expand, whether for yourself or for your team. Armed with the Opportunity Score you are now well-equipped to locate and penetrate your next market.
Where should top real estate teams expand their footprint? The answers may surprise you. Download Report

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