- a breakdown of the top 10 markets in which to build a real estate team;
- an explanation of the methods behind our analysis; and
- what to do if you’re not in one of these top markets.
What’s a hot real estate market?
To understand which areas of the country have the best opportunity for new real estate teams, we started by analyzing the 300 largest markets in the United States. We identified 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. [Skip to the Report] Using this criteria, we constrained our analysis to areas where the overall real estate market is currently booming, and the number of transactions and average home sale prices are expected to increase in 2019. This narrowed the field to 119 markets from the 300 largest markets in the United States. To identify the best markets for recruiting we created an index to rank 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 index the Opportunity Index and helps us compare the relative ease of hiring within in a market. Using the Opportunity Index, we narrowed our rankings to the top 10 markets to grow a real estate team in 2019.The 10 Hottest Markets to Build Your Real Estate Team
1. Yuba City, CA
- Average Days on Market: 54
- Median Home Price (YoY change): $319,900 (6%)
- Agents Seeking New Positions: 56
- Opportunity Index: 10.0

2. Visalia-Porterville, CA
- Average Days on Market: 53
- Median Home Price (YoY change): $265,000 (8%)
- Agents Seeking New Positions: 44
- Opportunity Index: 10.0

- The laboratory supplier Avantor Sciences recently built a 500,000 square foot distribution center in 2012.
- California Dairies, the largest powdered milk producer in North America, is based in Visalia and has a 260,000-square-foot distribution center.
- Devon Jones, the economic director for Visalia, expects that another 100,000 square feet of industrial space will be built in the next year at Visalia’s Industrial Park.
3. Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, OH-PA
- Average Days on Market: 67
- Median Home Price (YoY change): $120,000 (12%)
- Agents Seeking New Opportunities: 50
- Opportunity Index: 10.0

4. Lakeland-Winter Haven, FL
- Average Days on Market: 60
- Median Home Price (YoY change): $226,990 (3%)
- Agents Seeking New Opportunities: 261
- Opportunity Index: 9.1

5. Johnson City, TN
- Average Days on Market: 69
- Median Home Price (YoY change): $209,900 (6%)
- Agents Open to New Opportunities: 39
- Opportunity Index: 8.8

6. Lansing-East Lansing, MI
- Average Days on Market: 48
- Median Home Price (YoY change): $169,900 (10%)
- Agents Open to New Opportunities: 55
- Opportunity Index: 7.8

7. Salinas, CA
- Average Days on Market: 61
- Median Home Price (YoY change): $850,000 (-6%)
- Agents Seeking New Jobs: 63
- Opportunity Index: 7.5

8. Monroe, MI
- Average Days on Market: 48
- Median Home Price (YoY change): $195,000 (6%)
- Agents Open to New Opportunities: 69
- Opportunity Index: 7.2

9. Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL
- Average Days on Market: 61
- Median Home Price (YoY change): $269,247 (4%)
- Agents Seeking New Jobs: 127
- Opportunity Index: 7.1

10. Olympia-Tumwater, WA
- Average Days on Market: 42.5
- Median Home Price (YoY change): $374,995 (16%)
- Agents Open to New Opportunities: 107
- Opportunity Index: 7.1

What if I’m not in a top market?
In early 2019, WizeHire will publish an update to this list and share our rankings of the top 100 markets in which to build a real estate team. Your market may very well be somewhere on this list. Email us, and we can share some early numbers 😀 Regardless of whether your city is on the list, you should always take a pro-active approach to hiring. Your hiring timeline for building a real estate team may be longer than what you expected. If you desperately need to grow your real estate team, you can speed up hiring by looking for talent outside the real estate industry.- Hiring a transaction coordinator? Consider candidates who have administrative experience in other industries, such as an executive assistant or a paralegal. With an administrative background, candidates will have the organizational skills and attention to detail that you need to be a great TC.
- Hiring a buyer’s agent? Consider candidates who have sales experience but aren’t licensed agents yet. For example, you might consider an inside sales agent to prospect leads and qualify new leads. If they turn out to be a good fit for your team, they can start getting their license while working for you.