Enterprise goes on largely undisturbed. However a survey of lots of of brokers and brokers suggests the true property business is going through extra thorny conditions amid a contentious 2024 election.
This report is the primary in a two-part collection targeted on the presidential election and is out there completely to subscribers of Inman Intel, Inman’s knowledge and analysis arm. Subscribe right now and examine again on Oct. 28 for the conclusion to the collection.
Intel survey outcomes are clear: For many actual property brokers and brokerage leaders, the 2024 election discourse doesn’t actually have an effect on their day-to-day expertise.
Showings go on, affords get submitted, purchasers shut, and brokers receives a commission — no matter whether or not they agree on what ought to occur in Washington, D.C.
However as the 2 main events current more and more conflicting visions for the nation’s future — and even competing accounts of its latest previous — some brokers report that circumstances of political rigidity with purchasers have gotten much less uncommon.
And a few brokers say they’ve seen it spill over into friction throughout the brokerage itself.
- Many brokers — practically half of these surveyed in late September and early October by the Inman Intel Index — say their purchasers carry up politics, in comparison with just one in 5 who say their purchasers by no means elevate the subject.
In late September and early October, lots of of brokers and brokerage leaders shared with Intel who they plan to assist in November, and what their expertise has been with purchasers and brokerage crew members.
Their responses make clear an business that sometimes bends over to keep away from private disagreements getting in the best way of a deal.
The outcomes additionally reveal how two distinct experiences — that of a Donald Trump-supporting actual property skilled, and that of a Kamala Harris-supporting agent or dealer — generally diverge.
Learn the total breakdown within the report beneath.
The agent-client relationship
Whether or not it occurs at a exhibiting or in one other setting, it’s clear that many brokers run into purchasers who’re loose-lipped about their political beliefs, particularly on a presidential election 12 months.
And whereas most actual property professionals see little distinction in 2024 vs. 2020, a few quarter of agent respondents informed Intel that election discuss is inflicting extra points with purchasers than final time.
- A large majority of agent respondents — 2 in 3 — mentioned this election is placing no extra pressure on the agent-client relationship than the 2020 election did.
- However of brokers who say they’ve observed a change, those that noticed the strain is larger this 12 months outnumber practically 4-to-1 those that say it’s much less tense than they keep in mind 4 years in the past.
As talked about above, it’s not unusual for the subject of politics to return up whereas on a exhibiting with a consumer.
That mentioned, regardless of occasional circumstances the place rigidity bubbles underneath the floor, brokers of all political stripes are likely to handle the scenario reasonably than stoke battle.
- Solely 2 p.c of agent respondents mentioned they really feel comfy weighing in after a consumer shares a political opinion with which they disagree.
- Alternatively, 48 p.c of agent respondents mentioned they “almost always” maintain their opinion to themselves when their consumer shares a political opinion that doesn’t align with the agent’s beliefs.
Nonetheless, this leaves the door open for political conversations of a unique nature: one the place a consumer raises a degree that the agent agrees with.
- 23 p.c of agent respondents informed Intel that when they be taught their purchasers share their views, the agent then feels comfy weighing in with their very own opinions.
- However a share practically as giant — 18 p.c — will virtually all the time keep away from sharing political beliefs even once they assume their purchasers would possibly agree with them.
However this kind of consumer dialogue isn’t the one method the election has seeped into the brokerage expertise.
The broker-agent relationship
Dealer-owners and executives are much less more likely to report that politics is a typical matter of dialogue on the brokerage degree.
- About 1 in 3 brokerage leaders who replied to the Intel Index in September mentioned that their brokers sometimes carry up politics, vs. 1 in 7 who say their brokers virtually by no means carry up the subject.
Inside the partitions of the brokerage, nevertheless, executives and broker-owners are a lot much less more likely to maintain their mouths shut once they hear a political opinion from an agent that they disagree with.
- Solely 20 p.c of brokerage chief respondents informed Intel that they “almost always” maintain their opinions to themselves when an agent shares a political stance that they disagree with, in contrast with 48 p.c of brokers who mentioned the identical of their interactions with purchasers.
- An analogous share of brokerage leaders — 20 p.c — informed Intel that they really feel comfy weighing in to disagree with an agent’s political opinion, in comparison with the 2 p.c of brokers who say the identical of their consumer interactions.
This freer perspective is sensible. The broker-agent relationship is way more acquainted than the client-agent one. And when a political dialogue between agent and dealer turns south, it’s unlikely to jeopardize a deal from the dealer’s perspective.
Apparently, some brokers consider that this election has been much less disruptive on the brokerage degree than the competition in 2020.
- 11 p.c of brokerage leaders informed Intel that this election has positioned much less pressure on the broker-agent relationship than they keep in mind occurring in 2020.
- Nonetheless, these leaders are outnumbered by the 25 p.c who mentioned this election has brought about extra rigidity than final time, and the 63 p.c who mentioned it’s been about the identical.
These takeaways mirror normal situations each throughout the brokerage and out within the subject.
However Intel additionally discovered distinct variations in the best way that Trump supporters and Harris supporters interact with politics of their actual property enterprise.
2 brokerage experiences
Most brokers who replied to the Intel Index this month don’t have a transparent concept of the place their typical consumer falls on the political spectrum.
However of those that do, some patterns emerged within the survey.
Brokers who plan to vote for Harris are…
- …extra more likely to really feel out of step with their purchasers’ political opinions — 23 p.c of Harris supporters say they understand their purchasers are extra conservative than they’re, in comparison with solely 11 p.c of Trump supporters say they understand their purchasers are extra liberal than they’re.
- …and extra more likely to report an “unwelcome tension” when their purchasers carry up politics — 11 p.c of Harris supporters report feeling such rigidity, whereas solely 3 p.c of Trump supporters say the identical.
In the meantime, some patterns of habits with purchasers seemed to be extra prevalent amongst Trump-supporting brokers within the survey.
Brokers who plan to vote for Trump are…
- …extra more likely to say their purchasers carry up politics with them — 51 p.c of Trump supporters say this of their purchasers, in comparison with solely 45 p.c of Harris supporters. On a associated notice, solely 15 p.c of Trump supporters say their purchasers by no means carry up politics, in comparison with 26 p.c of Harris supporters who say the identical.
- …and extra more likely to report that political interactions with purchasers are getting extra tense — 31 p.c of Trump supporters say politics have been a supply of larger rigidity with purchasers in 2024 than they keep in mind from 2020, in comparison with 21 p.c of Harris supporters who report the identical expertise.
Subsequent week, Intel will go deeper into the outcomes of the Inman-Dig Insights shopper survey, analyzing consumer behaviors and attitudes towards the true property business by means of the lens of assist for Harris and assist for Trump.
Inman Intel Index methodology notes: This month’s Intel Index survey was carried out from Sept. 18 by means of Oct. 4 and acquired 441 responses. The complete Inman reader neighborhood was invited to take part, and a rotating, randomized number of neighborhood members was prompted to take part by e mail. Customers responded to a collection of questions associated to their self-identified nook of the true property business — together with actual property brokers, brokerage leaders, lenders and proptech entrepreneurs. Outcomes mirror the opinions of the engaged Inman neighborhood, which can not all the time match these of the broader actual property business. This survey is carried out month-to-month.
