Recruiting Younger Real Estate Agents vs. Top Producers: Which Does Your Team Need?

Every team leader I talk to has the same two-column list in their head.

Column one is the top producer. Proven. Expensive. Hard to land.

Column two is the newer agent. Hungry. Cheaper. Easier to get in the door.

So the question comes up on every call. Do we go after top producers, or do we put our energy into recruiting younger real estate agents?

The question is slightly off.

Age is not the variable. What your team can support right now is.

I am Blake Suddath, a real estate recruiter and recruiting coach and the co-founder of Inner Cirql Recruiting Systems with Tyler Lewis. This post covers what each type of hire needs from you, three questions that make the choice and how to run both without mixing up the pitch.

Recruiting Younger Real Estate Agents Is a Different Job From Recruiting Top Producers

Start with the word, because "younger" hides two things.

Sometimes a leader means young in age. Usually they mean newer. A 45-year-old on a career change is a new agent. A 28-year-old with five years of closings is not. Where someone is in the business matters more than their birthday, so that is how I use the word here.

These are two different recruiting jobs. They need a different pitch, a different first meeting and a different first year after the hire.

A top producer is deciding whether you are worth moving for. A newer agent is deciding whether you will teach them. Same market. Different question.

One thing is the same for both. "That is not the value proposition. You are the value proposition." Your tools, your brand and your leads are the supporting cast. The person across the table is sizing up the one they would work for.

What a Top Producer Needs From You

A top producer already has a business. They do not need you to build it.

They need three things. Room to grow, people at their level and a leader who shows up.

You are competing for a small group, and every brokerage in your market has the same list. According to Delta Media Group's 2026 Real Estate Leadership Report, covered by both HousingWire and Real Estate News, 63% of brokerage leaders call recruiting top agents a challenge. Real Estate News reported it was their biggest concern for a fourth consecutive year.

Most leaders on a small team assume they are too small to compete. I took that belief apart with a story. "When I had a team of 9, I hired 7 ICON agents to a 50-50 split. Within 90 days." "No leads."

The size of the team was not what they were buying. "Human beings leave other human beings. To be led. By other human beings." A producer at that level wants to spend time around people who produce the way they do, and the leader is the first of those people.

That is also why you do not recruit them with a deck. You recruit them with a conversation. How to run that room is in the first recruiting appointment, and what keeps them after they sign is covered in how to keep your top producer from leaving.

What a Newer Agent Needs From You

A newer agent needs something different, and it is more work.

They do not need you to stay out of their way. They need you to show them how.

I know where they are standing. "I got into real estate because I was about to lose my house." "I had popped open a MasterCard with like a $1,000 limit just to get my license." I started out taking friends to coffee and doing open houses "because I heard that's what you're supposed to do."

Nobody had shown me what to do. That is where most newer agents are the day they join you.

I made the mistake from the other side too. I handed out leads and called it support. "They don't know how to set an appointment." "They don't know what to say on the phone." "And I never showed them."

So if you recruit newer agents, you are signing up for training, structure and real hours on a calendar. Either yours or a named person's. A newer agent without that does not turn into a top producer. They turn into a line in your retention rate.

It helps to ask what they want. When I did, "most of them just wanted to build their brand and learn AI to get more leads. So I built the things that would help them sell more houses." That became the reason agents picked the team. It starts on day one with onboarding that proves what you promised.

You are not alone on this one. HousingWire reported that recruiting younger agents is a challenge for 48% of the leaders in that same Delta survey, and Real Estate News said roughly half.

Who You Are Recruiting From

Before you pick, look at the pool.

According to the National Association of REALTORS 2026 Member Profile, reported by NAR, HousingWire and RISMedia, the typical REALTOR is 57 years old and reports 13 years of experience, up from 12 last year.

Most of the agents in your market have been in the business a while. That is why who do we go after deserves a decision and not a default. Whichever lane you choose, you are speaking to a market that has heard a lot of pitches.

Three Questions That Decide It

What can your team teach right now? If you have a weekly meeting, an onboarding day, a training library and one person who owns all three, you can take newer agents. If you do not, the best you can do is hand them leads, and you know how that ends.

Who would a top producer sit next to today? If the room has nobody at their level, you are it. That means your calendar has to show it. "If you're attracting part-time agents, it's because you're part-time into your leadership." A full time producer will not join a part-time leader.

What can the business carry? A newer agent costs time and may take a while to produce. A top producer costs a better offer. Check your split structure and whether the team is actually profitable before you commit to either.

Say yes to the first question and newer agents are a fair lane. Say yes to the second and go after top producers. Most teams can do one today and the other in six months. Pick the one you can serve now, and build toward the other. If you are still early, starting a team covers who to hire first.

Run Two Pipelines, Not One

You are not choosing forever. You are choosing for this quarter.

Teams that want both run two pipelines. Different outreach, different first meeting, different promise. A top producer hears about peers, growth and you. A newer agent hears about training, structure and the weekly rhythm.

The mistake is using one pitch for both. A top producer who hears we will teach you everything feels talked down to. A newer agent who hears we will stay out of your way is lost by week three.

One filter holds for both lanes. "They've got to want to grow." And one I will not bend on. "If you're a jerk, I don't want to work with you. I don't care if you sell a thousand homes. Or you run a hundred person team."

When the mix works, it works for a reason. The producer in the room sets the standard that newer agents copy. The newer agents bring energy the room feeds on. On launch day, new hires go straight into the company meeting, where "they'll feed off of that energy while also you're welcoming them into the new community."

Referrals cross both lanes. In 2025, 78 of the 115 agents hired were referred by producing agents I had recruited. A producer you recruit is also where your next hire comes from.

Where AI and Your CRM Fit

Tag every recruit in your CRM with a lane, either producer or newer, plus a stage, a next step and a date. Then you can see where each lane gets stuck.

Track the same recruiting KPIs for each lane separately: conversations, first appointments, second meetings and hires. If one lane converts and the other does not, that is your answer about what the team is ready for.

AI helps with the writing around it. It can draft a follow up that speaks to a producer's growth question or a newer agent's training question, from the notes you took in the meeting. It does not run the meeting. That part is yours.

The weekly rhythm behind all of this is the Territory Takeover System. The agent's side of this decision, what to look for when choosing a team, is on TheInnerCirql.com in how to join a real estate team. The neutral, data version of this post is the reference page Should Real Estate Teams Recruit Top Producers or Younger Agents? For the producer side in depth, see How Do Real Estate Teams Keep Their Top Producing Agents? For the recruiting overview, start on the recruiting page.

The Bottom Line

Age is the wrong question.

Recruit the agent your team can serve today. Top producers need you and a room. Newer agents need you and a plan. Say it to yourself in those words, check the three questions, then run each lane with its own pitch.

If you want help deciding which lane your team is ready for, start with one call. Schedule Your Call.

FAQ

A real estate team should recruit the type of agent it can support today. Top producers need a leader with time for them and peers at their level, while newer agents need training, structure and someone who owns both. Recruiting top agents is a challenge for 63% of brokerage leaders, according to Delta Media Group's 2026 Real Estate Leadership Report as covered by HousingWire, so the decision deserves a deliberate answer.

Recruiting younger real estate agents is worth it when the team can train them and has a named owner for that training. Without it, a newer agent usually gets leads and no instruction, which is how a team ends up with high turnover and a weak retention rate. HousingWire reported that recruiting younger agents is a challenge for 48% of brokerage leaders in the same Delta survey, so most teams are working on it.

A small team can recruit top producers because producers join a leader and a room, not a headcount. Blake Suddath has described hiring 7 ICON agents to a 50-50 split within 90 days when his team was 9 people, with no leads offered. The team's size was not the pitch. The people they would be working alongside were.

You recruit younger real estate agents by finding out what they are trying to build and showing them the training that gets them there. Blake Suddath has said most of the agents he talked to wanted to build their brand and learn AI to get more leads, so he built training around that. Then you prove it in the first 30 days with onboarding, a weekly meeting and one-on-ones that happen on schedule.

The typical REALTOR is 57 years old and reports 13 years of experience, according to the National Association of REALTORS 2026 Member Profile, released June 25, 2026. HousingWire and RISMedia reported the same figures. The experience figure was up from 12 years in the prior survey. Most agents you recruit from have been in the business a while.

You can recruit both at the same time if you run two separate pipelines with different pitches. A top producer needs to hear about peers, growth and the leader. A newer agent needs to hear about training, structure and the weekly rhythm. Using one pitch for both loses each of them, and tracking the conversations, appointments and hires for each lane separately shows which one your team is actually ready for.