Here’s the advice Mauricio Umansky gives agents when the market gets tough

I have worked through markets that most agents today have not seen.

Rate shocks, inventory swings, buyer hesitation, seller denial. Each cycle has its own character, but the challenges agents face in them are usually the same. And so is the advice I find myself giving.

I have been through enough cycles to know that tough markets do not ruin careers. Unpreparedness does.

Here is what I tell our agents at The Agency when conditions get hard.

Stop waiting. Start moving

The most common mistake I see is agents going passive. They tell themselves they are being strategic. They are waiting for rates to drop, inventory to loosen, buyers to get off the fence. What they are actually doing is losing ground.

Nobody hands you a market. You go build one.

That means making calls you have been putting off, revisiting relationships that have gone quiet, and staying visible in your market when everyone else is pulling back. The agents who keep moving during slow periods are not just surviving. They are setting themselves up to dominate when things turn. And things always turn.

The clients who are hardest to work with right now need you the most

Hesitant buyers. Sellers anchored to last year’s prices. People who want to move but are scared to make the wrong call in an uncertain market.

These are not obstacles. They are your business.

In tough markets, clients go back to who they know and trust. They are no longer taking chances or relying on informal connections. They are looking for experienced advisors they can rely on.

The relationships you built when the market was strong and the reputation you established matter most right now. This is when trust pays off, but you cannot guide someone through a hard decision if you have not done the work yourself.

This is the moment to study your market more deeply than you ever have. Know the comps. Know the trends. Know what buyers are actually doing versus what they are saying. The agents who become students of the market right now are the ones clients will seek out and remember.

A shifting market separates agents who can only close easy deals from agents who can actually guide people through hard decisions. Learn to sit with a nervous client and give them clarity instead of pressure. That skill is worth more than any market condition. And unlike the market, it is entirely within your control.

Confidence is a choice, and clients can feel which way you went

I am not talking about false optimism. Telling someone the market is fine when it is not will cost you your credibility.

What I mean is that uncertainty is not a reason to show up shaky. Clients are already unsure. They need someone in the room who has a point of view, can explain what is happening, and can help them make a decision they feel good about. That person needs to be you. If you walk in rattled, they will find someone who does not.

Confidence is something you build before the meeting, not during it. Study the local data so you can speak to it without hesitation. Anticipate the objections you are likely to hear and think through your responses in advance. Debrief after conversations that did not go well so you can learn from them. Preparation is what turns anxiety into authority, and clients can feel the difference the moment you walk in.

Passion is the thing that actually keeps you in this business

I did not get into real estate because it seemed like a stable career path. I got into it because I genuinely love it. I love the people. I love the complexity of a difficult deal. I love building something, whether that is a transaction, a relationship, or a company. That has never changed regardless of what the market was doing, and I think that is the reason I am still here.

The agents I have seen thrive through hard times share that quality. They are not grinding through the work. They are engaged by it. If you can get back to that feeling, even a sliver of it, it will carry you further than any strategy or script ever could.

The habits you build right now will define the next version of your career

Tough markets strip everything down to fundamentals. The agents who come out the other side stronger are usually the ones who used the slower period to get disciplined. They worked on their process, deepened their relationships, and built habits that do not depend on perfect conditions to function.

For me, the habits that have mattered most throughout my career are simple ones:

1. Putting in the hours without watching the clock, because when you genuinely love what you do, the work does not feel like work.
2. Building relationships with real intention, not as a networking strategy but because the people in this business and the clients you serve actually matter to you.
3. Treating every connection as a real friendship rather than a transaction.
4. And showing up every single day with the same energy regardless of what the market is doing, because passion is not something you switch on when conditions are good. It is what carries you when they are not.

There is no shortcut to that. But there is a choice.

The agents who treat this moment as something to endure will endure it. The ones who treat it as something to use will come out ahead. That gap tends to stick.

The post Here’s the advice Mauricio Umansky gives agents when the market gets tough appeared first on Inman.