10 Real Pain Points Agents Are Facing Today and How to Push Through

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A tactical guide to staying resilient, relevant, and revenue-ready in today’s market

 

This market is no joke. Fewer transactions, more competition, higher pressure. It’s enough to make even seasoned pros second-guess their next move. But here’s the good news: you’re not alone, there is a lot of untapped opportunity, and there are ways to move forward with confidence.

 

Here’s our breakdown of the top 10 challenges agents are facing right now, plus a few key strategies to help you take back control and keep growing.

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1. Inconsistent Income & Financial Stress​

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Closings are down. Timelines are long. And that commission you were counting on may now take 3–4 months to hit your bank account. The result? It’s harder to forecast income, plan your spending, and build real financial stability.

What you can do:

• Reconnect with past clients and sphere through direct, value-based messages.

• Spend 30 focused minutes a day on warm leads, especially those from the past 6-12 months. (This market isn’t giving us the privilege of quick wins…that means you can’t ignore the importance of nurturing your pipeline.)

• Truly understand your market. Educate yourself (and your clients) with clean, simple data. Resources like Keeping Current Matters make it easier to break down relevant information and avoid clickbait headlines.

• Focus on what you can control. Don’t try to boil the ocean—get clear on what drives revenue and do that consistently well.

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2. More Competition, Fewer Opportunities

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Fewer transactions means more agents fighting over less. And with rising pressure to produce, even good agents are struggling to keep up. The speed at which you respond, follow up, and deliver service can make or break your business.

What you can do:

• Audit your responsiveness. How fast are you getting back to new leads? How long do current and past clients wait for a reply? If the answer is "too long," it may be time for help—whether that’s automation, a virtual assistant, or a lead concierge like the one built into BoldTrail.

• Personalize everything—emails, video messages, texts. It’s not about being everywhere on video; it’s about being you and showing up with clarity and consistency.

• Stand out by going the extra mile with service. What do you offer that others don’t? Make that visible.

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3. Burnout & Mental Fatigue

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Real estate is emotional—and this market demands even more time, patience, and energy than usual. Many agents are stretched thin trying to maintain client service, business development, and a personal life. The burnout is real.

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What you can do:

• Use a simple Eisenhower Matrix to identify where you’re spending time that’s not paying off. Eliminate, automate, or delegate the low-return stuff.

• Use AI to streamline your life, not just your business. Think: meal planning, workouts, scheduling, even auto-drafting responses.

• Create reusable templates for follow-up messages so you’re not rewriting every response from scratch. (Your CRM should be doing this for you! Make sure you’re leveraging custom-built automated Smart Drips.)

• Consider a few time-blocking techniques that can help you (A) protect your mental health and (B) show up better for your clients when you’re “on”.

  • Schedule one “no-client” day per month to recharge—and protect it.

  • Use the "2-hour power block" strategy: Block 2 hours every morning for income-producing activities only (no emails, no admin, no social media). Protect this time like a client appointment.

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4. Lack of Clarity & Direction

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What used to work—door knocking, open houses, cold calls—may not be working now. But with so many voices shouting “do this,” “try that,” it’s easy to get paralyzed and jump from tactic to tactic.

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What you can do:

• Review your recent activity: What’s actually producing results? Are open houses, reels, cold calls still working for you?

  • Track your last 20 leads: Where did they come from and which ones converted? Stop doing anything that hasn't produced a lead in the past 90 days.

• Track your data. You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Know your conversion rates, lead sources, and cost per deal.

• Join a mastermind, coaching group, or Facebook community to share insights, strategies, and motivation. A simple recurring 7AM Monday call with a peer can create traction.

• Use powerful, AI-driven systems that not only improve the client experience but also surface real-time insights into lead activity, so you can work where there’s real momentum.

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5. Sellers with Unrealistic Expectations

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Sellers still think their home is worth what it was two years ago. They’ve read the headlines, but they haven’t felt the market shift. This gap creates tension and often leads to overpriced listings that sit.

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What you can do:

• Lead with data, not emotion. Use visual CMAs and dynamic market reports to guide the conversation.

• Set expectations early. Talk about pricing strategy during your first meeting to avoid surprise reductions later.

• Send regular market updates to active sellers to keep them grounded in reality.

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6. Buyers Who Are Hesitant or Priced Out

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Buyers are cautious, and for good reason. High interest rates, economic uncertainty, and affordability concerns are causing many to sit on the sidelines—even if they’re still browsing online.

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What you can do:

• Set up search alerts with light, helpful commentary to stay relevant without being pushy.

• Build educational drip campaigns around rates, affordability strategies, and market trends.

• Re-engage cold leads with personalized follow-up. BoldTrail users, for example, can automate this and set triggers based on behavior.

  • Tip: Use ChatGPT Prompts to Help Role Play Objection Handling. Consider Using these 5 prompts:

    1. “Pretend you’re a buyer worried about high interest rates. Challenge me on why now is still a smart time to buy.”

    2. “Act as a seller convinced their home is worth more than market value. Push back when I suggest a lower list price.”

    3. “You’re a buyer on the fence because you think home prices will drop next year. Ask me why you shouldn’t wait.”

    4. “Play the role of a client who wants to ‘just browse for now’ and won’t commit to a showing. Make me earn the appointment.”

    5. “You’re a seller who’s hesitant to list because you’re worried there won’t be anywhere to go. Push me to help solve that.”

 

Remember: It’s not about pushing buyers to move—it’s about staying present until the timing is right.

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7. Tech Overload & Tool Fatigue

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Many agents have more tools than they know what to do with—CRMs, websites, dialers, marketing platforms, AI tools. But instead of helping, they’re overwhelming.

What you can do:

• Trim your tech stack. What are the 2-3 platforms that really move your business forward? Consolidate the rest. Check out this tech consolidation calculator and see how much you could save by scaling smarter.

• Work from a central dashboard. BoldTrail users, for example, manage follow-up, lead tracking, and marketing in one place.

• Automate repetitive work—follow-up reminders, status updates, task assignment.

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8. Isolation & Lack of Support

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The solo grind is real. With hybrid offices and fewer team touchpoints, many agents feel disconnected, unsupported, and out of sync.

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What you can do:

• Find (or create) a weekly check-in rhythm with 2-3 other agents for shared accountability.

• Plug into industry communities where ideas and encouragement flow freely.

• Don’t just look for a team—look for structure, training, and consistent communication.

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9. Uncertainty About the Future

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Rates, inflation, elections, AI—agents are facing an overwhelming number of “unknowns.” It can feel impossible to plan ahead, or even feel confident about the next 90 days.

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What you can do:

• Focus on what won't change: Relationships. Local knowledge. Speed-to-service. Communication. Follow-up. These fundamentals have survived every market shift and will continue to differentiate great agents.

• Consider expanding into some ancillary services and/or additional revenue streams that make your business more “future-proof.”

• Hone in on your niche. It may feel counterintuitive and you’ll be tempted to be “all things to all people” but the agents who are doing the majority of transactions today have a clear brand and target market.

• Don’t sit back—lean in. While others are hesitating, now is your chance to level up your systems and gain market share.

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10. Pressure to Do It All

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You’re expected to be a marketer, negotiator, counselor, transaction coordinator, and CEO—every day. The pressure to perform in every area of your business can lead to decision fatigue and burnout.

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What you can do:

• Create a “stop doing” list. Delegate or automate anything that doesn’t require your voice or personal expertise.

• Prioritize your time around what drives revenue and relationships.

• Let systems (like BoldTrail) carry the load for admin, marketing, and client tracking, so you can focus where it counts.

  • Use a performance dashboard like BoldTrail's ‘Vitals’ Performance Dashboard to track your key metrics in real-time. It shows you exactly where to focus your energy based on what's actually moving your business forward, not just what feels busy.

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You don’t need to do everything. You need to do the right things, consistently.

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This market may be challenging, but it’s also clarifying.

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The agents who are moving forward aren’t necessarily doing more, they’re doing what matters. They’re cutting the noise, focusing on fundamentals, and building systems that support their goals.

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That might mean rethinking your daily rhythm, joining a mastermind, getting help with your follow-up, or simplifying your tech stack.

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Whatever you do, keep moving. The path forward isn’t perfect—but it is possible.

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Want to see how BoldTrail is helping agents simplify and scale in today’s market?
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