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Brad Inman revealed that he’s embraced longevity in the past year, even enlisting the assistance of a Chinese healer.
One of Inman’s new morning routines includes eating more fruits and vegetables — and cockadoodledoo-ing at the sun, like a rooster.
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As he demonstrated, to the audience at Inman Connect Las Vegas on Wednesday, he encouraged others to try it — but without much success, based on the quiet response.
Regardless of that sleepy reaction, Inman was excited to translate that same kind of morning energy to navigating the industry’s biggest hurdles today — and hoped the audience would join him for the ride.
“I’m going to try to be honest about what I see happening, but I also want to give you the hope, excitement and energy that I have when we get through this perfect storm,” Inman said.
Inman noted that, even though many of the factors plaguing the industry right now — high mortgage rates, low inventory, commission lawsuits, NAR leadership disruptions — are largely out of agents’ control, many may still have the tendency right now to be hard on themselves about navigating this “perfect storm.”
Inman guided the audience to pat themselves on the back for surviving the recent industry difficulties. This time, many took him up on the opportunity.
“You deserve it!” Inman declared.
“Life isn’t always perfect, even for those of us who are perpetually optimistic.”
Inman detailed how he went through his own perfect storm recently, facing a trifecta of setbacks, including some bad business news, the deaths of some close friends and dealing with a new health issue.
“At a moment when I thought everything was perfect, nothing would go wrong, I had foolishly persuaded myself, ‘this is so great,’” Inman told the audience.
One of Inman’s friends who had passed away was Jennifer Berman, a name well-known within the industry for her leadership, particularly in the luxury space, and her participation at Inman Connect events over the years.
“She was a force. She was a positive force, no matter the circumstances,” Inman said. “So let’s give a round of applause for all the generous contributions Jennifer Berman gave to the real estate industry.”
The three setbacks, though unpleasant, helped Inman learn how to tackle such unexpected challenges in the future. And he encouraged agents in the audience to bring these tactics to the challenges they’re facing in the industry now.
With his business setback, Inman was decisive. When he faced an unexpected health problem, he embraced self-care. And when his friends passed away suddenly, he took the time to be present — something he had neglected as a younger man.
“With my friends dying, I did something I didn’t do when I was younger,” Inman said. “I wasn’t present … This time, I leaned into my grief, and I really tried hard to be present.”
But perfect storms have touched down in other parts of the world today too, Inman noted, pointing to the recent volatility in U.S. politics.
“In three-and-a-half weeks, we’ve had three historic events happen in the political world,” Inman said.
Those events included the epic debate fail between President Biden and former President Trump, the assassination attempt on former President Trump and the decision by President Biden to pull out of the presidential race.
“So we are stricken with anxiety and it’s very, very difficult,” Inman said. “Someone was saying last night at dinner that it’s affecting homebuyers’ confidence to even buy a house.”
In real estate, the perfect storm that’s been brewing for months is comprised of a frozen market, driven by high rates, low supply and a lack of affordability; the class action commission lawsuits; and a lack of leadership.
“We had the commission lawsuits, and we also had, at a time when most needed, a lack of leadership,” Inman said. “The leaders that we may have depended on to guide us through were all being sued. And the lawyers put duct tape on all our CEOs. And then the mothership, the National Association of Realtors, had a series of scandals, and all kinds of changes in leadership.”
But Inman also noted that all of these challenges seem to be moving in the right direction. Rates show signs of dropping in the next few years, inventory is finally starting to grow with the construction of more homes and new zoning laws in select cities that allow for ADUs are opening up more affordable housing.
But Inman encouraged those in the audience and the industry at large to put their thinking caps on to come up with even more solutions.
“We have so many underutilized structures,” Inman said. “What if we devised a system to get all that land, all those buildings and just gave it to the public, and said ‘all you have to do is fix this house, clean it up, and go to town.’ What we need now is a huge initiative.”
“We have thought big in the past when it comes to affordable housing; we can do it again,” he added. “Let’s get NAR straightened out so that we can [use] their force to get this done.”
Inman also expressed admiration for Kevin Sears, NAR’s new president, who spoke at ICLV on Tuesday.
“Let’s talk about leadership,” Inman said. “I don’t know about you, but that Kevin Sears was impressive. He was here. He was present. I’ve gotten up here too many times and trashed NAR. I am rooting for the new CEO (who came from the newspaper business, which I think is great) and I am rooting for Kevin.”
On Thursday, Inman noted, Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will speak at ICLV about real estate policy and more. Inman teased that Kennedy will lay out his own housing plan and that everyone in the audience should be thinking about their own ideas for creating housing solutions.
“Think big [and] act big,” Inman encouraged. “Because the goddamn problem is very big.”
Inman went on to share how he believes the class action lawsuits are going to result in the commission pie being less per agent. But, because the costs for consumers are going to be less as well, Inman surmised that that will translate into more transactions — and less experienced or eager agents will also likely drop out of the industry.
“For the eager, the opportunistic, the hardworking, the clever, there’s going to be a way to make even more money as a real estate agent,” he said.
The innovation to come out of all these challenges will be the “biggest win” for the industry, Inman added. And even though he now calls the portal wars the “potty wars,” he believes the competition between big players like Zillow and Homes.com will just make the process of looking for a home better for the consumer at the end of the day.
When it comes to AI, Inman also said that he expects that it will improve humankind “in ways that we cannot imagine,” and it will ultimately make buying and selling a house easier on consumers and seem like a more positive experience — something that will be good for agents, too.
In closing, Inman expressed his gratitude to the ICLV audience.
“I am just grateful for seeing people like you here, wanting to learn, connecting, and I know you’re going to come through the perfect storm,” he said.
“Lastly, remember, stop beating yourself up.”
“Thank you; I love you.”
Email Lillian Dickerson
