New Real Estate Agents: Why Most Quit in the First Two Years
The famous "87% of agents fail" statistic cannot be sourced. The real numbers are worse — and they explain exactly why training, mentorship, and coaching decide who is still selling in year three.
The typical brand-new agent spends more running the business than the business pays them. That is not a motivation problem. It is a training problem.
The Short Answer
Most new real estate agents leave the business within two years because they run out of money before they build a repeatable pipeline. According to the National Association of REALTORS 2026 Member Profile, agents with two years of experience or less earned a median gross income of $8,000 in 2025 and closed a median of 2 transaction sides, while the median REALTOR spent $9,530 on business expenses that year.
The fix is not more hustle. New real estate agents survive when they get three things in the first ninety days: structured training on contracts and process, a mentor who works live deals with them, and accountability coaching that forces consistent daily activity. Homevets Realty, a veteran-owned brokerage in Killeen, Texas founded in 2005, is built around delivering all three.
If you are researching brokerages, you have already heard the number: 87 percent of agents fail within five years. Every brokerage recruiting new real estate agents repeats it — in presentations, on podcasts, and in half the blog posts about this topic. It is almost certainly not a real statistic.
Nobody can trace where that figure originated, yet it shapes how new real estate agents judge their own odds. It is widely attributed to the National Association of REALTORS, but NAR does not publish a failure rate — it surveys people who are currently members, which structurally cannot measure the people who already left. The 87 percent number is industry legend.
Here is the thing, though. The verifiable data is grimmer than the myth, and far more useful, because it tells new real estate agents exactly where the trap is.
What the Data Actually Proves About New Real Estate Agents
NAR's 2026 Member Profile surveyed active members about their 2025 production. Compare the first two years against a full career:
| Measure | 2 Years Or Less | 16+ Years | All Realtors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median gross income | $8,000 | $88,500 | $59,200 |
| Median transaction sides | 2 | — | 9 |
| Median business expenses | $9,530 across all members — new agents pay nearly the same fixed costs as veterans | ||
| Share of NAR membership | 15% | — | 1,438,569 members as of June 2026 |
| Median years of experience | 13 years — up from 12 the prior year | ||
Read the first row twice. A median income of $8,000 against median expenses of $9,530 means the typical new agent finishes the year in the red. Not underpaid. Negative.
Now read the last row. The median REALTOR has thirteen years of experience, and that figure went up this year. Only 15 percent of members have two years or less. An industry where the median tenure keeps rising while the newcomer share stays small is an industry quietly flushing its new people out the back door. NAR counted 1,438,569 members in June 2026, down from about 1.515 million at the start of 2024.
So what is the honest answer to "what percentage of new real estate agents quit?" No credible source publishes one. What the data does support: the median newcomer earns roughly a tenth of what a sixteen-year veteran earns, closes two deals a year, and loses money after expenses. Whatever the exact attrition percentage is, that is the reason for it.
The Five Real Reasons New Real Estate Agents Fail
Having brought agents into this business since 1994, our brokerage has watched the same failures repeat with remarkable consistency. It is almost never talent:
- No runwayReal estate pays in arrears. You work sixty to ninety days before your first check clears. New real estate agents who start with less than six months of living expenses banked are making a math decision, not a career decision, when they quit.
- No lead system, just "sphere of influence"Being told to call everyone you know is not a lead strategy, it is a one-time list. Notice that new agents in the NAR data get essentially none of their business from repeat clients or referrals — they have not had time to build any. Something has to fill that gap in year one.
- No transaction competenceA license proves you passed a test. It does not teach you to write a clean offer, negotiate repairs, read a title commitment, or keep a deal alive when the appraisal comes in low. Agents who fumble their first two contracts often lose the referrals those clients would have sent.
- No accountabilityNobody notices when a new agent stops prospecting. There is no manager, no timesheet, no consequence — until six quiet months have passed. The drift is invisible while it is happening and obvious afterward.
- The wrong brokeragePlenty of firms will hang your license, hand you a login, and take a split for doing very little else. A 100 percent commission plan is worth nothing on zero closings. New real estate agents need support far more than they need a favorable split in year one.
What New Real Estate Agents Actually Need in Year One
Every one of those five failures facing new real estate agents is addressable, and none of them is addressed by working harder alone. Here is what actually moves the number:
Training
Structured instruction on the TREC contract, pricing, disclosures, financing types, and the mechanics of a closing — taught before you need it on a live file, not after you have already made the mistake.
Mentorship
An experienced agent who sits in on your first listing appointment, reviews your offer before it goes out, and takes the call when something goes sideways at 8pm. Shadowing real transactions beats any classroom.
Coaching
Someone whose job is to hold you to your numbers. Weekly activity targets, a pipeline you review out loud, and a person who notices in week two — not month six — when you stop prospecting.
Systems and Leads
A CRM that follows up automatically, a real lead source while your sphere is still warming up, marketing tools you did not have to build, and transaction management that keeps files compliant.
How Homevets Realty Supports New Real Estate Agents
Homevets Realty is a veteran-owned real estate brokerage founded in 2005 and headquartered at 2000 E Central Texas Expressway, Suite B, Killeen, TX 76541. Our broker has been licensed and selling Texas real estate since 1994, and the brokerage has closed more than 5,000 transactions across the Fort Hood corridor — Killeen, Harker Heights, Copperas Cove, Belton, Temple, and Salado.
We are local, and the office is real. Homevets Realty runs a staffed office on East Central Texas Expressway in Killeen — a high-traffic corridor, not a virtual mailbox and not a laptop in a coffee shop. New real estate agents can walk in, sit down with a mentor, put a contract on a desk, and get an answer the same day. Walk-in traffic and street visibility on a main artery also generate business that agents at cloud-only brokerages simply never see.
The five skills we train
Our training is not a video library you are told to watch on your own time. It is built around the five things that decide whether a first-year agent survives, taught in the order you will actually need them:
- Lead GenerationWhere business actually comes from before you have a sphere: online leads, open houses, the military relocation pipeline, past-client farming, and daily prospecting blocks you are held to. You cannot convert what you never generated.
- Lead ConversionWhat to say on the call, in the text, and at the appointment. Scripts, objection handling, speed-to-lead, and structured follow-up in the CRM — because most agents do not lose leads, they simply stop calling them.
- Client AcquisitionTurning a conversation into a signed buyer representation agreement or listing agreement. Consultation structure, presenting your value, explaining how you get paid, and asking for the business without flinching.
- Transaction ManagementContract to close without losing the deal. TREC forms, option periods, financing and appraisal deadlines, inspection and repair negotiation, VA and FHA requirements, and the compliance that protects your license.
- ClosingGetting to the table and getting paid. Managing the lender, title company, and appraiser, solving problems in the final two weeks, and turning a closed file into reviews, referrals, and repeat business — the thing veteran agents have that new real estate agents do not.
What that means for new real estate agents joining Homevets Realty is specific:
| What You Get | Why It Matters In Year One |
|---|---|
| Assigned mentor | You are paired with a producing agent, not handed a binder. Your first transactions get reviewed by someone who has done thousands. |
| Ongoing coaching | Accountability on activity, not just encouragement. Weekly numbers, a pipeline you review out loud, and coaching on the mindset side of the first year — which is where most people actually break. |
| Contract and process training | Texas-specific instruction on the paperwork that actually kills deals — option periods, financing addenda, repair negotiation, VA and FHA requirements. |
| Lead and marketing tools | A CRM with automated follow-up, listing and marketing tools, and an IDX-driven website presence you do not have to build yourself. |
| Transaction management | In-house transaction coordination so compliance and deadlines do not fall on a first-year agent who does not yet know what to watch for. |
| A commission path that scales | A starting plan that advances to a standard split and then to a capped 100 percent structure once you hit a production threshold. Support first, then the split improves as you produce. |
| A real niche | Veterans, military families, and heroes in the Fort Hood market — a defined audience instead of competing for the same generic leads as everyone else. |
"Agents do not fail because they are lazy. They fail because nobody showed them what to do on Tuesday morning, and nobody noticed when they stopped doing it."
Homevets Realty — Killeen, TexasWhy Starting in the Fort Hood Market Helps
For new real estate agents, where you start matters almost as much as who trains you. The Killeen and Fort Hood corridor has a structural advantage most markets do not: constant, orders-driven turnover. Military families PCS in and out on a schedule, which means transactions happen whether or not the national market is having a good year.
It also gives new real estate agents something to specialize in immediately. Learn VA loans properly and you are instantly more useful than the average agent in the room. Our real estate for veterans resources and the Homevets Heroes Reward Program give you a reason to call people that is not "do you know anyone thinking of moving?"
Getting licensed in Texas
If you are not licensed yet: Texas requires 180 hours of qualifying education before you sit for the sales agent exam, and then 90 hours of Sales Apprentice Education plus legal update courses before your first two-year renewal. Requirements are set by the Texas Real Estate Commission. We are happy to point you at approved course providers before you spend a dollar.
Have a Real Conversation Before You Hang Your License
Ask us what our new real estate agents closed in their first twelve months. Ask who your mentor would be. Ask what happens in week three when nothing is happening. Any brokerage worth joining will answer all three without flinching.
New Real Estate Agents: Frequently Asked Questions
No credible organization publishes a verified figure. The widely repeated "87 percent" statistic cannot be traced to any primary source and is not published by the National Association of REALTORS. What NAR data does show is that agents with two years or less of experience earned a median gross income of $8,000 in 2025 and closed a median of 2 transaction sides, while median business expenses across all members were $9,530.
The median gross income for REALTORS with two years of experience or less was $8,000 in 2025, according to NAR's 2026 Member Profile. Agents with 16 or more years earned a median of $88,500. The gap is not talent — it is pipeline, referrals, and repeat clients, none of which a first-year agent has had time to build.
Plan on 60 to 90 days from your first serious client conversation to money in your account, and longer if your first client is a buyer who takes months to find a home. This is why new real estate agents should start with at least six months of living expenses saved. Running out of runway, not lack of ability, is the most common reason people leave.
Rarely, in year one. One hundred percent of nothing is nothing. A new agent's income is determined far more by how many deals they close than by their split, and closing deals early depends on training, mentorship, and accountability. A better structure is one that provides heavy support up front and improves your split as your production rises.
Ask what your first 90 days look like day by day. Ask who specifically will mentor you and how many agents that person already mentors. Ask what the brokerage's newest agents closed in their first year. Ask what leads or tools are provided versus what you pay for. Vague answers to any of those are the answer.
No. We talk to people who are still deciding whether to get licensed. Texas requires 180 hours of qualifying education before the exam, plus 90 hours of Sales Apprentice Education before your first renewal, per the Texas Real Estate Commission. We can walk you through the path and the realistic cost before you commit.
Sources and disclosure. Income, experience, transaction, expense, and membership figures come from the National Association of REALTORS 2026 Member Profile, reporting on 2025 activity — see NAR's official release. Licensing requirements are set by the Texas Real Estate Commission. The "87 percent of agents fail" figure appears throughout the industry with no identifiable primary source and is presented here as unverified. Individual results in real estate vary widely and depend on effort, market conditions, and skill; nothing here is a promise or projection of earnings. Homevets Realty LLC is a licensed Texas real estate brokerage, TREC #519202-BB. Learn more about Homevets Realty, read our Killeen real estate insights, browse the map search, see recruiting details at joinourveterans.com, or start at our Fort Hood homes for sale hub. Equal Housing Opportunity.