# Nick Good — Full Content Index > Nick Good is a 22-year DFW real estate operator, Amazon best-selling author of Six Figure Agent, and host of the podcast This Week in DFW Real Estate. He leads The Good Home Team powered by PLACE at eXp Realty, co-founded the Residual Agent Network, and founded six operating companies across real estate, property management, home services, and AI-powered systems. Based in McKinney TX with a team office in Plano TX. This file is a complete, machine-readable dump of the primary written content on nickgood.com for use by AI systems (llms-full.txt convention). For a shorter link index, see https://nickgood.com/llms.txt. ## Key Facts - Location: McKinney TX and Plano TX (DFW). - Brokerage: eXp Realty. Team: The Good Home Team powered by PLACE. - 2025 verified production: 162 sides, $65,602,070 in volume (RealTrends Verified). - RealTrends Verified: #1 team in Plano TX by volume and sides, #31 in Texas by volume (2025 sales data). - NAHREP 2026: #45 Top 100 Teams nationally, #57 by Volume, #50 Top 50 by Buyer Transactions. - Book: Six Figure Agent, an Amazon Best Seller. - Podcast: This Week in DFW Real Estate. - 220+ agent partners across 15+ states. Six operating companies. ## Companies - The Good Home Team (https://buythegoodway.com): Real estate team powered by PLACE at eXp Realty. - Homeward Property Management (https://homewarddfw.com): Property management across DFW. - Pro Care Home Solutions (https://procaredfw.com): Home services in McKinney TX and the surrounding area. - Utility Direct Concierge (https://utility-direct.com): Utility setup and concierge service. - Residual Agent Network (https://getresidualagent.com): eXp Realty revenue share network for agents. - Deep Blue Capital: Investing and acquisitions arm. ## Agent Roadmap - The Agent Roadmap (https://nickgood.com/agents): Season-by-season guidance for real estate agents: find your season and your next move, with the plans, scripts and systems Nick Good's DFW team uses. - Season 1: The Blank Calendar (https://nickgood.com/agents/new-real-estate-agent): A first-90-days plan for brand-new Texas agents: daily schedule, sphere scripts and 10 Contacts a Day. - Season 2: The Ceiling (https://nickgood.com/agents/break-your-production-ceiling): How stuck producers break their production ceiling with numbers, daily habits and one leverage hire. - Season 3: The Tipping Point (https://nickgood.com/agents/build-a-real-estate-team): When and how to make your first leverage hire and build a real estate team. - Season 4: The Weight (https://nickgood.com/agents/real-estate-team-owner): Team owner economics: cost of sales, recruiting and the real math of leading agents. - Season 5: The Treadmill (https://nickgood.com/agents/brokerage-owner): The recruiting treadmill, overhead, and a better model at eXp Realty. - Season 6: The Reset (https://nickgood.com/agents/income-beyond-commissions): Building income beyond commissions through revenue share, investing and ownership. ## Blog Posts ### What DFW Real Estate Agents Need to Know About Taxes and Write-Offs URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/real-estate-agent-taxes-dfw Published: 2026-10-03 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: Agent Playbook, DFW Real Estate, Agent Taxes Summary: What DFW real estate agents need to know about taxes: self-employment tax, quarterly payments, the deductions that save the most, and why a CPA matters. What DFW Real Estate Agents Need to Know About Taxes and Write-Offs The most important thing DFW real estate agents need to know about taxes is that you are self-employed, which means no one withholds taxes for you, you owe self-employment tax, and you likely need to pay quarterly, but you also get access to significant business deductions. Handled well, smart tax planning keeps thousands of dollars in your pocket every year. Handled poorly, it leads to painful surprises. After 22 years in Dallas-Fort Worth real estate, here is what every agent should understand. One note up front: I am not a tax advisor, so treat this as education and confirm your specifics with a CPA. If you want to connect the tax side to a real wealth plan, let us talk. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → You Are Self-Employed Most agents are independent contractors, not employees. That means your brokerage does not withhold taxes from your commissions. The full commission hits your account, and the tax obligation is yours to manage. This is the single biggest mental shift for new agents, because it is easy to treat the whole check as spendable when a real chunk of it belongs to the government. Set Aside Money for Taxes Because nothing is withheld, you have to withhold for yourself. A common practice is setting aside a meaningful percentage of every commission in a separate account the moment it comes in. The exact percentage depends on your situation, but the discipline is universal. Agents who skip this step are the ones scrambling at tax time, and that scramble is entirely avoidable. Quarterly Estimated Taxes Self-employed people generally must pay estimated taxes quarterly rather than once a year. Miss them and you can face penalties on top of the bill. Your CPA can help you calculate the right quarterly amount so you stay compliant and avoid surprises. Building these payments into your routine keeps tax season from becoming a crisis. Self-Employment Tax As a self-employed agent you pay self-employment tax, which covers Social Security and Medicare, on top of income tax. This catches many new agents off guard because employees split this with an employer while you cover the full amount. Understanding this obligation up front helps you set aside the right amount and avoid a shortfall. The Deductions That Save the Most Here is the upside of self-employment: legitimate business expenses reduce your taxable income. Common deductions for agents include marketing and advertising, MLS and association dues, license renewal and continuing education, your business phone, software and CRM costs, professional photography, and business meals. Tracking these carefully throughout the year is what turns a scary tax bill into a manageable one. The Vehicle and Mileage Deduction Agents drive constantly, and business mileage is one of the most valuable deductions available. You can generally deduct either your actual vehicle expenses or a standard mileage rate for business miles. Keeping a mileage log is essential, because this deduction adds up quickly for an agent showing homes and meeting clients across the metroplex. Do not leave this money on the table. The Home Office Deduction If you use part of your home regularly and exclusively for business, you may qualify for a home office deduction. This can cover a portion of your housing costs. The rules are specific, so this is exactly the kind of thing to verify with your CPA, but for agents who genuinely work from home, it can be a meaningful and legitimate deduction. Retirement Accounts for the Self-Employed Self-employment opens powerful retirement options like a SEP IRA or Solo 401k that allow larger contributions than a standard IRA. These accounts can reduce your taxable income now while building your future wealth. This is one of the best ways to connect tax savings directly to long-term wealth, a theme I explored in how DFW agents build wealth. Entity Structure As your income grows, how your business is structured can affect your tax bill. Some agents eventually explore structures like an S-corporation for potential tax efficiency. Whether that makes sense depends entirely on your income and situation, and it is a decision to make with a qualified CPA, not off a blog post. But it is worth knowing the option exists as you scale. Keep Clean Records Every deduction depends on documentation. Keep clean records of income and expenses all year, ideally with a dedicated business account and simple bookkeeping, so tax time is a matter of pulling reports rather than reconstructing a chaotic year from memory. Good records also protect you if you are ever questioned. This habit alone separates calm agents from stressed ones each spring. Work With a CPA Who Knows Real Estate Do not go it alone. A CPA who understands real estate will often save you far more than they cost, by catching deductions you would miss and keeping you compliant and penalty-free. You can find the official rules at the IRS small business site, but a professional who knows your world is worth the investment. This is one area where doing it yourself usually costs more than it saves. Connect Tax Savings to Wealth The smartest agents do not just minimize taxes. They redirect the savings into building wealth, funding retirement accounts and investments rather than spending the difference. Tax efficiency and wealth building are two sides of the same coin. The money you keep through smart planning becomes the capital that funds your future, which ties directly to how much you actually take home, a topic I covered in how much DFW agents make. A Necessary Disclaimer To be clear, I am a real estate operator, not a tax professional, and nothing here is tax advice for your specific situation. Tax laws are detailed and change, and everyone circumstances differ. Use this as a map of what to ask about, then work with a qualified CPA to make the right decisions for you. Getting professional guidance is part of running your business like a business. The Bottom Line DFW real estate agents are self-employed, which means managing your own taxes: setting money aside, paying quarterly, covering self-employment tax, and taking full advantage of legitimate deductions. Keep clean records, work with a real-estate-savvy CPA, and redirect your savings into building wealth. If you want help connecting the financial side of your business to a real plan for growth, that is exactly the conversation I have with the agents I mentor. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → --- ### Why Every New DFW Real Estate Agent Needs a Mentor URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/real-estate-mentor-dfw Published: 2026-10-01 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: Agent Playbook, DFW Real Estate, Mentorship Summary: Why every new DFW real estate agent needs a mentor: how the right guidance shortens the learning curve, prevents costly mistakes, and speeds your path to income. Why Every New DFW Real Estate Agent Needs a Mentor Every new DFW real estate agent needs a mentor for one simple reason: the learning curve in this business is brutal, and a mentor lets you skip the most expensive lessons by learning from someone who already paid for them. You can figure real estate out alone, but it is slow, discouraging, and littered with avoidable mistakes. After 22 years in Dallas-Fort Worth real estate and mentoring hundreds of agents, I can tell you the ones with a mentor consistently get to income faster and quit far less often. If you want a mentor who has actually built what you are trying to build, let us talk. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → The Learning Curve Problem Real estate school teaches you to pass a test, not to run a business. Nothing in your licensing courses prepares you for pricing a listing, handling a difficult negotiation, or filling a pipeline. New agents step into the business knowing the law but not the craft, and that gap is where most of them struggle. A mentor bridges that gap directly. What a Mentor Actually Does A real mentor guides you through actual situations as they happen: how to handle a specific client, how to structure an offer, how to recover a deal that is falling apart. This is not theory from a book. It is real-time guidance from someone who has navigated the same situations hundreds of times. That practical, situational teaching is what accelerates your growth. Avoiding Costly Mistakes Mistakes in real estate are expensive, in lost deals, lost income, and sometimes legal exposure. A mentor helps you see the mistakes coming before you make them. The cost of one avoided disaster often exceeds any price you could put on mentorship. Learning from someone else scars instead of your own is the cheapest education available in this business. Accountability Left alone, it is easy to drift, procrastinate, and avoid the uncomfortable prospecting that drives income. A mentor holds you accountable to the activities that actually produce results. That external accountability is often the difference between an agent who does the work consistently and one who does it only when they feel like it, which in this business is not enough. Confidence New agents lose deals not from a lack of knowledge but from a lack of confidence. When you have a mentor in your corner, you walk into listing appointments and negotiations knowing you have backup and guidance. That confidence is visible to clients, and it wins business. Knowing someone experienced has your back changes how you show up. A Faster Path to Income Everything a mentor provides, guidance, mistake prevention, accountability, and confidence, adds up to one thing: you make money faster. The slow, lonely trial-and-error path is what causes so many new agents to run out of money and quit, a dynamic I covered in surviving your first year. A mentor compresses that timeline dramatically. How to Find a Real Mentor Not every experienced agent is a mentor, and a name on a website is not mentorship. Look for someone who is actively producing, genuinely invested in your growth, and accessible when you need them. A real mentor makes time for you and cares about your success. Be wary of anyone who offers mentorship as a recruiting slogan but disappears once you sign. Mentor Versus Manager There is a difference between a manager who oversees you and a mentor who develops you. A manager makes sure the paperwork is right. A mentor helps you become a better agent. You want the second kind, someone whose success is tied to yours and who takes genuine interest in your development. That relationship is worth far more than a title. The Team Mentor Advantage One of the biggest reasons new agents join teams is built-in mentorship. Instead of hoping to find a mentor, you join a structure where guidance, training, and accountability are part of the model. I built my own team specifically to give agents that, which I explained in how I support new agents. Mentorship built into your daily environment beats mentorship you have to chase. What to Look For Seek a mentor with a proven track record, a teaching mindset, real accessibility, and values you respect. You will absorb not just their tactics but their habits and standards, so choose someone you actually want to become more like. The right mentor shapes your entire trajectory, so this choice deserves real thought rather than settling for whoever is convenient. Especially for Career Changers If you are coming to real estate from another career, a mentor is even more valuable. You bring life and work experience but no real estate craft, and a mentor helps you translate your strengths into this business while filling the gaps fast. Career changers with good mentorship often ramp quickly, precisely because they combine maturity with guided learning. The Return on Mentorship People sometimes hesitate at the idea of giving up a share of early commissions to be mentored, but that framing misses the point. A mentor who helps you close even a few extra deals in your first year, and keeps you from quitting, pays for themselves many times over. The real cost is not mentorship. It is the deals you never close and the career you never build trying to learn it all alone. Invest in Guidance Early The best time to get a mentor is at the very start, before bad habits set in and before avoidable mistakes cost you. Agents who invest in guidance early build on a solid foundation, while those who wait often spend years unlearning what they taught themselves wrong. Start with a mentor and you start ahead. The Bottom Line Every new DFW real estate agent needs a mentor because the learning curve is steep and the mistakes are expensive. The right mentor shortens your path to income, prevents costly errors, holds you accountable, and gives you confidence. Do not try to figure this business out entirely alone. If you want a mentor who has actually built what you are trying to build, that is exactly what I offer the agents I bring on. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → --- ### Real Estate Lead Generation in a Tough Market: A DFW Case Study URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/why-tough-markets-build-great-real-estate-agents Published: 2026-10-01 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: Lead Generation, Open Houses, Agent Training, DFW Real Estate Agents, eXp Realty Summary: A 20-year-old DFW agent closed $5M entirely from open houses. Nick Good breaks down the lead generation math and what tough markets expose. Real Estate Lead Generation in a Tough Market: A DFW Case Study Real estate lead generation in a tough market comes down to one thing: volume of face-to-face conversations, not clever marketing. I learned that again on September 30, when I interviewed a 20-year-old agent about partnering with us at The Good Home Team powered by PLACE at eXp Realty. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → He got licensed in the fourth quarter of 2025. His first sale did not happen until March 2026. Since then he has closed more than $5 million in real estate sales volume. He did it 100% from open houses, the same open houses some agents complain about having to do. A 20-Year-Old Agent Who Created His Own Momentum He started by doing 100 open houses in 100 days. Think about the commitment that takes: showing up again, meeting more people, getting more comfortable answering questions, giving himself another shot at earning someone's business. He did not let his age become an excuse. He put himself in situations where he could learn and create opportunities. Then he added 300 outbound calls a day to build his future pipeline. According to our conversation, the closed business came from open houses. The calls were an investment in what comes next. That distinction matters. He worked on future opportunities while his current business gained momentum. His results are his own, but the lesson applies to any agent: consistent activity gives you more opportunities to develop the skills your business needs. Why Open Houses Still Work for Real Estate Lead Generation An open house puts you face-to-face with people actively thinking about real estate. Some are ready to buy. Some have a home to sell. Some are early in the process and need someone who will answer questions without pushing them. NAR's research consistently shows buyers still value in-person guidance, even in a digital-first search process. Your job is to find out where they are, offer useful guidance, and earn the next conversation. Prepare before the event. Know the property and the nearby alternatives. Ask visitors about their timeline and what they are trying to accomplish. Research the comparable listings nearby so you can speak to pricing without hesitating. Bring a sign-in method that captures a phone number, not just a name, because a name with no way to follow up is a wasted conversation. A quiet open house can still teach you something. Review how you promoted it, what you asked visitors, and whether your follow-up gave them a reason to respond. If fifteen people walked through and nobody left contact information, the problem is not the market. It is the questions you asked and the reason you gave them to stay in touch. Tough Markets Expose the Skills You Need to Improve When business slows down, the gaps become harder to ignore. Your database is disorganized. Your follow-up stops too soon. You struggle to explain pricing. Or you have been relying on people to find you instead of creating new conversations. If you are a real estate agent in Dallas-Fort Worth, whether you work in Plano, McKinney, Frisco, or another North Texas community, local knowledge matters. So does your ability to explain a client's options and help them make a decision. You build that ability through preparation, practice, and actual conversations. Most agents already have a database that could produce business without a single new lead. See the database most DFW agents ignore for how to work it. Build a Lead Generation Schedule You Can Repeat You do not have to copy this agent's exact schedule. One hundred open houses in 100 days and 300 daily calls describe his approach. Your plan needs to fit your responsibilities and give you enough repetition to improve. The prospecting cadence I teach starts with 10 meaningful contacts a day, five days a week. Using a four-week planning month, that becomes 50 contacts per week, 200 per month, 600 per quarter, and 2,400 per year. A dial is an attempt. A meaningful contact is a conversation. Track both so you can see whether your effort is producing opportunities. Log every contact in your CRM the same day, not at the end of the week, or you will lose the context that makes the next follow-up feel personal instead of scripted. If you want leads delivered instead of self-generated, we also run a done-for-you lead generation program for agents who partner with us. If you are doing the work and still not seeing results, bring the actual numbers to a coach or team leader. Show them your contact count, your conversation count, and your appointment count. A real gap usually shows up in one of three places: the opening of the conversation, the follow-up cadence, or the ask for the appointment. Guessing wastes another quarter. Measuring tells you exactly what to fix. Why the Right Real Estate Team Can Help You Grow At The Good Home Team powered by PLACE at eXp Realty, I want to work with agents who take ownership of their business and are willing to improve. We closed 162 sides and $65.6 million in volume in 2025, and I have personally sponsored more than 220 agents into eXp Realty. The value of a team is support while you do that work: practical training, systems for managing opportunities, accountability, and experienced people to ask when a client situation gets difficult. Texas's average commission sits around 5.88%, per Clever Real Estate's 2026 data, so every lead you convert matters. When you evaluate a team, ask who will help you practice, how you will learn the buyer and seller process, what technology and lead support you actually get, and what you are expected to contribute in return. Give Your Future Business Something to Build On That 20-year-old agent could have focused on how new he was or how long it took to close his first sale. Instead he kept putting himself in front of people. You can do that today. Schedule the open house. Make the calls. Follow up with the person you met last week. Give your business one more quarter of real activity before you decide the market is the problem. If you are ready to take real estate lead generation in a tough market seriously and want to explore doing it alongside us, let's talk. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → --- ### Thinking About Switching Real Estate Brokerages in DFW? Read This First URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/switching-real-estate-brokerages-dfw Published: 2026-09-29 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: Agent Playbook, DFW Real Estate, Brokerage Summary: Thinking about switching real estate brokerages in DFW? When it makes sense, what actually changes, and how to move without disrupting your business. Thinking About Switching Real Estate Brokerages in DFW? Read This First Switching real estate brokerages in DFW can transform your business or disrupt it, and the difference comes down to why you move and how well you plan it. Agents change brokerages for better splits, real leads, stronger systems, or residual income, and those can be excellent reasons. But switching on emotion, without a plan, can cost you momentum. After 22 years in Dallas-Fort Worth real estate, including my own move from Keller Williams to eXp, here is what to think through first. If you are weighing a move, let us run your real numbers before you decide. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → When Switching Makes Sense A move makes sense when your current brokerage is holding you back in ways that matter: a split that eats too much of your income, no leads or support, outdated systems, or no path to build residual income and wealth. If you are producing well but your brokerage is not helping you keep more or grow more, the math for switching often works strongly in your favor. When It Does Not Switching does not make sense if you are chasing a shiny recruiting pitch, running from a problem you carry with you, or expecting a new brokerage to fix a business you have not built. A brokerage change amplifies what you already do. It does not replace the fundamentals. If your issue is a lack of leads or systems, make sure the new home actually solves that rather than just changing the sign on the door. What Actually Changes When You Switch Understand what really changes. Your split, your fees, your tools, your leads, your support, and sometimes your brand all shift. What does not change automatically is your work ethic and your relationships. The goal is to move to a place that improves the things a brokerage controls while you keep doing the things only you can do. Clarity on that distinction prevents disappointment. Protect Your Database and Pipeline Before you move, protect your two most valuable assets: your database and your active pipeline. Know what you can take with you and plan your active deals so nothing falls apart in the transition. A clean move keeps your business running through the change. A sloppy one can cost you deals and relationships you spent years building. Understand the New Split and Economics Do not move without running the real numbers. Compare your net income under the new structure against your current one, factoring in split, caps, fees, and what leads and support you receive. A higher split with real support can dramatically improve your income, while a lateral move for a marginally better deal may not be worth the disruption. My eXp vs Keller Williams breakdown shows how to compare the economics. Evaluate Leads and Support, Not Just Split The split is only part of the picture. A brokerage or team that provides real leads, systems, and mentorship can be worth far more than a higher split with nothing behind it. When you evaluate a move, weigh the total value you receive, not just the percentage. I walked through how to evaluate this fully in how to choose a real estate team in DFW. The eXp Sponsor Consideration If you are considering a move to eXp Realty, remember that your sponsor is permanent and cannot be changed without leaving and rejoining. That makes who you partner with a critical, lasting decision. I explained why so many DFW agents are making that specific move in why DFW agents are joining eXp Realty in 2026. Choose your sponsor as carefully as you choose the brokerage. Timing Your Move Timing matters. Moving in the middle of several active transactions adds complexity, so many agents plan their switch around a natural lull or handle pending deals carefully during the transition. There is rarely a perfect time, but a thoughtful one beats an impulsive one. Plan the logistics so your income does not dip during the change. Communicate With Your Clients the Right Way When you move, communicate with your active clients and sphere professionally and confidently. Frame the change around how it benefits them: better tools, better service, better support. Handled well, a move can actually strengthen client confidence in you. Handled poorly or secretively, it can create doubt. Own the change and present it as the upgrade it is. Do Not Switch on Emotion Frustration with your current brokerage is a reason to evaluate options, not to jump at the first alternative. Make the decision on numbers and fit, not on a bad week or a slick pitch. The agents who regret their moves almost always made them emotionally. The ones who are glad they moved did their diligence and chose deliberately. Learn From Those Who Have Moved I made this exact move myself after 12 years at Keller Williams, and I wrote honestly about why in why I left Keller Williams. Talking to agents who have actually switched, and hearing both what improved and what they had to navigate, is some of the most valuable research you can do before your own move. A Move Is a Business Decision Strip away the emotion and a brokerage change is a business decision like any other. You are evaluating whether a different structure will produce a better net result for your career, and then executing the transition cleanly. Treat it with the same rigor you would bring to any major business move: gather the facts, run the numbers, weigh the fit, and act deliberately. Agents who approach it that way rarely regret the outcome. The Bottom Line Switching brokerages in DFW can be one of the best moves of your career or a costly disruption, depending on why and how you do it. Move for better economics, leads, systems, or residual income, protect your database and pipeline, run the real numbers, and decide on substance rather than emotion. If you want to compare your current situation against a better model with real numbers, that is exactly the conversation I have with agents every week. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → --- ### How Many Real Estate Agents Are in DFW, and Why Most Fail URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/how-many-real-estate-agents-dfw Published: 2026-09-27 Category: Insights Tags: Insights, DFW Real Estate, Agent Career Summary: How many real estate agents are in DFW, why the failure rate is so high, and what the small group of survivors does differently to build lasting careers. How Many Real Estate Agents Are in DFW, and Why Most Fail There are tens of thousands of licensed real estate agents across DFW, part of well over 100,000 in Texas, and the uncomfortable truth is that most of them will not last. The failure rate in real estate is high, but not for the reason people assume. Agents do not wash out because they lack talent. They wash out because they never build a real business. After 22 years in Dallas-Fort Worth real estate and sponsoring more than 220 agents, let me explain the numbers and what actually separates the survivors. If you want to be in the group that lasts, let us talk about how. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → The Numbers Texas has well over 100,000 active real estate license holders, and DFW, as one of the largest and fastest-growing markets in the state, holds a very large share of them. That means competition is fierce. When you get licensed, you are entering a crowded field where thousands of others are chasing the same clients. The market does not hand you business simply because you showed up. Why the Barrier to Entry Is Low Real estate attracts so many people because getting in is easy. No degree, no experience, just coursework and an exam. That low barrier is a feature and a trap. It means anyone can try, which floods the field, and it means many enter with no real plan, treating a demanding business like an easy side gig. Easy entry is exactly why the washout rate is so high. The Failure Rate A large majority of new agents are out of the business within a few years, and many earn very little before they quit. The National Association of Realtors and state licensing data consistently show far more licenses issued than remain active over time. This is not unique to DFW, but in a competitive market the gap between those who thrive and those who disappear is stark. Reason One: No Leads The number one reason agents fail is a lack of consistent leads. They get licensed, tell a few friends, and then run out of people to talk to. Without a reliable source of new business, income dries up and they quit. Lead generation is the lifeblood of the business, and most agents never build a dependable engine for it. Reason Two: No Systems Agents who try to do everything themselves with no systems get overwhelmed and inconsistent. They drop leads, miss follow-ups, and burn out. A real estate business needs systems for lead follow-up, transactions, and marketing, and the agents without them cannot keep up with the ones who have them. Reason Three: No Runway Because a real estate pipeline takes months to produce, agents who start with no financial cushion often run out of money before their first closings and quit out of necessity. This is one of the most common and most preventable failures, and I covered it in depth in surviving your first year. Runway buys the time success requires. Reason Four: No Mentor Trying to figure it all out alone is slow and discouraging. Agents without a mentor make avoidable mistakes, learn every lesson the hard way, and often give up before they break through. The agents who have someone guiding them shortcut the learning curve dramatically, which is why mentorship is one of the biggest predictors of who lasts. What the Survivors Do Differently The agents who thrive are not the most naturally gifted. They are the ones who treat real estate as a business with a plan, secure consistent leads, build or borrow systems, protect their runway, and get around a mentor. None of that is glamorous, and all of it is learnable. The survivors simply set themselves up correctly and stayed consistent long enough to win. The Opportunity in the Washout Here is the encouraging flip side. Because so many agents fail, the field is full of part-timers and order-takers who provide poor service. That creates enormous opportunity for the agent who actually operates like a professional. In a crowded market, real competence stands out precisely because it is rare. The washout is not just a warning. It is an opening. How to Be in the Winning Minority Getting into the surviving group is not luck. It is setup. Enter with a business plan, a lead source, systems, a financial cushion, and a mentor, and your odds transform. This is exactly why so many agents choose to start on a team rather than alone, and I explained whether real estate is a good career worth building in this honest breakdown. Especially for New Agents If you are new or considering the business, do not let the failure rate scare you off. Let it inform you. The people who fail almost all made the same avoidable mistakes. Set yourself up to avoid them, and you tilt the odds heavily in your favor. I help new agents do exactly that, which I described in how I support new agents. Competition Is Not the Real Enemy It is easy to look at tens of thousands of DFW agents and feel discouraged, but the raw number is misleading. A large share of those agents are inactive, part-time, or providing mediocre service. Your real competition is not the total count. It is the much smaller group of serious professionals, and there is always room for one more agent who genuinely operates like a business. Do not let the crowd intimidate you. Let the mediocrity in it motivate you. The Bottom Line DFW is home to tens of thousands of agents, and most will not last, but not because the business is impossible. They fail from a lack of leads, systems, runway, and mentorship, all of which are fixable before you ever start. Set yourself up right and you can be in the minority that builds a real career. If you want to talk through how to do that, that is exactly the conversation I have with agents every week. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → --- ### The Real Estate CRM Setup DFW Agents Actually Need URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/real-estate-crm-for-agents-dfw Published: 2026-09-25 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: Agent Playbook, DFW Real Estate, CRM & Systems Summary: The real estate CRM setup DFW agents actually need: why most agents fail with a CRM, and the simple, consistent system that turns contacts into closings. The Real Estate CRM Setup DFW Agents Actually Need The right real estate CRM for agents is not the one with the most features. It is the one you will actually use every single day. A CRM is only as valuable as your consistency with it, and most agents fail not because their software is bad but because they never build the simple habits that make it work. After 22 years in Dallas-Fort Worth real estate, here is the CRM setup that actually turns contacts into closings, without overcomplicating your life. If you want help building a CRM system you will actually stick with, let us talk. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → What a CRM Actually Is A CRM, or customer relationship management system, is the central hub for every contact and every interaction in your business. It tracks who you know, where they are in their journey, and when to follow up. Done right, it makes sure no lead or relationship falls through the cracks. It is the operating system of a real estate business, not just a digital address book. Why Most Agents Fail With a CRM Most agents buy a powerful CRM, use it for two weeks, and abandon it. The software was not the problem. The habit was. A CRM only works if you feed it consistently and act on what it tells you. An expensive CRM sitting unused is worthless, while a simple one used daily is priceless. Consistency, not features, is what separates success from a wasted subscription. Step One: Get Everyone In The foundation is a complete database. Import every contact from your phone, email, and social media into your CRM so your entire sphere lives in one place. This is the same principle behind working your sphere of influence, which I covered in the database most DFW agents ignore. A CRM with half your contacts gives you half a business. Step Two: Tag and Segment Not every contact is the same. Segment your database into groups: past clients, active leads, sphere, investors, and so on. Tagging lets you send the right message to the right people instead of blasting everyone the same thing. Good segmentation is what makes your follow-up feel personal and relevant rather than generic, and relevance is what gets responses. Step Three: Set Follow-Up Cadences Decide how often you will touch each group and let the CRM remind you. Active leads might need weekly contact, your sphere quarterly, past clients a few times a year. The CRM job is to make sure those touches actually happen on schedule instead of whenever you remember. Consistent cadence is where the real business gets produced. Step Four: Log Every Interaction Every call, text, and meeting should be logged, so you always know the history with each contact. When you follow up, you pick up exactly where you left off instead of starting cold. This continuity makes clients feel remembered and valued, and it prevents the awkward, business-costing mistake of forgetting an important detail or a promised follow-up. Step Five: Automate the Routine Use automation for the repetitive parts: drip campaigns for new leads, birthday and anniversary reminders, and routine check-ins. Automation handles consistency at scale so you can spend your personal attention where it matters most. Increasingly this overlaps with AI, which I covered in how DFW agents use AI to close more. Automate the routine, personalize the important. Step Six: Prioritize Speed to Lead Your CRM should route new leads to you instantly, because the agent who responds first usually wins. Set it up so a new lead triggers immediate notification and, ideally, an automated first response while you follow up personally. Speed to lead is one of the highest-impact things your system can do, and a good CRM setup makes it automatic rather than dependent on you watching your phone. Step Seven: Integrate With Your Marketing Your CRM should connect to your marketing so leads flow in automatically and your follow-up ties to your campaigns. A disconnected CRM creates gaps where leads get lost between systems. When your CRM, lead sources, and marketing talk to each other, your whole business runs more smoothly and nothing slips through the cracks. Simple and Used Beats Powerful and Ignored Here is the core principle. A simple CRM you use every day beats a powerful one you ignore. Do not get seduced by endless features you will never touch. Pick something you will actually operate, build consistent habits around it, and let those habits compound. The best CRM is the one that becomes part of your daily routine. The Team CRM Advantage One reason agents join teams is to inherit a proven CRM and follow-up system instead of building one from scratch. A team often provides the software, the automations, and the processes already dialed in, so you plug into something that works on day one. That head start on systems is a real part of what a team provides its agents. Especially Important for New Agents New agents should build the CRM habit from day one, before bad habits form. The agents who start organized stay organized, and the ones who start chaotic usually stay chaotic. Setting up your system early, even with a modest database, sets the trajectory for your entire career. It is far easier to build the habit now than to fix a mess later. Your CRM Is Your Business Memory Think of your CRM as the memory of your business. Everything you know about every relationship lives there, ready when you need it, instead of scattered across your head, your phone, and sticky notes. Agents who externalize their business memory into a system scale far beyond what they could hold in their heads. The CRM is not busywork. It is the difference between a business that grows with you and one capped by what you can personally remember. The Bottom Line The CRM setup DFW agents actually need is simple, complete, and consistently used: get everyone in, segment them, set follow-up cadences, log interactions, automate the routine, and prioritize speed to lead. The software matters far less than the habit. If you want help building a CRM system you will actually stick with, that is exactly what I help agents set up. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → --- ### Real Estate Agent Marketing That Works in DFW (Beyond Just Posting Listings) URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/real-estate-agent-marketing-dfw Published: 2026-09-23 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: Agent Playbook, DFW Real Estate, Marketing Summary: Real estate agent marketing that actually works in DFW: the channels that produce business, the mistakes to avoid, and why consistency beats cleverness. Real Estate Agent Marketing That Works in DFW (Beyond Just Posting Listings) Real estate agent marketing that actually works in DFW is not about posting a listing and hoping. It is about consistently reaching the right people across the channels they pay attention to, and building a brand they remember when it is time to move. Most agents market randomly, quit too soon, and blame the market. After 22 years in Dallas-Fort Worth real estate, here is what actually produces business and what just wastes your time and money. If you want a marketing engine that runs without consuming your life, let us talk. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → Marketing Is More Than Listings The most common mistake is thinking marketing means posting your listings. Listings market the home, not you. Real agent marketing builds your presence and relationships so people think of you first when they or someone they know needs to move. If your entire marketing strategy is posting the homes you have for sale, you are marketing a fraction of what you should be. Know Who You Serve Effective marketing starts with clarity about who you serve. First-time buyers, luxury sellers, investors, and relocating families all respond to different messages and live on different channels. Trying to reach everyone with the same generic message reaches no one. Pick your focus, understand what they care about, and speak directly to them. Specificity is what makes marketing land. The Foundation Is Your Database Before any fancy channel, your marketing foundation is your own database. The people who already know you are your highest-converting audience, and consistent contact with them produces repeat and referral business at almost no cost. I broke this down fully in the database most DFW agents ignore. Every other marketing effort should build on this base, not replace it. Social Media That Actually Works Social media works when it builds relationships, not when it only broadcasts listings. Share your local market knowledge, your personality, client wins, and helpful information. People do business with agents they feel they know, and social media is where that familiarity gets built at scale. The agents who win on social are consistent and human, not just promotional. Video Content Video is the most powerful marketing medium for agents right now. Market updates, neighborhood tours, home tips, and behind-the-scenes content let people experience your expertise and personality before they ever call you. You do not need to be perfect on camera. You need to be consistent and genuinely helpful. Video builds trust faster than almost anything else. Local and Geographic Farming Becoming the known agent in a specific neighborhood or community is a proven strategy. Consistent presence in a geographic farm, through mailers, events, sponsorships, and local involvement, makes you the default choice when people in that area move. In a metroplex as large as DFW, owning a defined local area beats trying to be everywhere at once. A Strong Online Presence When someone hears your name, they will search you. Your online presence, from your website to your reviews to your social profiles, needs to reflect a professional, credible agent. A strong, consistent online footprint turns curiosity into confidence. A weak or inconsistent one plants doubt at the exact moment a potential client is deciding whether to reach out. Paid Lead Generation Paid advertising can fill your pipeline with volume, but it only works with fast follow-up and a real system behind it. Buying leads and failing to work them is just burning money. The agents who win with paid leads pair them with instant response and consistent nurturing, which increasingly means AI-assisted systems. I covered that in how DFW agents use AI to close more. Email and Consistent Follow-Up Email remains one of the highest-return channels when done consistently. Regular, valuable emails to your database and leads keep you top of mind for the long stretch between when someone enters your world and when they are ready to act. Most business is lost in the follow-up gap, and consistent email is one of the simplest ways to close that gap. Referral Marketing Your best marketing is a happy client who tells others. Deliberately cultivating referrals, by delivering great service and then staying in touch and asking, turns every transaction into potential future business. Referral clients convert easily and cost nothing to acquire. A referral engine built on genuine relationships is the most durable marketing asset an agent can have. Build a Personal Brand People remember agents with a clear, consistent identity. Your personal brand is simply what people reliably associate with you: your expertise, your values, your style. A strong brand makes all your other marketing more effective, because it gives people a reason to choose you specifically rather than any of the thousands of other DFW agents competing for attention. Consistency Beats Cleverness Here is the truth that undoes most agents. Marketing does not fail because it is not clever enough. It fails because it is not consistent. The agent who shows up steadily for years beats the one with a brilliant campaign they abandon after a month. Pick a few channels you can sustain and work them relentlessly. Consistency compounds. Cleverness fades. Track What Actually Works Marketing without measurement is guessing. Pay attention to where your business actually comes from, and pour more into what works while cutting what does not. Many agents keep spending on channels that produce nothing because they never track results. Let the data, not habit or hype, direct your marketing dollars and hours. The Team Advantage Great marketing is expensive and time-consuming to build alone. This is one of the biggest reasons agents join teams: to plug into a marketing engine that already works instead of building it from scratch. A team provides the systems, content, and paid lead infrastructure most solo agents cannot justify. I detailed that engine in done-for-you lead generation for DFW agents. The Bottom Line Real estate marketing that works in DFW is built on your database, extended through social, video, local presence, and paid systems, and driven by consistency rather than clever one-offs. Know who you serve, show up steadily, track what works, and build a brand people remember. If you want to plug into a marketing engine that already runs, that is exactly what our team provides. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → --- ### Welcome Monica Gomez to eXp Realty and The Good Home Team URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/monica-gomez-joins-the-good-home-team-dfw Published: 2026-09-22 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: New Agents, Agent Growth, The Good Home Team, eXp Realty, PLACE, DFW Real Estate, Mentorship Summary: A new DFW agent's story: what to look for in a real estate team for new agents, from training and mentorship to leads and support. With Nick Good. The Good Home Team is a real estate team for new agents in DFW, and welcoming Monica Gomez is a perfect example of why that matters. Monica is joining eXp Realty and partnering with The Good Home Team powered by PLACE here in Dallas-Fort Worth. When Monica and I started talking, she was not just looking for another brokerage to hang her license. She was looking for training, mentorship, collaboration, marketing support, and a community she could build alongside. That is the right way to think about it. Getting licensed is step one. Learning how to build a real business is the part most new agents have to figure out, and the environment you choose either helps you do that or leaves you on your own. So this is a welcome to Monica, and it is also an honest look at what a new real estate agent in Dallas-Fort Worth should actually look for in a team. Key takeawaysMonica Gomez is joining eXp Realty and partnering with The Good Home Team powered by PLACE in Dallas-Fort Worth.For a new agent, the team decision is about training, mentorship, lead-generation opportunities, and support, not just the commission split.Through eXp co-sponsorship, Monica stays connected to Daniel Eng and the We Partners Network while building with The Good Home Team.Monica focuses on helping first-time and Spanish-speaking buyers understand their options and build a path to homeownership. Welcome Monica Gomez to eXp Realty and The Good Home Team powered by PLACE in Dallas-Fort Worth. Why Monica was looking for more than just a brokerage Monica is newer to the Dallas-Fort Worth real estate market, and she was clear about what she wanted. Not a bigger name on a sign. She wanted people around her who would actually help her grow. What stood out to me was her list. Growth. Mentorship. Collaboration. Training. Marketing support. Community. People she could build alongside. That is a new agent asking the right questions, because the license does not come with any of those things attached. What should a new real estate agent look for in a team? A newly licensed agent usually needs more than a place to hang a license. The things that actually move a new agent forward are training, mentorship, lead-generation opportunities, help with contracts, accountability, marketing support, experienced agents nearby, and systems that already work. No single team is the only answer, and the right fit depends on the agent. But those are the categories worth weighing before you sign anywhere. If you want the longer version of this decision, I put it in our guide to the best real estate brokerage for new agents. For context on how support and experience shape agent outcomes, the National Association of Realtors tracks the data. Monica's story is a real example of the same questions in action. Why training matters after you get your real estate license Getting licensed teaches you how to legally practice real estate. It does not teach you how to run a real estate business. Those are two different things, and the gap is where a lot of new agents quietly struggle. The questions a new agent actually faces are practical. Who do I call? What do I say? How do I follow up? How do I write an offer? How do I run a buyer consultation? How do I negotiate? What happens after the contract is signed, and what do I do when something goes wrong? None of that is on the licensing exam. That is why Monica valued real training and mentorship, not just motivation. Confidence comes from doing the work with experienced people nearby, which is the case for real real estate mentorship for new agents. Building a real estate business in DFW without building alone Here is something I believe after 22 years in DFW real estate. Proximity is power. Who you spend your days around shapes what you think is normal and what you think is possible. When a new agent is around producing agents, they see how those agents prospect, hear how they handle objections, watch how they manage their time, and learn how they recover from a slow week. You do not have to figure it all out alone, and you do not have to reinvent systems that already exist. That environment is a big part of what Monica was after, and it is what a strong team is supposed to provide. How eXp co-sponsorship keeps Monica connected to her whole community Here is something I love about how Monica came to us. At eXp Realty an agent can be co-sponsored, which means she did not have to walk away from the people who helped her get here in order to build with a new team. Monica is co-sponsored, partnering with The Good Home Team powered by PLACE with me as her co-sponsor, while staying connected to Daniel Eng and the We Partners Network, a community built around collaboration and lifting agents up. That is the whole point for me. Real estate has too often been about whose agent belongs to whom. Co-sponsorship flips that. It lets more than one good leader stay invested in the same agent's growth. I am not here to promise anyone revenue share or income, and the exact eXp mechanics are worth understanding before you decide anything, so I explained how eXp co-sponsorship actually works in plain terms here: eXp Realty co-sponsor explained for DFW agents. What matters is simple. Monica gets to keep everyone in her corner. Who is Monica Gomez? Monica is a mom of three boys. Her family and her faith matter to her, and she carries a story of persistence and rebuilding into this next chapter. She is not chasing a title. She is building something for her family. As an agent, Monica especially loves helping first-time homebuyers and Spanish-speaking families, and buyers who assume homeownership is out of reach. Her goal is not simply to sell houses. She wants to educate buyers, help them understand their options, and build a real path toward owning a home. Helping first-time and Spanish-speaking buyers understand their options A lot of buyers never start because nobody ever explained the process to them in a way that felt possible. That includes many first-time buyers and many Spanish-speaking families who assume the door is closed. Monica meets people there. This is not lending, tax, or legal advice, and neither Monica nor the team guarantees any particular financing outcome. What she offers is honest information and the patience to walk someone through their options so they can make an informed decision. For a lot of families, that patience is the whole difference. Monica's goals in the DFW real estate market Over the next year Monica wants to establish a strong foundation in Dallas-Fort Worth, grow her marketing, build out her video presence, become a stronger agent, and help more families reach homeownership. Those are her goals, in her words, and they are the kind of goals a good environment is built to support. Why collaboration matters at The Good Home Team My philosophy is pretty simple. The more good people an agent can have around them, the better. Too often in this business the only question people ask is whose agent this is. I think that is the wrong question. A better one is how many good people we can put around this agent to help her win. That is how I think about Monica, and it is how we try to operate. You can see the same thing in why other DFW agents joined The Good Home Team. Welcome to The Good Home Team, Monica Monica, welcome. I am proud you chose to build here, and I am looking forward to helping you grow, one family and one closing at a time. Great people, greater things. Are you a new real estate agent in DFW looking for training and support? If you recently earned your real estate license, or you are still early in your career, one of the biggest decisions you will make is the environment you build inside. The split matters, but it is not the first question. Ask these instead. Who is going to train me? Who can I call when I do not know what to do? Where will my opportunities come from? How will I learn lead generation? Who will help me improve? What systems already exist? Who will I be around every day? If you want to see how we answer those questions for agents in Dallas-Fort Worth, come take a look. See how The Good Home Team supports new agents, at PartnerWithNickGood.com {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Person","name":"Monica Gomez","jobTitle":"Real Estate Agent","worksFor":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Good Home Team"},"areaServed":"Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas"} --- ### Why DFW Real Estate Agents Join The Good Home Team: Leads, Leverage, Training, and More Time URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/why-dfw-real-estate-agents-join-the-good-home-team Published: 2026-09-21 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: DFW Real Estate Team, Real Estate Agents, Agent Growth, eXp Realty, PLACE, The Good Home Team Summary: Why DFW real estate agents join The Good Home Team: real agents on leads, leverage, training, and time back, plus how to tell if a team is right for you. Key takeawaysThe Good Home Team is a Dallas-Fort Worth real estate team powered by PLACE at eXp Realty, led by Nick Good, a 22-year DFW operator.Agents partner with the team for lead-generation opportunities, training and coaching, transaction and administrative support, proven systems, and accountability.Proof point: the team was named the RealTrends Verified number 1 team in Plano, Texas, closing 162 transaction sides and $65.6 million in volume in 2025, based on independently audited data.Three agents at different stages, David, Victoria, and Matt, explain it in their own words below. Individual results vary by agent, effort, and market. The Good Home Team is a DFW real estate team for agents, powered by PLACE at eXp Realty and led by Nick Good, a 22-year Dallas-Fort Worth operator. Agents across Dallas-Fort Worth partner with the team to trade the commission roller coaster for something steadier: lead-generation opportunities, training and coaching, transaction and administrative support, proven systems, accountability, and a community of productive agents. This article explains why real estate agents in DFW join a team, what to expect as a new or experienced agent, and how leverage turns effort into more consistent production, in the words of agents who actually did it. Most agents do not leave real estate because they cannot sell homes. They leave because the inconsistency wears them down. One month is great, the next is quiet, leads slow, follow-up slips, and admin piles up until you spend more time creating opportunity than helping clients. The environment you work inside is what changes that, so I would rather let our agents explain what it looks like. In this short, three agents at very different stages, David, Victoria, and Matt, describe the same underlying advantage: more opportunity, stronger support, better leverage, and an environment built to help agents grow. Their stories are different. The common thread is leverage. Individual results vary by agent, effort, and market. What The Good Home Team gives DFW real estate agents The Good Home Team supports real estate agents across Dallas-Fort Worth, including Plano, Frisco, McKinney, Allen, The Colony, and Collin County, so an agent handles less of the business alone. In practice that means: Lead-generation opportunities and follow-up infrastructureTraining, coaching, and scriptsTransaction coordination and administrative supportProven systems and technologyAccountability and a community of producing agents None of that guarantees a result. What it does is remove friction so more of your day goes to the work that actually creates income. David: going from 10 to 12 homes a year to more than 50 to 60 One of the biggest misconceptions in real estate is that the answer to growth is simply working harder. At some point working harder stops working. There are only so many hours, so many transactions, and so many follow-up conversations one person can manage before something breaks. David describes going from selling roughly 10 to 12 homes a year to more than 50 to 60. That kind of jump is not another sales script. It is leverage. The right systems let an agent spend more time talking to people, following up, meeting buyers and sellers, negotiating, and closing, instead of drowning in operations. The more administrative friction you remove from an agent's day, the more capacity that agent has to produce. That is what real estate agent productivity actually looks like. Victoria: a new agent needs more than a license Getting licensed teaches you how to legally practice real estate. It does not teach you how to build a real estate business. New agents have far more practical questions: Who do I call? What do I say? How do I write and negotiate the offer? What happens after the contract is executed, and what do I do when something goes wrong? That is where training and proximity matter. Victoria, a newer agent, describes how much easier the process feels with experienced people around her, and she talks about getting her first buyer under contract. Confidence rarely comes from another training video. It comes from doing the work with people nearby who can help you make the right call. That is the case for real estate agent coaching and mentorship inside a team. Matt: the lead problem almost every agent eventually hits Matt describes a problem most agents know well. Before the team's systems and opportunities, he was constantly trying to figure out where the next lead would come from: Facebook, Google pay-per-click, open houses, prospecting, advertising. Every source costs money, time, or both. There is nothing wrong with any of them. The problem is when the whole business depends on one agent rebuilding the pipeline from scratch every month. A healthier real estate business creates multiple conversations every day. That does not mean every lead becomes a closing. It means you consistently have people to talk to, follow up with, and nurture. The question shifts from "Where do I find someone to talk to today?" to "Which opportunities should I prioritize today?" That is a completely different way to run a real estate business. More production should eventually create more freedom Matt's most important comment is about time. He talks about how much time the team lets him buy back for his life and family. That is the part people miss. More transactions alone are not success. If doubling your production doubles your stress and hours, the business becomes a job you cannot escape. The goal is a business that gets more efficient as it grows, through people, technology, systems, and specialization. A productive agent should not have to be the transaction coordinator, the marketing department, the lead-generation department, the database manager, and the salesperson all at once. When the right people do the right jobs, agents spend more time on what they do best. Proximity is power Near the end of the video David says something I believe strongly: "Proximity is power." Who you spend time around matters. When you are around productive agents you see how they prospect, hear how they communicate, learn how they handle objections, watch how they manage their schedule, and see how they recover from a bad week. You also realize bigger goals are possible because you are surrounded by people already pursuing them. You do not have to figure it all out alone. Is The Good Home Team right for every agent? No. Some agents prefer working completely independently, and some already have the systems, lead generation, staff, and leverage they need. But plenty of good agents are working extremely hard without the consistency they want. Some are newer agents who need training and support. Others are already closing business but have hit a ceiling because they do everything themselves. If you are a DFW real estate agent asking any of these, it may be worth seeing how we operate: How do I create more consistent opportunities? How do I increase production without working every hour of the day? How do I get better training, coaching, and accountability? How do I stop doing everything myself and add real leverage? How do I build a more predictable real estate business? How do I get around agents who are serious about growing? You do not need to make a decision. You should just understand your options. If you want the numbers behind an eXp move, our eXp vs Keller Williams commission split guide lays them out, and our agent growth page shows how the team is built. You can also see how we handle lead generation for agents and coaching and mentorship. For context on why environment matters, the National Association of Realtors tracks how tenure and support affect agent outcomes, and you can review the official eXp Realty and PLACE models directly. Want to see what partnering with us looks like? The best way to understand The Good Home Team is not another recruiting pitch. Come see how we operate. Meet the agents, see the systems, ask questions, and learn how the lead generation, training, accountability, and support actually work. If you are a real estate agent in Dallas-Fort Worth exploring what partnering with The Good Home Team powered by PLACE at eXp Realty could look like, start here: See how The Good Home Team works, at PartnerWithNickGood.com {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Why DFW Real Estate Agents Join The Good Home Team","description":"Three DFW agents, David, Victoria, and Matt, describe leads, leverage, training, and time back on The Good Home Team powered by PLACE at eXp Realty.","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/4c5z6AVNVg/hqdefault.jpg","embedUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/embed/4c5z6AVNVg","contentUrl":"https://youtube.com/shorts/4c5z6AVNVg","uploadDate":"2026-09-21"} --- ### How DFW Real Estate Agents Are Using AI to Close More in 2026 URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/ai-for-real-estate-agents-dfw Published: 2026-09-21 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: Agent Playbook, DFW Real Estate, AI for Agents Summary: How DFW real estate agents are using AI in 2026 to respond faster, nurture leads, and close more, plus the human work AI still cannot replace. How DFW Real Estate Agents Are Using AI to Close More in 2026 AI for real estate agents in 2026 is not about replacing you. It is about handling the repetitive, time-consuming work so you can spend more time doing the one thing that closes deals: building relationships with clients. The agents winning in DFW right now are using AI to respond faster, follow up more consistently, and market smarter, while keeping the human touch where it counts. After 22 years in Dallas-Fort Worth real estate and building AI-powered systems for my own team, here is how it actually works. If you want to see the AI systems our agents already use, let us talk. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → AI Is a Tool, Not a Replacement Let me be clear up front. AI is not going to replace great agents. Real estate is a relationship and trust business, and no algorithm negotiates the emotional moments of the largest purchase of someone life. What AI does is remove the drudgery, so the best agents get even more leverage. The agents who lose to AI are not replaced by it. They are outcompeted by other agents who use it. Faster Lead Response Speed to lead wins deals. Studies consistently show the agent who responds first usually wins the client. AI-powered systems can respond to new leads instantly, any hour of the day, so no opportunity goes cold while you sleep or sit in a closing. That instant response is one of the highest-impact uses of AI in real estate today, and it is a core part of the lead systems our agents use. Smarter Lead Nurturing Most leads are not ready to transact today, and most agents give up on them too soon. AI helps nurture leads over the long haul with consistent, personalized follow-up so that when someone is finally ready, you are the agent who stayed in touch. This long-term nurturing is where enormous amounts of business are won or lost, and AI makes doing it consistently realistic. Content and Marketing AI dramatically speeds up marketing. It helps draft listing descriptions, social media posts, email campaigns, and market updates in a fraction of the time. That means you can maintain a consistent, professional marketing presence without spending your life writing. You still bring the voice and the judgment, but AI removes the blank-page bottleneck that stops most agents from marketing consistently. Market Analysis and Pricing AI tools can quickly analyze comparable sales, market trends, and pricing scenarios, giving you sharper insights to advise clients. In a fast market like DFW, being able to synthesize data quickly helps you price listings correctly and write competitive offers. The judgment is still yours, but AI accelerates the analysis that informs it. Administrative and Transaction Help A huge share of an agent time goes to administrative work. AI can help summarize documents, draft routine communications, and organize transaction details, cutting the time you spend on paperwork. Every hour AI saves on admin is an hour you can spend in front of clients or generating new business. That reallocation of time is where the productivity gain shows up. Prospecting and Targeting AI can help identify likely movers, organize prospecting lists, and prioritize who to contact, making your outreach more efficient. Instead of working through contacts randomly, you focus your energy where it is most likely to produce. Smarter targeting means your prospecting hours produce more conversations and more business. The Human Part AI Cannot Do Here is what AI will never do. It will not hold a nervous first-time buyer hand, read the room in a tense negotiation, or earn the trust that makes someone choose you for the biggest financial decision of their life. Those human moments are the heart of the business. The winning formula is AI for the repetitive work and human skill for the relationship, not one or the other. Tools Versus Systems Buying a bunch of AI tools is not a strategy. The agents who win integrate AI into complete systems for lead response, nurturing, and marketing that actually run day to day. A tool you never operationalize is wasted money. That is why our team builds AI into working systems agents plug into, rather than handing people apps and wishing them luck. I explain what agents receive in what agents who partner with me actually get. How to Get Started You do not need to master everything at once. Start with the highest-impact use: instant lead response and consistent follow-up. Get that working, then layer in marketing and analysis help. The goal is not to be an AI expert. It is to use AI to give yourself more time and more consistency so you can close more deals with less grind. The Agents Who Will Win The agents who thrive over the next few years will not be the most tech-obsessed or the most old-school. They will be the ones who use AI to handle the repetitive work and pour the time it saves back into relationships and service. That balance is the whole game. Technology handles scale, humans handle trust, and the agents who combine both will quietly pull away from everyone still doing everything the hard way. Do Not Wait to Start AI in real estate is not a someday trend. It is happening right now across DFW, and the gap between agents who use it and agents who do not is widening every month. You do not have to overhaul your business overnight, but you should start. The longer you wait, the further ahead the agents who embraced it get, and the harder that gap becomes to close. The Bottom Line DFW agents are using AI in 2026 to respond faster, nurture leads longer, market smarter, and cut admin time, while keeping the human touch that actually closes deals. AI is leverage, not a replacement. The agents who embrace it as a tool are pulling ahead. If you want to see the AI-powered systems our agents already use every day, that is exactly the conversation I have with agents looking to level up. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → --- ### The Database Most DFW Agents Ignore (And the Money It Leaves on the Table) URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/real-estate-sphere-of-influence-dfw Published: 2026-09-19 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: Agent Playbook, DFW Real Estate, Lead Generation Summary: Your sphere of influence is the highest-ROI lead source in real estate, and most DFW agents ignore it. How to build and work your database the right way. The Database Most DFW Agents Ignore (And the Money It Leaves on the Table) Your sphere of influence, the database of people who already know and trust you, is the highest-return lead source in real estate, and most DFW agents ignore it while chasing cold leads. The people already in your phone will buy, sell, and refer far more readily than a stranger who filled out a form. After 22 years in Dallas-Fort Worth real estate, I can tell you that the agents who systematically work their database consistently outproduce the ones who neglect it. Here is how to stop leaving that money on the table. If you want help building a real database strategy alongside provided leads, let us talk. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → What Your Sphere Actually Is Your sphere of influence is everyone you know: past clients, friends, family, neighbors, former coworkers, and anyone who would recognize your name. These are people who already have a relationship with you, which is the hardest and most expensive thing to build with a cold lead. Your database is not a nice-to-have. It is the foundation of a durable real estate business. Why It Is the Best Lead Source Leads from your sphere convert at dramatically higher rates than cold leads, because trust is already established. They cost you nothing to acquire, they refer others, and they come back for repeat business over the years. A single strong relationship can produce multiple transactions and referrals across a decade. No paid lead source matches that return on investment. The Mistake Most Agents Make The mistake is neglect. Agents get busy, stop reaching out, and slowly go silent with the very people most likely to do business with them. Then they spend money on cold leads while a goldmine sits untouched in their phone. Out of sight is out of mind, and when your contacts forget you are in real estate, they use someone else. Silence is the enemy. Step One: Build the Database Start by gathering everyone you know into one organized place. Pull contacts from your phone, email, and social media into a single system. Do not judge who belongs. Include everyone, because you never know who is about to move or who knows someone who is. A complete, organized database is the raw material for everything that follows, and building it is the foundation of a real business plan, which I covered in the business plan most DFW agents never build. Step Two: Stay in Touch Consistently The whole strategy hinges on consistent contact. Reach out regularly through calls, texts, emails, social media, and in-person connection so you stay top of mind. Consistency matters more than any single clever message. When someone in your world decides to move, you want to be the agent they think of automatically, and that only happens if you have stayed present. Step Three: Add Value, Do Not Just Ask Nobody likes the agent who only reaches out when they want something. Lead with value: market updates, helpful information, congratulations on life events, and genuine relationship building. When you consistently give, the business comes naturally. People refer and hire agents they like and trust, and you earn that by being useful, not by constantly asking for business. Step Four: Ask for Referrals You still have to ask. Once you have built goodwill, it is completely appropriate to remind people you are never too busy for their referrals. Most people are happy to refer someone they trust but simply forget to unless prompted. A natural, consistent referral ask turns your goodwill into a steady stream of warm business. Step Five: Systematize It Working your database by memory does not scale. Use a CRM to track contacts, set reminders, and ensure nobody falls through the cracks. Systematizing your follow-up is what turns a good intention into consistent production. The agents who win with their sphere are not more charismatic. They are more systematic about staying in touch. The Numbers Behind It A well-worked database of even a few hundred people can produce a significant share of your annual business through repeat and referral transactions, often at little to no acquisition cost. Compare that to the ongoing expense of buying cold leads, and the value is obvious. Your database is an appreciating asset if you tend it, and a wasted one if you do not. Combine It With Provided Leads The strongest business does not choose between sphere and provided leads. It combines them. Your database gives you high-converting warm business, while provided leads add volume and fill the pipeline. Together they build a business that is both efficient and scalable, which is exactly why I pair database coaching with the done-for-you lead generation our agents receive. Especially Important for New Agents New agents often think they have no leads, but they have a database they have not organized yet. Your first transactions almost always come from people who already know you. Building and working your sphere from day one is the fastest path to your first closings, a point I make with every new agent in how I support new agents. If your sphere is still thin, open houses can carry you until it grows, as this 20-year-old agent's $5M open house case study shows. Your Database Is an Asset Think of your database the way you think of a rental property or an investment account. Tended consistently, it appreciates and pays you for years through repeat clients and referrals. Neglected, it depreciates as people forget you and drift to other agents. The difference between the two outcomes is nothing but consistent, genuine attention. Treat your sphere like the appreciating asset it is, and it will fund your business for your entire career. The Bottom Line Your sphere of influence is the highest-ROI lead source you have, and most DFW agents leave that money on the table by neglecting it. Build the database, stay in touch consistently, lead with value, ask for referrals, and systematize the whole thing. Do that and it becomes a durable engine for your business. If you want help building that engine alongside real provided leads, that is exactly what I coach. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → --- ### Real Estate Agent vs Realtor: The Difference DFW Clients Should Know URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/real-estate-agent-vs-realtor-dfw Published: 2026-09-17 Category: Insights Tags: Insights, DFW Real Estate, Home Buyers Summary: Real estate agent vs Realtor: what the difference actually is, why it matters to DFW buyers and sellers, and what matters even more than the title. Real Estate Agent vs Realtor: The Difference DFW Clients Should Know The difference between a real estate agent and a Realtor is simple: every Realtor is a licensed real estate agent, but not every agent is a Realtor. A Realtor is an agent who is a member of the National Association of Realtors and is bound by its code of ethics. The terms get used interchangeably, but the distinction matters, and after 22 years in Dallas-Fort Worth real estate I will explain what it means for you as a buyer or seller. If you want to work with a team that takes both the license and the ethics seriously, let us talk. Connect with Nick and his team → The License Comes First Anyone selling real estate in Texas must hold a license issued by the Texas Real Estate Commission. That license means they completed the required education, passed the state exam, and are sponsored by a broker. This is the baseline. Whether or not someone calls themselves a Realtor, they must be a licensed agent to represent you in a transaction. What Realtor Actually Means Realtor is not just a fancier word for agent. It is a trademarked designation for licensed agents who join the National Association of Realtors. Members pay dues, agree to abide by a strict code of ethics, and gain access to certain tools and resources. You can learn more directly from the National Association of Realtors. So the word signals membership and an ethics commitment, not a different license. The Code of Ethics The heart of the difference is the code of ethics. Realtors pledge to uphold standards that go beyond what state law requires, including duties of honesty, fair dealing, and putting the client interest first. While all licensed agents must follow the law, Realtors additionally bind themselves to this professional code, and violations can be enforced by their local association. Why It Matters to Clients For a buyer or seller, working with a Realtor means your agent has voluntarily committed to a higher ethical standard and can be held accountable to it. In a transaction as large and important as a home, that accountability is reassuring. It is one more layer of protection on top of the legal duties every agent already owes you. Broker, Agent, and Realtor It helps to know the related terms. An agent holds a salesperson license and works under a broker. A broker has additional education and licensing and can operate independently or supervise agents. A Realtor is any licensed agent or broker who is an NAR member. These categories overlap: a person can be a broker and a Realtor, or an agent and a Realtor, at the same time. How to Verify Who You Are Working With You can verify any agent license through the Texas Real Estate Commission, and you can ask directly whether they are a Realtor and NAR member. A professional will answer both questions transparently. Verifying credentials is a reasonable step before trusting someone with one of the biggest financial decisions of your life. Does It Affect Commission? Being a Realtor versus a non-member agent does not, by itself, change commission rates, which are always negotiable. What affects your outcome far more than the title is the agent skill, experience, systems, and how hard they work for you. The designation is a signal of professionalism, not a price difference. What Matters More Than the Title Here is the honest truth. The label matters less than the person. A skilled, experienced, well-supported agent will serve you better than someone with the right title but little ability. When choosing who represents you, weigh their track record, their local market knowledge, their communication, and the systems behind them more heavily than whether they use the word Realtor. Competence closes deals. The DFW Context In a fast, competitive market like DFW, the quality of your representation shows up in real dollars: how well your home is priced and marketed, how sharply your offer is written, and how skillfully your deal is negotiated. Whether your agent is a Realtor is a fair question to ask, but their proven ability to perform in the local market is what actually protects your interests. For Those Considering the Career If you are reading this because you are thinking about becoming an agent yourself, joining NAR to become a Realtor is a normal early step, but it is a small piece of building a real career. The bigger questions are about your business plan and where you hang your license. I covered whether it is a good path in is real estate a good career in DFW. A Word on Trust At the end of the day, whether someone is an agent or a Realtor, what you are really hiring is trust and competence. The title tells you they have made an ethics commitment. The track record tells you whether they can deliver. Ask about both, and do not let a designation alone substitute for evidence that this person can actually protect your interests in a high-stakes transaction. Ask the Right Questions When you interview an agent, ask how many transactions they have closed recently, how well they know your specific neighborhood, how they will market your home or find you the right one, and yes, whether they are a Realtor. The combination of professional standards and proven performance is what you want. Their answers, and their willingness to give them clearly, tell you almost everything you need to know. The Bottom Line Every Realtor is a licensed agent, but not every agent is a Realtor. The Realtor designation signals NAR membership and a commitment to a code of ethics beyond the legal minimum. It is a meaningful signal, but the skill, experience, and systems behind your agent matter even more. If you want representation that brings both integrity and real capability, that is exactly what my team offers. We bring the professional standards, the local expertise, and the systems that turn a title into real results for you. Connect with Nick and his team → --- ### What Does a Real Estate Team Actually Do for Its Agents? URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/what-does-a-real-estate-team-do Published: 2026-09-15 Category: Insights Tags: Insights, DFW Real Estate, Real Estate Teams Summary: What a real estate team actually does for its agents: the ten things a good team provides, what it does not do, and how to know if joining one fits you. What Does a Real Estate Team Actually Do for Its Agents? A real estate team does one core thing for its agents: it removes the work that does not require your license so you can spend your time on the work that does. A good team provides leads, systems, marketing, coordination, training, and support, turning you from a one-person business doing everything into a specialist who focuses on clients. After 22 years in Dallas-Fort Worth real estate and building a team that ranks among the top in Texas, here is exactly what a team does, in plain terms. If you want to see what a real team could do for your business, let us talk. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → The Short Answer A solo agent is marketer, prospector, negotiator, transaction coordinator, and administrator all at once. A team splits those roles so each is handled well and you are freed to do what actually earns money: being in front of clients. That division of labor is the entire point of a team, and it is why team agents often out-produce solo agents by a wide margin. It Generates Leads The biggest thing a good team provides is leads. Instead of spending your days prospecting from scratch, you plug into a system that feeds you appointments. Lead generation is expensive and time-consuming to build alone, and it is where most solo agents struggle. A team that provides real leads changes your entire business, which I detailed in done-for-you lead generation for DFW agents. It Handles Transaction Coordination Once you are under contract, a mountain of paperwork, deadlines, and coordination begins. A team provides transaction coordinators who manage that process so deals do not fall through the cracks. This alone frees up enormous time and prevents the costly mistakes that come from juggling everything yourself. You focus on the client while the details get handled. It Provides Marketing Professional marketing, from listing photos and video to social media and advertising, is expensive and specialized. A team provides marketing infrastructure that an individual agent could rarely justify alone. Your listings look professional, your brand is supported, and your marketing runs without you having to become a full-time marketer on top of everything else. It Delivers Training and Mentorship A great team gives you access to a mentor and ongoing training, which shortens your learning curve dramatically. Instead of learning every lesson the hard way, you learn from people who have already done it. For new agents especially, this is the difference between surviving and thriving, a point I made in how real estate teams work. It Creates Accountability Working solo, it is easy to drift. A team provides accountability through goals, check-ins, and a standard to rise to. That structure keeps you consistent, and consistency is what builds a real business. Many agents underestimate how much their production rises simply from being surrounded by people who expect them to perform. It Supplies Systems and Technology A team gives you proven systems and tech for follow-up, CRM, and client care, so you are plugging into something that works rather than building it yourself. Good systems mean fewer leads slip through, faster response times, and a more professional client experience. You inherit years of refinement instead of starting from zero. It Handles Administrative Work The endless small tasks of a real estate business, scheduling, data entry, compliance, and follow-up, eat into selling time. A team provides administrative support so those tasks do not consume your day. Every hour a team takes off your plate is an hour you can spend generating income. It Lends Brand and Credibility Joining an established, verified team gives you instant credibility with clients. A team with a proven track record and recognition helps you win business you might not win as an unknown solo agent. You borrow the team reputation while you build your own, which I covered in what agents who partner with me actually get. It Provides Coverage and Community When you are unavailable, a teammate can cover a showing or a call so business keeps moving and clients stay served. Beyond the practical coverage, a team gives you a community of people pushing in the same direction, which combats the isolation that wears down so many solo agents. That support is easy to overlook until you have it. What a Team Does Not Do A team does not do the selling for you. You still have to build relationships, serve clients well, and close. A team gives you leverage and support, but your effort and skill still drive your results. Anyone promising that a team will make you successful without work is selling a fantasy. A team multiplies effort. It does not replace it. Is a Team Right for You? A team is not for everyone. If you value total independence and have your own lead engine, solo may suit you. But for most agents, especially newer ones or those hitting a ceiling, the leverage a team provides far outweighs the split. I ran the actual comparison in team vs solo in DFW. The Leverage Multiplier The best way to understand a team is as a leverage multiplier. Every function it handles for you, leads, coordination, marketing, admin, is time and energy returned to you to spend on the highest-value work. Multiply that leverage across a year and it is the difference between an agent who closes ten deals alone and one who closes thirty with support. Leverage, not extra hours, is how team agents scale their income. The Bottom Line A real estate team generates leads, coordinates transactions, provides marketing, training, systems, and support, and frees you to focus on clients. It does not do the work of selling for you, but it removes almost everything else. If you want to see exactly what our team would do for your business with real numbers, that is exactly the conversation I have with agents every week. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → --- ### How to Choose a Real Estate Team in DFW (A Checklist From an Operator) URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/how-to-choose-real-estate-team-dfw Published: 2026-09-13 Category: Insights Tags: Insights, DFW Real Estate, Real Estate Teams Summary: A step-by-step process for how to choose a real estate team in DFW: define your goals, interview the right way, verify the claims, and decide with confidence. How to Choose a Real Estate Team in DFW (A Checklist From an Operator) Knowing how to choose a real estate team in DFW starts not with the teams, but with you. Before you evaluate a single team, you need to know your goals, your stage, and your non-negotiables, because the right team for a brand-new agent is different from the right team for a seasoned producer. Once you know what you need, the selection process becomes clear. After 22 years in Dallas-Fort Worth real estate and building a top team, here is the step-by-step process I would use. If you want help thinking through your options, let us have a straight conversation. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → Step One: Define Your Goals Start by getting clear on what you actually want. More income? More time? Faster growth as a new agent? Leverage as an experienced one? Residual income and wealth building? Your goals determine which team fits. A team that is perfect for someone chasing volume may be wrong for someone who wants balance. Write your goals down before you talk to anyone, so the pitches do not define them for you. Step Two: Know Your Stage A new agent needs training, leads, and structure to survive the first year. An experienced producer needs leverage, support staff, and a split that rewards volume. Be honest about where you are, because the best team meets you at your stage. Joining a team built for new agents when you are a seasoned producer, or vice versa, is a common and costly mismatch. Step Three: Identify Your Non-Negotiables Decide what you will not compromise on. Maybe it is real provided leads. Maybe it is a mentor who actually teaches. Maybe it is a culture of support rather than internal competition. Knowing your non-negotiables up front keeps you from being talked into a team that looks good on paper but misses the thing that matters most to you. Step Four: Make a Short List Rather than joining the first team that recruits you, identify two or three that seem to fit your goals and stage. Competition is healthy, and comparing options side by side reveals differences you would never see evaluating one in isolation. A short list also gives you leverage and perspective in your conversations. Step Five: Interview Each Team Treat this like the important decision it is and interview each team properly. Ask about leads, systems, split, mentorship, culture, and verified results. Ask who will actually mentor you and how accessible they are. The quality and clarity of their answers tells you as much as the answers themselves. I outlined the specific criteria to weigh in how to evaluate the best team to join in DFW. Step Six: Compare on Substance, Not Hype Every team will sell you a vision. Your job is to compare the substance behind each one. Real leads versus vague promises. Documented systems versus talk. Verified production versus marketing claims. Line the teams up on the things that actually determine your income and growth, and the right choice usually becomes obvious once the hype is stripped away. Step Seven: Verify the Claims Do not take production claims at face value. Ask for independently verified numbers. Programs like RealTrends audit and confirm actual production, which separates real top teams from those who just say they are. A team confident in its results will happily share verification. Hesitation to back up claims is a signal worth heeding. Step Eight: Talk to Current Agents The best due diligence is talking to agents already on the team. Ask them what they actually receive, whether the leads are real, how the mentorship works in practice, and whether they would join again. Current agents give you the unfiltered truth that no recruiting pitch will. If a team is reluctant to connect you with its people, ask yourself why. Step Nine: Do the Math on Your Production Run the numbers on your real situation, not a hypothetical. Take your actual or expected production and calculate your net income under each team split, factoring in what leads and support you receive. A higher split with real leads often nets more than a lower split with nothing behind it. Let the math, not the pitch, guide the economics of your decision. Step Ten: Trust the Fit Numbers matter, but so does fit. You will spend your working life around these people. Do you trust the leader? Do the agents support each other? Does the culture energize you or drain you? The best financial choice you dread showing up to is worse than a slightly less optimal one you are excited about. Trust what your gut tells you about the people. A Note on eXp Sponsors If a team operates at eXp Realty, there is an extra wrinkle: your sponsor is permanent and cannot be changed without leaving and rejoining. That makes the choice even more important. I explain how to get that decision right in how to pick an eXp Realty sponsor. Choose deliberately, because it is a decision you live with. Avoid Analysis Paralysis All that said, do not overthink it into inaction. Do your diligence, then decide. A good team joined this month beats a perfect team you never commit to. If you have defined your goals, interviewed properly, verified the claims, and the math and fit both work, trust your process and move. Momentum matters in this business. The Cost of Choosing Wrong Choosing the wrong team is not fatal, but it is expensive. You lose months of momentum, you may lose your database, and you start over somewhere else having learned a hard lesson. That is exactly why the diligence up front is worth it. A little patience now saves you a painful, costly reset later, and it is the difference between a decision you build on and one you have to undo. The Bottom Line Choosing a real estate team in DFW is a process: define your goals and stage, set your non-negotiables, interview a short list, compare substance over hype, verify the claims, talk to current agents, run your numbers, and trust the fit. Do that and you will choose with confidence. If you want to run our team through that exact process, that is precisely the conversation I welcome. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → --- ### The Best Real Estate Team to Join in DFW: How to Actually Evaluate One URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/best-real-estate-team-to-join-dfw Published: 2026-09-11 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: Agent Playbook, DFW Real Estate, Real Estate Teams Summary: How to find the best real estate team to join in DFW: the five criteria that actually matter, the recruiting hype to ignore, and the questions to ask. The Best Real Estate Team to Join in DFW: How to Actually Evaluate One The best real estate team to join in DFW is not the one with the flashiest recruiting pitch. It is the one whose leads, systems, split, mentorship, and track record actually fit your goals. Every team will tell you they are the best. Your job is to look past the pitch and evaluate the things that determine your income and growth. After 22 years in Dallas-Fort Worth real estate and building a team that ranks among the top in Texas, here is how to actually evaluate one. If you are weighing teams in DFW, let us have a straight conversation about the numbers. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → Why the Team You Join Matters So Much The team you join shapes your income, your skills, and your daily life more than almost any other decision in your career. A great team can multiply your production and shorten your learning curve by years. A weak one takes a share of your commissions and gives little back. This is a decision worth slowing down for, because switching later costs time and momentum. Criterion One: Real Lead Flow Leads are the lifeblood of your business, so the first question is whether the team actually provides them. Ask how many leads or appointments you can expect, who pays for them, and what happens to that flow if you have a slow month. A team that hands you real, qualified opportunities is worth far more than one that just offers a name. I broke down our approach in done-for-you lead generation for DFW agents. Criterion Two: Proven Systems Talent does not scale. Systems do. The best teams have proven systems for lead follow-up, transaction management, marketing, and client care, so you are plugging into something that already works rather than building from scratch. Ask to see the systems. If a team cannot clearly show you how they operate, they probably do not operate very well. Criterion Three: The Split Economics You give up a share of your commission to be on a team, so the math has to work. Understand the split, what you get for it, and how your net income compares to going solo or joining a different team. A higher split with real leads and support often nets you more than a lower split with nothing behind it. Run the numbers on your actual production, not a hypothetical. Criterion Four: Genuine Mentorship The right team gives you access to a mentor who has actually done what you are trying to do and is invested in your growth. Coaching, accountability, and real guidance shorten your path dramatically. Ask who will actually mentor you and how accessible they are. A team leader who still produces and still teaches is worth their weight, because you are learning from someone in the arena, not a theorist. Criterion Five: Culture and Track Record Finally, look at the team culture and its verified results. Do the agents support each other or compete internally? Does the team have independently verified production, or just marketing claims? Our team ranked number one in Plano on RealTrends Verified data and earned national NAHREP recognition, and I explain why verified numbers matter in this post. Anyone can claim to be a top team. Verification proves it. Beware the Recruiting Hype Every team recruits, and recruiting language can be seductive. Big promises, income screenshots, and lifestyle photos are marketing, not proof. Focus on the substance behind the pitch: real leads, real systems, real mentorship, and verified production. If a team leans heavily on hype and light on specifics, that tells you something important about what you would actually get. Questions to Ask Before You Join Ask how many leads you will receive and who pays for them, what the split and fees are, who will mentor you and how often, what systems you will plug into, what the team culture is like, and whether their production is independently verified. How clearly a team answers these questions reveals almost everything about whether they will deliver. Match the Team to Your Stage The best team for a brand-new agent may differ from the best team for a seasoned producer. New agents need training, leads, and structure. Experienced agents need leverage, support, and a split that rewards their volume. The best team for you is the one that fits where you are and where you want to go, which is why the fit conversation matters as much as the credentials. Verified Results Beat Big Promises When you strip away the marketing, the clearest signal of a great team is independently verified production. Anyone can post income screenshots or claim to be number one. Third-party verification through programs like RealTrends means an outside party audited the numbers and confirmed them. A team with a verified track record has proof, not just a pitch, and that proof tells you the systems and leads they describe actually produce results in the real world. Do Not Rush the Decision Joining a team is a commitment, and undoing it later costs you time and momentum. Take the time to interview more than one, ask the hard questions, and compare the substance behind each pitch. A team that is confident in what it offers has no reason to pressure you, and the ones applying pressure are usually compensating for a thin offering. The right team will welcome your scrutiny, because they have real answers. The Bottom Line The best real estate team to join in DFW is the one that provides real leads, proven systems, fair split economics, genuine mentorship, and a verified track record that fits your goals. Ignore the hype and evaluate the substance. If you want to see how our team measures up on every one of those criteria with real numbers, that is exactly the conversation I have with agents every week. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → --- ### First-Time Landlord in DFW? The Mistakes That Cost Owners the Most URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/first-time-landlord-dfw Published: 2026-09-09 Category: Property Management Tags: Property Management, DFW Landlords, First-Time Landlord Summary: The most expensive first-time landlord mistakes in DFW and how to avoid them, from tenant screening to reserves to Texas law, by a DFW property manager. First-Time Landlord in DFW? The Mistakes That Cost Owners the Most Becoming a first-time landlord in DFW can be one of the smartest wealth moves you make, or one of the most stressful, and the difference comes down to avoiding a handful of expensive mistakes. Most new landlords do not lose money because rental property is a bad investment. They lose money because they skip screening, misprice the rent, or ignore Texas law. After 22 years in Dallas-Fort Worth real estate and running a property management company, here are the mistakes that cost first-time owners the most and how to avoid every one. If you are renting out your first DFW property, let us make sure you start it right. Connect with Nick and his team → Mistake One: Weak Tenant Screening The costliest mistake by far is putting the wrong tenant in your property. A bad tenant can mean missed rent, property damage, and a lengthy eviction. Screen every applicant thoroughly: credit, income, rental history, background, and evictions. A great tenant pays on time and cares for your home for years. One bad placement can wipe out a year of profit. Never rush this step to fill a vacancy faster. Mistake Two: Mispricing the Rent Price too high and your home sits empty, bleeding cash every month. Price too low and you leave money on the table for the entire lease. First-time landlords often guess at rent based on emotion or their mortgage payment. Instead, price it on real market data for your specific neighborhood. Getting this number right from day one is one of the highest-value decisions you make. Mistake Three: No Cash Reserves Rentals have irregular expenses: a water heater fails, a tenant moves out, an AC unit dies in July. First-time landlords who spend all their cash flow have no cushion when these hit, and a single repair becomes a crisis. Keep a reserve for maintenance and vacancy so surprises are inconveniences, not emergencies. This one habit separates calm landlords from stressed ones. Mistake Four: DIY Legal Documents Using a generic lease off the internet is asking for trouble. Texas has specific requirements, and your lease is your primary protection when something goes wrong. A weak or non-compliant lease can cost you in a dispute or eviction. Use a proper Texas lease and understand what it says. Cutting corners on the paperwork is a false economy that shows up at the worst possible moment. Mistake Five: Neglecting Maintenance Deferring maintenance to save money almost always costs more later. A small leak becomes a big repair, and a neglected home drives good tenants away. Handle repairs promptly, keep the property in good condition, and your tenants stay longer and treat it better. Maintenance is not just an expense. It is how you protect the value of your largest asset and keep quality tenants renewing. Mistake Six: Getting Emotional Your rental is a business, not your home anymore. First-time landlords often get emotionally attached, take tenant issues personally, or make decisions based on feelings instead of numbers. The successful landlords treat it like the business it is. That does not mean being cold. It means making clear-eyed decisions about rent, repairs, and tenants based on what protects your investment. Mistake Seven: Ignoring Texas Law Texas law governs security deposits, notices, entry, and evictions, and violations are costly. Mishandling a security deposit alone can expose you to penalties well beyond the deposit amount. Learn the basics or hire someone who knows them cold. Compliance is not optional, and ignorance is not a defense when a dispute lands in court. Mistake Eight: Skipping the Move-In Inspection Document the property condition thoroughly with photos before the tenant moves in. Without it, you cannot fairly assess damage at move-out, and disputes over the security deposit become he-said-she-said. A detailed move-in inspection protects both you and your tenant and makes the end of the lease far smoother. Screen Like Your Investment Depends On It Because it does. If you take one thing from this, make it screening. The tenant is the single biggest variable in whether your rental is a joy or a headache. Professional screening standards are what separate landlords who love the business from those who swear it off after one bad experience. I covered what good screening looks like in what to look for in a DFW rent my house company. The Management Question You do not have to do this alone. Many first-time landlords hire a property manager specifically to avoid these mistakes, since a good one handles screening, pricing, legal compliance, and maintenance as a matter of routine. Whether you self-manage or hire out, know what competent management looks like. If you are still deciding whether to rent at all, my post on renting versus selling your DFW home is the place to start. The DFW Advantage for New Landlords The good news is that DFW is a strong rental market. Steady population growth and job creation keep tenant demand high, which makes filling a well-priced, well-maintained home easier here than in many markets. Get the fundamentals right and North Texas rewards new landlords with reliable demand and long-term appreciation. The opportunity is real if you avoid the avoidable mistakes. Treat It Like the Business It Is The through-line in every one of these mistakes is treating a rental like a hobby instead of a business. Businesses have systems, reserves, contracts, and clear-eyed decisions. Hobbies run on hope and emotion. The first-time landlords who succeed in DFW are simply the ones who adopt a business mindset from day one, whether they self-manage or hire it out. That single shift prevents most of the costly errors before they ever happen. The Bottom Line First-time landlords in DFW rarely fail because of the investment itself. They fail because of screening, pricing, reserves, paperwork, and compliance mistakes that are all avoidable. Treat your rental like the business it is, or hire a professional to run it like one. If you want help renting out your first DFW property the right way, that is exactly what my team does every day. Connect with Nick and his team → --- ### How Much Does Property Management Cost in DFW? Real Fee Breakdown URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/property-management-cost-dfw Published: 2026-09-07 Category: Property Management Tags: Property Management, DFW Landlords, Management Fees Summary: How much property management costs in DFW: the typical management fee, leasing fee, renewal fee, and hidden costs, plus whether it is worth it for owners. How Much Does Property Management Cost in DFW? Real Fee Breakdown Property management in DFW typically costs a monthly management fee of around 8 to 10 percent of collected rent, plus a leasing fee to place a new tenant and smaller charges for renewals and maintenance coordination. That is the honest range, though the exact structure varies by company. What matters is not just the headline percentage but the full picture of what you pay and what you get. After running a property management company in Dallas-Fort Worth, let me break down the real costs so you can compare companies intelligently. If you want a clear, no-surprises quote on managing your DFW rental, let us talk. Connect with Nick and his team → The Monthly Management Fee The core cost is the monthly management fee, usually 8 to 10 percent of the rent the company collects. On a home renting for 2,500 dollars a month, that is roughly 200 to 250 dollars monthly. Some companies charge a flat monthly fee instead. This fee covers the ongoing work of collecting rent, handling tenant communication, coordinating maintenance, and managing the day-to-day of your rental. The Leasing or Placement Fee When a company finds and places a new tenant, they typically charge a leasing fee. This often ranges from half a month to a full month of rent, or a flat fee. It covers marketing the home, showing it, screening applicants, and preparing the lease. Because it is tied to placing a tenant, you generally pay it when a new lease starts, not every month. The Renewal Fee When an existing tenant renews their lease, many companies charge a smaller renewal fee, often a few hundred dollars or a small percentage of one month rent. It covers negotiating and processing the renewal. Renewals are good for you as an owner, because keeping a good tenant avoids vacancy and turnover costs, so this fee usually pays for itself. Maintenance Coordination and Markups Companies coordinate repairs, and some add a markup on maintenance work or charge a coordination fee. Ask about this directly. A reasonable markup for handling vendors and oversight is normal, but excessive markups are a red flag. The best companies have vetted vendors and fair pricing, so the convenience is worth it without gouging you on every repair. Other Possible Fees Depending on the company, you might see setup fees, inspection fees, or fees for handling evictions. None of these are automatically unreasonable, but they should be disclosed clearly up front. Hidden or surprise fees are the biggest complaint owners have about property managers, which is why transparency is one of the signs of a good company I described in what to look for in a DFW rent my house company. What You Actually Get for the Fee The fee buys more than convenience. A good manager fills your home faster, screens out bad tenants, keeps you legally compliant, handles maintenance efficiently, and protects your asset. A single avoided eviction or a properly screened tenant can save you far more than a year of management fees. The right question is not simply how much it costs, but how much it saves and earns you. Is Property Management Worth the Cost? For many owners, yes. If you value your time, live far from the property, own multiple units, or simply do not want the stress, professional management turns a demanding job into a real investment. If you have one local property and enjoy hands-on work, self-managing can save the fee. It comes down to what your time is worth and how much risk you want to carry personally. Flat Fee vs Percentage Pricing Some companies charge a percentage of rent, others a flat monthly fee. Percentage pricing aligns the company incentive with maximizing your rent, while flat fees are predictable regardless of rent amount. Neither is automatically better. What matters is the total cost and the quality of service, not just the pricing model. Compare the whole package. How to Compare Companies on Cost Do not just compare management percentages. Add up the realistic annual total: management fee, leasing fee, renewal fee, and expected maintenance handling, then weigh it against the quality of service. A slightly higher fee from a company that fills vacancies faster and screens better often costs you less overall than a cheap company that leaves your home empty or places bad tenants. The Real Cost of Bad Management The most expensive property management is bad property management, no matter how low the fee. Extended vacancies, poor tenants, mishandled repairs, and legal mistakes cost far more than the difference in management fees. When you evaluate cost, weigh the downside of getting it wrong, not just the monthly percentage. Protecting a large asset is worth paying a fair price for competence. DFW Rents and Your Net Return Because DFW rents have grown along with the market, the management fee as a share of your total return is often smaller than owners expect. On a well-located rental with strong appreciation and steady rent growth, paying a professional to protect and optimize the asset frequently improves your net return rather than reducing it. The fee is not just a cost. In the right hands it is an investment in keeping your property occupied, maintained, and compliant. Ask for the All-In Number When you request a quote, ask for the realistic all-in annual cost for your specific property, not just the management percentage. A good company will happily walk you through the management fee, expected leasing and renewal fees, and how maintenance is handled, so you can see the true picture. Transparency at the quote stage is one of the best predictors of how a company will treat you as a client. The Bottom Line Expect around 8 to 10 percent of rent for monthly management in DFW, plus a leasing fee and smaller renewal and maintenance charges. Judge companies on total cost and quality together, not just the headline percentage. If you want a transparent quote and a straight explanation of exactly what you would pay to have your DFW rental managed well, that is exactly what my team provides. Connect with Nick and his team → --- ### What to Look For in a DFW Rent My House Company URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/dfw-rent-my-house-company Published: 2026-09-05 Category: Property Management Tags: Property Management, DFW Landlords, Rental Property Summary: What to look for in a DFW rent my house company: the six signs of a great property manager, the red flags to avoid, and the questions to ask before you hire. What to Look For in a DFW Rent My House Company A good DFW rent my house company does far more than collect rent. It screens tenants properly, handles maintenance fast, keeps you legally compliant, and protects your property like it is their own. Choosing the wrong one can turn a great investment into a nightmare, while the right one makes owning a rental feel truly passive. After 22 years in Dallas-Fort Worth real estate and running a property management company, here is exactly what to look for before you hand someone the keys to your asset. If you want your DFW home rented and managed the right way, let us talk. Connect with Nick and his team → What a Rent My House Company Actually Does A full-service company markets your home, screens applicants, handles the lease, collects rent, coordinates maintenance, manages tenant issues, and keeps you compliant with Texas landlord law. The good ones turn a demanding side job into a hands-off investment. The weak ones just cash your management fee and leave you exposed. Knowing what the job actually involves helps you judge who does it well. Why It Matters Who You Hire Your rental is likely one of your largest assets. The company you hire influences your cash flow, your property condition, and your legal risk every single month. A great manager fills vacancies fast with quality tenants and protects your home. A poor one lets units sit empty, places bad tenants, and mishandles repairs. The stakes are high, so this is not a decision to make on price alone. Sign One: Rigorous Tenant Screening The single most important thing a management company does is put the right tenant in your home. Ask about their screening process: credit, income verification, rental history, background, and eviction checks. A great tenant pays on time and treats your home well for years. A bad one costs you months of income and thousands in damage. Screening is where good management earns its fee. Sign Two: Transparent Fees You should understand exactly what you will pay before you sign. A trustworthy company explains its management fee, leasing fee, renewal fee, and any maintenance markups clearly. Hidden fees are a major red flag. I break down what these actually cost in how much property management costs in DFW, so you know what fair pricing looks like going in. Sign Three: Fast, Systemized Maintenance Maintenance handled well protects your property and keeps tenants happy, which keeps them renewing. Ask how they handle repair requests, whether they have vetted vendors, and how emergencies are managed. Slow or sloppy maintenance leads to bigger repair bills and tenants who leave. A company with real maintenance systems saves you money and headaches over the life of the lease. Sign Four: Clear Communication and Reporting You should always know how your property is performing. Look for a company that provides regular owner statements, transparent accounting, and responsive communication. If you cannot get a straight answer or a clear report, imagine how they communicate with your tenants. Good reporting is a sign of a well-run operation, and it gives you peace of mind that your investment is being handled properly. Sign Five: Deep Local Market Knowledge DFW is not one rental market. Rents, tenant pools, and demand vary between McKinney, Frisco, Plano, and Dallas proper. A company that knows your specific submarket prices your rental correctly, filling it fast without leaving money on the table. Local knowledge is the difference between a home that rents in a week and one that sits empty for a month bleeding cash. Sign Six: Legal Compliance Texas has specific laws governing leases, security deposits, notices, and evictions, and mistakes are expensive. A professional company keeps you compliant and handles the legal process correctly when issues arise. This protection alone can justify the management fee, because a single mishandled security deposit or eviction can cost you far more than a year of management costs. Red Flags to Avoid Watch out for companies that are vague about fees, slow to return your calls during the sales process, unwilling to explain their screening, or pushing you to accept the first applicant. If they are disorganized before you are a client, they will be disorganized while managing your largest asset. Trust the pattern you see up front. Questions to Ask Before You Hire Ask how they screen tenants, what all their fees are, how they handle maintenance and emergencies, how quickly they typically fill a vacancy, how they handle late rent and evictions, and how they report to owners. The answers, and how clearly they give them, tell you almost everything you need to know about whether this company will protect your investment. The DFW-Specific Angle In a growth market like DFW, tenant demand is strong, which is good news for owners, but it also means pricing and placement move quickly. A company that understands the local pace keeps your home occupied and your rent optimized. If you are still deciding whether to rent at all, my post on whether to rent or sell your DFW house walks through that first. Watch for Cheap Management That Costs You The lowest management fee is rarely the best value. A company charging a rock-bottom rate but cutting corners on screening, maintenance, and communication can cost you far more in vacancies, bad tenants, and repairs than you ever saved on the fee. Judge a company on the total value it delivers, not the headline percentage. Protecting a major asset is worth paying a fair price for real competence and systems. The Bottom Line The right DFW rent my house company protects your asset, maximizes your income, and gives you back your time. The wrong one costs you on every front. Look for rigorous screening, transparent fees, fast maintenance, clear reporting, local expertise, and legal compliance. If you want a straight conversation about renting and managing your DFW home, that is exactly what my team does. Connect with Nick and his team → --- ### Should I Rent or Sell My House in DFW? How I Help Owners Decide URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/rent-or-sell-my-house-dfw Published: 2026-09-03 Category: Property Management Tags: Property Management, Home Sellers, DFW Real Estate Summary: Should you rent or sell your house in DFW? The cash flow math, equity, and lifestyle factors that decide it, from a DFW operator and property manager. Should I Rent or Sell My House in DFW? How I Help Owners Decide Whether you should rent or sell your house in DFW comes down to three questions: does it cash flow as a rental, do you need the equity now, and do you want to be a landlord. Get honest answers to those three and the decision usually makes itself. After 22 years in Dallas-Fort Worth real estate and running a property management company, I have helped a lot of owners make this call. Let me walk you through the real factors instead of a generic answer. If you are weighing this decision on your own home, let us run your specific numbers. Connect with Nick and his team → The Core Question Selling gives you a lump sum of equity today. Renting gives you monthly cash flow plus long-term appreciation, but it makes you a landlord. Neither is automatically right. The best choice depends on your finances, your goals, and your appetite for being a property owner. The mistake is deciding emotionally instead of running the actual numbers on both paths. When Selling Makes Sense Selling is often the right move if you need the equity for your next purchase, if the home would not cash flow as a rental, or if you simply have no desire to manage a property. If carrying two mortgages would stretch you thin, or the house needs major work you do not want to fund, selling and moving on cleanly is frequently the smarter, lower-stress path. When Renting Makes Sense Renting shines when the home would produce positive or breakeven cash flow, when you believe in the long-term appreciation of the area, and when you can handle being a landlord or afford professional management. In strong DFW submarkets with steady tenant demand, a well-located rental can build significant wealth over time while someone else pays down your mortgage. I cover the landlord side in what I tell every DFW landlord first. Run the Cash Flow Math Start with the numbers. Take realistic market rent and subtract the mortgage, taxes, insurance, maintenance, and a vacancy allowance. If you are cash-flow positive or close to it, renting is worth serious consideration. If you would lose money every month, that changes the calculation, and you would be betting entirely on appreciation to make it worthwhile. Never assume the rent number. Verify it against current market data. The Equity Consideration How much equity you have and whether you need it now is a major factor. If your equity is the down payment on your next home, selling may be necessary. If you can buy your next home without it, keeping the equity working in an appreciating rental can be powerful. There is no single right answer, only the one that fits your financial picture. The Tax Angle Taxes matter on both paths. Selling a primary residence can come with meaningful capital-gains exclusions if you meet the ownership and use tests, while converting to a rental changes your tax situation and opens depreciation benefits. These rules are specific, and I am not a tax advisor, so confirm your situation with a CPA. But the tax consequences can genuinely tip the rent-versus-sell decision, so factor them in before you commit. Your Local Market Matters The right answer depends partly on where your home is and where the market is headed. In growth areas with strong appreciation prospects, holding can pay off handsomely. In a flatter submarket, the case for holding weakens. My DFW market forecast for 2026 lays out the bigger picture, and it is worth reading before you decide which way the wind is blowing for your property. The Landlord Reality Being a landlord is not passive if you do it yourself. Tenants, repairs, turnovers, and the occasional difficult situation come with the territory. That does not mean avoid it. It means go in with eyes open. Many great wealth-building rentals are owned by people who simply hired the headache out to a property manager and kept the upside. The Property Management Decision If you lean toward renting but dread the management, professional property management is the bridge. A good manager handles screening, rent collection, maintenance coordination, and compliance, turning your rental back into something closer to a true investment. This is exactly the service my company provides for DFW owners, and for many people it is what makes keeping the home realistic. The Hybrid Option Sometimes the best answer is to rent for now and sell later. If you are unsure, or the market timing is not ideal for selling, renting for a few years lets you capture cash flow and appreciation while keeping your options open. You can always sell down the road, potentially into a stronger market, after tenants have helped pay down your loan. Do Not Forget the Emotional Factors This is not purely a math problem. Some people sleep better with a clean sale and no landlord responsibilities. Others love the idea of building a rental portfolio. Your temperament matters. The best financial choice you will not actually follow through on is worse than the slightly less optimal one you will happily maintain. Be honest about who you are. How to Decide With Confidence Lay the two paths side by side: the lump sum from selling versus the cash flow and appreciation from renting, adjusted for taxes and your tolerance for being a landlord. Then choose the one that fits your goals and your life. That is exactly the analysis my team walks owners through, with no pressure and no assumption about which way you should go. The Bottom Line Whether to rent or sell your DFW home depends on cash flow, your need for equity, and your willingness to be a landlord. Run the numbers on both, factor in taxes and the local market, and be honest about your temperament. If you want help running your specific numbers, let us connect and figure out the smartest move for your situation. Connect with Nick and his team → --- ### RealTrends #1 in Plano Goes National: AP News, ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and 450+ Outlets URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/realtrends-1-plano-national-media-coverage Published: 2026-09-02 Category: Team Results Tags: RealTrends, AP News, Press, DFW Real Estate, Nick Good, The Good Home Team Summary: The Good Home Team's RealTrends Verified #1 Plano ranking was picked up by AP News, Barchart, StreetInsider, NewsBreak and 450+ news sites. Here is what it means. RealTrends 1 in Plano Goes National: Featured on AP News, ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and 450+ Outlets The Good Home Team's RealTrends Verified number 1 ranking in Plano, Texas just went national. On August 30, 2026, the announcement was picked up by AP News, Barchart, StreetInsider, NewsBreak, and hundreds of ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX affiliate news sites, landing across more than 450 outlets in total. For a Dallas-Fort Worth real estate operator, that kind of third-party reach is not a vanity metric. It is validation at scale, and here is why it matters to you. The core fact has not changed. The Good Home Team powered by PLACE at eXp Realty closed 162 transaction sides and $65.6 million in volume in 2025 and was named the RealTrends Verified number 1 team in Plano, Texas for both volume and sides, based on independently audited data. What changed this week is how far that verified fact traveled. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → Where the Story Ran The release was distributed across national news, financial, and local affiliate networks. A few of the notable placements: AP News, one of the most trusted news brands in the world, with a domain rating of 91. Barchart, a leading financial data platform. StreetInsider and NewsBreak, both major financial and news aggregators. ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX affiliate station websites across multiple markets. The FinancialContent network, syndicated to regional business portals nationwide. Added together, the placements represent tens of millions of potential impressions and more than 450 individual news sites carrying the same verified story. AP News alone carries a potential reach in the range of 23 million, NewsBreak roughly 25 million, and Barchart around 7 million. These are not small blog mentions. They are established, high-authority financial and news platforms that publishers, investors, and search engines already trust. The affiliate reach matters just as much as the headline names. The story ran on local ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX affiliate news sites in markets across the country, which is what stands behind an "as seen on" claim that is real rather than decorative. When a national ranking is echoed by hundreds of regional outlets at once, it stops looking like a press release and starts looking like news. Why National Coverage of a Local Ranking Matters Anyone can claim to be a top producer. The reason I invest in independent verification, and then in getting that verification in front of a national audience, is simple: proof beats promises. A self-reported award is a marketing line. An audited RealTrends ranking that AP News and hundreds of other outlets are willing to publish is a fact with a paper trail. When you are choosing who to trust with the largest financial transaction of your life, or deciding which team to build your real estate career on, that distinction is everything. For DFW home buyers and sellers, it means the team you are considering has closed at a verified, top-ranked level in your own market, on the record. For agents weighing a move, it is a signal about the systems and mentorship behind the numbers, not just the numbers themselves. The AI Search Angle Most Operators Are Missing There is a second reason this coverage matters in 2026, and most real estate operators are not paying attention to it yet. National press releases like this one are indexed by the systems that power AI search: ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, and Claude. When a buyer, seller, or agent asks an AI assistant who the top real estate team in Plano is, the answer is assembled from exactly this kind of verified, widely published source. Getting an audited fact onto AP News and 450 other sites is not just traditional PR. It is how you become the answer AI gives. Verify It Yourself Here is the part I care about most: you do not have to take my word for any of it. Read the coverage on AP News, then cross-check the underlying ranking on the RealTrends Verified team profile. The whole reason to publish audited numbers across national outlets is so a skeptical buyer, seller, or agent can confirm the claim in two clicks. That is the standard I hold my own business to, and it is the same standard I tell every agent to demand before they trust a team or brokerage with their career. If a team cannot show you audited numbers, and cannot point to third parties who published them, be skeptical of everything else they tell you. The Same Discipline Runs Every Business The ranking sits at the center of a broader DFW ecosystem built on the same operating principle. That includes Homeward Property Management for landlords who want professional rental management, home services, investing, and agent revenue share education. One market, one standard, applied to different problems for 22 consecutive years. If you are a DFW agent who wants to build on a proven, verified model, here is exactly what that looks like: how we grow agents. And if you are buying, selling, or renting out a home in Dallas-Fort Worth, let's talk about what working with a verified number one team looks like for you. National headlines are not the finish line. They are a receipt on 22 years of showing up, and proof you can verify for yourself. That is the whole point. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → or reach the team here. --- ### The Path From Agent to Financial Freedom in DFW Real Estate URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/real-estate-agent-financial-freedom-dfw Published: 2026-09-01 Category: Wealth & Freedom Tags: Wealth & Freedom, DFW Real Estate, Financial Freedom Summary: The real path from real estate agent to financial freedom in DFW: the freedom number, the five steps, and why most agents never get there. The Path From Agent to Financial Freedom in DFW Real Estate Financial freedom for a real estate agent is not a bigger commission check. It is the point where your assets produce enough income to cover your life whether or not you sell another home. That distinction is everything, and most agents never cross it because they chase income and never build freedom. After 22 years in Dallas-Fort Worth real estate and building businesses and a rental portfolio alongside my sales career, let me lay out the actual path. If you want a real plan to build freedom, not just income, that is exactly what I help agents map. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → What Financial Freedom Actually Means Freedom is when work becomes a choice instead of a requirement. It happens when your passive and residual income covers your expenses. At that point, you still might sell real estate because you love it, but you no longer have to. The whole game is building enough asset-based income to make your effort-based income optional. That is a very different goal than simply earning more each year. Know Your Freedom Number You cannot hit a target you have not defined. Your freedom number is the annual passive income required to cover your lifestyle. Add up what your life actually costs in a year, and that is the income your assets need to produce. It is often smaller than people fear once they separate real needs from lifestyle inflation. Knowing the number turns a vague dream into a concrete plan. Why Most Agents Never Get Free The reason most agents never reach freedom is simple. They convert effort into income and then income into lifestyle, never into assets. Twenty years later they have earned millions and own nothing that pays them. It is not a talent problem or an income problem. It is a conversion problem. They never turned earnings into engines. Step One: Maximize Your Income Freedom is funded by surplus, and surplus starts with strong income. Before you optimize anything else, get your production up. Get fed leads, work on a model where you keep more per deal, and close consistently. A bigger, more reliable income creates the surplus that everything else is built from. I covered the income side in how much DFW agents make. Step Two: Control Your Spending The gap between what you earn and what you spend is your freedom fuel. The agent who earns well and spends it all has no fuel. The one who keeps lifestyle steady as income grows accumulates capital fast. This does not mean living miserably. It means refusing to let every raise disappear into a bigger lifestyle. Discipline here is what makes every later step possible. Step Three: Build Income-Producing Assets Now you deploy the surplus into things that pay you. Rental property is the classic vehicle for agents, because you understand it better than anyone. Each asset you add produces cash flow independent of your sales. Over time these assets become a growing share of your income until they can carry your life. I broke down the levers in how DFW agents build wealth. Step Four: Add Residual Income On top of assets, build income that arrives from your network and systems. Revenue share and referral income keep flowing whether or not you are actively selling. Residual income is one of the fastest freedom accelerators for an agent, which is why so many DFW agents are building the Residual Agent Network. It stacks on top of your assets to reach your freedom number faster. Step Five: Buy Back Your Time As your passive income grows, you can start delegating the parts of your business that drain you and reinvesting your time into what compounds. This is where freedom becomes real. You are no longer trading every hour for a dollar. You are building systems and assets that work while you live your life. Time freedom is the entire point, and it is earned, not given. The Role of a Team A team accelerates every step. It raises your income through leads and leverage, frees your time through support staff, and often provides the residual income streams that fund freedom. Trying to reach freedom as an isolated solo agent is possible but slow. The right team compresses the timeline dramatically, which is why the model you choose matters so much to how fast you get free. The Compounding Timeline Freedom is not fast, and anyone who promises otherwise is selling something. It is a five to fifteen year journey for most people, depending on income and discipline. But the timeline compresses the more consistently you execute. The agents who start early and stay steady reach freedom while their peers are still chasing the next commission to pay last month bills. Why I Build This is personal for me. I build because freedom is not just about money. It is about time with the people you love and control over your own life. I wrote about the deeper reasons in why I am still building after 22 years. The financial freedom path is really a path to a life on your own terms. Start Where You Are You do not need a big income or a windfall to begin. You need to start converting some of what you earn into assets and residual income now, and to keep doing it. The first rental, the first residual stream, the first disciplined year sets the whole thing in motion. Freedom is built by ordinary decisions repeated consistently, not by one heroic move. The Bottom Line The path from agent to financial freedom in DFW is clear: maximize income, control spending, build assets, add residual income, and buy back your time. Commissions fund it, discipline drives it, and time compounds it. If you want help building that plan for your own life, that is exactly the conversation I have with the agents I mentor. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → --- ### Turning Your First Commission Check Into a Rental Property in DFW URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/turn-commission-into-rental-property-dfw Published: 2026-08-30 Category: Investing Tags: Investing, DFW Real Estate, Rental Property Summary: How to turn your first commission check into a rental property in DFW: what you need, where to buy, and how agents build wealth through ownership. Turning Your First Commission Check Into a Rental Property in DFW Turning a commission check into a rental property is one of the smartest moves a DFW real estate agent can make, because it converts temporary income into an asset that pays you for decades. You already understand value, neighborhoods, and the buying process better than almost any investor. The only thing standing between most agents and their first rental is the decision to invest surplus instead of spending it. After 22 years in Dallas-Fort Worth and building a rental portfolio of my own, here is how to actually do it. If you want a plan to turn your commissions into assets, let us talk. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → Why Agents Make the Best Investors You have an advantage most investors would pay for. You see listings before the public, you know which neighborhoods hold value, you understand pricing and negotiation, and you have relationships with lenders and contractors. That knowledge lowers your risk and improves your returns. Most agents never use this edge. The ones who do build portfolios that eventually rival or exceed their commission income. The First Decision: Save the Commission The hardest part is not finding a property. It is not spending the money first. When a commission check lands, the natural instinct is to upgrade your lifestyle. The wealth-building move is to earmark a chunk of it as down-payment capital. Even setting aside a portion of each check builds toward your first rental faster than you think. Discipline with the first commission is what makes the first property possible, a theme I covered in building multiple streams of income. How Much You Actually Need For a standard investment property, plan on roughly 20 to 25 percent down plus closing costs and a reserve for repairs. On a modest DFW starter rental, that is a meaningful but achievable number for a producing agent who saves intentionally. There are lower-down-payment paths too, including house hacking, which I cover below. The point is that your first rental is closer than you assume once you stop spending your surplus. House Hacking: The Lowest-Barrier Start If a full down payment feels far off, consider house hacking. You buy a home or small multi-unit as your primary residence with a low-down-payment loan, live in part of it, and rent out the rest. Your tenants help cover your mortgage while you build equity. After a year, you can move on and keep it as a pure rental. It is one of the most accessible ways for a newer agent to get into ownership. Where to Buy in DFW DFW is full of rental opportunity, but not every property is a good rental. Growth markets like McKinney and the northern suburbs offer appreciation and steady tenant demand. Established areas offer stability and easier management. The best rental is not always the cheapest or the flashiest. It is the one with solid cash flow, reliable demand, and room to grow. Your local market knowledge is exactly what helps you find it. Run the Numbers Before You Buy A rental is a business, and the numbers have to work. Add up the mortgage, taxes, insurance, maintenance, and a vacancy allowance, then compare that to realistic market rent. You want positive or near-breakeven cash flow with appreciation upside over time. As an agent you can pull comps and rent data yourself, which is a huge advantage. Never buy a rental on hope. Buy it on math. Plan for Management From Day One Owning a rental is not passive if you self-manage badly. Decide up front whether you will manage it yourself or hire a professional property manager to handle screening, rent collection, and maintenance. For busy agents, professional management often makes the difference between an asset that builds wealth and a second job that drains you. It is worth understanding what good management looks like before you buy. Avoid the Common First-Rental Mistakes The most common mistakes are overpaying because you fell in love with a property, underestimating repair and vacancy costs, and buying in an area with weak rental demand. Another is failing to keep reserves, so one big repair creates a crisis. Your job as an agent is to be the calm, numbers-driven professional for your own deals the same way you are for your clients. The Compounding Payoff Here is why this matters. One rental feels small next to your commission income. But rents rise, the mortgage gets paid down, and the property appreciates, all at once. Repeat the process every couple of years and in a decade you have a portfolio that produces real income independent of your sales business. That is how agents build lasting wealth, and it starts with a single commission you were disciplined enough to invest. Reinvest and Repeat The real power move is repetition. Once your first rental is stable, you use its cash flow and your continued commission surplus to fund the next one, then the next. This is how small beginnings become real portfolios. Each property makes the next one easier, because you have more equity, more experience, and more cash flow working for you. The agents who build serious wealth are rarely the ones who made one big bet. They are the ones who repeated a sound process patiently for years. You already spend your days helping other people build equity through real estate. Turning that same knowledge inward, toward your own portfolio, is one of the most natural and powerful moves available to you as a DFW agent. The Bottom Line Your first rental property is the bridge from earning a living to building wealth. You have the knowledge and the income. The only missing piece is the decision to invest instead of spend. If you want help turning your commissions into a real portfolio and a real wealth plan, that is exactly the conversation I have with the agents I mentor across DFW. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → --- ### Featured in BizWeekly: Why Proof Beats Promises in DFW Real Estate URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/featured-in-bizweekly-dfw-real-estate Published: 2026-08-29 Category: Team Results Tags: BizWeekly, DFW Real Estate, eXp Realty, RealTrends, Nick Good Summary: BizWeekly featured my DFW real estate framework. Here is the one principle behind it: proof beats promises, and audited numbers over marketing. Featured in BizWeekly: Why Proof Beats Promises in DFW Real Estate This month I was featured in BizWeekly, a national business publication, in a piece about how real estate agents should evaluate a brokerage move. The feature is built on the one principle I have run my DFW real estate career on for 22 years: proof beats promises. Anyone can claim to be a top producer. Very few can show you audited numbers. That is the whole idea. When an agent decides where to hang their license, the loudest pitch usually wins the meeting, and the loudest pitch is rarely the most honest one. I would rather hand you third-party verified production and let the numbers talk. In 2025 my team, The Good Home Team powered by PLACE at eXp Realty, closed 162 sides and $65.6 million in volume across the Dallas-Fort Worth market, and we were ranked RealTrends Verified number 1 in Plano, Texas for both volume and sides. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → Why a National Feature Matters for a Local Operator I do not chase press for the sake of press. I chased this feature because it puts an independent set of eyes on the same claim I make to every DFW agent who sits across from me. When a national outlet is willing to publish your framework and your numbers, it forces a level of accountability that a Facebook post never will. My business is built in McKinney, Plano, Frisco, Allen, and across Collin County, and the agents I partner with live and sell here too. A feature like this does not change the day-to-day work. It just confirms, in public, that the work holds up. The article covers a question thousands of agents wrestle with every year: should I switch brokerages, and how do I decide. My honest answer, and the reason the piece exists, is that most agents evaluate the move on the wrong thing. They read the commission split off a flyer and stop there. I think that is backward. Proof Over Promises Here is the part of the BizWeekly feature I care about most. The last question in my framework is the one I believe separates real operators from marketers: can you prove it. RealTrends Verified data is independently audited, not self-reported. That distinction is everything. A self-reported award is a marketing line. An audited number is a fact. If a team or a brokerage cannot show you audited production, be skeptical of everything else they tell you. This is not a knock on ambition. It is a filter. I have watched hundreds of DFW agents make a brokerage move well and badly over 22 years, and the ones who got burned almost always signed with someone who talked a big game and could not back it up. You can check my claims for yourself on the RealTrends rankings. That is the point. I want you to check. The Split Is the Last Question, Not the First A brokerage can advertise a generous split, then quietly claw it back through franchise royalties, monthly fees, and transaction fees. Before you compare anything, build the entire fee stack and run it against your last twelve months of production. Then ask the question almost nobody asks: what does that split actually buy me. A high split with no leads and no training is not a deal. It is a license and a desk. I walk every agent I recruit through the full version of this, and I published it so you can use it whether or not we ever work together. If a brokerage move is on your mind, read the seven questions to ask before you switch brokerages first. It is the framework the BizWeekly feature is based on, in full. What I Tell DFW Agents Weighing a Move The factor agents underestimate most is the person above them. In any model built around sponsorship, your mentor determines your first year far more than the logo on the sign does. Two agents can join the same brokerage, pay the exact same fees, and have completely different years. The difference is whether someone hands them leads, systems, and coaching after they sign, or disappears after the welcome email. That is the standard I hold myself to. Over the past seven years I have personally sponsored more than 220 agents into eXp Realty, and I am still in the business of handing my partners real leads, real systems, and real coaching, not a welcome email. If you want to see exactly what partnering with me looks like, that is what my agent growth page lays out. Slow markets reward the agents who invest in their own skill during the lull, and the timing of a move matters as much as the destination. What Verified Systems Actually Produce Proof is not only about my team-level numbers. It shows up at the individual agent level too, which is the part a prospective partner should care about most. One of my DFW agents, Spencer Marshall, generated $1.955 million in production off roughly $500 in ad spend because the systems and lead follow-up were built to convert, not just to look good in a pitch. Another, Sharon Bicknell, pulled 51 leads at $2.46 each. Those are real names and real numbers, not a hypothetical on a recruiting flyer. When I tell an agent that the split is the last question, this is what I mean by the questions that come first: what leads, what systems, what coaching, and can you prove any of it actually works. A high split attached to none of that is just a bigger slice of a smaller pie. Building in Public Getting featured in a national outlet like BizWeekly is not the finish line. It is a receipt. It says the numbers are audited, the framework is real, and the results are verifiable. For an operator running a sales team, a property management company, and four other DFW businesses, that kind of third-party proof is worth more than any award I could buy or claim. I would rather earn your trust with a number you can verify than a promise you have to take on faith. If you are a DFW agent thinking about a move, or you just want an honest read on whether your current split is actually working for you, let's talk. No pitch, no pressure, just the same framework BizWeekly published. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → --- ### Featured in USA News: My 2008 Comeback to RealTrends #1 in Plano URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/featured-in-usa-news-comeback-dfw Published: 2026-08-29 Category: Team Results Tags: USA News, DFW Real Estate, RealTrends, eXp Realty, Nick Good Summary: USA News told the story: from 8 lost contracts in 2008 to RealTrends Verified #1 in Plano. Here is the discipline that made the comeback. Featured in USA News: My 2008 Comeback to RealTrends 1 in Plano I was just featured in USA News, and the story they told is one I do not talk about often: how I went from eight lost contracts in one week during the 2008 collapse to leading the RealTrends Verified number 1 real estate team in Plano, Texas. If you are a DFW agent staring down a slow market right now, this is the part I want you to hear. In one week in 2008, eight of my properties under contract terminated. I went from expecting a life-changing payday to zero contracts, zero income, and a dead pipeline overnight. That is not a motivational-poster version of the story. It was the real thing, and it is why the USA News feature matters to me. It is proof that a business can be rebuilt from nothing if you solve the right problems in the market you already know. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → The Drive Home That Changed Everything After the collapse, I did what most people would do. I started applying for jobs. A company offered me a salary of $60,000 to $65,000 a year. On the drive home from the second interview, I turned it down. Not out of confidence, out of clarity. I finally understood the mistake I had been making: I was expecting to make a full-time income on part-time efforts. The moment that clicked, everything changed. What followed was a complete reinvention. I learned to call expired and cancelled listings, reaching sellers across DFW who had already tried to sell and already been let down. My first expired appointment in Allen, Texas turned into a listing, a sale, and a buyer transaction worth north of $15,000 in commissions. That one skill became the foundation of everything I built over the next seventeen years. From Lost Contracts to Verified Number One Fast forward to today. The Good Home Team powered by PLACE at eXp Realty closed 162 sides and $65.6 million in volume in 2025, and we are the RealTrends Verified number 1 team in Plano, Texas for both volume and sides, based on independently audited data. That is the arc USA News covered: eight terminated contracts to a verified, audited number one, in the same North Texas market, without ever switching cities when things got hard. I did not move markets when 2008 hit. I got better at solving problems in the market I already knew. Twenty-two consecutive years in DFW, same community, same principle, different problems. That consistency, more than any single trophy year, is what the feature is really about. The Discipline Most Operators Cannot Sustain Credentials are not what set an operator apart. Consistency is. I get very comfortable with the boring. I know exactly what I need to do every single day to move my business forward: talk to motivated sellers and buyers, connect with agents in the community, and build relationships with business owners and landlords across McKinney, Frisco, Plano, and Allen. None of it is complicated. Most of my competition cannot sustain the discipline to do it consistently. I can, and I have for 22 years. Every morning I ask myself one question before anything else: what is the one thing within my control today that will move my business forward profitably. Not a list. Not a strategy session. One thing. That question has kept me focused and in business while most of my competition from 2005 is gone. If you want the longer version of these lessons, I wrote about what 22 years in DFW real estate taught me about surviving any market. Intentional Proximity: Rip Off and Duplicate The habit that rebuilt my business fastest after 2008 was not a lead source. It was who I put around me. I call it intentional proximity. I surround myself with agents, mentors, and operators who are already living the business and lifestyle I am building toward, and then I rip off and duplicate. Find what works, make it yours, and execute it before anyone else in your DFW market does. That is also why sponsorship into eXp Realty matters so much: over the past seven years I have personally sponsored more than 220 agents, and the ones who grow fastest are the ones who stay close and copy what is already working instead of reinventing it alone. Proximity is leverage, and in a slow market it is the cheapest leverage you have. Why Down Markets Reward the Prepared Most agents fail in slow markets for three reasons. They cut lead generation too early. They abandon their core expertise. And they stop investing in their own skill. The agents who make it through become what I call skillionaires. They invest in skill development when things are slow and come out the other side with more business, more income, and more confidence. The 2008 version of me learned that the hard way, and it is the single most valuable thing I teach the agents who partner with me now. This is not theory. The National Association of Realtors data shows how many agents leave the business every time the market tightens. The ones who stay are almost never the most talented. They are the most consistent. What This Means for You If you are a DFW agent in a hard stretch right now, the USA News story is not about me. It is a template. Pick one high-value skill, get uncomfortable with the boring work, and stop expecting full-time income on part-time effort. That is the entire playbook, and it is the same one I hand every agent who joins me. If you want to see exactly what that partnership looks like, from real leads to systems to coaching, my agent growth page lays it out. Getting featured in a national outlet like USA News is not the finish line. It is a receipt on 22 years of showing up. If you are ready to build a business that survives any market, let's talk. Same market, same principles, and I will show you the numbers. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → --- ### How DFW Real Estate Agents Build Real Wealth (Not Just Commissions) URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/how-dfw-real-estate-agents-build-wealth Published: 2026-08-28 Category: Wealth & Freedom Tags: Wealth & Freedom, DFW Real Estate, Building Wealth Summary: How DFW real estate agents build real wealth beyond commissions: the four levers that turn earned income into lasting assets and freedom. How DFW Real Estate Agents Build Real Wealth (Not Just Commissions) How real estate agents build wealth is a different question than how they earn income, and confusing the two is why so many high-earning agents end up with nothing to show for it. Commissions are income. Wealth is what your income buys that keeps paying you later. After 22 years in Dallas-Fort Worth real estate, I have watched agents make great money and stay broke, and I have watched steady producers quietly build fortunes. The difference is never the size of the commission check. It is what they do with it. If you want to turn your real estate income into real wealth, that is a plan I help agents build. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → Income Is Not Wealth The most important mindset shift for any agent is understanding that a big income does not make you wealthy. Plenty of agents earn six figures and spend every dollar of it. When production slows, they are one bad quarter from trouble. Wealth is different. Wealth is assets that produce cash flow whether or not you close a deal this month. The goal is to convert your temporary, effort-based income into permanent, asset-based income over time. Lever One: Invest Your Commissions Instead of Spending Them The first lever is the simplest and the hardest: keep your lifestyle lean and invest the surplus. Every commission that gets spent on a nicer car is gone. Every commission that gets invested becomes an engine that pays you for years. The agents who build wealth treat surplus commission as investment capital, not spending money. I broke this mindset down in how real estate builds multiple streams of income. Lever Two: Build Residual Income The second lever is income that arrives whether or not you are working. In real estate, that can mean revenue share, referral income, and networks built specifically to generate residual cash flow. Residual income is one of the fastest ways for an agent to add a wealth stream, because it leverages relationships you already have. This is exactly why DFW agents are building the Residual Agent Network right now. Lever Three: Buy and Hold Real Estate You sell real estate for a living, which gives you an unfair advantage in owning it. Buying rental property with your commission surplus turns your expertise into an asset. Rents pay you monthly, the property appreciates over time, and tenants effectively pay down your mortgage. Over a decade, a few well-chosen DFW rentals can outperform years of commission income. I explained why so many smart people choose this path in why smart investors choose passive real estate. Lever Four: Own a Piece of the Business The fourth lever is ownership. At some brokerages, agents can earn equity in the company itself through stock awards, turning a sales career into a stake in a growing business. Ownership means you benefit when the company grows, not just when you personally close. Combining commissions, residual income, real estate, and equity is how a single career becomes a diversified wealth machine rather than a paycheck that stops when you do. The Discipline That Ties It Together None of these levers work without discipline. The agent who earns 200,000 dollars and spends 200,000 dollars builds nothing. The agent who earns 120,000 dollars, lives on 80,000 dollars, and invests the difference every year builds real wealth. Wealth is built in the gap between what you earn and what you spend, and that gap is a choice you make with every commission check, not a number the market hands you. Why Agents Have an Unfair Advantage Most people have to learn about real estate investing from books. You live it every day. You see deals before the public, you understand value and neighborhoods, and you have relationships with lenders, contractors, and other investors. That advantage is enormous, and most agents waste it by never investing at all. The agents who use it build portfolios that eventually dwarf their commission income. The Trap of the High-Income, No-Wealth Agent The most common tragedy I see is the agent who earned well for 20 years and has nothing to show for it. Great income, no assets, no freedom, and no plan to stop working. It is entirely avoidable. It comes from treating every commission as spending money instead of building material. If you start converting income to assets early, even modestly, you end up in a completely different place than the agent who never does. A Simple Framework to Start You do not need a complicated plan. Pick a savings rate you can sustain, invest the surplus consistently, add residual income where you can, and buy your first rental when you have the down payment. Then repeat. The magic is not in any single move. It is in doing it consistently for years while your peers spend everything. I covered the income side of this in how much DFW agents make. Start Before You Feel Ready The biggest reason agents never build wealth is waiting for a someday that never comes. They tell themselves they will start investing once they earn more, once things settle down, once the timing is perfect. It never is. The agents who build real wealth start small and start now, with their very next commission, and let consistency do the heavy lifting over the years. A modest start today beats a perfect plan you never begin. You do not need to get every decision right. You need to get the direction right and stay consistent. Momentum in wealth building comes from repetition, not from a single brilliant move. The Bottom Line Building wealth as a DFW real estate agent is not about earning more. It is about keeping more, investing it wisely, and letting time compound it into assets that pay you forever. Commissions fund the plan. Discipline executes it. If you want help turning your real estate income into a real wealth plan with multiple streams, that is exactly the conversation I have with the agents I mentor. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → --- ### Day One: How Real Estate Builds Multiple Streams of Income URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/multiple-streams-of-income-real-estate-dfw Published: 2026-08-26 Category: Wealth & Freedom Tags: Wealth & Freedom, DFW Real Estate, Multiple Streams of Income Summary: Multiple streams of income start with one. Here is the day-one playbook for turning a single real estate commission into lasting wealth in DFW. Day One: How Real Estate Builds Multiple Streams of Income Multiple streams of income are the entire reason I tell agents that real estate is not just a job, it is a launchpad. Today is your day one, and on day one almost everyone starts with a single stream: the commission you earn when you help someone buy or sell a home. That one stream is where it begins, but it is not where it should end. The whole game is turning that first stream into many, and real estate gives you a rare front-row seat to do exactly that. Watch the short above, then let me break down the playbook, because the idea is simple but the execution is where people get stuck. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → Step One: Build Your First Stream as Big as You Can Before you diversify, maximize. Your first stream, your commission income, is the engine that funds everything else. Too many agents get distracted chasing side hustles before their core business is strong. Build the real estate income first. Get your production up, keep your expenses lean, and generate real surplus. In DFW, with price points like McKinney around 505,000 dollars and Frisco above 550,000 dollars, a productive agent can generate serious cash flow. That surplus is the seed for every other stream, and I wrote about that exact sequence in build the business, then the wealth. Step Two: Stop Spending It This is the step nobody wants to hear. When the commission checks start coming, the natural move is to inflate your lifestyle: a nicer car, a bigger house, more stuff. The wealthy do the opposite. They keep their lifestyle steady and turn surplus into ammunition. The money you do not spend is the money you get to invest, and the money you invest is what creates streams two, three, and four. Discipline with your first stream is what makes the others possible. The Mistake That Keeps Agents Broke The most common wealth mistake I see in real estate is not a bad investment. It is never investing at all. Agents earn good money, spend all of it, and wake up 15 years later with a solid income but no assets and no freedom. A high income is not wealth. Wealth is what your income buys that keeps paying you later. The agents who understand this early, even on a modest first-year income, end up in a completely different place than the ones who treat every commission as spending money. Step Three: Look for Opportunities to Invest Once you have surplus and the discipline to keep it, you start hunting for places to put it to work. Real estate agents have an unfair advantage here. You see deals before the public does, you understand value, and you know your market cold. That is why so many successful agents become investors, a pattern the National Association of Realtors sees across its membership. You can buy rental property, invest in notes, partner on larger deals, or put money into vehicles that pay you whether or not you are working. I broke down why so many smart people choose this path in why smart investors choose passive real estate. Step Four: Create Multiple Paths of Income This is where it compounds. Your commission funds a rental, the rental pays you monthly rent, and its value grows over time. You add residual income from helping other agents, referral income, and eventually returns from larger investments. Now you are not one commission away from a hard month. You have several streams arriving from different directions, and if one slows down, the others keep flowing. That is what real financial security looks like, and it starts with the first commission you were disciplined enough not to spend. Why Real Estate Is the Perfect Launchpad Not every career gives you the tools to build wealth. Real estate does. It generates cash flow you can control, it teaches you how to evaluate property, and it puts you in rooms with investors and opportunities every single day. You get to do this. The path from one stream to many is right in front of you if you choose to walk it. Residual income is one of the easiest first additional streams for an agent, which is why DFW agents are building the Residual Agent Network right now. Your Day One Starts Now Here is the truth I want you to take from that short. Everyone starts with one stream. What separates the agents who build wealth from the ones who just earn a living is what they do with that first stream. Build it big. Protect it. Invest the surplus. Repeat. Whether you are a brand-new agent in Plano or a seasoned producer in McKinney, the playbook is the same, and today is your day one. If you want help turning your real estate income into a real wealth plan with multiple streams, that is exactly the conversation I have with the agents I mentor. Start Smaller Than You Think People assume building multiple streams requires a fortune. It does not. It requires starting. My wife and I began investing in rental properties one at a time and named the portfolio 418 Rentals in honor of my brother Austin. We did not start with a portfolio. We started with one property bought from surplus, then another, then another. Every stream you build later traces back to a first small decision to invest instead of spend. If you wait until you feel rich enough to start, you never will. The agents who build wealth start with their very next commission, not their someday commission. The Compounding Nobody Sees The reason this works is compounding, and compounding is invisible in the early years. Your first rental feels like a rounding error next to your commission income. Give it a decade of appreciation, rising rents, and reinvested cash flow, and it becomes a pillar. The agents who look wealthy in their fifties made unglamorous investing decisions in their thirties and forties. Day one is not about the size of the first move. It is about making the first move at all, and then never stopping. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → --- ### Thinking About Switching Real Estate Brokerages? Ask These 7 Questions Before You Move URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/choosing-a-real-estate-brokerage Published: 2026-08-25 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: Agent Playbook, DFW Agents, Brokerage Comparison, Six-Figure Mentor, Choosing a Brokerage, Real Estate Business Summary: The seven questions that separate a smart brokerage move from an expensive mistake, from a 22-year DFW operator who has sponsored 220+ agents. Thinking About Switching Real Estate Brokerages? Ask These 7 Questions Before You Move The most important questions to ask before choosing a real estate brokerage are not about the logo, the office, or the recruiting video. They are about what you actually keep, what you actually get, and whether the people making the promises can prove they produce. I have spent 22 years in DFW real estate, 12 of them at Keller Williams and the last 7 at eXp Realty, and I have sponsored more than 220 agents, so I have watched hundreds of agents make this decision both well and badly. Here are the seven questions that separate a smart move from an expensive one. Weighing a move and want a straight answer? Book a 15-minute call with Nick → Work through these in order. If a brokerage or a recruiter cannot answer all seven clearly and in writing, that is your answer. 1. What is my real commission split after every fee? The split on the flyer is almost never the split you actually pay. A brokerage may advertise 70/30, but once you subtract a franchise royalty that comes off the top, the effective split can land closer to 64/36 on every deal. Ask for the complete fee stack: the split, the franchise or royalty fee, monthly fees, transaction fees, and technology fees. Then do the math on your last twelve months of production. I break down the real Texas math on splits, caps, and fees here. 2. Is there a cap, and what happens after I hit it? A cap is the most you pay the brokerage in a year before you move to keeping effectively 100 percent. Two brokerages can look similar on the split and be thousands of dollars apart once you factor in the cap. Ask what the annual cap is, whether it is the same in every market, and what you keep after you cap. A lower, flat cap plus near-100 percent afterward beats a higher split with no cap for most producing agents. Here is a side-by-side of two common models in DFW. 3. What do I actually get for that split? This is the question most agents skip, and it is the one that matters most. A split only makes sense relative to what it buys you: leads, training, systems, marketing, deal support, and mentorship. A 100 percent split with no leads and no training is not a deal, it is a license and a desk. Ask exactly what is provided, then ask to see it working, not described in a slide. This is what I actually provide agents who partner with me: leads, systems, AI follow-up, and mentorship. 4. Who is my sponsor or mentor, and are they still producing? At many brokerages, and especially in models with sponsorship, the person above you determines your first year more than the brand does. Two agents can pay identical fees and have completely different experiences based on that one choice. Ask who your direct mentor is, how many deals they closed last year, how many agents they have developed, and exactly what they will do for you in your first 90 days. Here is the checklist I use for evaluating a sponsor. 5. Does this model build ownership, or just pay me a commission? A commission check pays you for today. Equity pays you for years. Ask whether the brokerage offers stock ownership, revenue share, or any way to build income that is not tied to your personal production forever. The best models let part of what you produce turn into ownership and residual income instead of disappearing into a desk fee. That difference compounds over a career. I lay out the honest pros and cons of the ownership model here, including who it is wrong for. 6. Will I make more solo or on a team? This is not the same question as which brokerage. Independent agents keep more of each check but generate every lead and solve every problem alone. Team agents give up a slice of the commission in exchange for leads, coaching, and leverage. The data is not subtle: NAR research shows team-based specialists close far more transactions than the typical solo agent. For most agents the team math wins, but you should run your own numbers. Here is why even experienced agents often net more on a team. 7. Can they actually prove their production? Anyone can call themselves a top producer. Ask for proof. Independent, third-party verified production, like RealTrends Verified, is the difference between a marketing claim and a fact. If a team or brokerage cannot show you audited numbers, be skeptical of everything else they tell you. The Good Home Team is RealTrends Verified number 1 in Plano, Texas for both volume and sides, independently audited. The Bottom Line Choosing a real estate brokerage is not about brand loyalty or the nicest office. It is about the real split after every fee, what that split actually buys you, the person mentoring you, whether you build ownership, solo versus team math, and whether they can prove their production. Get all seven answered in writing before you sign anything. For a broader look at how commissions and fees compare across brokerages, the NAR Member Profile and independent commission surveys are useful outside references. If you are a DFW agent working through this decision and you want a straight, no-pitch conversation about the numbers, that is exactly the call worth having. Book a 15-minute call with Nick and get honest answers to all seven questions for your situation → --- ### What 22 Years in DFW Real Estate Actually Taught Me About Surviving Any Market URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/what-22-years-dfw-real-estate-taught-me-surviving-any-market Published: 2026-08-24 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: Agent Playbook, DFW Agents, Six-Figure Mentor, Market Survival, Expired Listings, Real Estate Business Summary: In 2008 I had 8 contracts terminate in one week. I started applying for jobs. Here is what actually turned it around and what I learned about building a business that survives any market. What 22 Years in DFW Real Estate Actually Taught Me About Surviving Any Market What 22 years in DFW real estate taught me about surviving any market comes down to three things agents consistently get wrong when the market shifts, one decision I made in a parking lot in 2008 that changed everything, and a principle I learned later in my career that I have never forgotten: money changes hands when problems are solved, and the bigger the problem, the bigger the exchange of money. Want to talk through how to build a business that survives any market? Book a call with Nick → This is not a motivational post. It is what actually happened, what I actually did wrong, and what I figured out the hard way so you do not have to. Nick Good | 22 Years DFW Real Estate | RealTrends Verified 1 Plano TX The Three Mistakes Agents Make When the Market Shifts Every time the market turns I watch agents make the same three mistakes in the same order. I made some of them myself. The first mistake is cutting lead generation too early. When income slows down, the instinct is to cut every expense in sight. Cutting unnecessary operational expenses is absolutely the right move. But I see agents cut their lead generation and marketing spend before they cut anything else, which is exactly backwards. Your lead generation is the engine. You do not turn off the engine because you are running low on gas. You find more gas. Cut overhead first. Cut lead gen last or not at all if it is working. The second mistake is abandoning your core expertise. If you are a listing agent and the market shifts to more inventory with longer days on market, the wrong move is to pivot entirely to buyers. I see this constantly. An agent who has spent years mastering the listing side suddenly decides to become a buyer's agent because listings are harder to sell right now. What they are actually doing is walking away from their competitive advantage at the exact moment it matters most. A market with more inventory and longer days on market is not a reason to stop listing. It is a reason to master price reduction conversations. It is a reason to stack more listings. Because when the market turns back in favor of sellers, and it always does, the agent who held their listings through the slow period comes out the other side with more units, more income, and a reputation for being the agent who gets homes sold when it is hard. That is a reputation that compounds for years. The third mistake is not becoming what I call a skillionaire. A skillionaire is an agent who uses a down market as an intentional investment period in their own skill development. Scripting. Role playing. Objection handling. Rapport building. Neuro-linguistic programming. Database cleaning and reconnecting. Price reduction conversations. These are not things you figure out when the market is easy. You sharpen them when business slows down so that when the market picks back up you are operating at a completely different level than the agents who spent the slow period feeling sorry for themselves. Agents who make it through down markets come out the other side with more business, more income, and more confidence. They know they can survive the next shift because they already survived this one. 2008, The Moment I Almost Quit I had eight properties under contract when the financial collapse hit. All eight terminated. In a matter of days I went from expecting a significant commission payday to having no contracts, no income, and a dead pipeline. I started doubting whether I had what it takes to be in a commission-only business. So I did what any sane person would do. I started looking for a job. I spent my days putting together my resume, applying for positions, going on interviews. The job market was brutal. There were more people looking for work than there were actual jobs available. I went on two interviews with an asset management company that was handling the disposal of foreclosed properties, and there were a lot of them at that time. After the second interview they offered me a salary of around $60,000 to $65,000 a year. I told them I needed to go home, discuss it, and get back to them the next morning. On the drive home after that second interview, something clicked. If that company was expecting me to commit at least 40 hours a week to earn that salary, then I should be putting that same time and energy into my real estate business. The truth I had been avoiding was that I was expecting to make a full-time income with a part-time effort. I was my own worst boss. I called them the next morning and turned down the job offer. Then I got to work. The First Expired Listing Call in Allen, Texas With the market the way it was in 2008, there were sellers everywhere whose listings had expired or been cancelled. These were people who genuinely needed help, who had already decided they wanted to sell, and who had been let down by the process. They were motivated. They just needed the right agent to get in front of them. I started learning how to call expired and cancelled listings. I studied scripts and objection handling. And then I had to actually make the calls. I remember my hands shaking a little before that first dial. Not from fear exactly, more from wanting to sound prepared and confident and not knowing how it would go. It took me ten to fifteen minutes to work up the courage to hit the call button. I think I dialed and hung up two or three times before the call actually connected. I did not set an appointment on that first conversation. But it was not as bad as I had built it up to be in my head. And each call after that got easier. What changed was not the script. What changed was my mindset. These people were not being rude to me when they pushed back. They were frustrated from an experience that had not gone the way they hoped. A home is not just a financial asset. It carries emotion. And I knew I could help them. My first expired listing appointment was in Allen, Texas. That seller listed with me, the home sold, and they bought their next home through me as well. The total commission on both transactions was north of $15,000. That was the moment I understood what this business could be if I showed up for it the right way. Mastering expired and cancelled listings is the single biggest reason I stayed in real estate. It is what took me from surviving to building a business that now does seven figures annually. Here is what that business looks like for agents who partner with me today. The Ceiling I Hit in 2013, and the Decision That Broke Through It By 2013 and 2014 I was running hard as a solo producer. I was making the calls, doing the follow-up, running the appointments, working the listings from sign to close. I was good at it. And I had hit a ceiling. The light bulb moment was similar to the one I had in 2008. If I wanted to scale this correctly, I needed to teach and train other agents to take listings. Not just work with buyers, listings. Signs in the ground are billboards. Every listing we carried was a branding event. The more listing signs we had in DFW neighborhoods, the more visible the team became, and the more that visibility compounded into new business. We started training agents on the listing side in 2014. It is harder to teach than the buyer side. The objection handling is more complex. The competition is higher. But the payoff is disproportionate. Last year The Good Home Team closed 162 sides for $65.6 million in volume. We have done as many as 230 to 240 closings in a year. That did not happen by being the best individual agent in DFW. It happened by building a team of agents who became the best listing professionals in their markets. The decision that made all of it possible was getting out of my own way. There is too much ego in real estate. We are not brain surgeons. We are not rocket scientists. We are helping people buy, sell, and invest in what is likely the most expensive asset in their financial portfolio. When ego gets in the way of building systems, training others, and letting go of the need to be the one doing everything, it does not just slow growth. It suffocates the business entirely. The Principle That Ties All of It Together Someone shared something with me later in my career that I carry into every conversation now. Money changes hands when problems are solved. The bigger the problem, the bigger the exchange of money. An expired seller in 2008 had a real problem. A landlord who cannot fill a vacancy has a real problem. An agent who is watching their income drop in a shifting market has a real problem. When you show up with a genuine solution and the skill to execute it, you earn the right to be compensated. When you do not, you do not. It is that clean. That principle is why I built Homeward Property Management, Pro Care Home Solutions, and the Residual Agent Network alongside the sales team. Different businesses solving different problems for different people, all in the same DFW market I have worked for 22 years. I cover how I think about building across multiple verticals here. If you are an agent in DFW trying to figure out how to build something that survives the next market shift, the answer is not a better script or a shinier CRM. It is showing up with full effort, mastering the skills that produce listings in any market, and building systems that work whether you are in the room or not. Book a 15-minute call and let's talk about building a business that lasts. → --- ### DFW Housing Market Forecast for 2026: An Operator Read URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/dfw-housing-market-forecast-2026 Published: 2026-08-24 Category: DFW Market Tags: DFW Market, Market Forecast, Housing Market Summary: A DFW housing market forecast for 2026: what job growth, migration, tight supply, and interest rates mean for buyers, sellers, investors, and agents. DFW Housing Market Forecast for 2026: An Operator Read The DFW housing market forecast for 2026 points to continued strength driven by job growth and in-migration, tempered by higher interest rates that keep price gains moderate rather than explosive. In plain terms, do not expect the runaway appreciation of the boom years, and do not expect a crash either. Dallas-Fort Worth remains one of the most resilient large markets in the country. After 22 years operating here, this is my honest read on where things are headed and what it means for you. If you want to make a smart move in this market, whether buying, selling, or investing, let us talk. Connect with Nick and his team → The Fundamentals Are Strong The single biggest reason to be confident in DFW is people and jobs. Companies keep relocating and expanding here, and people keep moving in for work, for affordability relative to the coasts, and for quality of life. That steady demand is the floor under the market. As long as North Texas keeps adding jobs and residents, housing demand stays structurally supported, which is what separates DFW from markets that rise and fall on speculation. Interest Rates Are the Wild Card The biggest swing factor for 2026 is rates. When mortgage rates are elevated, some buyers sit on the sidelines and price growth cools. If rates ease, pent-up demand can release quickly against limited supply and push prices up. Nobody can predict rates precisely, including the people paid to try. The practical takeaway is to make decisions based on your own situation rather than trying to time the rate cycle, because the long-term direction of DFW is set by jobs, not by any single month rate move. Supply Remains Tight DFW has added a lot of new construction, especially in growth cities like McKinney and Celina, but supply still struggles to fully keep pace with demand in the most desirable areas. Tight supply in strong school zones and established neighborhoods keeps a floor under prices even when buyer traffic slows. This supply-demand imbalance is why a true buyer market has not materialized across DFW despite higher rates. What It Means for Buyers For buyers, 2026 offers a bit more breathing room than the frenzy years. You have slightly more negotiating power and less chance of a ten-offer bidding war on every home. That is a real opportunity. Waiting for a big price drop, however, is likely a mistake in a market with these fundamentals. Buy when you find the right home at a price that fits your budget, and let time and appreciation work for you. What It Means for Sellers For sellers, the market is still favorable but no longer forgiving of mistakes. Pricing right and preparing well matter more than they did at the peak. The demand is there, but buyers are more selective and price-sensitive. Sellers who respect the current market sell quickly and near ask. Those who cling to peak pricing watch their listings go stale. I cover this dynamic city by city in my Frisco and Plano market reads. What It Means for Investors For investors, DFW remains one of the most attractive large markets in the country for buy-and-hold. Population growth feeds rental demand, and appreciation over time rewards patient owners. Higher rates compress cash flow in the near term, but strong fundamentals make well-chosen DFW rentals a solid long-term play. The investors who do best buy quality assets in growth paths and hold through the cycles. What It Means for Agents For agents, a moderate market is actually a healthy one. The easy money of the frenzy rewarded order-takers. A normalized market rewards real skill: pricing, negotiation, marketing, and relationships. Agents with systems and leads thrive, while undersupported solo agents feel the squeeze. This is exactly why the model you work under matters so much, a point I covered in team vs solo in DFW. The Bottom Line for 2026 My forecast for DFW in 2026 is steady strength: moderate price growth, durable demand, tight supply, and rates as the main variable. It is a market that rewards preparation and punishes wishful thinking on every side of the table. National context from the National Association of Realtors is useful, but DFW is a local story with better fundamentals than most. If you want a clear read on what this forecast means for your specific move, that is exactly what my team helps people figure out. What Could Change the Forecast No forecast is guaranteed, and a few things could shift the DFW picture in 2026. A sharp move in interest rates in either direction would change buyer behavior quickly. A major economic shock could soften demand, though the diversified DFW economy tends to weather downturns better than most. And a surge or collapse in new construction could tip the supply balance. The reason I stay optimistic is that the core drivers, jobs and people moving here, are durable and not easily reversed. How to Position Yourself in This Market The smartest thing you can do in a moderate market is stop trying to time it perfectly and start making sound decisions based on your own situation. Buyers should get their financing right and buy quality in good locations. Sellers should price to the current market and prepare their homes properly. Investors should focus on cash flow and growth paths. Agents should build systems and lean into skill. In every case, preparation beats prediction. The people who win in 2026 will be the ones who acted wisely, not the ones who guessed the market perfectly. The Real Takeaway If you remember one thing about the DFW forecast for 2026, make it this: the fundamentals are strong, the market is normalizing rather than crashing, and success will come from strategy rather than timing. Whether you are buying your first home in McKinney, selling in Plano, or building a portfolio across the metroplex, the opportunity is real for those who move with a plan. That is the conversation my team is always glad to have with you. Connect with Nick and his team → --- ### The Best Time to Sell a House in DFW in 2026 (And When to Wait) URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/best-time-to-sell-house-dfw Published: 2026-08-22 Category: DFW Market Tags: DFW Market, Selling a Home, Home Sellers Summary: The best time to sell a house in DFW in 2026, the seasonal patterns that matter, and why price and preparation beat timing the calendar. The Best Time to Sell a House in DFW in 2026 (And When to Wait) The best time to sell a house in DFW is generally late spring and early summer, when buyer demand peaks and families try to move before the school year, but the honest answer is that the right time depends more on your home, your price point, and your goals than on the calendar. After 22 years selling across Dallas-Fort Worth, I can tell you that a well-prepared, well-priced home sells in any season here. Let me break down the real timing factors so you can decide with confidence. If you are thinking about selling in DFW, let us talk through your specific situation. Connect with Nick and his team → The Seasonal Pattern in DFW DFW follows a fairly predictable seasonal rhythm. Listings and buyer activity ramp up in March, peak from April through June, and stay strong into early summer. Families with children drive much of this, because they want to be settled before school starts in August. That is why spring is traditionally called the selling season. More buyers competing generally means faster sales and stronger offers for sellers who are ready when demand is highest. Why Spring Is Not Always Best for You Here is the nuance most articles skip. Spring brings more buyers, but it also brings more competing listings. Your home has more company on the market, which can offset the demand advantage. In the fall and winter, buyer traffic is lower, but the buyers who are out are serious, motivated, and often on a deadline. A well-priced home in November can sell faster and cleaner than an overpriced one in May. Season is one input, not the whole equation. What Matters More Than Timing In my experience, three things matter more than the month you list: price, preparation, and marketing. A home priced to current comps, prepared to show well, and marketed properly will sell in any season in DFW. A home that gets those wrong will sit even in peak spring. If you are choosing between listing now with the right strategy or waiting for a season that might bring more competition, strategy usually wins. Your Local Market Matters DFW is not one market, and timing varies by city. A luxury home in Frisco moves differently than a starter home in a growth pocket of McKinney. I break down the current dynamics in my Frisco market read and my McKinney market read. Knowing your specific submarket beats any general rule about the best month to sell. Consider Your Own Timeline The best time to sell is also personal. If you have already bought your next home, waiting for a theoretically better season means carrying two properties. If a job relocation sets your date, the market timing is out of your hands and strategy becomes everything. Do not let a headline about the perfect selling month override the realities of your own life and finances. The right time is often simply when you are ready and prepared. Should You Rent Instead of Sell? Sometimes the best move is not to sell at all. In strong rental markets across DFW, holding your home as a rental can build long-term wealth while you wait for further appreciation. Whether that makes sense depends on your equity, your goals, and the numbers. I walk owners through that decision in what I tell every DFW landlord first. A Note on 2026 Conditions In 2026, DFW continues to benefit from in-migration and job growth even as higher rates keep some buyers cautious. For sellers, that means demand is still there, but buyers are more price-sensitive than they were at the peak. Homes that are priced right and show well are rewarded, and homes that are priced on hope are punished with longer days on market. Reading current conditions accurately, rather than assuming it is still a runaway seller market, is how you sell fast and for top dollar this year. How to Decide With Confidence The way to decide is not to guess. It is to look at your specific home, your local comps, your equity, and your timeline together, then choose the path that serves your goals. National data from the National Association of Realtors gives useful context, but your decision should be built on your numbers, not a headline. That is exactly the conversation my team has with sellers every week, and there is no pressure attached to it. The Bottom Line on Timing The best time to sell a house in DFW is when your home is prepared, priced right, and aligned with your personal goals, with spring offering the most buyers and the most competition. Do not overthink the calendar. Get the strategy right and the season becomes a minor factor. If you want a clear, honest read on the best time to sell your specific home, let us run the numbers together. Days on Market: What to Expect One practical timing question sellers ask is how long it will take. In a normalized DFW market, a well-priced and well-prepared home in a desirable area typically goes under contract within the first couple of weeks, sometimes faster in a hot pocket like McKinney or Frisco. Overpriced homes, by contrast, can linger for months and often end up selling for less after price cuts than they would have if priced right from day one. The first two weeks on the market are your most valuable, because that is when the most motivated buyers see your listing fresh. Prep Before You List, Not After Whatever season you choose, the work that drives your sale price happens before the sign goes in the yard. Decluttering, minor repairs, fresh paint where it counts, professional photography, and honest pricing do more for your outcome than waiting for a perfect month ever will. Sellers who prepare properly and list with a plan consistently outperform those who rush a home to market hoping the season carries it. Preparation is the lever you actually control, so pull it. Connect with Nick and his team → --- ### McKinney TX Real Estate Market 2026: Americas Hottest Market, By the Numbers URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/mckinney-tx-real-estate-market-2026 Published: 2026-08-20 Category: DFW Market Tags: DFW Market, McKinney TX, Housing Market Summary: The McKinney TX real estate market in 2026: why it keeps ranking among Americas best, with a read for buyers, sellers, and agents. McKinney TX Real Estate Market 2026: One of America Best Markets, By the Numbers The McKinney TX real estate market in 2026 continues to rank among the best in the country, with a median home price around 505,000 dollars, explosive population growth, and new construction that keeps drawing buyers from across the nation. McKinney has been named the number one housing market in America, and that reputation is earned. If you are buying, selling, or building a real estate career here, McKinney rewards people who understand just how fast it is moving. Here is my operator read for 2026. If McKinney is your market, whether you are buying, selling, or working it as an agent, let us talk. Connect with Nick and his team → Why McKinney Keeps Winning McKinney combines the things buyers want most: a charming historic downtown, top schools, relative affordability compared to Frisco and Plano, and a steady flow of new construction. It has been one of the fastest-growing cities in America for years, and that growth feeds on itself. Jobs follow people, people follow jobs, and homes appreciate in the middle. I broke down what that number one ranking means in this post on the McKinney market. What Buyers Should Expect McKinney offers more value per dollar than its pricier neighbors, which is exactly why it draws so much demand. That value does not last long on the best homes. New construction gives buyers options, but resale homes in established neighborhoods move fast. Come pre-approved, know the neighborhoods, and be ready to act. In a market this active, the prepared buyer wins and the casual shopper loses out repeatedly. What Sellers Should Know Sellers in McKinney benefit from strong demand and in-migration, but new construction is your competition. Buyers can choose a brand-new home down the road, so your resale needs to be priced and presented to compete. Homes that show well and price right sell quickly here. Homes that ignore the new-build competition sit. Understanding your true competition is the difference between a fast sale and a stale listing. The New Construction Dynamic New construction is a defining feature of the McKinney market, and it cuts both ways. For buyers it means options and negotiating room with builders. For resale sellers it means added competition. For agents it means opportunity, because builder relationships and new-home expertise are valuable skills. Navigating new construction well requires an agent who represents your interests, not just the builder sales office. The Investor and Landlord View McKinney growth makes it a favorite for investors. Rising population and household formation keep rental demand strong, and the relative affordability improves the math on buy-and-hold. If you own a McKinney home and are weighing renting versus selling, the growth trajectory often favors holding. I help landlords think through that in what I tell every DFW landlord first. For Agents Working McKinney McKinney is a growth market, which means opportunity, but growth attracts agents too. Standing out requires systems, leads, and local expertise. New agents especially benefit from a team that hands them the infrastructure to compete in a fast market. I explain how I support new agents in this piece. Where McKinney Goes From Here Every indicator points to continued strength in McKinney: population growth, job creation, and ongoing development. For buyers that means acting fast on value. For sellers it means competing smartly against new builds. For agents it means one of the best growth markets in the country to build a career. National context from the National Association of Realtors is useful, but McKinney is a local story, and local expertise wins. Let us have a straight conversation about your situation. McKinney Neighborhoods to Watch McKinney is really several markets in one. The historic downtown district commands a premium for its charm and walkability. The newer master-planned communities on the growth edges offer modern homes and amenities. Established mid-city neighborhoods offer value and mature trees. Each attracts a different buyer, and prices behave differently across them. Understanding which McKinney you are buying in matters as much as the citywide median, because your street and school zone drive your value more than any headline number. Timing Your McKinney Move With a market growing this fast, buyers often ask if they should wait for a dip. My answer is usually no. In a city adding population and jobs year after year, waiting typically means paying more later, not less. That does not mean overextend, but it does mean that if you find the right home at a price that works, hesitation in McKinney has a real cost. Sellers, meanwhile, benefit from the steady stream of in-migration, as long as they compete intelligently with new construction. The Long-Term Case for McKinney Zoom out and the McKinney story is simple. It is one of the fastest-growing cities in America, in one of the strongest states for job growth, in a metroplex that keeps expanding north. Structural growth like that tends to reward ownership over the long run. Whether you are a buyer planning to stay, an investor building a portfolio, or an agent building a career, McKinney offers a rare combination of momentum and fundamentals. The people who plant a flag here early usually look smart a decade later. The Bottom Line on McKinney in 2026 McKinney in 2026 is momentum plus fundamentals, which is a rare and valuable combination. The growth is real, the demand is durable, and the value relative to its pricier neighbors keeps drawing buyers north. For buyers that means acting decisively on the right home. For sellers it means competing smartly against new construction. For investors and agents it means one of the best long-term growth stories in the country. The people who understand McKinney block by block, and who move with a plan instead of guessing, are the ones who come out ahead. If you want that kind of guidance for your specific situation, my team is built to give it. Connect with Nick and his team → --- ### Plano TX Real Estate Market 2026: Prices, Demand, and What It Means for You URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/plano-tx-real-estate-market-2026 Published: 2026-08-18 Category: DFW Market Tags: DFW Market, Plano TX, Housing Market Summary: The Plano TX real estate market in 2026: what corporate relocations, steady demand, and tight supply mean for buyers, sellers, and agents. Plano TX Real Estate Market 2026: Prices, Demand, and What It Means for You The Plano TX real estate market in 2026 is defined by three things: a median home price near 525,000 dollars, a steady stream of corporate relocations, and established neighborhoods that rarely see heavy inventory. That combination keeps Plano one of the most reliable markets in DFW. I run a team that ranks number one in Plano on independently verified data, so this is the market I know best. Here is the honest read for buyers, sellers, and agents in 2026. If you are making a move in Plano, whether buying, selling, or building a career, let us talk. Connect with Nick and his team → What Makes Plano Different Plano is a mature, high-volume market rather than a boomtown. Major corporate headquarters call it home, the schools are strong, and the neighborhoods are established. That means demand is steady and predictable rather than speculative. For buyers and sellers, predictability is a good thing. It means the market is less prone to wild swings and more rewarded by sound strategy. What Buyers Should Expect Because Plano inventory tends to stay tight, buyers should expect competition on the best homes in the best neighborhoods. Corporate relocation buyers often arrive pre-approved and ready to move fast, so casual shoppers get beaten to the punch. If you are buying in Plano, be underwritten, be decisive, and lean on an agent who can move quickly when the right listing hits. Hesitation is expensive in a low-inventory market. What Sellers Should Know Plano sellers are in a strong position, but pricing discipline still matters. The relocation buyer pool is educated and will not overpay for a home priced on emotion. Prepare the home well, price it to the current comps, and you will typically see strong, clean offers. Our team ranked number one in Plano for both volume and sides on 2025 data, and I explain what that verified track record means in this post. The Relocation Factor Corporate relocations are the engine of the Plano market. Companies move employees here year-round, and those buyers need homes on a timeline. For sellers, that is a reliable source of motivated demand. For agents, relocation business rewards responsiveness and systems, because these buyers choose whoever serves them fastest and best. This is exactly why leverage and support matter so much for Plano agents, a point I made in how Plano and Allen agents close more. The Investor and Landlord View Plano is a strong hold market. Stable values, strong schools, and consistent rental demand make it attractive for buy-and-hold investors. If you own a Plano home and are considering renting rather than selling, it is worth running the numbers carefully, because a well-located Plano rental can produce reliable cash flow and long-term appreciation at the same time. For Agents Working Plano Plano is a market where established producers thrive and undersupported solo agents struggle. The volume is there, but so is the competition, and relocation buyers expect professional systems. Agents who plug into leads, coordination, and mentorship win a larger share. If you want to compare a better model against your current one, my eXp vs Keller Williams breakdown lays out the numbers. Where Plano Goes From Here Plano is not likely to surprise anyone in 2026, and that is its strength. Steady jobs, steady schools, steady demand. For buyers that means acting decisively when inventory appears. For sellers it means pricing right and preparing well. For agents it means a dependable market that rewards professionalism. The National Association of Realtors tracks the national backdrop, but in Plano, local expertise and speed win. If you want a clear read on your specific situation, that is what my team is built to give. Plano vs Frisco: Which One Fits You? Buyers often weigh Plano against Frisco, and the honest answer is that they serve different priorities. Plano is more established, more central, and slightly more affordable on a per-home basis, while Frisco skews newer and pricier with more new construction. Neither is objectively better. It comes down to commute, schools, home style, and budget. The smart move is to shop both rather than lock onto one, because the right home for you might be a few minutes across the city line. The Data Behind the Demand Plano demand is not a mystery. It is corporate headquarters, strong schools, and a central location inside the metroplex. Those are durable, structural drivers, not speculative ones. That is why Plano tends to hold value even when the broader market softens. For buyers and sellers, that durability is reassuring. You are not betting on a fad. You are transacting in one of the most established and resilient submarkets in all of North Texas. A Word on Interest Rates Rates affect every market, and Plano is no exception. When rates rise, some buyers pause and inventory loosens slightly. When rates ease, demand surges against tight supply and prices firm up. But here is the thing about a structurally strong market like Plano: the long-term direction is driven by jobs and population, not the monthly rate headline. Trying to time your move around rate predictions usually backfires. Make the move that fits your life and let a strong market work in your favor over time. The Bottom Line on Plano in 2026 Plano in 2026 is the definition of a reliable market. Steady corporate demand, strong schools, tight inventory, and durable values reward buyers and sellers who act with a clear strategy. It is not the market for people hoping to get rich on a quick flip, and that is exactly its strength. It is a place to buy well, hold with confidence, and transact with less risk than almost anywhere else in the metroplex. Whether you are making a personal move, building an investment position, or growing a real estate career, Plano rewards professionalism and preparation. If you want a straight, numbers-first conversation about your options here, that is what my team does best. Connect with Nick and his team → --- ### How I Analyze a Rental Property Investment in DFW (Real Numbers, Real Deal, Real Photos) URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/how-i-analyze-rental-property-investment-dfw Published: 2026-08-17 Category: Investing Tags: Investing, Rental Property, DFW Real Estate, Deep Blue Capital, Property Management, Cash Flow Summary: A local agent called me about a distressed property in DFW. Here is exactly how I ran the numbers, what I offered, and why a 6.1% cash-on-cash return on a debt-free deal made sense. How I Analyze a Rental Property Investment in DFW (Real Numbers, Real Deal, Real Photos) Analyzing a rental property investment in DFW comes down to one number most buyers never calculate: the equity you create the moment the deal stabilizes. On the distressed house in these photos, I bought at roughly 75 cents on the dollar of its stabilized value, created about $64,000 in immediate equity, and set up $964 a month in cash flow on a debt-free deal. A local agent called me about it and told me upfront it was in rough shape. The photos tell the rest of the story, and thankfully the internet has not developed scratch and sniff technology yet because this house would have cleared the room. Backyard at purchase, overgrown and full of debris. Another backyard view, years of accumulated junk. Kitchen, full gut and rehab required. Kitchen, second view with original cabinetry and flooring. Bedroom, stained carpet and dated finishes. Bathroom, gut condition at a $103,500 purchase price. Interested in DFW rental property investment? Connect with me here → Here is exactly how I walked through this deal, what the numbers looked like, and why I said yes. What I Was Looking At The property is a 1,148 square foot home with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a two-car garage. The windows are original and old. The backyard is a disaster, overgrown landscaping and years of accumulated debris. The kitchen and bathrooms look like a scene from a property that has been abandoned for a long time. The garage is packed with junk. The whole place smells like a project, which is exactly the point. This is the kind of property that most buyers walk away from. Distressed properties in DFW that need significant rehab are where equity gets created, because you are buying someone else's problem and solving it with capital and systems. Step One: Run the ARV Before You Run Anything Else ARV stands for After Repair Value. It is the stabilized market value of the property once it has been fully rehabbed to a condition competitive with nearby comps. I never look at a purchase price in isolation. The purchase price only matters relative to what the property is worth after work and what it will cash flow as a rental. For this property, I pulled active and sold comps in the immediate area and landed on this range: Low end ARV: $245,000 High end ARV: $275,000 Most likely stabilized value: $255,000 I use the middle number as my base case. The low end is my downside protection number. I never underwrite to the high end. Step Two: Build the Full Cost Stack This is where most new investors make mistakes. They look at the purchase price and forget everything else that goes into the all-in basis. Here is the complete cost stack on this deal: Offer and purchase price: $103,500 Rehab budget: $75,000 Finder's fee to the agent: $5,000 Estimated closing and title costs: approximately $7,500 Total all-in basis: approximately $191,000 That $191,000 is what matters. Not the $103,500 purchase price. The all-in number is what you are actually investing and what your returns have to be calculated against. Step Three: Establish the Rental Economics I pulled rental comps on similar three-bedroom, two-bathroom homes in this DFW submarket. The range came back at $1,900 to $2,000 per month. I underwrote to $1,925 per month as my stabilized rent, conservative enough to be realistic, not so conservative that I am leaving real economics on the table. Here is the full annual income and expense breakdown with no debt on this deal: Gross annual rent: $23,100 Property taxes: -$3,996.52 Insurance: -$3,500 Property management at 5%: -$1,155 Vacancy reserve at 5%: -$1,155 Maintenance and CapEx reserve at 7.5%: -$1,732.50 Net annual cash flow: $11,561.98 Net monthly cash flow: $963.50 A note on the maintenance reserve: I used 7.5% here as a conservative standard assumption. In practice, because the property is being fully rehabbed before a tenant moves in, the first few years of maintenance should run lower than that. The reserve is there for long-term capital expenditures like roof, HVAC, and appliances, not for immediate repairs on a freshly rehabbed asset. Step Four: Calculate the Real Returns Two numbers matter most on a debt-free rental deal: cash-on-cash return and equity capture. Cash-on-cash return: Net cash flow: $11,561.98 Total capital invested: $191,000 Cash-on-cash return: 6.1% Equity capture: Stabilized ARV: $255,000 Total all-in basis: $191,000 Immediate equity created: $64,000 Equity capture as a percentage of cost: 33.5% Equity capture as a percentage of ARV: 25.1% All-in basis as a percentage of ARV: 74.9% Buying an asset at 74.9 cents on the dollar is the entire point of distressed property investing. You are not buying a house. You are buying a problem that you know how to solve and the market does not yet recognize the solved value. The Number I Like Most on This Deal The single number that puts this deal in full perspective is the Year 1 economic value creation: Equity created at stabilization: $64,000 Annual cash flow: $11,562 Total Year 1 economic benefit: approximately $75,562 That represents 39.6% of the $191,000 invested capital To be precise about what that means: the 6.1% is the recurring annual cash yield going forward. The equity creation is a one-time value event at stabilization. But in Year 1 combined, you are creating $75,562 in economic value on $191,000 deployed. That is the argument for distressed property investing done right. Why This Deal Made Sense and What to Watch The deal works because the math is clean, the rehab scope is defined, and the rental demand in this DFW submarket is real. Three bedrooms with a two-car garage rents fast and holds tenants well. Families do not move out of those configurations every year. What I watch for on a deal like this: rehab overruns, title issues on distressed properties, and accurate rental comp data. The $75,000 rehab budget needs to be estimated by someone who has actually walked the property and priced the work, not a number pulled from the air. One of the advantages of running a vertically integrated operation across real estate sales, property management, and home services through Pro Care Home Solutions is that I have real cost data on what rehab actually runs in DFW right now, not what it ran two years ago. This is what passive income in real estate actually looks like. It is not glamorous at the starting line. It is distressed kitchens, overgrown backyards, and garages full of other people's junk. On the other side of that is a fully stabilized rental producing $964 per month with $64,000 in immediate equity and no debt service. I break down my full DFW real estate investing framework here. If you are a DFW investor or an agent looking for a partner who understands both the deal analysis and the execution side, the conversation is worth having. You can also learn how agents build passive income through the Residual Agent Network here. Want to talk through a DFW investment deal? Connect with me → --- ### Free eXp Realty Commission Calculator: Every Fee, Every Dollar, Every Award (2026) URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/exp-realty-commission-calculator-dfw Published: 2026-08-17 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: eXp Realty, Commission Splits, Agent Playbook, DFW Agents, Calculator, Texas Real Estate, Stock Awards Summary: Calculate exactly what you keep at eXp Realty versus your current brokerage. Includes every fee, all stock awards, AECP, and agent attraction bonuses. Built by a 7-year eXp agent in DFW. Free eXp Realty Commission Calculator: Every Fee, Every Dollar, Every Award (2026) The eXp Realty commission calculator below shows you exactly what you keep at eXp versus your current brokerage, including every fee most calculators leave out and every stock award most agents do not know they are entitled to. Enter your annual GCI, your transaction count, your current split and cap, and see the complete dollar difference side by side. Use the free eXp Realty Complete Value Calculator → I built this tool after 7 years at eXp Realty and 220 agents sponsored because most commission calculators only show the 80/20 split and stop there. The real story is the full value stack. Your $200 first transaction stock award. Your $400 capping stock award. Your $400 per agent you attract. The ICON Award that can return your entire $16,000 cap in equity. The AECP program where 65 percent of agents invest 5 percent of commissions into AGNT stock at a 5 percent discount. None of that shows up on the calculators agents typically find online. Want me to run your actual numbers? Book a 15-minute call → What the calculator includes The eXp Realty commission structure has several components that compound together. The 80/20 split means you keep 80 percent of each commission until you have paid eXp $16,000 for the year. That cap is reached at roughly $80,000 in GCI. For a DFW agent selling homes near the McKinney median of $505,000, that is approximately six to seven closings. After capping you keep effectively 100 percent minus post-cap fees. Every transaction carries a $25 transaction review fee, a $60 risk management fee that stops once you have paid $750 for the year, and the $85 monthly platform fee totaling $1,020 annually, which includes BoldTrail CRM and all eXp tools. Post-cap there is a $250 capped transaction fee that reduces to $75 once you have paid $5,000 in capped transaction fees. I break all of this down with real DFW deal math here. The stock awards most agents never calculate Beyond commissions, eXp Realty pays agents in AGNT stock at several points during the year. You receive $200 in stock when you close your first transaction of the anniversary year. You receive $400 in stock when you hit your annual cap. For every agent you directly attract who closes their first transaction, you receive $400 in stock. And if you qualify for ICON status, you can earn up to $16,000 in stock, an $8,000 production award, a $4,000 cultural award, and two $2,000 event awards, effectively returning your entire cap in equity. The Agent Equity Commission Program allows agents to voluntarily invest 5 percent of net commissions into AGNT stock at a 5 percent purchase discount. Roughly 65 percent of eXp agents participate. The discount alone adds real value to the total picture. I explain the full stock and revenue share program here. Your current brokerage equity program Most traditional brokerages offer no stock awards, no equity program, and no agent attraction income. Keller Williams has profit share but no equity. RE/MAX and Compass have nothing comparable. When you run the full comparison the gap between eXp and a traditional brokerage is not just the commission split, it is the entire ownership structure of your business. I compare eXp and Keller Williams side by side with real DFW numbers here. The calculator is free. Run your numbers, share it with agents you know who are evaluating a move, and if you want to talk through what the results mean for your specific situation, book a call below. Book a 15-minute call with Nick, RealTrends Verified 1 in Plano, TX → --- ### Frisco TX Real Estate Market 2026: What Buyers, Sellers, and Agents Need to Know URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/frisco-tx-real-estate-market-2026 Published: 2026-08-16 Category: DFW Market Tags: DFW Market, Frisco TX, Housing Market Summary: The Frisco TX real estate market in 2026: prices, demand, and what buyers, sellers, and agents each need to know to win in North Texas. Frisco TX Real Estate Market 2026: What Buyers, Sellers, and Agents Need to Know The Frisco TX real estate market in 2026 remains one of the strongest in North Texas, with a median home price above 550,000 dollars, steady demand from corporate relocations, and limited supply that keeps well-priced listings moving. Whether you are buying, selling, or building a career here, the short version is this: Frisco is competitive, it is not cheap, and it rewards people who understand the local dynamics. I have sold real estate across DFW for 22 years, so let me give you the operator read on Frisco this year. If you are buying, selling, or thinking about working this market as an agent, let us talk. Connect with Nick and his team → Why Frisco Stays Expensive Frisco has been one of the fastest-growing cities in America for over a decade, and the fundamentals behind that have not changed. The PGA of America headquarters, corporate campuses, top-rated schools, and constant new development keep pulling families and jobs into the city. When demand is structural and land is finite, prices hold. That is why Frisco median values sit well above the DFW average and why sellers here still have leverage in 2026. What Buyers Should Expect Buyers in Frisco need to come prepared. Well-priced homes in desirable neighborhoods still move quickly, and stretching your budget without a strategy is how people overpay. Get fully underwritten before you shop, know your must-haves versus your nice-to-haves, and work with an agent who knows which neighborhoods and builders hold value. The Frisco buyer who wins is rarely the one who bids blindly. It is the one with a plan and local knowledge on their side. What Sellers Should Know Sellers still have the advantage in Frisco, but the days of listing anything and getting ten offers have normalized. Pricing correctly from day one matters more than it did during the frenzy. Homes priced right and prepared well sell fast and near ask. Homes priced on hope sit, and a stale listing loses leverage. If you want the fastest, cleanest sale, price to the current market, not to last year headlines. For a sense of what a high-producing local team looks like, our RealTrends Verified numbers are here. How Frisco Compares to Its Neighbors Frisco does not exist in a vacuum. It sits next to McKinney, Plano, and Allen, and buyers priced out of one often shift to another. McKinney has been named the number one housing market in America, and I broke down what that means in this piece on the McKinney market. Smart buyers shop the whole Collin County corridor rather than fixating on a single city, because value moves between these markets constantly. The Investor Angle Frisco is also a rental and investment market. Strong schools and steady in-migration keep rental demand high, which is why investors keep buying here even at premium prices. If you own a Frisco home and are weighing whether to rent it rather than sell, the math is often better than owners expect. I walk landlords through that decision in what I tell every DFW landlord first. For Agents Working Frisco From an agent seat, Frisco is a high-price, high-competition market, which means bigger commission checks but also more agents fighting for the same listings. The agents who win here have systems, leads, and local expertise, not just a license. I break down what that looks like on our Frisco agent page. Where the Frisco Market Goes From Here Barring a major shift in rates or the broader economy, the forces that made Frisco expensive are not going away. Jobs, schools, and development continue. For buyers that means acting decisively when the right home appears. For sellers it means the market is still on your side if you price it right. For agents it means the opportunity is real for anyone willing to build a real business. For current national context, the National Association of Realtors tracks the trends, but local expertise is what actually wins deals in Frisco. If you want a straight conversation about your specific situation, that is exactly what my team does. The One Mistake Both Buyers and Sellers Make The most common mistake in the Frisco market, on both sides, is anchoring to yesterday news. Buyers hear about the pandemic-era bidding wars and either panic-buy or freeze, and sellers price to peak headlines that no longer reflect reality. The Frisco market in 2026 is strong but normalized. Buyers have a little more room to negotiate than they did at the frenzy peak, and sellers still hold the advantage if they price to current comps. The people who win read the market as it is today, not as it was two years ago. Timing Your Frisco Move People always ask me when to buy or sell in Frisco. The honest answer is that the best time is when it fits your life, not when you are trying to outguess the market. Frisco fundamentals are strong enough that timing the exact bottom or top is a fool errand. If you need to move, move with a strategy. If you are an investor, buy quality in good neighborhoods and hold. Trying to perfectly time a market this structurally sound usually costs more in missed opportunity than it saves. Work With Someone Who Knows the Streets Frisco is not one market. It is dozens of micro-markets that vary by neighborhood, school zone, builder, and even street. A number that looks like a deal in one part of Frisco is an overpay in another. This is exactly why local expertise beats national headlines every time. Whether you are buying, selling, or investing, the person guiding you should know Frisco block by block, because that knowledge is where the real money is made or lost. The Bottom Line on Frisco in 2026 Frisco in 2026 is a strong, normalized market with durable demand and premium prices. Buyers should come prepared and decisive, sellers should price to today rather than to the frenzy peak, investors should buy quality and hold, and agents should bring real systems to a competitive field. None of that changes the fundamental truth about Frisco: it is one of the best places to own real estate in America, and the people who understand its micro-markets consistently outperform the ones who rely on headlines. If you want a clear, no-pressure read on your specific Frisco situation, my team lives in this market every day and we are glad to walk you through it. Connect with Nick and his team → --- ### Can You Be a Part-Time Real Estate Agent in DFW? URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/part-time-real-estate-agent-dfw Published: 2026-08-14 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: Agent Playbook, DFW Real Estate, New Agents Summary: Can you be a part-time real estate agent in DFW? The honest tradeoffs, what actually works, and how to transition to full time without going broke. Can You Be a Part-Time Real Estate Agent in DFW? Yes, you can be a part-time real estate agent in DFW, and for many people it is the smartest way to start, but it only works if you set it up correctly. Texas does not require you to work full time to hold an active license, so plenty of agents begin while keeping a day job. The mistake is treating part time as a reason to be casual. After 22 years in Dallas-Fort Worth real estate, here is how part time actually works and how to make it pay. If you are thinking about starting part time, let's make sure you do it in a way that can actually grow. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → Why Part Time Makes Sense to Start The single biggest reason new agents fail is running out of money before their pipeline produces. Starting part time solves that directly. Your day job covers your bills while your real estate pipeline fills over the first six to twelve months. It removes the desperation that pushes so many full-time rookies out of the business. In that sense, keeping income while you build is not a lack of commitment. It is smart risk management. The Honest Tradeoffs Part time is not free. Real estate rewards speed to lead, and a client who calls at 2pm on a Tuesday will often go with whoever answers first. If you are at another job all day, you need a plan for coverage, whether that is a team, a partner, or systems that respond instantly. You will also grow slower than a full-timer, simply because you have fewer hours. That is a fair trade for stability, as long as you go in with eyes open. What Actually Works Part Time The part-time agents who succeed in DFW do a few things right. They protect a few consistent hours for lead generation and follow up rather than working at random. They lean on a team that can cover showings and calls when they are unavailable. And they focus on their sphere of influence first, the people who already trust them, because those leads convert without a full-time schedule. A team structure is what makes part time viable, which is why I explained whether joining a team is worth it. The Leads Problem The hardest part of part time is lead flow. You have limited hours, so you cannot spend all of them prospecting from scratch. This is exactly where a team that provides leads changes the equation. Instead of generating every lead yourself, you plug into a system that feeds you appointments and lets you use your limited hours on the highest-value work. I broke down the marketing engine our agents get in done-for-you lead generation for DFW agents. How to Transition to Full Time The goal for most part-timers is to replace their day-job income and go all in. The clean way to do that is to set a number: once your real estate income consistently covers your expenses for three months, you make the jump. Do not guess, and do not leap on one good month. Build the pipeline while employed, prove it is repeatable, then transition. If you want to see the income math on DFW price points, I covered it in how much DFW agents make. My Take Part time is a legitimate and often wise way to start real estate in DFW, as long as you treat it as a serious business with a plan to grow, not a hobby you dabble in. The people who struggle are the ones who use part time as an excuse to be inconsistent. The people who win use it as a bridge, building a real pipeline with the safety net of other income until real estate can carry them. If that is your plan, let's set it up so it can actually scale. What a Winning Part-Time Week Looks Like Part time works when your limited hours are focused, not scattered. A strong part-time week in DFW might look like this: two evenings dedicated to calling and following up with your sphere and online leads, one weekend day for open houses and showings, and thirty minutes each morning to respond to new leads before your day job starts. That is roughly ten to fifteen focused hours, and it is enough to build a real pipeline if the hours are consistent and protected. The part-timers who fail are the ones who work real estate only when it is convenient. The ones who succeed treat those hours as non-negotiable appointments with their future. Lean on a Team to Cover Your Gaps The biggest weakness of part time is availability, and a team solves it. When you are stuck at your day job and a lead wants to see a house that afternoon, a teammate can cover the showing so the client is served and the deal stays alive. That coverage is often the difference between a part-time agent who grows and one who watches leads slip away. It is also why I tell part-timers that the team question matters even more for them than for full-timers. You are not just buying leads and systems. You are buying the ability to be in two places at once. The Bridge, Not the Destination For most people, part time should be a bridge, not a permanent state. It is the safest way to prove the business works before you bet your full income on it. Build the pipeline, watch the numbers, and when real estate reliably covers your bills, cross the bridge to full time and do not look back. The Bottom Line on Part Time Part time is not a lesser way to start real estate in DFW. Done right, it is often the smartest way, because it removes the financial desperation that ends most new-agent careers. Treat your limited hours as serious business hours, lean on a team to cover your gaps, and build toward a clear transition point. Do that and part time becomes the safe on-ramp to a full-time business instead of a place careers stall out. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → --- ### Surviving Your First Year as a DFW Real Estate Agent URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/first-year-dfw-real-estate-agent-survival Published: 2026-08-12 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: Agent Playbook, DFW Real Estate, New Agents Summary: A survival guide for your first year as a DFW real estate agent: the traps that end careers, the numbers to expect, and what actually keeps you in the business. Surviving Your First Year as a DFW Real Estate Agent Surviving your first year as a DFW real estate agent comes down to two things: having enough runway to outlast a slow start and having a system that produces clients before your savings run out. Most new agents have neither, which is why so many are gone within a few years. I have coached hundreds of agents through year one in Dallas-Fort Worth, and the ones who make it are rarely the most talented. They are the best prepared. Here is what preparation actually looks like. If you are about to start or just did, let's talk before you burn six months guessing. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → Expect the First Six Months to Be Lean The uncomfortable truth is that a large share of new agents earn under $10,000 in their first year, per National Association of Realtors data. That is not because DFW is a weak market. It is because a real estate pipeline takes months to fill. You generate a lead, nurture it, help them shop, go under contract, and wait for closing. That cycle can run 60 to 120 days. So the work you do in month one pays you in month four. Plan your finances around that lag or it will end your career before it starts. The Number One Reason New Agents Quit It is not rejection. It is running out of money. Agents who launch without a cash cushion get scared, take a side job, stop prospecting, and then blame the market. If you can, start with three to six months of living expenses saved, or keep a part-time income while your pipeline builds. Protecting your runway is the most important survival skill in year one, full stop. Build the Pipeline Before You Need It Most new agents wait until they are broke to start prospecting, which is backwards. Your first 90 days should be pure lead generation: your sphere of influence, open houses, online leads, and relentless follow up. If you got licensed already, my guide on how to become a DFW agent covers the setup, but the real work starts the day you are active. The agents who fill a pipeline early never have the desperate month five that pushes most people out. Do Not Try to Do It All Alone The solo new agent has to be marketer, lead generator, transaction coordinator, and negotiator all at once, with zero experience in any of them. That is a brutal way to learn. The agents who survive year one usually plug into a team that hands them leads and handles the operational side so they can focus on the one thing that pays: being in front of clients. I laid out how I support new agents specifically because year one is where good people quit. Track the Right Activities In year one you cannot control closings, but you can control activity. Track conversations, appointments set, and follow ups, not just deals closed. If you are having enough of the right conversations, closings follow. New agents who obsess over the closing number get discouraged. The ones who obsess over daily activity build momentum. This is exactly the discipline a real business plan enforces, which is why I tell every new agent to build one, and I showed how in the business plan most DFW agents never build. The Setup That Changes Everything An agent who starts year one with provided leads, transaction support, and a mentor has a completely different experience than one who starts alone. One is stressful but survivable. The other is a coin flip. In DFW, with strong demand across Frisco, Plano, McKinney, and Allen, the opportunity is real, but only if you last long enough to catch it. Surviving year one is less about hustle and more about setup. If you want to enter your first year with leads and a mentor instead of a cold start and a countdown on your savings, that is exactly what I help new agents do. Let's build your first 12 months so you are still standing at the end of it. The 90-Day Plan That Works If I were starting over in DFW today, my first 90 days would look like this. Days one through thirty: build my database of everyone I know, tell all of them I am in real estate, and set up my tools and systems. Days thirty-one through sixty: host open houses every weekend, follow up with every online lead within minutes, and ask my sphere for introductions. Days sixty-one through ninety: go on my first listing and buyer appointments, get my first contracts, and refine what is working. The goal in the first 90 days is not a huge income. It is a full pipeline, because a full pipeline in month three is what produces income in month five. Agents who chase a fast commission skip the pipeline work and pay for it later. Protect Your Energy, Not Just Your Money Year one burns people out emotionally as much as financially. Rejection, slow months, and deals that fall apart at the last minute are normal, not signs you chose wrong. The agents who survive protect their energy by celebrating activity wins, leaning on a team for support, and remembering that the slow start is temporary. Isolation is the enemy. Community and mentorship are how you stay in the game long enough to win it, which is why I never let a new agent on my team try to figure out year one alone. The Bottom Line on Year One Year one in DFW real estate is a test of preparation, not talent. Protect your money, fill your pipeline early, track your daily activity, and refuse to do it alone. The agents who follow those four rules almost always make it to year two, where the systems they built finally start paying off. The ones who ignore them usually do not. You get to decide which group you are in before you ever start. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → --- ### Is Real Estate a Good Career in DFW in 2026? An Honest Answer URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/is-real-estate-a-good-career-dfw-2026 Published: 2026-08-10 Category: Insights Tags: Insights, DFW Real Estate, Real Estate Career Summary: Is real estate a good career in DFW in 2026? A straight answer from a 22-year operator on who thrives, who washes out, and what actually separates them. Is Real Estate a Good Career in DFW in 2026? An Honest Answer Real estate is a good career in DFW in 2026 if you treat it like a business and a bad one if you treat it like a job. That is the honest answer, and after 22 years in Dallas-Fort Worth real estate I have watched both outcomes play out hundreds of times. The market here is strong, the income ceiling is high, and the barrier to entry is low. That combination attracts a lot of people, and most of them do not last. Let me tell you who thrives and who washes out so you can decide honestly. If you are on the fence, a 15-minute conversation will save you months of guessing. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → The Case For It DFW is one of the best real estate markets in the country to build a career. Collin County keeps pulling corporate relocations, new construction, and steady buyer demand. Price points in McKinney, Frisco, and Plano sit above the national average, which means bigger commission checks per deal. There is no income ceiling, no boss capping your raise, and real time freedom once your systems are built. For the right person, it is one of the few careers where you can genuinely build wealth and control your schedule. The Case Against It Now the part recruiters skip. There is no salary. You eat what you kill, and the first year is lean for almost everyone. A large share of new agents earn under $10,000 in year one, and a majority are out of the business within a few years. The Texas Real Estate Commission issues far more licenses than the market keeps active. If you need steady income immediately, or you expect the brokerage to hand you a career, real estate will punish you. Who Thrives The agents who win in DFW share a few traits. They treat it as a business with a real plan, not a hobby. They are willing to prospect and follow up relentlessly in the early days. They get around a mentor and a system instead of trying to reinvent everything alone. And they are patient enough to let a pipeline fill. I wrote about why I still build after 22 years in this piece, and that mindset is the dividing line. Who Washes Out The agents who fail almost always make the same mistakes. They get licensed with no plan for where clients come from. They pick a brokerage for its name instead of its support. They run out of savings before their pipeline produces. And they quit right before it would have worked. None of that is a talent problem. It is a setup problem, and it is fixable before you ever start. What Actually Separates Them The single biggest predictor of whether real estate is a good career for you is not your personality. It is your starting setup. An agent who launches with leads, systems, and a mentor has a completely different first year than one who launches alone. That is the entire reason teams exist, and it is why I tell new agents to weigh the team question seriously before they sign anywhere. I gave my honest take in is joining a real estate team worth it. My Straight Answer Is real estate a good career in DFW in 2026? Yes, for the person who builds it like a business, gets around the right people, and can survive the lean first stretch. No, for the person looking for a steady paycheck with no risk. The market is not the problem here. The setup is. If you want to enter with a real plan instead of a hope, that is exactly the conversation I have with new agents every week. The DFW Market Advantage If you are going to build a real estate career, Dallas-Fort Worth is one of the best places in the country to do it. Population growth, corporate relocations, and new construction across Collin County keep demand steady, and the price points in Frisco, Plano, and McKinney mean your effort per deal is well rewarded. A strong market does not guarantee success, but it removes one of the biggest obstacles. You are not fighting a shrinking pie. You are working in one of the most active real estate economies in America. What I Wish Every New Agent Knew After 22 years, the thing I most wish new agents understood is that real estate is a long game that pays late. The first year tests your patience and your savings. The second year rewards the systems you built in the first. By year three, the agents who stayed consistent have referrals, repeat clients, and momentum that makes the business feel completely different than it did at the start. Almost everyone who quits does so in the hard early stretch, right before the compounding kicks in. If you can get your setup right and simply outlast the lean beginning, the career opens up. Real Estate Is Not Passive, At First One myth worth killing early is that real estate is passive income. When you start, it is a demanding, relationship-driven sales career that requires you to prospect, follow up, and serve people well. The freedom and flexibility everyone talks about are real, but they come after you have built systems and often a team around you. That is also why so many of the most successful agents eventually build or join teams and reinvest their commissions into assets that do produce passive income later. Expecting freedom on day one is how people get disappointed. Earning it over a few disciplined years is how people build something that lasts. My Advice Before You Commit Before you commit to real estate in DFW, do two things. First, save enough runway to survive a lean first six months without panic. Second, decide where you will start, because the brokerage or team you choose shapes your odds more than the market ever will. Get those two right and a real estate career here can be genuinely life-changing. Get them wrong and you become another statistic. The difference is almost always the setup, and the setup is entirely in your control. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → --- ### How Much Do Real Estate Agents Make in DFW? Real Numbers for 2026 URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/how-much-do-real-estate-agents-make-dfw Published: 2026-08-08 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: Agent Playbook, DFW Real Estate, Agent Income Summary: How much DFW real estate agents actually make in 2026, with real commission math on McKinney, Frisco, and Plano price points and why the range is so wide. How Much Do Real Estate Agents Make in DFW? Real Numbers for 2026 How much real estate agents make in DFW comes down to one thing: how many deals you close, because agents are paid per transaction, not a salary. A DFW agent who closes the national median of about ten homes a year earns very differently from one who closes forty, and the price points here make the math worth understanding. I have run a Dallas-Fort Worth team for years and closed 162 sides in 2025, so let me show you the real numbers instead of a fantasy. If you want help mapping what your income could actually look like in DFW, let's talk. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → How Agent Pay Actually Works Real estate agents are independent contractors paid a commission when a deal closes. In the Dallas area the average total commission runs around 5.54 percent per the 2026 data from Clever Real Estate, typically split between the buyer side and the listing side, then split again between the agent and their brokerage. So the sticker commission on a home is never what lands in your bank account. Real Commission Math on a DFW Home Take a McKinney home at the median of roughly $505,000. One side of a 3 percent commission is about $15,150 gross. Now subtract your brokerage split. On a traditional 70/30 split you keep about $10,600 before your own taxes and expenses. On an 80/20 model like eXp, you keep about $12,100 on that same deal. Multiply by ten deals a year and you see why the brokerage model matters as much as the number of closings. I break the split side down fully in my eXp commission split with real Texas math. The Honest Range Nationally, the National Association of Realtors reports a median Realtor income in the mid five figures, but that number hides an enormous spread. A large share of new agents earn under $10,000 in year one, while experienced producers clear six and seven figures. In DFW specifically, the higher price points in Frisco, Plano, and McKinney tilt the math in your favor per deal, but only if you actually have deals. Volume is the whole game. Why Two Agents in the Same Market Earn 10x Differently Two agents can work the same Collin County zip codes and earn wildly different incomes. The difference is almost never talent. It is lead flow and leverage. The agent closing forty deals has a system feeding them appointments and staff handling the paperwork so they can stay in front of clients. The agent closing four is doing everything alone and prospecting from scratch every month. I ran the full comparison in team vs solo in DFW, and the numbers are not close. What Eats Into Agent Income Gross commission is not take-home. Agents pay their brokerage split and cap, Realtor and MLS dues, self-employment taxes, marketing, a vehicle, and lead costs if they buy leads. A realistic new agent should assume a meaningful chunk of gross commission goes to the business before they pay themselves. This is exactly why the model you choose matters so much: a higher split, a lower cap, and provided leads change your net dramatically. Teams also change the split, and I explain how in how real estate teams split commission in DFW. How to Actually Raise Your Number If you want to make more as a DFW agent, you have three levers: close more deals, keep more per deal, and add income that is not tied to a single closing. The producers I work with pull all three. They get fed leads so volume goes up, they are on an 80/20 model with a flat cap so they keep more, and they build residual income on top of commissions. That combination is how an average producer becomes a high earner without working twice the hours. Income in this business is not a mystery. It is deals times what you keep per deal, plus whatever you build on the side. If you want to see what that math looks like for your situation with real DFW numbers, book a call and we will run it together. Is There a Salary or Base Pay in Real Estate? Almost never. Traditional real estate is fully commission based, which is exactly why the income range is so wide. A few teams offer a small base or a draw against future commissions for new agents, but that is the exception, and it usually comes with a lower split. For most DFW agents the path to reliable income is not a base salary. It is building a pipeline predictable enough that closings arrive every month instead of in random bursts. That predictability is a system, not a personality trait, and it is what separates a stressful income from a stable one. The Fastest Way to a Bigger Check If you want your income to climb quickly in DFW, the fastest lever is not working more hours. It is getting fed more qualified appointments so more of your hours turn into closings, and being on a model where you keep more of each check. An agent who doubles their appointments and moves from a 70/30 split to an 80/20 model can nearly double their net income without adding a single hour to their week. That is the entire logic behind joining a producing team instead of grinding solo, and it is why the model you choose is as important as the market you work. How DFW Price Points Help You One real advantage of building a career in Dallas-Fort Worth is the price points. A market where McKinney runs around 505,000 dollars, Plano near 525,000 dollars, and Frisco above 550,000 dollars produces larger commission checks per transaction than most of the country. A DFW agent closing a modest number of deals can still earn a strong income, and a high-volume agent can earn a great one. The math that feels impossible in a low-price market is very achievable here, as long as you have the deal flow to work with. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → --- ### How to Become a DFW Real Estate Agent in 2026 URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/how-to-become-dfw-real-estate-agent Published: 2026-08-06 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: Agent Playbook, DFW Real Estate, Getting Licensed Summary: The four real steps to becoming a DFW real estate agent in 2026, what it costs, how long it takes, and the one step that actually decides your income. How to Become a DFW Real Estate Agent in 2026 To become a DFW real estate agent in 2026 you need four things: 180 hours of state-approved pre-licensing courses, a passing score on the Texas real estate exam, sponsorship by an active Texas broker, and a plan for where your clients will come from. The first three are paperwork. The fourth is the business, and it is where most new agents quietly fail. I have spent 22 years in Dallas-Fort Worth real estate and personally sponsored more than 220 agents, so this is the version I give people who call me before they enroll. If you are weighing whether to get licensed in DFW, let's talk before you spend a dollar. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → Step 1: Complete 180 Hours of Pre-Licensing Education The Texas Real Estate Commission requires 180 classroom hours across six courses: Principles of Real Estate I and II, Law of Agency, Law of Contracts, Promulgated Contract Forms, and Real Estate Finance. You can take these online through a TREC-approved provider, usually for $500 to $1,000, and most people finish in two to three months part time. You can confirm the exact requirements straight from the source at the Texas Real Estate Commission. Step 2: Pass the Texas Real Estate Exam After your coursework you submit a license application to TREC for around $185, get fingerprinted for a background check, and schedule your exam through Pearson VUE. The exam has a national portion and a Texas-specific portion. Be honest with yourself here, because the first-time pass rate in Texas sits around 57 percent. Half the room fails. Study the promulgated contracts and the math sections hardest, because that is where people lose points. Do You Need a Degree or Experience? No. Texas requires you to be at least 18, legally present in the country, and to meet the residency and honesty requirements. No college degree, no prior experience. That low barrier is why real estate attracts career changers all over DFW, from teachers in Plano to corporate refugees in Frisco. It is also why so many wash out. Getting in is easy. Staying in is not. Step 3: Get Sponsored by an Active Texas Broker Your license does nothing sitting in a drawer. In Texas a salesperson license must be sponsored by an active broker before you can work a single deal. This is not a formality. It is the single most important decision you will make, because your broker or team sets your split, your training, your tools, and whether you get any leads at all. I wrote a full breakdown on how to pick a sponsor, and I would read it before you sign anything. Step 4: Build a Plan for Where Clients Come From Here is the number nobody tells you before you enroll. According to National Association of Realtors data, the median agent closes around ten transactions a year, and a large share of brand-new agents earn under $10,000 in their first year. Not because they are lazy, but because they got a license and no business. A license lets you sell real estate. It does not hand you clients. Before you launch you need a real plan for lead generation, and most new agents never build one. I laid out the business plan most DFW agents skip so you do not have to guess. What It Actually Costs and How Long It Takes All in, expect $1,500 to $2,500 to get licensed and active in DFW: coursework, application, background check, exam fees, plus your first year of Realtor board and MLS dues. The timeline is typically three to six months from enrolling to your first showing, depending on how fast you move through the courses. Plan for the reality that your income in months one through six will likely be small while your pipeline fills. Where You Hang Your License Decides Everything New agents usually choose between a big-box franchise, a discount brokerage, and a producing team. The franchise gives you a name and little else. The discount shop gives you a high split and no support. A producing team gives you leads, systems, and mentorship in exchange for a share of your early commissions, which for most new agents is the trade that actually pays. If you want to compare the economics, my eXp vs Keller Williams commission breakdown shows the real numbers. The DFW Market You Are Entering DFW is one of the best markets in the country to start. McKinney's median sale price sits around $505,000, Frisco runs above $550,000, and Plano holds near $525,000. Higher price points mean larger commission checks per deal, and Collin County keeps drawing corporate relocations and new construction. But high demand also means competition, with tens of thousands of licensed agents across Dallas-Fort Worth, and the market does not care that you are new. The Shortcut Most New Agents Need When someone asks me the fastest honest path from license to income in DFW, my answer is the same every time: join a team that hands you leads and systems instead of making you build them alone. On my team, new agents plug into done-for-you lead generation, transaction support, and mentorship from day one. That is the difference between closing three deals your first year and closing fifteen. I explained exactly how I support new agents if you want the specifics. If you are serious about becoming a DFW real estate agent and want to start with leads and a mentor instead of a cold start, let's map out your first 12 months together. A Realistic First-Year Timeline Here is how a well-run first year tends to unfold in DFW. Months one and two are licensing, onboarding, and setting up your database and tools. Months three and four are heavy lead generation, your first appointments, and often your first contract. Months four through six are when early deals close and money finally hits your account. From month six onward, if you have been consistent, referrals and repeat activity start to compound and the business begins to feel real. The agents who understand this timeline stay calm through the slow start. The ones who expected instant income panic and quit. Knowing the shape of the year before it happens is half the battle, and it is exactly why I map a full 12-month plan with every new agent I bring on across Frisco, Plano, McKinney, and the wider metro. A plan turns an overwhelming year into a series of manageable weeks. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → --- ### eXp Realty Explained for DFW Agents in 2026 (By Someone Who's Been There 7 Years) URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/exp-realty-explained-dfw-2026 Published: 2026-08-04 Category: Insights Tags: eXp Realty, Agent Playbook, DFW Agents, Commission Splits, Texas Real Estate Summary: eXp Realty explained for DFW agents in 2026 by a 7-year insider: the AGNT ticker, Texas HQ, 83,000 agents, BoldTrail, splits, and stock in plain English. eXp Realty Explained for DFW Agents in 2026 (By Someone Who's Been There 7 Years) eXp Realty explained in one line for a DFW agent in 2026 is this: it is the largest cloud-based brokerage in the world, with an 80/20 split, a $16,000 cap, company stock, and revenue share, and as of this year its parent company is a Texas company called AGNT, Inc. I have been an eXp agent in McKinney for 7 years, so this is the insider version, current to 2026, not a recycled explainer from three years ago. I am Nick Good. I spent 12 years at Keller Williams before moving to eXp, I have sponsored more than 220 agents here, and I closed 162 sides for $65.6 million in 2026. Here is what eXp actually is today. Considering eXp in DFW? Let's talk it through. What changed in 2026, and why it matters Start with the facts most articles have wrong. eXp's parent company changed its name from eXp World Holdings to AGNT, Inc., and its Nasdaq ticker changed from EXPI to AGNT effective at market open on May 8, 2026. The company also moved its legal home from Delaware to Texas, completing that redomestication on June 11, 2026. eXp also acquired the franchise brand NextHome, and it reported 83,060 agents as of December 31, 2025. If a page still says EXPI and 87,000 agents, it is stale. The cloud model in plain English eXp has no physical brokerage offices. There is no franchise fee and no desk fee. Instead of paying for buildings, the company redirects that money to agents through higher splits, stock, and revenue share. Training, collaboration, and support happen online through eXp World. For a DFW agent that means no office politics and no monthly desk bill, but it also means you need to be self-directed. I walk through exactly how the eXp model works day to day here. The money: split, cap, and stock The split is 80/20 with a $16,000 cap, so you keep 80 percent until you have paid in $16,000, which happens at about $80,000 of GCI, then you keep effectively 100 percent for the rest of your year. In a higher-price market like McKinney, where the median sale price is around $505,000, you cap in roughly six to seven deals. On top of that, agents earn AGNT stock for closing their first deal each year, for capping, and for sponsoring agents, and ICON agents can earn their full $16,000 cap back in equity. The tools you actually get eXp's monthly fee is $85, and that includes your CRM through the CRM-of-choice program. The default is BoldTrail, which is the rebuilt version of the platform formerly called kvCORE, with Lofty and Cloze as alternatives. On our team we layer PLACE systems on top, with done-for-you marketing, speed-to-lead, and behavioral alerts, so the technology does the heavy lifting. That combination is the difference between having tools and actually using them. Is it a pyramid scheme, and who is it actually wrong for Revenue share makes some people ask if eXp is an MLM. It is not, because you only earn when real agents close real transactions, and you make money selling houses whether you ever sponsor anyone or not. I answer the MLM question directly and honestly here. That said, eXp is wrong for some agents. If you need a physical office, daily in-person management, and zero self-direction, the cloud model will frustrate you. If you want ownership, low overhead, and to keep more of what you earn, it is hard to beat. The honest 7-year verdict is that eXp is the strongest model I have found for agents who want to own equity and keep their money, and the parent company moving to Texas this year only reinforces how much of this business is built around the agent. The catch is that the model rewards people who plug into a real team and a real sponsor, and punishes people who join and disappear. If you want to see the career path here, start with this. Verify it yourself: read the AGNT transformation announcement at eXp's official press release and review earnings data at exprealty.com/income. Let's see if eXp fits your DFW business. Book a call with me. --- ### eXp Realty Commission Split Explained With Real Texas Math (2026) URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/exp-realty-commission-split-texas-math-2026 Published: 2026-07-31 Category: Insights Tags: eXp Realty, Agent Playbook, Commission Splits, DFW Agents, Texas Real Estate Summary: eXp Realty commission splits explained with real DFW deal math for 2026. The 80/20 split, $16K cap, fees, and net take-home from a 7-year eXp agent. eXp Realty Commission Split Explained With Real Texas Math (2026) The eXp Realty commission split is 80/20 with a $16,000 annual cap, which means you keep 80 percent of every commission until you have paid the company $16,000, and after that you keep effectively 100 percent for the rest of your anniversary year. That is the whole model in one sentence. Now let me show you what it actually looks like on real DFW deals in 2026, because almost every page ranking for eXp Realty commission splits uses a generic example and half of them are out of date. I am Nick Good, a 7-year eXp agent in McKinney. I closed 162 sides for $65.6 million in independently audited 2025 production, so these are not textbook numbers, they are my market. Want your personal eXp math? Book a call with me. First, the 2026 facts most pages get wrong Before the math, get current. eXp's parent company is now AGNT, Inc., not eXp World Holdings, and it trades on Nasdaq under the ticker AGNT, not EXPI, effective at market open on May 8, 2026. The company also redomesticated from Delaware to Texas, completing the move on June 11, 2026, so eXp's parent is now a Texas company. eXp reported 83,060 agents as of December 31, 2025, and the default CRM is now BoldTrail, which replaced kvCORE. If a blog still says EXPI, 87,000 agents, and kvCORE, it has not been updated in a year. The split on a real DFW deal Take a McKinney listing that sells at $500,000, near the current median sale price of $505,000. At a 2.5 percent listing-side commission the GCI is $12,500. On the 80/20 split you keep $10,000 and eXp keeps $2,500, and that $2,500 counts toward your cap. Do that on a few deals and you can see how the cap arrives. You cap once your 20 percent contributions total $16,000, which happens at roughly $80,000 of GCI. For a DFW agent selling homes around that $500,000 McKinney price, that is roughly six to seven closings. After that, every deal for the rest of your year is essentially all yours. Layering a full DFW year Say you close 20 homes at that $500,000 average. That is $250,000 in GCI. On the first roughly $80,000 of GCI you pay 20 percent, which is your $16,000 cap. On the remaining $170,000 you pay no split, only a $250 transaction fee per deal for your next 20 closings, then $75 after that. So on $250,000 in GCI you keep about $233,000 before the $85 monthly fee and small per-deal fees. That is an effective split closer to 93 percent across the whole year, which is the entire point of a capped model. I compare this directly to Keller Williams caps and fees in DFW here. The cap you can get back as stock Here is the part that makes the eXp split different from most brokerages. If you hit ICON status, you can earn your entire $16,000 cap back in AGNT stock, paid as an $8,000 production award, a $4,000 cultural award, and two $2,000 event awards. So a capped, ICON-qualified DFW agent effectively recovers the cap in equity. I explain the stock, revenue share, and ICON program in full here. Team splits change the math If you join a team, the split happens twice. First you and the team divide the GCI, then eXp takes its 20 percent of your portion until you cap. On a Half Cap team your cap is only $8,000, and on a Quarter Cap team it is just $4,000, which lowers your brokerage cost in exchange for the split you pay your leader. Solo agents stay on the full $16,000 cap. The honest summary is that eXp's split is one of the most agent-friendly capped structures in the business, and in a higher-price DFW market like McKinney you cap quickly and spend most of the year keeping nearly everything. Where agents get burned is picking the wrong sponsor and getting zero support for the same split. Here is how to pick an eXp sponsor who actually shows up. Verify the fundamentals yourself at exprealty.com/income and check Dallas commission benchmarks at Clever's 2026 Dallas survey. Let's run your real eXp numbers together. Book a call. --- ### Is Joining a Real Estate Team Worth It? My Honest Take After 22 Years in DFW URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/is-joining-a-real-estate-team-worth-it-dfw Published: 2026-07-28 Category: Insights Tags: Agent Playbook, DFW Agents, Real Estate Teams, Career Growth, Six-Figure Mentor Summary: Is joining a real estate team worth it? A 22-year DFW operator gives an honest verdict, the real trade-offs, and the data behind it. Is Joining a Real Estate Team Worth It? My Honest Take After 22 Years in DFW Is joining a real estate team worth it? For most agents in DFW, yes, and the data backs it up. Research from Real Trends found that agents on teams close 35 percent more transactions in their first two years than solo agents, mostly because of shared leads and systems. But worth it is not the same as right for everyone, so let me give you the honest verdict after 22 years in this market, not the recruiting pitch. I am Nick Good. I built The Good Home Team in McKinney, closed 162 sides for $65.6 million in independently audited 2025 production, and I have been on both sides of this decision more than once. Here is how I actually think about it. Want a straight answer for your situation? Book a call. The case for joining a team Teams solve the two problems that kill most real estate careers: inconsistent leads and doing everything alone. Roughly a quarter of REALTORS now work on a team according to NAR research, and that share keeps climbing for a reason. When you join a good team you get a lead source on day one, a transaction coordinator so you are not drowning in paperwork, coaching from someone who has already done it, and a brand people trust before they meet you. The production gap is real. NAR's 2026 Member Profile shows team-based specialists closed a median of 32 sides last year versus 9 for the typical individual agent. That is more than triple. For a new agent in Frisco or a mid-career agent stuck at 10 deals a year, a team is often the fastest path to a real income. I go deeper on why even experienced agents net more on a team here. The case against joining, and who should stay solo Here is the part recruiters skip. A team costs you a piece of every commission and some control. You follow their process. You answer leads fast, sometimes within minutes. You may not keep every deal from your own sphere. If you already have a steady referral pipeline, love running your own marketing, and want to build your own brand, a team split can be money you did not need to give up. I have felt the pull of independence myself. I actually left eXp once and came back, and I wrote about exactly why here. The lesson was that the model matters less than the systems and the people around you. Independence feels great until you are the only one generating business at 9pm. My honest verdict Join a team if any of these are true. You are new and need leads and training. You are experienced but capped out on time and want leverage. Or you are good at selling and bad at marketing and admin. In all three cases a team almost always pays for itself in extra closings. Stay solo, or go Full Cap where you keep your own cap, if you already have consistent business, you have the marketing budget and skill to feed yourself, and you value control over volume. What makes it worth it is fit, not the concept. A great team with weak systems is a bad deal, and a team with a great lead engine can still change your life. In DFW specifically, a team that fills your calendar with the right price points beats a high split with an empty calendar every time. You can see the kind of volume our team produced in June 2026 here. My bottom line after 22 years is simple. The agents who treat a team as fuel outproduce the ones who treat it as a hiding place every single time. For the data behind this, see the Real Trends team production stat via REDX and NAR's 2026 Member Profile. Let's figure out if a team is right for you. Book a call with me. --- ### Top Real Estate Team in Texas: The Good Home Team Makes eXp Top 10 URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/good-home-team-exp-top-10-texas-june-2026 Published: 2026-07-26 Category: Team Results Tags: eXp Realty, Team Results, DFW Real Estate Summary: The Good Home Team ranked No. 6 by volume and No. 7 by units on eXp Realty's June 2026 Top 10 Mega Teams list for Texas. Here is what that means for DFW agents. Top Real Estate Team in Texas: The Good Home Team Makes eXp Top 10 The Good Home Team is now ranked a top real estate team in Texas, landing at No. 6 by closed volume and No. 7 by closed units on eXp Realty's official June 2026 Top 10 Mega Teams list for the state. These rankings are based on closed and finalized production for the month of June 2026, not projections, not pendings, and not self-reported numbers. For a team based in Plano and serving DFW markets like McKinney, Frisco, and Allen, cracking the top 10 in a state the size of Texas is a milestone I do not take lightly. If you are an agent anywhere in Dallas-Fort Worth and you want to see the systems behind this ranking, let's talk. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → What This Ranking Actually Measures Every month, eXp Realty publishes state-level rankings of its top producing mega teams. With 83,060 agents company-wide as of the end of 2025, and Texas being one of its largest markets, the competition for these ten spots is real. The June 2026 list ranks teams two ways: total closed sales volume and total closed units. The Good Home Team came in at No. 6 statewide by volume. On the units side, we ranked No. 7. Being on both lists matters to me more than either number alone. A team can land on the volume list by closing a handful of luxury deals. A team can land on the units list by grinding out small transactions. Showing up on both means the business is balanced, which is exactly how we built it. The Numbers Behind the Ranking This is not a one-month spike. In 2025 The Good Home Team closed 162 sides and $65.6 million in volume, which made us RealTrends Verified 1 in Plano, Texas for both volume and sides. We were also named No. 45 on the 2026 NAHREP Top 100 Teams list nationally. June 2026 was simply another month of the same system doing its job, and I broke down exactly how the June production came together in a separate post. I have been in DFW real estate for 22 years. Twelve of those were at Keller Williams, and the last seven have been at eXp Realty, where I have also sponsored more than 220 agents into the company. I share that because rankings without context are just trophies. The context here is consistency: verified production, year after year, out of one team office in Plano covering Collin County and the broader DFW metro. Why a Team Ranking Beats an Individual One Here is the part most agents miss. A top individual agent ranking tells you one person is talented. A top team ranking tells you a system works without depending on any single person, including me. I did not personally close the production that put us at No. 6 in Texas. Our agents did, using shared listing systems, staffed operations, and lead flow that the team provides. That distinction is exactly what you should evaluate if you are deciding where to hang your license in DFW. Talent is not transferable. Systems are. When you join a team with a working system, the system starts working for you on day one. Curious what a top 10 Texas real estate team actually looks like behind the scenes? Schedule a 15-minute conversation and I will walk you through our systems, lead flow, and support model. No pressure, just transparency. Schedule your 15-minute walkthrough → Is Joining a Real Estate Team Worth It? I get this question on almost every call, so let me answer it the way I answer agents in my office. Joining a real estate team is worth it when the math works: the value of the leads, systems, staff, and coaching you receive has to exceed the split you give up. According to NAR member data, the median agent closes around ten transactions a year. Agents on high-producing teams routinely close two to three times that, because they spend their hours in front of clients instead of hunting for them. On our team, agents plug into PLACE systems, transaction coordination, and a database that feeds them appointments. Solo agents in Frisco or McKinney competing against that infrastructure are not competing against an agent. They are competing against an entire operating company. That is the honest answer: a bad team is not worth any split, and a ranked, verified team usually is. Do Real Estate Teams Provide Leads? The good ones do, and it should be a dealbreaker if they do not. On The Good Home Team, lead generation is done for you: paid lead sources, sign calls, open house traffic, a nurtured database, and marketing spend that an individual agent could not justify alone. I wrote a full breakdown of the done-for-you lead generation our DFW agents get if you want the specifics. When you interview any team, ask three questions. How many leads or appointments will I actually receive each month? Who pays for them? What happens to my database if I leave? The answers will tell you quickly whether the team is built to grow agents or just to collect splits. What This Means If You Are a DFW Agent Rankings are a lagging indicator. The leading indicators are the daily systems: listing appointments set by staff, transactions handled by coordinators, and agents freed up to sell. That is what produced a top 10 finish in Texas for June 2026, and it is repeatable for the agents who plug into it. It also does not require moving to Plano. Our agents work McKinney, Frisco, Allen, The Colony, and every corner of Collin County and the metro. The model is built around leads, coaching, and operations support, not around a desk in an office. Some agents partner with me at eXp Realty for the full PLACE system. Others start by simply watching how we operate before making any decision, and I would rather you do that than take my word for a ranking graphic. Rankings do not change careers. Systems do. If you are building your business in DFW and want to see how a top ranked Texas team operates, let's have a conversation. No pitch, just the numbers, the same way I laid them out here. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → --- ### How Do Real Estate Teams Work? An Agent's Inside View From DFW URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/how-do-real-estate-teams-work-dfw Published: 2026-07-24 Category: Insights Tags: Agent Playbook, DFW Agents, Real Estate Teams, eXp Realty, PLACE Systems Summary: How do real estate teams work from an agent's seat? A McKinney operator explains team roles, splits, and eXp's four team models in plain English. How Do Real Estate Teams Work? An Agent's Inside View From DFW How do real estate teams work? A real estate team is a group of licensed agents working under one leader and one brokerage who share leads, marketing, admin, and systems in exchange for a split of each commission. That is the mechanics. What most articles miss is what it actually feels like from the agent's seat, so I am going to give you the operator view from DFW instead of the consumer-facing definition you have already read ten times. I am Nick Good. I have run real estate teams in DFW for 22 years, 12 of them at Keller Williams and the last 7 at eXp Realty, and I have personally sponsored more than 220 agents. Here is how a team really runs. Thinking about joining a team in DFW? Let's talk. The roles that make a team work A functioning team is a small business with specialized seats. There is a team leader who sets strategy and holds accountability. There are listing agents and buyer agents who work with clients. There is an inside sales agent or a speed-to-lead system that calls new leads fast. And there is a transaction coordinator who runs the file from contract to close. On our team the technology handles a huge part of this. We run PLACE systems with speed-to-lead and behavioral alerts, so when a lead engages, the right agent knows in seconds, not hours. The reason this structure exists is simple. A solo agent is the salesperson, the marketer, the assistant, and the bookkeeper all at once. A team lets each person do the thing they are best at. Why agents join teams in the first place Leads and leverage. A new agent in Plano or Frisco can spend a year and thousands of dollars building a lead source that a team already has running on day one. NAR's 2026 Member Profile shows team-based specialists closed a median of 32 transaction sides last year versus just 9 for the typical individual agent, and $17.5 million in median volume versus $2.7 million. That is not a small edge, it is a different business entirely. I explain how the eXp model powers that leverage here. The four team models at eXp Realty in 2026 This is where DFW agents get confused, so here is the current 2026 structure. eXp renamed its team types this year and there are four. Full Cap Team, formerly called Self-Organized. Every agent stays on their own full $16,000 cap, there is no required split to the leader, and everyone can still earn ICON stock. This is the loosest structure, closer to a marketing partnership. Half Cap Team, formerly called Standard. Team agents get a reduced $8,000 cap and pay a minimum split to the leader. The leader must have produced at least $6 million or 30 transactions in the prior year. This is the classic team most people picture. Quarter Cap Team, formerly called Mega ICON. Team agents cap at just $4,000. To qualify the team needs at least $40 million or 175 transactions and 10 capping agents in the prior 12 months. This is for large, high-volume operations. Domestic Partnership. Married couples who are both licensed share one $16,000 cap. One spouse pays $85 per month and the other pays $50. The reduced caps matter. On a Half Cap or Quarter Cap team your cost to the brokerage drops sharply, which is the trade for the split you pay your leader. I compare how this stacks against Keller Williams in DFW here. What a good team gives you and what it costs A good DFW team gives you a filled calendar, coaching, a brand people already trust, and systems you did not have to build. What it costs you is a slice of each commission and some autonomy. You follow the team's process, you answer leads fast, and you may not get to keep every listing that walks in from your own circle. The wrong reason to join a team is to hide. A team amplifies effort, it does not replace it. The agents who win on our team are the ones who treat the leads and systems like rocket fuel, not like a safety net. If you are weighing a team in Collin County or anywhere in DFW, the smartest move is to see the actual systems before you decide. You can review eXp's published earnings at exprealty.com/income and team production data via NAR's 2026 Member Profile research. And if you want the specifics of what our team provides, here is exactly what agents who partner with me actually get. See our DFW systems for yourself. Book a walkthrough with me. --- ### I Spent 12 Years at Keller Williams. Here Is Why I Left and What I Found on the Other Side. URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/12-years-keller-williams-why-i-left Published: 2026-07-23 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: KW Comparison, eXp Realty, Agent Playbook, DFW Agents, Revenue Share Summary: Leaving KW after 12 years was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made. If it is not broke do not fix it. That was my mindset. Here is what changed and what I found when I finally made the move. I Spent 12 Years at Keller Williams. Here Is Why I Left and What I Found on the Other Side. Let me be straight with you before I say anything else. I was not looking to leave Keller Williams. I was not unhappy. I was not struggling. I had built something real over 12 years, a team, a reputation, a business that was producing. My mindset at the time was simple: if it is not broke, do not fix it. That is exactly why leaving was one of the hardest decisions I have ever made in my career. I am not writing this to sell you on eXp. I am writing this because I was the skeptical agent. I was the guy who had heard the pitch and dismissed it. I was the guy who told himself that loyalty and familiarity were worth more than an opportunity I had not fully understood yet. If that sounds like you right now, this post is for you. Why I Started Looking It did not happen overnight. It was a slow build. The more I analyzed eXp, the more I started seeing Keller Williams differently. Not as a bad brokerage, it is not a bad brokerage. But as a team leader who had taken on a real responsibility to partner with agents and help them assess and win in any market, I started asking myself a question I could not stop thinking about. Was I giving my agents the same financial pathways I had access to? At KW, the honest answer was no. I had the opportunities. I had built the model. But my agent partners, the people I had recruited, trained, and committed to, were not getting the same shot at the financial upside that I had. The wealth-building model at KW was structured in a way where the team leader captured the opportunity and the agents worked within it. That bothered me more the longer I sat with it. At eXp, every agent who joins has access to the same financial pathways I have. Revenue share. Stock awards. The ICON program. The wealth-building model is not reserved for team leaders or top producers. It is available to every agent from day one. That became the primary reason we left after 12 years. Not the split. Not the cap. Not a bad experience at KW. It was the realization that I could not look my agent partners in the eye and tell them I was giving them everything I had access to, because I was not. The Moment I Made the Decision There is always a period of the unknown when you make a move like this. You ask yourself whether it is the right decision or the wrong one. You ask whether it is going to help your business or hurt it. What I had to keep coming back to was this: my business is going to grow because of me. Because of the work I put in. Because of the partnerships I build. Because of the belief I have in what I do. No brokerage is going to take that away from me. But a brokerage can either enhance the connections and relationships I am trying to build, or it can limit them. I made the call. We moved. What Surprised Me When I Got to eXp I want to be specific here because I think this is where most agents who have not made the move do not fully understand what they are getting. The broker support at eXp still blows my mind. I can get a broker on the phone, on email, or in the eXp virtual world fast. Not in 24 hours. Not after a callback that may or may not come. Fast. The level of support available to every agent at eXp, regardless of production level, regardless of team size, is something I did not fully appreciate until I was inside it. Think about what the alternative looks like. You are at a small brick and mortar brokerage. You have a question that needs an answer today. You wait. Maybe you get a callback in a few hours. Maybe it is tomorrow. In a transaction that is moving quickly, that wait costs you. I do not have that problem anymore. The Other Thing Nobody Talks About The collaboration at eXp is unlike anything I experienced in 12 years at KW. I do not say that to criticize KW culture, KW has a strong culture. But the sharing and collaboration that happens across eXp nationally, across markets, across teams, is something that did not exist at that level in the market center model. When I have a question, I have access to thousands of agents across the country who have faced the same situation. When I want to know what is working in another market, I can find out. When I want to connect my agents with people who are solving the same problems they are solving, that network is there. Business has gone up. The collaboration and sharing at eXp is second to none. The Honest Truth About Making the Move If you are at KW right now and you are asking yourself whether this is worth looking at seriously, here is what I will tell you. Your business is going to grow because of you. Not because of the sign on the door. Not because of the brokerage name on your business card. Because of you, the relationships you build, and the belief you have in what you do. The question is not whether you can succeed at KW. You probably can. The question is whether the model you are in is giving your agents, and you, every financial pathway available. Whether the support system you have access to is as fast and as deep as it should be. Whether the collaboration you are part of is as wide as it could be. Those were the questions I could not stop asking after 12 years. Where to Start If You Are Curious If you want to see what the model actually looks like before making any decision, join us on the Thursday live call at 12PM CST at partnerwithnickgood.com/live. No pitch. No pressure. Just the system running in real time so you can evaluate it yourself. If you want to talk through your specific situation, book a 15-minute call at calendly.com/tght/learn-more-about-exp-realty. I was the skeptical agent. I waited longer than I probably should have. I am not telling you what to do. I am just telling you what I found when I finally looked. -- Nick Good --- ### How Do Real Estate Teams Split Commission in DFW (Real Numbers, No Hypotheticals) URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/how-do-real-estate-teams-split-commission-dfw Published: 2026-07-21 Category: Insights Tags: Agent Playbook, DFW Agents, Commission Splits, Real Estate Teams, eXp Realty Summary: How do real estate teams split commission in DFW? On my team a buyer agent on a $500,000 McKinney sale nets right around $5,000. Here is the real math. How Do Real Estate Teams Split Commission in DFW (Real Numbers, No Hypotheticals) How do real estate teams split commission in DFW? On my team the commission is split first between the agent and the team, then between the agent and the brokerage, and after real fees a buyer agent on a $500,000 McKinney sale nets right around $5,000. That is the short answer, and unlike most pages ranking for this question, I am going to show you the actual math using real Dallas-Fort Worth price points instead of a made-up national example. I am Nick Good. I have sold real estate in DFW for 22 years, closed 162 sides for $65.6 million in 2026, and I run The Good Home Team out of McKinney. Here is how the money actually moves. Want me to run your real numbers side by side? Book a private call. Step one: the gross commission on a real DFW deal The average total commission in Texas runs about 5.54 percent in Dallas, split between both sides. Take a McKinney home that sells at $500,000, which is right near the current median sale price of $505,000. The buyer side at 2.5 percent produces $12,500 in gross commission income. That $12,500 is the pie everyone splits. Nobody keeps all of it, not on a team and not solo. Step two: the team split On a typical DFW team, the buyer agent keeps a percentage and the team keeps the rest in exchange for the leads, the marketing, the transaction coordinator, and the systems. A common structure is 50/50. On our $12,500 deal that leaves the agent with $6,250 before the brokerage takes its share. That team half funds the lead engine, the PLACE technology stack, the done-for-you marketing, and the admin team that lets the agent stay in front of clients instead of buried in paperwork. Step three: the eXp brokerage split and the cap At eXp Realty every agent is on an 80/20 split with a $16,000 annual cap. Agents on a Half Cap team cap at $8,000. On our agent's $6,250, eXp takes 20 percent, which is $1,250, and the agent nets $5,000 before small per-deal fees. That $1,250 counts toward the $8,000 half cap. Once the agent has paid in $8,000 for the year, the 20 percent stops and they keep effectively 100 percent minus a $250 transaction fee. I break the eXp split, revenue share, and stock down in full here. Layering it over a full year Annualize it the way a real DFW producer would. Say a team buyer agent closes 20 homes at that $500,000 McKinney average. That is $250,000 in team GCI. At a 50/50 split the agent's gross is $125,000. They hit the $8,000 half cap early, and past that the eXp 20 percent disappears. Net take-home lands near $117,000 before the $85 monthly fee and per-deal fees, and critically, the team paid for the leads that produced most of those 20 deals. Compare that to going solo. A solo agent keeps the whole $12,500 on the same deal and nets $10,000 after the eXp split. That looks like double. But the solo agent buys their own leads, pays for their own CRM, does their own transaction coordination, and eats every dead lead. When you subtract lead costs, marketing, and admin, plus the deals a solo agent never gets because they have no pipeline, the gap closes fast. This is exactly why experienced agents often net more on a team, and I show that math here. What actually determines your split Three things decide whether a split is fair. Who generates the lead, who pays for the marketing, and who carries the admin and liability. If the team hands you the client, builds the campaigns, and runs the file to close, a 50 percent split is cheap. If you bring your own business and just want a name to hang your license under, you should be on a much higher split or on a Full Cap structure where you keep your full $16,000 cap. In DFW specifically, price points matter. A $500,000 McKinney deal and a $300,000 deal in an outer county produce very different checks off the same percentage, so your deal count and your average price drive your income more than the split percentage alone. A commission split is not a tax, it is a trade. You give up a slice of each check in exchange for volume, leverage, and time. For most agents in DFW the trade is worth it, and the ones it is not worth for usually have their own lead source and should structure accordingly. If you want to see what our agents actually receive, here is exactly what you get when you partner with me. You can also review eXp's published earnings data at exprealty.com/income and Texas commission benchmarks from Clever's 2026 Texas survey. Let's map your real DFW numbers together. Book a call with me. --- ### eXp Realty Is No. 1 for Transaction Sides in 2026: What That Means for DFW Agents URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/exp-realty-number-one-transaction-sides-2026 Published: 2026-07-20 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: eXp Realty, NAHREP, Agent Playbook, DFW Agents, RealTrends Summary: 343,091 transaction sides. 2,753 agents on RealTrends Verified. No. 1 in the Enterprise Team category by volume. Here is what the data actually means if you are a DFW agent considering a move. eXp Realty Is No. 1 for Transaction Sides in 2026: What That Means for DFW Agents The RealTrends Verified rankings came out and the number is not close. 343,091 transaction sides. Number one for transaction sides in the entire country. 2,753 eXp agents and teams recognized nationally. Number one in the Enterprise Team category by volume. And on the 2026 NAHREP Top 250, eXp placed more agents and teams than any other brokerage. I have been in DFW real estate for 22 years. I have watched brokerages rise and fall. I have watched models that looked exciting on a whiteboard fail in practice. And I have watched eXp Realty do something that almost no company in any industry does: get bigger and get better at the same time. Here is what those numbers actually mean for a DFW agent considering a move. Production Follows Environment The agents who produce the most tend to gather where the model, the culture, and the tools support production. 343,091 transaction sides is not a marketing number. It is verified production from the most credible tracking system in residential real estate. It means the agents at eXp are closing deals at a volume no other brokerage is matching. That concentration of producing agents creates an environment that makes production easier. Collaboration. Shared systems. Agents who are willing to share what is working because the model does not create zero-sum competition between agents at the same brokerage. What the Rankings Mean for Your Decision If you are a DFW agent researching brokerages, the production rankings give you a signal that is more reliable than any recruiting pitch. Look at where the top producers are going. Look at where the team leaders who have options are choosing to build. Look at where the verified third-party data says the volume is being done. The data points to eXp. What It Does Not Mean I want to be straight with you about something. The rankings do not mean eXp is the right fit for every agent. The model works best for self-directed agents who engage with available training, collaboration, and systems. Agents who need heavy in-person management or rely on walk-in office traffic for leads may not thrive in a cloud-based environment regardless of the production numbers. What the rankings do mean is that the agents who fit the eXp model are producing at a level no other brokerage is matching right now. And if you are an agent who fits that profile, the data says this is where you should be. The Good Home Team in That Context The Good Home Team powered by PLACE was named to the 2026 NAHREP Top 250 with 162 sides and $65.6 million in volume. Three national rankings. All at eXp Realty. All in DFW. That production did not happen because of luck or a great market. It happened because of the combination of eXp's model and PLACE's operating system, systems that are available to agents who partner with us. If you want to see what that looks like in practice, join the Thursday live call at 12PM CST at partnerwithnickgood.com/live. If you are ready to talk about whether it makes sense for your situation, book a 15-minute call at nickgood.com. That is The Good Word on what the rankings mean. -- Nick Good --- ### How Agents in Plano and Allen TX Are Closing More Without Spending More on Leads URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/real-estate-leads-plano-allen-tx Published: 2026-07-17 Category: DFW Market Tags: Plano TX, Allen TX, Lead Generation, DFW Market, Done For You Summary: Buying leads is expensive and inconsistent. Here is how agents in Plano, Allen, and Collin County are building predictable pipelines using done-for-you systems, and what it actually costs them to get started. How Agents in Plano and Allen TX Are Closing More Without Spending More on Leads Plano and Allen are two of the most consistent real estate markets in North Texas. Plano has strong corporate relocation demand, established neighborhoods with high owner pride, and a buyer pool that keeps refreshing as companies continue choosing the Dallas corridor. Allen has excellent schools, consistent family demand, and price points that make it one of the most active Collin County markets month after month. If you are a real estate agent in either market, the opportunity is real and consistent. The question I hear constantly is not whether the market is good. The question is how to generate more business without spending more money on leads that do not convert. Here is how agents in Plano and Allen are solving that problem right now. The Lead Buying Problem Most agents in Plano and Allen who are trying to grow their business are spending somewhere between $500 and $2,000 a month on leads from aggregators: Zillow, Realtor.com, or similar platforms. The conversion rate on those leads is typically low. The competition is high because the same lead is often sold to multiple agents. And the agent has no control over the quality, intent, or timing of who shows up in their inbox. You are renting someone else's audience. The moment you stop paying, the leads stop coming. There is no asset being built. The System That Changes the Math The agents who are outperforming in Plano and Allen right now are not spending more on leads. They are running a built-out client engine that generates its own leads through targeted direct-response offers specific to those markets. The difference is ownership. Instead of paying an aggregator for access to a lead that has already been sold to three other agents, the client engine builds campaigns that generate leads directly: buyers and sellers in specific Plano and Allen neighborhoods, at price points the agent actually works, with contact information that goes directly to the agent first. The speed-to-lead follow-up contacts those leads within 60 seconds. The behavioral tracking identifies which leads are ready to act. The automated follow-up keeps every lead in a sequence for up to 18 months. What It Costs to Access This For agents who partner with me at eXp Realty, the done-for-you marketing team that builds and runs this system is included at no cost. You do not pay for the campaigns. You do not pay for the implementation. You do not pay for the ongoing coaching and optimization. What it requires is moving your license to eXp Realty and partnering with me. That is a real commitment and I respect that it is not a decision to make lightly. See the System Live First Before making that decision, join the Thursday live call at 12PM CST at partnerwithnickgood.com/live. See the system live. Ask questions. Watch agents in markets like yours talk about what it is producing for them. Then book a 15-minute call at nickgood.com if you want to talk about what it looks like specifically in Plano and Allen. That is The Good Word on leads in Plano and Allen. -- Nick Good --- ### eXp Realty Careers: What Agents Actually Do Differently Once They Join URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/exp-realty-careers Published: 2026-07-17 Category: Insights Tags: eXp Realty, Agent Playbook, Career Growth, DFW Agents Summary: A career at eXp Realty looks completely different depending on the sponsor and systems behind you. Here's what most people researching this don't realize. eXp Realty Careers: What Agents Actually Do Differently Once They Join A career at eXp Realty looks different depending entirely on the sponsor and systems behind you, which is the part most people researching "eXp Realty careers" don't fully understand before they join. Thinking about your next move? Book a 15-minute call with Nick → The brokerage structure, the split, the cap, the revenue share, is identical for every agent. What you actually do with that career day to day depends almost completely on the support layer your sponsor provides. What Stays the Same for Every Agent Every eXp agent operates under the same 80/20 split with a $16,000 annual cap, the same revenue share eligibility once sponsoring other agents, and the same access to the stock award program, full details on eXp's official compensation page. None of that changes based on who recruited you. What Changes Completely: The Systems Layer This is where careers at eXp diverge dramatically. Some agents join and get nothing beyond the brokerage login. Others, like the agents who partner with The Good Home Team, get a done-for-you marketing team, speed-to-lead systems, weekly live coaching calls, and behavioral lead alerts that flag when a prospect is ready to act. Building Beyond Personal Production A real estate career built purely on personal production has a ceiling. eXp's revenue share model changes that ceiling for agents who build deliberately. Through structures like the Residual Agent Network, agents earn revenue share from agents they've sponsored, income that compounds whether or not they're personally closing transactions that month. New Agents vs. Experienced Agents New agents researching eXp Realty careers often worry about lead generation and training. Experienced agents researching the same thing are usually evaluating whether their current model is actually building anything beyond this month's paycheck. According to NAR's annual member profile, a significant share of new agents struggle to reach meaningful income in their first year. The agents who avoid that outcome almost always have access to systems and mentorship they didn't have to build from scratch. What a Real Career Path Looks Like I've spent 22 years building in DFW real estate, 12 at Keller Williams and seven at eXp Realty. I wrote Six Figure Agent because the systems and frameworks that actually build a sustainable career didn't exist in one place when I needed them. For the full story on why that move mattered, see why I left eXp Realty and came back. If You're Evaluating This as a Career Move The biggest mistake agents make is treating the brokerage decision and the sponsor decision as the same question. They're not. If you're serious about building a real career, not just changing where your license sits, the conversation worth having is about systems and support, not just splits and caps. Book a 15-Minute Call With Nick → --- ### Want to Rent Your House in DFW? Here Is What I Tell Every Landlord First URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/rent-my-house-dfw Published: 2026-07-15 Category: Property Management Tags: Property Management, DFW Landlords, Rental Property, Homeward Property Management, McKinney TX Summary: Thinking about renting out your DFW house? A 22-year McKinney operator walks through the math, Texas rules, tenant screening, and when property management pays for itself. Want to Rent Your House in DFW? Here Is What I Tell Every Landlord First If you have been thinking I want to rent my house in DFW, here is the short answer: you can absolutely do it, and done right it can be one of the best wealth moves available to a North Texas homeowner. The catch is that most first-time landlords lose money in three specific places: pricing the rent wrong, screening tenants poorly, and underestimating the time it takes to manage the property. Get those three right and the rest is process. I have spent 22 years in DFW real estate. I run The Good Home Team out of McKinney and Plano, and my company Homeward Property Management manages rental properties for landlords across the metroplex. What follows is the same conversation I have with every homeowner who calls us asking whether they should rent out their house. Want a straight answer on your specific property? Connect with my team here. Run the Math Before Anything Else Start with what your house would actually rent for, not what you need it to rent for. Those are different numbers, and confusing them is the number one mistake I see. Pull comparable rentals in your neighborhood, look at what actually leased in the last 60 days, and be honest about condition. A house in McKinney, where the median sale price sits around $505,000 according to Redfin market data, does not automatically command a rent that covers a new mortgage at today's rates. Sometimes it does. You have to run the numbers. Then subtract the costs most first-time landlords forget: property taxes, insurance at landlord rates rather than homeowner rates, maintenance reserves, vacancy between tenants, make-ready costs, and leasing fees. A property that looks profitable on the mortgage-versus-rent comparison can go negative fast once you count everything. I would rather you find that out on paper than 8 months into a lease. Know What Texas Law Actually Requires Texas is a landlord-friendly state, but the rules that exist have teeth. Security deposits have no statutory cap in Texas, but under Texas Property Code Chapter 92 you must return the deposit within 30 days of the tenant surrendering the property, with an itemized list of any deductions. Miss that window or handle it sloppily and you can owe the tenant three times the amount wrongfully withheld plus attorney fees. You are also required to install and maintain smoke alarms, rekey locks between tenants, and repair conditions that materially affect health and safety. None of this is hard. All of it is the kind of thing a homeowner renting out their first property has never had to think about, and the penalties land on the landlord, not the tenant. Screening Is Where Landlords Lose the Most Money A vacant house costs you one month of rent. A bad tenant can cost you a year. Eviction in Texas is faster than in most states, but it is still weeks of process, court costs, lost rent, and usually a make-ready bill on the back end. Every horror story I have heard from a DFW landlord in 22 years traces back to one decision: they rushed screening because the applicant seemed nice and the mortgage payment was due. Real screening means verified income at three times the rent, employment verification, rental history with actual phone calls to previous landlords, credit review, and a criminal and eviction background check run through a legitimate service. It also means applying the same written criteria to every applicant, every time, because fair housing law applies to individual landlords the same way it applies to professional operators following NAR fair housing standards. Self-Manage or Hire It Out: The Honest Breakdown Here is the honest version, coming from someone who owns a property management company and will tell you when you do not need one. Self-managing makes sense if you live near the property, you have one rental, you are handy or have a reliable contractor, and you have the temperament to enforce a lease with a tenant who is behind on rent. Plenty of DFW landlords do this well, and they keep the roughly 8 to 10 percent of monthly rent that management would cost. Professional management makes sense the moment any of those conditions fail. If you are moving out of state, if you own more than one door, if a 10pm water heater call would wreck your week, or if you do not want to personally chase late rent, the management fee stops being a cost and starts being the thing that keeps the investment passive. My team at Homeward Property Management handles marketing, showing, screening, leasing, rent collection, maintenance coordination, and the legal compliance pieces above for landlords across McKinney, Frisco, Plano, Allen, and the greater Dallas rental market. The Decision Framework Ask yourself three questions. First, does the property cash flow after every real cost, or are you subsidizing it monthly in exchange for appreciation? Both can be valid strategies in a growth market like Collin County, but you need to know which one you are running. Second, do you have the time and stomach to manage it yourself, honestly? Third, what is your exit: hold it five years, hold it forever, or rent it until the market gives you the sale price you want? Renting out a house in DFW is not passive by default. It becomes passive when the systems around it are professional, whether you build those systems yourself or plug into someone who already has them. I have watched hundreds of North Texas homeowners turn a former residence into a wealth-building rental, and I have watched a smaller number bleed money because they treated a six-figure asset like a side hobby. If you want to skip the learning curve, my team will walk your property, tell you what it will actually rent for, and give you an honest answer on whether management makes sense for your situation. No pressure, just the math. Talk to my team about renting out your DFW house here. --- ### eXp Realty Co-Sponsor Explained for DFW Agents (2026): What It Is, How It Works, and Whether You Need One URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/exp-realty-co-sponsor-explained-dfw-2026 Published: 2026-07-14 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: eXp Realty, Agent Playbook, DFW Agents, Sponsorship, Co-Sponsor, Texas Real Estate Summary: The eXp Realty co-sponsor program launched May 2025 lets new agents choose both a primary sponsor and a co-sponsor. Here is how it actually works for DFW agents in 2026. eXp Realty Co-Sponsor Explained for DFW Agents (2026): What It Is, How It Works, and Whether You Need One Key takeawayseXp's co-sponsor program (launched May 1, 2025) lets a new agent name a primary sponsor at onboarding and add one co-sponsor within five days.The co-sponsor earns Level 1 revenue share plus a 50 percent Fast Start bonus in year one. The primary sponsor keeps Levels 2 through 7, FLQA credit, and stock grants. Neither costs the new agent anything.Your primary sponsor is permanent. Your co-sponsor can be changed through eXp's compliance process.Co-sponsorship helps most when your primary sponsor is non-local and you want a local DFW operator in your corner. The eXp Realty co-sponsor program lets new agents joining eXp name both a primary sponsor and a co-sponsor, giving them access to two leaders instead of one, and it launched officially on May 1, 2025. I have been at eXp Realty for seven years and sponsored more than 220 agents, and this is the most significant structural change to how sponsorship works since I joined. Here is what DFW agents actually need to know before they fill out their onboarding paperwork. Questions about sponsorship at eXp in DFW? Book a 15-minute call with Nick → What Is the eXp Co-Sponsor Program Before May 2025, every agent joining eXp named one primary sponsor during onboarding. That sponsor sat at the Tier 1 position directly above the new agent in the revenue share structure. The co-sponsor program changes that by adding a second position. When a new agent joins eXp now, they can name a primary sponsor during onboarding and then select a co-sponsor within five days of their activation date. The co-sponsor occupies the Tier 1 position directly above the new agent. The primary sponsor moves to Tier 2. Both sponsors are paid from eXp's company dollar, not from the agent's commission, so the co-sponsor arrangement does not cost the joining agent anything extra. eXp CEO Leo Pareja described the thinking behind the program at eXpcon Montreal where it was announced: the idea is that one sponsor might excel at marketing while another excels at operations or team building, and new agents should be able to access both strengths without having to choose between them. How the Revenue Share Structure Changes With a Co-Sponsor This is where DFW agents need to pay close attention, because the co-sponsor program changes what each sponsor earns. Here is the breakdown for 2026. The co-sponsor, sitting at Tier 1 above the new agent, earns Tier 1 revenue share from that agent's transactions plus a Fast Start bonus of 50 percent of revenue share in the first year. The co-sponsor also earns revenue share from Tiers 2 through 7 from the new agent's downline as it develops. The primary sponsor, now at Tier 2, earns revenue share from Tiers 2 through 7, receives the $400 stock award, and gets FLQA credit toward icon qualification. The primary sponsor does not receive the Fast Start bonus or Tier 1 earnings from that specific agent because the co-sponsor occupies that position. One thing that matters for DFW agents evaluating this: the co-sponsor must be outside the primary sponsor's existing revenue share organization. Specifically, the co-sponsor cannot be within the same seven revenue share levels as the primary sponsor. This prevents any single person from doubling up on earnings from the same agent. I break down the full eXp revenue share model, splits, and stock program here. Primary Sponsor vs Co-Sponsor: how eXp splits the earningsBenefitPrimary SponsorCo-SponsorRevenue share, Levels 2 to 7YesDownline onlyFLQA credit toward Icon qualificationYesNoStock grantsYesNoRevenue share, Level 1 (the new agent)NoYesFast Start bonus (50% of revenue share, first year)NoYes Here is the plain-English version. The co-sponsor sits at Level 1 directly above the new agent, so the co-sponsor earns Level 1 revenue share on that agent plus a Fast Start bonus equal to 50 percent of that revenue share in the first year. As the new agent builds their own downline, the co-sponsor also participates in Levels 2 through 7 of that downline, and that revenue stops at the co-sponsor rather than rolling further up the co-sponsor's own upline. The primary sponsor keeps Levels 2 through 7, FLQA credit, and stock grants, and adding a co-sponsor does not reduce the primary sponsor's revenue share. Both sponsors are paid from eXp's company dollar, so none of it comes out of the new agent's commission. These figures describe how eXp's published Co-Sponsor Program and revenue share plan are structured. They are not a promise or estimate of income. What any agent earns depends on the transactions and downline they actually build, and eXp can adjust the program. Confirm current terms directly with eXp before deciding. Want to see what these numbers could look like for your own production? Run your splits, cap, fees, and stock through our eXp Realty commission calculator. And if you are still deciding between brokerages, my honest eXp Realty review and why I left Keller Williams for eXp give you the unfiltered version. Can You Change Your Co-Sponsor Later Your primary sponsor is permanent. You cannot change it without leaving eXp for a minimum of twelve months and rejoining under someone new. That has not changed with the co-sponsor program. Your co-sponsor is different. If you are unhappy with your co-sponsor choice, you can appeal to eXp and potentially change co-sponsors. The process requires approval and changes are not automatically granted, but the door is open in a way it is not for primary sponsors. This is one reason the co-sponsor choice carries less long-term weight than the primary sponsor choice, but it still matters because that person sits directly above you in the revenue share structure for as long as the relationship lasts. What the Co-Sponsor Program Does Not Change A few things worth being direct about for DFW agents who are evaluating eXp right now. The co-sponsor program does not require either sponsor to provide you with any training, coaching, or systems. eXp does not mandate that sponsors deliver ongoing support. Some do a tremendous amount, others disappear after the paperwork is signed. That dynamic has not changed with the co-sponsor program. What has changed is that you now have two structural positions in your upline that could provide support if both sponsors choose to show up. Whether they actually do depends entirely on who you pick. The program also does not give you access to two full uplines. Your co-sponsor adds individual support only. It is your primary sponsor who connects you to a full seven-level upline organization. If the community, systems, and training you need exist inside your primary sponsor's organization, that is where they come from. The co-sponsor is an add-on, not a replacement for choosing the right primary sponsor in the first place. I wrote about what to actually look for when picking an eXp sponsor here. The Official eXp Co-Sponsor Rules DFW Agents Should Know eXp published the program details, and a handful of rules matter before you name anyone. You name your primary sponsor during onboarding and can add one co-sponsor within five days of finishing onboarding. Agents who joined eXp after May 1, 2025 are eligible.You can have only one co-sponsor in addition to your primary sponsor. There is no such thing as multiple co-sponsors.Your co-sponsor must sit outside your primary sponsor's revenue share organization, specifically outside the same seven levels, so no one doubles up on the same agent.The co-sponsor is optional support you select after onboarding. Your primary sponsor stays permanent, and adding a co-sponsor does not change or reduce your primary sponsor's revenue share.The co-sponsor is not the eXp Mentor Program. The Mentor Program pairs newly licensed agents with a certified mentor for their first transactions. The same person can serve as both roles if you choose, but they are distinct.If a co-sponsor is not supporting you, you can request a change through eXp's compliance process. Your primary sponsor cannot be changed through this program. For the official program terms, see eXp's Co-Sponsor Program launch announcement, and confirm your own pairing on your My eXp dashboard once it is complete. Here in DFW, this is exactly how Monica Gomez joined our team. She named her primary sponsor during onboarding and added The Good Home Team powered by PLACE as her co-sponsor, so she keeps her original community and gains a local DFW operator focused on her day-to-day growth. You can read Monica's story here. Do DFW Agents Actually Need a Co-Sponsor Here is my honest read after seven years at eXp and 220 agents sponsored in DFW. The co-sponsor program is most valuable for agents who have a national or non-local primary sponsor and want a local DFW operator as their co-sponsor for market-specific guidance. If your primary sponsor is based in another state or country and has built a strong revenue share organization but does not know the Collin County or DFW market the way a local operator does, a DFW-based co-sponsor fills that gap. If your primary sponsor is already a local DFW operator with real production and real systems, the co-sponsor adds less marginal value. You are already getting local market knowledge, local systems, and local coaching from your primary. Adding a co-sponsor in that scenario is optional rather than strategic. The agents I have seen get the most out of the co-sponsor program are the ones who are intentional about it: they pick a primary sponsor for the community, systems, and upline organization, and they pick a co-sponsor for a specific skill set or local presence that their primary sponsor does not cover. That combination, when it works, genuinely accelerates a new agent's ramp time in a way that picking one sponsor alone cannot always do. What to Do Before You Name Anyone Whether you are naming a primary sponsor, a co-sponsor, or both, the process is the same. Ask to see real production numbers. Ask how many agents they have sponsored and what happened to those agents after they joined. Ask what systems you get access to and what the onboarding process actually looks like. Ask directly what they are going to do for you in the first 90 days. The Good Home Team powered by PLACE closed 162 sides and $65.6M in independently audited 2025 production and is RealTrends Verified 1 in Plano, Texas for both volume and sides. I have been in DFW real estate for 22 years, 12 at Keller Williams and 7 at eXp. When agents partner with me, they get done-for-you marketing, speed-to-lead systems, behavioral alerts, and PLACE infrastructure that was already producing before they arrived. Here is the full breakdown of what partnering with me actually includes. For more on how the co-sponsor program is officially structured, see the eXp World Holdings official co-sponsor launch announcement and the HousingWire coverage of the program launch. Ready to talk through your sponsor and co-sponsor options in DFW? Book a call with Nick → --- ### The Real Estate Agent Business Plan Most DFW Agents Never Build URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/real-estate-agent-business-plan-dfw Published: 2026-07-14 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: Business Plan, Agent Playbook, PLACE, DFW Agents, Mentorship Summary: Most real estate agents have a license but not a business. Here is the PLACE Business Plan framework we use with every agent on The Good Home Team and why it is the difference between a great year and a great career. The Real Estate Agent Business Plan Most DFW Agents Never Build I want to ask you a direct question. Do you have a written business plan for your real estate business right now? Not in your head. Not something you thought about at the beginning of the year. A written, specific, numbers-driven plan that tells you exactly what activity you need to do every week to hit your income goal? If you do not, you are in the majority. Most real estate agents operate as salespeople, not business owners. They show up, they work hard, they close deals when they can, and they hope the year adds up. Some years it does. Some years it does not. The agents who build consistently are the ones who treat their license as a business and run it with a plan. Here is the framework we use at The Good Home Team. The PLACE Business Plan Every agent who joins The Good Home Team powered by PLACE builds a custom PLACE Business Plan in week one of their onboarding. Not a generic template. A specific plan built around their database, their market, their production history, and their income goals. The plan answers four questions. What is your income goal? Not a vague number but a specific target broken down monthly and quarterly with a written commitment to it.How many transactions do you need to close to hit that goal? Based on your average commission, your market, and your split structure, the plan converts your income goal into a transaction number you can track.How many conversations do you need to have to generate those transactions? Using your historical conversion rate or industry benchmarks if you are newer, the plan works backward from your transaction goal to a daily and weekly conversation target.What does your Perfect Week look like? Specific time blocks for lead generation, follow-up, appointments, and administrative work, structured so the income-producing activities get protected time every single week regardless of what else is happening. Why Most Agents Never Build This Two reasons. First, it requires honesty. You have to look at your actual conversion numbers, your actual average commission, and your actual weekly hours. Most agents avoid that exercise because the math tells them something uncomfortable about the gap between their current activity and their income goals.Second, nobody makes them do it. At a traditional brokerage there is no accountability structure that requires a written business plan. You are left to figure it out yourself. And most agents, under the pressure of a busy market and a full pipeline, never get around to it. The PLACE Business Plan is required in week one. Not optional. Not suggested. Required. Because the plan is the standard everything else gets measured against. What the Plan Changes Agents who build the plan and work it consistently report two things. Fewer slow months. When you know exactly how many conversations you need to have every week, you do not wait until your pipeline is empty to start lead generating. The activity is consistent because the plan makes the target visible every single day.Better decisions. When an opportunity comes up that is not aligned with your business plan, the plan gives you a filter. Does this move me toward my goal or away from it? How to Get the Framework If you want to see how the PLACE Business Plan works in practice, join the Thursday live call at 12PM CST at partnerwithnickgood.com/live. We walk through business planning as part of the onboarding framework every week. If you are ready to build your plan with a team that will hold you accountable to it, book a 15-minute call at nickgood.com. That is The Good Word on building the plan most agents never build. -- Nick Good --- ### How Does eXp Realty Work? The Model Explained Simply URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/how-does-exp-realty-work Published: 2026-07-14 Category: Insights Tags: eXp Realty, Agent Playbook, DFW Agents Summary: eXp Realty works as a cloud-based brokerage where agents keep 80% of commission until a $16,000 cap, plus revenue share and stock most brokerages don't offer. How Does eXp Realty Work? The Model Explained Simply eXp Realty works as a cloud-based brokerage where agents keep 80% of their commission until they hit a $16,000 annual cap, after which they keep nearly all of it for the rest of the year. Want to see this applied to your numbers? Book a 15-minute call with Nick → No physical office, no franchise fee, and an added revenue share and stock program most traditional brokerages don't offer at all. Here's how every piece of it actually fits together. The Cloud Brokerage Model Unlike Keller Williams, RE/MAX, or Coldwell Banker, eXp doesn't operate physical market centers. Everything, training, meetings, collaboration, happens through eXp's virtual platform, as detailed on eXp's official agent value page. This is the single biggest structural difference agents need to understand before anything else. Commission Split and Annual Cap eXp Realty agents in Texas keep 80% of their commission on every transaction until they reach a $16,000 annual cap. Once you hit that cap, you keep nearly 100% of your commission for the remainder of your anniversary year, minus a small transaction fee. Compare that to Keller Williams, which typically runs a 70/30 split, effectively closer to 64/36 after a 6% royalty fee layered on top, with caps ranging $21,000 to $30,000 depending on the market center, full side-by-side numbers in our eXp vs Keller Williams comparison. No Franchise Fees eXp is not a franchise. There's no royalty fee on top of your split the way there is with Keller Williams' market center model. This matters more the higher your production, since franchise royalty fees scale with every transaction you close, regardless of your cap status. Revenue Share When an agent you've personally sponsored into eXp closes a transaction, eXp shares a percentage of that agent's company dollar with you. For the complete mechanics, see how eXp revenue share, stock, and splits actually work. This income continues monthly as long as you hold an active license, and it compounds as you sponsor more agents who build their own production. Stock Awards eXp awards stock to agents at several milestones: your first qualifying transaction, when you hit your annual cap, and through the ICON award for top-producing agents. Because eXp World Holdings is publicly traded, this isn't a private incentive program, it's real equity in a public company, disclosed the same way any public company reports compensation. Monthly Fees Agents pay an $85 monthly fee that includes cloud-based tools and software access. Compare that to typical desk fees at traditional brokerages running $60-80 per month for considerably less integrated technology. Putting It All Together The model rewards agents who build rather than just produce. A traditional franchise model pays you for closing deals and nothing more. eXp's structure adds revenue share and equity on top of a competitive split and cap. See How the Numbers Work for Your Business If you want to see exactly what this looks like applied to your actual production, the simplest next step is running your real numbers side by side. Book a 15-Minute Call With Nick → --- ### The Good Home Team Is RealTrends Verified #1 in Plano, Texas URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/realtrends-verified-number-1-plano-texas Published: 2026-07-11 Category: Team Results Tags: The Good Home Team, Plano TX, RealTrends Verified, DFW Agents, Agent Playbook, Team Results Summary: The Good Home Team is RealTrends Verified #1 in Plano, Texas for both volume and sides based on 2025 sales data. $65.60M in volume. 162 sides. Here is what that means. The Good Home Team Is RealTrends Verified 1 in Plano, Texas The Good Home Team powered by PLACE is RealTrends Verified 1 in Plano, Texas for both volume and sides based on 2025 sales data, closing $65.60M in volume and 162 transaction sides, ranked 1 in the city, 31 in the state by volume, and 33 in the state by sides. This is not a self-reported claim. RealTrends Verified is independent third-party verification of actual production data. Want to partner with the 1 team in Plano? Book a 15-minute call with Nick → I want to be direct about what this ranking means and what it does not mean, because agents evaluating where to build their business deserve a straight answer, not a press release. What RealTrends Verified Actually Is RealTrends Verified is the real estate industry's most widely recognized independent verification program for agent and team production. Unlike rankings on aggregator sites or self-reported awards, RealTrends Verified requires teams to submit actual transaction data that is independently audited. The number you see is the number that actually closed. There is no padding, no estimates, no marketing spin. The Good Home Team's verified 2025 production breaks down like this. $65.60M in total sales volume. 162 transaction sides closed. 1 in the city of Plano for both volume and sides. 31 in the state of Texas by volume. 33 in the state of Texas by sides. 423 nationally by volume. 370 nationally by sides. In a market with more than 134,000 licensed real estate agents in Texas alone, per NAR member data, ranking in the top 33 by transaction count is a number worth understanding in context. Why Plano, Texas Specifically Plano is not an easy market to lead. It is one of the most competitive real estate markets in North Texas, home to major corporate headquarters, consistently high demand, and a buyer pool that moves fast. The median home price in Plano runs around $525,000. Transactions here require speed, systems, and local knowledge that only comes from years of production in this specific market. The Good Home Team operates across the entire DFW metroplex, from McKinney and Frisco to Allen and The Colony, but the Plano market represents a significant anchor of our production. The 1 city ranking reflects what happens when you build the right systems in the right market and let them run consistently. What This Means for Agents Evaluating a Partnership If you are a real estate agent in Plano, Frisco, McKinney, or anywhere in DFW, and you are evaluating where to build your business, a team's verified production matters more than their marketing. Anyone can claim to be a top team. RealTrends Verified means a third party audited the numbers and confirmed them. When I tell agents that partnering with The Good Home Team gives them access to a done-for-you client engine, speed-to-lead systems, PLACE marketing infrastructure, and a mentor who closed 162 sides last year, I am not describing a pitch. I am describing the system that produced those verified results. Here is exactly what agents who partner with me actually get. The agents on our team are not generating results because they work harder than every other agent in DFW. They are generating results because they stopped building from scratch and plugged into infrastructure that was already producing. The RealTrends Verified ranking is what that infrastructure produces at scale. What This Means for the Plano Market For buyers and sellers in Plano, a team's verified production rank tells you something that reviews and marketing photos cannot. It tells you how many real transactions that team has navigated in your specific market. 162 sides in a single year in DFW means we have seen virtually every scenario a transaction can produce, from multiple offer situations in Plano to complex contingency stacks in Frisco and Allen. The Plano real estate market moves quickly. Days on market in Plano have been running well under 30 days for well-priced properties. In a market like this, the difference between a seasoned high-volume team and an individual agent working 10 transactions a year is measured in response speed, negotiation experience, and systems that don't drop the ball. That gap is real, and I have broken down the actual numbers here. 22 Years of Building in North Texas I entered real estate in 2005. I built production at Keller Williams for 12 years before moving to eXp Realty seven years ago. I have seen 2007, 2008, the recovery, the run-up, the rate environment of 2023, and everything in between. The RealTrends Verified 1 ranking in Plano is not the result of one good year. It is the result of systems built over two decades that produce consistently regardless of what the market is doing. I have also sponsored more than 220 agents into eXp Realty over seven years. The agents I bring on do not just get a brokerage. They get access to the same client engine and PLACE systems that produced those 162 verified sides. That is the partnership, and it is backed by a third-party verified track record that speaks for itself. You can verify the RealTrends data independently at realtrends.com. Next Steps Whether you are a buyer or seller in Plano looking for the team with the deepest verified production record in the city, or an agent evaluating where to build your business in North Texas, the conversation worth having is a direct one. No pitch. Just real numbers and a real look at what the system produces. Book a 15-minute call with Nick → The 1 RealTrends Verified team in Plano, Texas. --- ### What Is the Residual Agent Network and Why DFW Agents Are Building It Now URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/residual-agent-network-dfw-agents Published: 2026-07-11 Category: Wealth & Freedom Tags: RAN, Passive Income, Wealth Building, eXp Realty, DFW Agents Summary: The commission model resets every January. RAN does not. Here is how the Residual Agent Network helps DFW agents at any brokerage build income beyond commissions. What Is the Residual Agent Network and Why DFW Agents Are Building It Now Every real estate agent I have ever met is good at generating income. Very few are good at keeping it running when they are not working. The commission model has one structural problem that every agent eventually runs into. It resets. Every January first, every agent in America starts back at zero. It does not matter how good last year was. The moment a transaction closes, that income is done. I built the Residual Agent Network to address that problem directly. And the approach is different from what most agents expect. What RAN Actually Is The Residual Agent Network (RAN) is a community that helps real estate agents build income beyond commissions. We introduce agents to residual income opportunities and show them how to turn the relationships and activities they are already doing into income that can continue paying them over time. It is not an eXp Realty product. It is not a recruiting tool. It is open to any real estate agent at any brokerage, free to join, no monthly fees. The Income That Does Not Reset Most of what an agent does creates value once and then stops paying. RAN focuses on the places where the work you are already doing can keep paying you long after the transaction is over. You keep serving clients the way you always have. RAN shows you where the residual income is and how to plug into it. That is income that does not reset. Who RAN Is For Any real estate agent at any brokerage. There is no requirement to join eXp Realty. There is no requirement to change anything about how you currently operate. Agents in DFW closing 20, 30, or 40 transactions a year are using RAN to build income that keeps working long after closing day. How RAN Connects to the Broader Picture RAN is the widest entry point into what I am building. If you are not ready to move to eXp Realty, RAN is available to you right now at getresidualagent.com. Free to join. No commitment. Start earning residual income from your next closing. If you want to see the full model, join the Thursday live call at 12PM CST at partnerwithnickgood.com/live. If you are ready to have the full conversation, book a 15-minute call at nickgood.com. Three paths. All available. You decide where to start. That is The Good Word on the Residual Agent Network. -- Nick Good --- ### Why eXp Realty Is Bad (And Who It's Actually Wrong For) URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/why-exp-realty-is-bad Published: 2026-07-11 Category: Insights Tags: eXp Realty, Agent Playbook, KW Comparison, DFW Agents Summary: eXp Realty is bad for agents who need a physical office or whose sponsor doesn't provide systems. Here's the honest version, not the defensive one. Why eXp Realty Is Bad (And Who It's Actually Wrong For) eXp Realty is bad for agents who need a physical office, want hands-on in-person management, or do low enough volume that the cloud-based model doesn't change much for them. Trying to figure out if it fits your business? Book a 15-minute call with Nick → If you're searching this because you've heard mixed things, here's the honest version, not the defensive one. eXp Doesn't Work Well If You Need an Office eXp Realty is a cloud-based brokerage. There are no physical office locations the way Keller Williams or RE/MAX market centers operate. If part of what you value in a brokerage is walking into a building, having a desk, and being around other agents in person every day, eXp is going to feel like something is missing. Some agents thrive on that in-person energy and structure. If that's you, a traditional franchise model might genuinely serve you better. If Your Sponsor Doesn't Provide Systems, You're On Your Own This is the real source of most "eXp is bad" complaints I've seen, and it's almost always a sponsor problem, not a brokerage problem. eXp's split, cap, and revenue share structure is identical no matter who sponsors you, see our full guide on how to pick an eXp Realty sponsor before you sign with anyone. What's not identical is the support layer on top of it. If you join under a sponsor who hands you a login and disappears, you will feel completely unsupported, because you are. Low Volume Agents May Not See the Benefit eXp's $16,000 flat cap and 80/20 split are genuinely better than most traditional models for agents doing meaningful volume, full structure detailed on eXp's official compensation page. But if you're closing one or two deals a year, the structural advantages of eXp's cap and revenue share won't be as noticeable. A part-time agent doing minimal transactions may not feel a significant difference compared to a traditional brokerage, because the cost savings scale with production. The Revenue Share Model Confuses People Who Don't Take Time to Understand It I've written separately about why eXp Realty is not an MLM, but I'll say this plainly here: if you don't take the time to actually understand how revenue share works, sourced from eXp's company dollar, not from sponsored agents' commissions, it's easy to walk away with a vague negative impression based on misunderstanding rather than the actual mechanics. What I'd Tell a Friend After 12 years at Keller Williams and seven years at eXp Realty, here's my honest read. eXp is not bad as a structure. The split, the cap, the stock program, and revenue share are objectively strong compared to most franchise alternatives. Where it goes wrong is almost always the sponsor relationship. Pick a sponsor with real systems, real production, and a real willingness to mentor, and the brokerage model itself stops being the issue people complain about online. Run Your Own Numbers Before You Decide If you're trying to figure out whether eXp Realty is actually the right fit for your business, the smartest move is comparing your current split and cap directly against what eXp offers, with someone who'll show you the real math. Book a 15-Minute Call With Nick → --- ### The Thursday Live Call Every DFW Agent Should Attend Before Choosing a Brokerage URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/thursday-live-call-dfw-real-estate-agents Published: 2026-07-08 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: Live Call, Agent Playbook, Done For You, DFW Agents, eXp Realty Summary: Every Thursday at 12PM CST we show DFW agents exactly how the done-for-you client engine works, live. No pitch. No slides. Just the system running in real time. The Thursday Live Call Every DFW Agent Should Attend Before Choosing a Brokerage I want to tell you something that most people in this business would never say before asking you to make a decision. Do not partner with me. Do not join eXp. Do not make any brokerage decision at all until you have seen the system live. Every Thursday at 12PM CST I host a free live call at partnerwithnickgood.com/live. We call it Meet Your $100K/Mo Implementation Team. And it is exactly what the name says: the implementation team that builds the client engine for agents who partner with me, showing exactly how they do it while you watch. No pitch deck. No testimonial reel. No here is what you could earn projections. Just the system running. What You Actually See on the Call The call shows four things every week. First, the direct-response offer framework. You see how we build offers that create immediate response from buyers and sellers in specific DFW markets, not generic get your home value ads but specific, tested offers built around what buyers and sellers in Frisco, Plano, McKinney, Allen, and The Colony actually respond to.Second, speed-to-lead in action. You see how leads are contacted within 60 seconds of coming in and why that response time is the single biggest conversion lever most agents never fix.Third, behavioral alerts. You see how the system tracks what prospects are doing: which listings they view, how often they return, what triggers a ready-to-act signal, and how agents get notified at exactly the right moment to call.Fourth, the follow-up sequence. You see how leads that do not convert in the first 30 days stay in a system that follows up consistently over 6, 12, and 18 months without the agent having to manage it manually. Why I Do This Before the Sales Conversation Two reasons. First, I think you deserve to see what you are getting before you commit to anything. Moving your license is a real decision. You should be able to evaluate the actual product, not a presentation about the product, before deciding. Second, the agents who show up to the call already understand what they are looking at. By the time we have a 15-minute call, there is no education phase. We just talk about whether it makes sense for your specific situation. That conversation is faster, more honest, and more useful for both of us. Who the Call Is For Any real estate agent in DFW. Any brokerage. Any production level. You do not need to be considering eXp. You do not need to be unhappy where you are. You just need to be curious about what a fully built client engine looks like in practice. If you watch the call and nothing resonates, you spent an hour and you have better information than you had before. No harm done. If you watch and you see something worth exploring, book a 15-minute call at nickgood.com and we will talk about what it looks like for your market and your production level. Join us Thursday at 12PM CST at partnerwithnickgood.com/live. That is The Good Word on the call. -- Nick Good --- ### Is eXp Realty a MLM? Here's the Honest Answer From Someone Who's Been There 7 Years URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/is-exp-realty-a-mlm Published: 2026-07-08 Category: Insights Tags: eXp Realty, Agent Playbook, Revenue Share, DFW Agents Summary: Is eXp Realty a MLM? No, and the confusion almost always comes from one feature: revenue share. Here's the actual answer, not the recruiting version. Is eXp Realty a MLM? Here's the Honest Answer From Someone Who's Been There 7 Years Is eXp Realty a MLM? No, and the confusion almost always comes from one feature: revenue share. The moment agents hear that you can earn income from agents you sponsor, the MLM comparison shows up. Still have questions? Book a 15-minute call with Nick → I understand why people ask this. I've been asked it directly on calls. Here's the actual answer, not the recruiting version. Why the MLM Comparison Comes Up Multi-level marketing companies typically require you to buy inventory, sell products to consumers, and recruit distributors below you to make money, often with the bulk of revenue concentrated at the top regardless of actual sales activity at lower levels. The FTC's official guidance on pyramid schemes and MLMs lays out exactly what to watch for, and none of it describes eXp Realty's structure. To earn anything through eXp's revenue share program, you have to be a licensed real estate agent. That license requires state-mandated education, testing, and ongoing continuing education, the same as any traditional brokerage. There's no product to buy, no inventory, and no entry fee disguised as a "starter kit." How Revenue Share Actually Works When an agent you've sponsored into eXp closes a transaction, eXp shares a percentage of their company dollar with you. This comes from eXp's side, not from the sponsored agent's commission. For the complete breakdown, see how eXp revenue share, stock, and splits actually work. Their paycheck is completely unaffected by your relationship. You're not taking money out of their pocket, eXp is sharing a portion of what the brokerage itself earns. This only happens when real estate transactions close. Real licensed agents, doing real transactions, with real buyers and sellers. That's the entire mechanism. There's no recruiting fee, no product purchase, and no requirement to recruit anyone at all to remain an agent in good standing. The Stock Program Isn't an MLM Feature Either eXp Realty awards stock to agents on their first qualifying transaction, when they cap, and through additional milestone awards. This is public company stock, listed on Nasdaq under eXp World Holdings (EXPI), and the awards are disclosed in public financial filings the same way any public company would report equity compensation. MLMs don't typically offer equity in a publicly traded company as part of their compensation structure. What Actually Makes eXp Different From a Traditional Brokerage eXp operates as a cloud-based brokerage without physical office locations, which is a real structural difference from Keller Williams or other franchise models. But that's an operating model difference, not a compensation scheme. The commission split, the cap, and the revenue share are all clearly disclosed, predictable, and tied directly to licensed real estate production, see our eXp vs Keller Williams numbers comparison for the full structure side by side. I've spent seven years inside this model. I've sponsored over 220 agents. Every dollar of revenue share I've earned traces back to a closed real estate transaction by a licensed agent. That's not how MLMs work, and conflating the two ignores how regulated real estate brokerage actually is compared to unregulated direct sales structures. If You're Still Evaluating If the MLM question is what's holding you back from looking seriously at eXp Realty, the better move is to actually run the numbers and ask direct questions about how revenue share works in practice, not just in theory. Book a 15-Minute Call With Nick → --- ### Why DFW Real Estate Agents Are Joining eXp Realty in 2026 URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/why-dfw-agents-joining-exp-realty-2026 Published: 2026-07-05 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: eXp Realty, Agent Playbook, DFW Agents, Commission Split, NAHREP Summary: 343,091 transaction sides. No. 1 for transaction sides in the country. 146 agents on the NAHREP Top 250. The pattern is clear. Here is why the best agents in DFW are making the move. Why DFW Real Estate Agents Are Joining eXp Realty in 2026 The numbers tell the story before I say a single word. 343,091 transaction sides. Number one for transaction sides in the entire country. 2,753 agents and teams recognized on RealTrends Verified. 146 agents and teams on the 2026 NAHREP Top 250. Number one in the Enterprise Team category by volume. Those are eXp Realty's 2026 production numbers. Verified third-party rankings from the two most credible production tracking systems in residential real estate. I have been in DFW real estate for 22 years. I left Keller Williams after 12 years and joined eXp in July of 2019. I turned down a seven-figure offer to go back. And I have watched the agent migration toward eXp accelerate every single year since. Here is what is actually driving it. The Split and Cap Math Is Simply Better The most straightforward reason is money. eXp Realty runs an 80/20 split with a flat $16,000 annual cap. No franchise fee. No royalty. The same structure for every agent in North America. At DFW price points, where median prices in Frisco, McKinney, and Plano run above $600,000, the split difference between eXp and a traditional franchise is meaningful real money per year. Agents who are producing at 20, 30, or 40 deals annually feel that difference in their net income. The Income Model Goes Beyond the Deal This is the piece that separates eXp from every traditional brokerage. Revenue share. Stock awards. The ICON program that returns your entire annual cap in company stock if you hit a production threshold. These are income streams that exist in addition to your commission. Not instead of it. On top of it. Most brokerages offer a split and a brand. eXp offers a split, a brand, equity in the company, and a model for compounding income that most agents in traditional brokerages never have access to. The PLACE Operating System For agents who partner with me specifically, there is an additional layer. The Good Home Team runs on PLACE, one of the most developed operating systems in residential real estate. PLACE provides lead generation, Brivity CRM, training labs, AI tools, listing presentation frameworks, buyer consultation certification, and transaction management infrastructure. The 2026 NAHREP Top 250 rankings, 162 sides, $65.6 million in volume, came from this combination of eXp's model and PLACE's systems. The Agent Profile That Thrives at eXp I want to be honest about who eXp is right for because it is not the right fit for everyone. eXp works best for self-directed agents who take ownership of their business, engage with available training and collaboration, and want income that grows beyond their personal production. It is not ideal for agents who need heavy in-person management, rely entirely on walk-in office traffic for leads, or are looking for a traditional brick-and-mortar experience. If you are a producing agent in DFW who is honest with yourself about what you want your business to look like in 5 years, the eXp model is worth a serious look. Join the Thursday live call at 12PM CST at partnerwithnickgood.com/live and see what the full model looks like before making any decision. That is The Good Word on why DFW agents are moving in 2026. -- Nick Good --- ### Why I Left eXp Realty... And Why I Came Back URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/why-i-left-exp-realty Published: 2026-07-05 Category: Insights Tags: eXp Realty, Agent Playbook, KW Comparison, DFW Agents Summary: I left eXp Realty once. It didn't last long, and the reasons I came back taught me more than the seven years I'd already spent there before I left. Why I Left eXp Realty... And Why I Came Back I left eXp Realty once. It didn't last long, and the reasons I came back taught me more about what actually matters in a brokerage than the seven years I'd already spent there before I left. Weighing a similar move? Book a 15-minute call with Nick → If you're searching "why I left eXp Realty," you're probably reading other agents' stories trying to figure out if the model is right for you. Here's mine, the real version, no spin. What Made Me Question It After years building production at eXp, a seven-figure offer came in from another brokerage. The pitch was compelling on paper: guaranteed income, a built-in team, less risk in the short term. I took it seriously enough to actually consider walking away from the model I'd spent years building inside of. What that offer didn't account for was what I'd actually built. Revenue share that compounds whether I'm closing deals or not. Stock awards tied to production and caps, see eXp World Holdings' investor relations page for how the public equity program is structured. A network of agents I'd personally sponsored who were building their own businesses because of systems I'd put in place. None of that transfers. None of it rebuilds overnight somewhere else. What I Actually Tested I'm not going to pretend I didn't seriously evaluate it. I ran the numbers. I looked at what a traditional franchise model would cost me in royalty fees compared to eXp's flat cap structure. For the full split and cap comparison, see our numbers-first eXp vs Keller Williams breakdown. The math wasn't close. A franchise model with a 6% royalty fee on every transaction, layered on top of a higher cap, costs high-volume agents significantly more every single year than eXp's $16,000 flat cap with no franchise fee at all. Why I Came Back The honest answer is that I never should have considered leaving in the first place, and the test confirmed it. Revenue share through what eventually became the Residual Agent Network isn't theoretical income, it's real, it compounds, and walking away from it to chase a guaranteed paycheck would have cost me more long-term than any short-term security could replace. I also realized something about the agents I'd sponsored. Leaving wouldn't have just affected my business, it would have disrupted the systems and support I'd built for every agent partnering with me. That mattered more to me than a bigger number on a contract. What This Means If You're Considering a Move If you're an agent researching whether to leave eXp Realty, or whether to join in the first place, the question isn't really about the brokerage. It's about whether you're building something that compounds or something that resets every month. eXp's structure, the stock program, the revenue share, the flat cap, exists because it rewards agents who build instead of just produce. I've been at eXp Realty for seven years now. I tested the alternative. I came back convinced. Talk It Through Before You Decide If you're weighing a move, the smartest first step isn't reading another article, it's running your actual numbers against what you have now. Book a 15-Minute Call With Nick → --- ### What a Real Estate Team Looks Like When the System Works: The Good Home Team June 2026 URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/good-home-team-june-2026-results Published: 2026-07-04 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: The Good Home Team, Agent Playbook, DFW Agents, Done-For-You Marketing, Team Results, PLACE Systems Summary: The Good Home Team closed $11.34M, 30 transactions, and $352K in GCI in June 2026. Here is what happens when DFW agents plug into a system built to win. What a Real Estate Team Looks Like When the System Works: The Good Home Team June 2026 The Good Home Team just closed June 2026 with $11.34M in closed volume, 30 transactions, and $352K in GCI, and July is already looking bigger before the month even started. Ready to see what this system looks like for your business? Book a 15-minute call with Nick → I want to be honest about what those numbers mean, because in this market, closing 30 transactions in a single month is not a result you stumble into. It is what happens when agents stop trying to figure everything out themselves and plug into a system that is already built and already working. I am incredibly proud of this team. Not just because of the numbers, but because of what they represent in a market that has been genuinely hard on a lot of agents this year. June 2026 by the Numbers $11.34M in closed volume. 30 transactions closed. $352K in GCI. And that is without counting tenant leases. What makes those numbers hit differently is what is already sitting in the pipeline. Heading into July we have 27 transactions pending with $10.1M in volume and $317K in GCI already locked in, and the month had not even started yet. As our team leader Sarah put it: bragging rights. No wonder MJ has been working 10-hour days. That is what it looks like when a system is producing at this level. This Is What Happens When Agents Plug Into the System The agents on The Good Home Team are not generating these results because they are working harder than everyone else in DFW. They are generating these results because they stopped trying to build everything from scratch and stepped into a done-for-you client engine that was already producing before they arrived. Speed-to-lead workflows that respond within 60 seconds. Behavioral alerts that tell agents exactly when a prospect is ready to move. Direct-response ad campaigns running in their specific DFW markets. Automated follow-up that stays in contact with leads over 6, 12, and 18 months without the agent having to remember to do it manually. That is what done-for-you lead generation for DFW real estate agents actually looks like in practice. June 2026 is the proof. What This Market Reveals About Systems I have been in DFW real estate for 22 years. I have seen 2007, 2008, the recovery, the run-up, and what happens when rates move. This market right now is separating agents with systems from agents running on hustle alone. Hustle runs out. Systems compound. The agents who are winning in this environment are not the ones working the most hours. They are the ones who made the decision to stop building their business from scratch every single month and plug into infrastructure that produces regardless of market conditions. That is exactly what partnering with The Good Home Team at eXp Realty gives a producing DFW agent. The system does not care what the market is doing. It runs. What July Already Looks Like 27 transactions pending. $10.1M in volume. $317K in GCI. Month has not started. That pipeline did not appear by accident. It is the direct output of a client engine running consistently, lead generation that does not stop, follow-up that does not forget, and agents who made the decision to build something instead of just produce something. If you are a producing agent in DFW watching numbers like this and wondering what it would look like for your business, that is exactly the conversation worth having. Not a pitch. Just a real look at what the system produces and whether it fits where you are trying to go. Every Thursday at 12PM CST I run a free live call at partnerwithnickgood.com/live where you can see the client engine running in real time before making any decision about moving brokerages or changing anything. That is The Good Word on what a real estate team looks like when the system works. -- Nick Good Book a 15-Minute Call With Nick → --- ### The $50K Marketing Team DFW Real Estate Agents Get for Free When They Partner at eXp URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/done-for-you-lead-generation-real-estate-dfw Published: 2026-07-02 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: Lead Generation, Agent Playbook, Done For You, DFW Agents, Marketing Summary: Spencer Marshall closed $1.955M on $500 in ads. Sharon Bicknell generated 51 leads at $2.46 each. Rammi Singh put $3.75M under contract in 3 months. Here is the system behind those numbers. The $50K Marketing Team DFW Real Estate Agents Get for Free When They Partner at eXp Most real estate agents spend $500 to $2,000 a month on leads that do not convert. They buy Zillow leads. They pay for Realtor.com. They boost Facebook posts and wonder why nobody calls back. The problem is not the budget. It is the system. Buying leads is renting someone else's audience. Building a lead generation system is owning your own pipeline. There is a fundamental difference in what each one produces long term. The agents I work with who are seeing the best results are not spending more on leads. They are running a built-out client engine that generates leads, converts them at the front end, and follows up automatically until the prospect is ready. Here is what that system looks like and how DFW agents are accessing it at no cost. Not every agent wants a done-for-you system. Some grind it out the hard way, like the 20-year-old agent who closed $5 million entirely from open houses. Both paths work. This is the one for agents who want the system built for them instead of building it themselves. The Honey Badger Nation Marketing System When you partner with me at eXp Realty, you get access to Jay Kinder's Honey Badger Nation network. That network includes a $50,000 per month marketing team that builds your entire client engine for you. Not a template. Not a course. Not a coaching program where you learn and then figure it out yourself. An actual team that executes. They build your ad campaigns. They implement your systems. They set up your speed-to-lead workflows. They manage your social media lead generation. And they personally coach you through the process so it actually works in your specific market. The network includes 11,400 plus agents, 86,000 plus year-to-date transactions, and $400 billion plus in year-to-date volume. The Real Numbers From Real Agents Spencer Marshall. $1.955 million in closed volume. Ad spend: $500 to $600.Sharon Bicknell. 51 leads generated at $2.46 per lead. One buyer under contract at $375,000 within 15 days of running the system.Rammi Singh. $3.75 million under contract in under 3 months of implementing the client engine. These results come from a system that is already built, already tested, and already producing. The agents accessing it are not building from scratch, they are stepping into something that works. What the Client Engine Actually Does The system runs on four components. Direct-response offers. Instead of generic ads that say call me for your home value, the client engine runs specific offers that create immediate response from buyers and sellers in specific DFW markets.Speed-to-lead. When a lead comes in, the system responds within 60 seconds. Not an hour. Not a day. Sixty seconds. That response time difference alone dramatically increases conversion.Behavioral alerts. The system tracks what prospects are doing: which listings they view, how often they come back, what neighborhoods they search. When behavior signals readiness, the agent gets a notification and calls at exactly the right moment.Automated follow-up. Most leads do not convert in the first 30 days. The system follows up consistently over 6, 12, and 18 months without the agent having to remember to do it manually. How to See It Live Before Deciding Anything Every Thursday at 12PM CST I host a free live call at partnerwithnickgood.com/live. We show the system running in real time. No pitch. No deck. Just the client engine live. Any agent can join before making any decision about moving brokerages or partnering at eXp. You see exactly what you are getting before you commit to anything. To access the full system you need to partner with me at eXp Realty. That requires moving your license. If you are not ready for that yet, joining the Thursday call is the right first step. See the results. Ask questions. Make an informed decision. That is The Good Word on done-for-you lead generation. -- Nick Good --- ### How to Pick an eXp Realty Sponsor (And Why It's the Most Important Decision You'll Make) URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/how-to-pick-exp-realty-sponsor Published: 2026-07-02 Category: Insights Tags: eXp Realty, Agent Playbook, Sponsorship, DFW Agents Summary: Most eXp sponsors offer a name on a form. Here is what actually matters when you're choosing one, and why the wrong choice costs you years of revenue share. How to Pick an eXp Realty Sponsor (And Why It's the Most Important Decision You'll Make) If you're picking an eXp Realty sponsor, the decision matters more than most agents realize before they sign. Your sponsor is permanent. You cannot change it later without leaving eXp and rejoining under someone else, which means the person you choose today is locked in for the life of your business there. Not sure where to start? Book a 15-minute call with Nick → I've sponsored over 220 agents into eXp Realty over the last seven years, and I've watched the agents who picked carefully build real businesses, and the agents who picked based on a Facebook ad or a friend's recommendation end up isolated with no support and no systems. Here's what actually matters when you're choosing. Your Sponsor Should Already Be Running the Business You Want to Build Before you pick a sponsor, ask what their production actually looks like. Not what they tell you in a recruiting call, what they can show you. I run The Good Home Team powered by PLACE, closed 162 sides and $65.6M in volume in 2026, and ranked 45 on the NAHREP Top 100 Teams. That's not a brag, it's the point. If your sponsor isn't actively producing at a level you respect, you're not getting mentored, you're getting recruited. Ask directly: What does your team's current production look like? How many agents have you personally sponsored? What happens after I sign, do I get a system or do I get a welcome email? Revenue Share Should Be Explained Before You Ask About It Most agents don't fully understand eXp's revenue share model before they join, and most sponsors don't bother explaining it because it's not required to close the recruit. A good sponsor walks you through exactly how revenue share compounds over time, what your sponsor's sponsor structure looks like, and where you sit in it. For the full mechanics, see our breakdown of how eXp revenue share, stock, and splits actually work. At The Good Home Team, every agent we partner with sees the actual revenue share math before they ever sign anything. No spin, just the numbers. Look for Systems, Not Just a Signature eXp Realty's split and cap structure is the same no matter who sponsors you. The 80/20 split with the $16,000 cap doesn't change based on your sponsor, full details on eXp's official agent compensation page. What changes entirely is what you get on top of that structure. A sponsor running PLACE systems gives you done-for-you lead generation, a marketing team, speed-to-lead infrastructure, and weekly coaching. A sponsor with no systems gives you a brokerage and nothing else. This is the single biggest mistake new eXp agents make. They think the sponsor decision is about the company. It's not. The company is the same for everyone. The sponsor is the difference between building alone and building with infrastructure already in place. Ask About the Residual Agent Network Before You Join Anyone If your sponsor offers access to something like the Residual Agent Network, ask how it works before you sign. RAN lets agents earn revenue share from the agents they bring into eXp, and it compounds whether or not you're personally closing deals that month. Not every sponsor offers this kind of structure. Ask specifically what residual income opportunities exist beyond your personal production. The Mentor Test Here's the simplest way to evaluate a sponsor. Ask yourself if this is someone you'd want running your business if the roles were reversed. I built The Good Home Team after 12 years at Keller Williams and seven years at eXp Realty. I wrote an Amazon bestselling book on building a six-figure agent business because I wanted a resource that didn't exist when I was building mine. The sponsor you pick should be someone you'd trust to make decisions on your behalf, because in a lot of ways, that's exactly what you're signing up for. What to Do Next If you're evaluating eXp Realty and trying to figure out who to partner with, the smartest move is a real conversation before you sign anything. Run your numbers, ask about systems, ask about revenue share, and ask what happens after the deal closes. Book a 15-Minute Call With Nick → --- ### What Agents Who Partner With Nick Good Actually Get URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/what-agents-who-partner-with-nick-good-get Published: 2026-06-29 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: eXp Realty, Agent Playbook, Done For You, Marketing, DFW Agents Summary: Most eXp sponsors offer a name on a form. Here is what you actually get when you partner with Nick Good: a done-for-you marketing team, proven systems, weekly live coaching, and income that compounds beyond the commission check. What Agents Who Partner With Nick Good Actually Get Most eXp Realty sponsor conversations sound the same. Someone tells you about the split, the cap, and the revenue share. They give you a link to join. You get added to a group chat. That is the extent of the support. I know because I went through that version of eXp myself in the early days. And it is a legitimate reason why agents hesitate. So I want to be specific about what partnering with me actually looks like because it is fundamentally different from what most sponsors offer. The Done-For-You Marketing Team When you partner with me at eXp Realty, you get plugged into the Honey Badger Nation network through Jay Kinder's organization. That means you get access to a $50,000 per month marketing team that builds your entire client engine at no cost to you. Not a course. Not a training library. An actual team that builds ad campaigns, implements systems, manages your social media lead generation, and coaches you through the implementation. The results agents are getting with this system are real. Spencer Marshall closed $1.955M in volume spending $500 to $600 on ads. Sharon Bicknell generated 51 leads at $2.46 per lead and had a $375,000 buyer under contract within 15 days. Rammi Singh put $3.75 million under contract in under 3 months. These are not cherry-picked outliers. They are what happens when a real marketing system is actually implemented. The Thursday Live Call Every Thursday at 12PM CST I host a free live call at partnerwithnickgood.com/live called Meet Your $100K/Mo Implementation Team. It is not a webinar. It is not a pitch. It is the actual client engine running live: direct-response offers, speed-to-lead workflows, behavioral alerts, and the full marketing infrastructure, in real time. Any agent can join before making any decision. You see exactly what you are getting before you commit to anything. PLACE Systems, For Agents Who Join at eXp If you make the move to eXp Realty and partner with me, you also get the PLACE operating system. That means Brivity CRM, lead generation infrastructure, weekly live labs, listing presentation training, buyer consultation certification, AI tools including Gabbi, and transaction management systems. The PLACE model is what produced our 2026 NAHREP Top 250 rankings: 162 sides, $65.6 million in volume, three national rankings. The system works. The agents who plug into it fully consistently outperform what they were doing before. eXp Revenue Share and the Residual Agent Network When you partner at eXp through me, you participate in eXp's revenue share model. When agents you bring into eXp close transactions, eXp shares a percentage of their company dollar with you. Not from the agent's commission. From eXp's side. The agent's paycheck is unchanged. That income compounds over time and continues as long as you hold an active license. This is separate from the Residual Agent Network at getresidualagent.com, which is open to any agent at any brokerage. The Residual Agent Network (RAN) is a community that helps real estate agents build income beyond commissions. We introduce agents to residual income opportunities and show them how to turn the relationships and activities they are already doing into income that can continue paying them over time. Free to join. No brokerage change required. The Honest Answer on Who This Is For Partnering with me at eXp requires moving your license. That is a real decision and I respect that it is not right for everyone on day one. If you are not ready to move brokerages, the Thursday live call and RAN are both available to you with no commitment required. If you are ready to look at the full model, book a 15-minute call at nickgood.com. No pitch. Just the honest conversation about whether this makes sense for your specific situation. That is The Good Word on what partnering actually looks like. -- Nick Good --- ### Passive Income for Real Estate Agents in Texas URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/ran-passive-income-texas Published: 2026-06-29 Category: Wealth & Freedom Tags: passive income, RAN, eXp Realty, Texas, DFW, revenue share Summary: Every agent I know is good at generating commissions. Very few are building income that compounds without them. Here's what changed for me, and what RAN actually looks like in practice. Passive income for real estate agents in Texas is not a theory. It is a structure. And if you are a Texas agent who has not built it yet, you are leaving money on the table every month. I have been in DFW real estate for 22 years. I have watched agents grind through every market cycle. The ones who came out the other side without burning out all had one thing in common: they built an income stream that did not stop when their transaction volume dropped. That is exactly what the Residual Agent Network was built to create. What Is the Residual Agent Network The Residual Agent Network, or RAN, is a structured system for real estate agents across Texas to build passive income through the eXp Realty revenue share model. Here is the important part: RAN is open to any licensed real estate agent at any brokerage in Texas. You do not have to change brokerages to learn about it, understand it, or begin positioning yourself for it. I co-founded RAN with my partner Brian Force specifically because we saw agents missing this opportunity. Not because they did not want it. Because no one had laid it out clearly. How the Revenue Share Model Works When you join eXp Realty and you help another agent make the same move, eXp pays you a percentage of the revenue generated by that agent's transactions. Not a one-time referral fee. A recurring income stream tied to that agent's ongoing production. The more agents in your network who are actively selling, the more your residual income grows. It compounds. It does not reset in January. It does not stop when you take a vacation. According to eXp Realty publicly available revenue share data, top revenue share earners inside eXp generate six figures annually from this income stream alone, separate from their personal transaction commissions. Most agents in DFW and across Texas are not even aware this model exists inside their reach. Why Texas Agents Are Uniquely Positioned Texas is one of the highest-volume real estate markets in the country. The DFW metroplex alone consistently ranks among the top five markets nationally for transaction volume according to the National Association of Realtors. That volume means the agents you bring into your network are actively producing. Active production means your revenue share income is real and growing, not theoretical. Texas agents also benefit from the fact that eXp Realty has strong penetration in this market. The infrastructure, the training, and the local agent community are already built. You are not pioneering something untested. What This Looks Like in Practice I am not going to promise specific income numbers because every agent's network and effort level is different. What I will tell you is what I have watched happen inside RAN over the last several years. What Agents Are Actually Earning Agents who joined early and consistently helped two to three other agents make the move per year are now earning meaningful monthly residual income. Not supplemental pocket money. Income that matters during the slow months. One agent in our DFW network built her revenue share income to a level that covered her personal monthly expenses within three years of starting. She still sells real estate. But she does it now because she wants to, not because she has to. That is what financial optionality looks like in practice. The Valley Problem Every Agent Faces Every real estate agent in Texas goes through valleys. Market corrections, interest rate spikes, personal life events. The transaction side of the business slows down and suddenly the income you built feels fragile. Agents who have built their residual side navigate those valleys differently. They are not desperate. They are not making bad decisions out of financial pressure. They have runway. You build residual income during the peaks. You harvest it during the valleys. The mistake most Texas agents make is waiting until they are in the valley to start thinking about this. By then it is too late to build. The time to build is now, while your business is producing and you have the capacity to help other agents find a better path. RAN Is Not Just for Real Estate Agents This is one of the most overlooked parts of the model. Some of the strongest partners inside RAN are not real estate agents at all. Loan officers, insurance professionals, and home inspectors who are already embedded in real estate transactions and building agent relationships every day are positioned perfectly for this model. If you are a loan officer closing 10 to 15 transactions a month, you are already in the room. You are already having conversations with agents who are evaluating their brokerage. You are already a trusted advisor in the transaction. RAN gives you a structure to turn those relationships into a residual income stream without changing your license, your business, or your daily workflow. How to Get Started with RAN in Texas The first step is a conversation. Not a pitch. Not a webinar. A 15-minute call where we look at your current situation and I tell you honestly whether RAN is a fit for where you are in your career. Some agents are ready to make the move to eXp Realty and start building immediately. Others want to understand the model first before making any decisions. Both are completely fine. What I can tell you is that every Texas agent who has gone through that conversation has walked away with a clearer picture of what their income could look like beyond their next closing. Where to Go From Here To understand how the team model connects to residual income, read Team vs Solo: The Real Numbers for DFW Agents For the full eXp revenue share and split breakdown, read eXp Realty Stock, Revenue Share, and Splits Explained Book a 15-minute call at partnerwithnickgood.com. No pitch. No pressure. Just a straight conversation about what building the residual side of your business could look like for you. --- ### The Good Home Team Named to the 2026 NAHREP Top 250: Here Is What That Means for DFW Agents URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/nahrep-top-250-2026-nick-good-good-home-team Published: 2026-06-26 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: NAHREP, Awards, The Good Home Team, eXp Realty, DFW Agents Summary: 162 sides. $65.6 million in volume. Three national rankings. Here is what the 2026 NAHREP Top 250 recognition means and why DFW agents researching eXp Realty should pay attention. The Good Home Team Named to the 2026 NAHREP Top 250: Here Is What That Means for DFW Agents I want to be upfront about something. I do not share awards for the sake of it. I share them when they tell a story worth telling. The 2026 NAHREP Top 250 recognition tells one. The Good Home Team powered by PLACE was named to the 2026 NAHREP Top 250 Latin Agents and Mortgage Originators list with three separate national rankings: Number 45: Top 100 Teams nationallyNumber 57: Top 100 Teams by VolumeNumber 50: Top 50 Teams by Buyer Transactions The production behind those rankings: 162 transaction sides, $65,602,070 in volume, and 88 buyer sides in a single year. All at eXp Realty. All in the DFW market. Here is why that matters if you are a real estate agent researching your next move. What the NAHREP Top 250 Actually Is NAHREP is the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals. The Top 250 list recognizes the highest-producing Latino real estate agents and teams in the country based on verified transaction and volume data. eXp Realty was named the No. 1 brokerage on the entire 2026 NAHREP Top 250 list with 146 recognized agents and teams. That is not a marketing claim. That is a published ranking based on production numbers. For an agent evaluating where to hang their license, that context matters. The brokerage producing the most top-ranked teams in the country is not a coincidence. It is a reflection of what the model does for agents who use it. What 162 Sides Looks Like in Practice A lot of teams claim production numbers. What is less common is showing the work behind them. 162 sides in a year means consistent lead generation, a showing partner model that creates capacity, a PLACE operating system that handles the infrastructure, and a team culture where agents are actually held accountable to their business plans. It does not happen by accident. And it does not happen solo. I have been in DFW real estate for 22 years. I left Keller Williams after 12 years. I turned down a seven-figure offer to go back. The model at eXp through PLACE is what made 162 sides possible while also building the Residual Agent Network, running five other businesses, and not working 80-hour weeks. That combination, production and freedom, is what I want for the agents who partner with us. Why This Matters for Agents Researching eXp Realty in DFW If you are considering eXp Realty and trying to figure out who to partner with, here is a simple filter. Look for a sponsor who is actually producing. Not just talking about the model. Closing deals. Building a team. Getting recognized nationally for the numbers, not just the pitch. The 2026 NAHREP Top 250 ranking is third-party verified production. Not self-reported. Not a claim on a website. A published ranking from a national organization based on actual closed transactions. That is the standard I hold my team to. And it is the standard I expect from anyone I partner with. See the Operation Live If you are a DFW agent looking at eXp and you want to see exactly what partnering looks like in practice, join us on our weekly Thursday live call at 12PM CST at partnerwithnickgood.com/live. We show the systems, the marketing team, and the production model live every week. No pitch. Just the real operation running in real time. That is The Good Word on the 2026 NAHREP Top 250. -- Nick Good --- ### Why Experienced Real Estate Agents Net More on a Team and Get Their Time Back URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/why-experienced-agents-net-more-on-a-team Published: 2026-06-23 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: Agent Playbook, PLACE, Leverage Model, Real Estate Team, DFW Agents Summary: Most experienced agents hit a ceiling not because they stopped working hard but because they ran out of time. Here is what the numbers actually look like when you build the right way. Why Experienced Real Estate Agents Net More on a Team and Get Their Time Back I want to be upfront about something before I make any argument for joining a team. If you are an experienced agent who has built your business on your own, your instinct is to protect what you have. You have your clients. You have your referrals. You have your process. You have seen teams come and go. You have watched other agents get overshadowed, underpaid, or swallowed up by a brand that was never theirs. I get it. I built my own business from scratch. I know what it costs. But here is the question I want to ask you: what is your actual hourly rate? Not your income. Your hourly rate. Take what you made last year, divide it by the number of hours you put in, and look at that number honestly. If you want to increase your income from here, do you have more hours to give? Or do you need a different model? That is the real conversation. And it is the one most team pitches never have with you. The Ceiling Every Producing Agent Hits Every real estate professional hits a ceiling of achievement. It is not a failure. It is just math. There are only so many hours in a day, week, and year. When you are doing your own lead generation, your own showings, your own negotiations, your own transaction coordination, and your own follow-up, you hit the wall around 30 to 40 deals a year. Not because you stopped working hard. Because you ran out of time. The PLACE Leverage Model frames this clearly. An agent closing one to two deals a month and doing everything themselves is earning roughly $275 per hour on a buyer transaction. That is not bad. But it is also the ceiling. You cannot earn more per hour by doing more of the same work. You can only earn more by changing what you spend your time on. That is what leverage actually means. Not a shortcut. Not a luxury. A disciplined decision to stop doing lower-value work so you can do more of the highest-value work. The model is direct about this: leverage requires you to use your newfound time for something more productive. If you are not doing that, it is not leverage. It is just comfort. The Math Most Agents Never Run Here is the real comparison that changes how experienced agents think about this. Solo agent closing 24 deals a year on their own. Average commission $5,500 per transaction. 20 hours of personal time per deal. Total income: $132,000. Hourly rate: $275. Same agent adds a showing partner and moves to 3 to 4 deals per month. The showing partner handles showings, inspection attendance, and closing coordination, roughly 15 of the 20 hours per transaction. The agent retains 5 hours of high-value time per deal. At 52 transactions per year with a 35/15 split on an $11,000 average commission, the agent earns $200,200. Hourly rate jumps to $770. Same hours worked. Better use of those hours. Now that same agent at 72 transactions per year: $277,200 in annual income. Still working roughly the same personal hours per deal, just more deals because the time is there to generate them. The income went up because the hourly rate went up. Not because the agent worked nights and weekends they did not have. This is what the ceiling conversation is actually about. What the Experienced Agent Launch Program Actually Is At The Good Home Team powered by PLACE, we run a structured 12-week onboarding program for experienced agents. Not a class. Not a series of videos. A real program with daily accountability in week one and weekly live labs through week 12. Week one starts with your PLACE Business Plan. Not a generic one. Yours. Based on your database, your goals, your production targets, and your specific DFW market. That plan becomes the standard for everything that follows. The weekly labs cover advanced topics: Brivity smart filters for database mining, AI tools like Gabbi for follow-up, DISC assessment application for client strategy, PLACE Opportunity Model, and Buyer Consultation Certification. This is systems work. The kind most solo agents never had time to build properly. The weekly time commitment runs between 6 and 10 hours. That includes live labs, on-demand training, and executing your business plan. Experienced agents who engage fully consistently report stronger production numbers than they were hitting on their own, with better margins because the team infrastructure removes the overhead they were carrying solo. PLACE also covers half the cost of your administrative support on any month you close a minimum of 5 transactions. The model is built to reward production, not just charge you for access. Why Net Income Is the Only Number That Matters The objection I hear most from experienced agents is the split. They look at the team split and compare it to their current brokerage split and stop the analysis there. That is the wrong calculation. Net income is what you deposit. And net income depends on three things: how many transactions you close, what your average commission is, and what your actual business expenses are. Solo agents in DFW who are doing everything themselves spend real money on lead generation, marketing, transaction coordination, technology, and their own time doing administrative work that pays nothing. When you run the true all-in cost of operating solo at 30 to 40 deals a year, the net number often surprises people. On a well-run team with PLACE infrastructure, the lead generation is provided. The systems are built. The transaction coordination is handled. The technology is included. The marketing runs. You show up to the high-value work. The split is lower. The net is frequently higher. And the time you get back is not nothing. Time is the one resource that does not come back. The Three Things PLACE Teaches Every Agent The PLACE Leverage Model comes back to three principles I have watched hold true across 22 years in this business. Success is guaranteed when priorities happen in the right order. Lead generation first. Always. The agents who protect their lead generation time above everything else are the ones who build consistent, predictable income. Everything else can be delegated. That cannot.More hours will not equate to more success. I know agents who work 60-hour weeks and earn what a 30-hour-a-week agent earns on leverage. The difference is not effort. It is structure. Once you are working as hard as you can work, adding more hours is not the answer.Focus on increasing your hourly rate. This is the number that determines everything. Not gross production. Not the size of your pipeline. What are you actually earning for each hour of your professional life? And is the model you are on designed to grow that number, or keep it flat? Talk Through Your Numbers If you are an experienced agent in Frisco, Plano, McKinney, Allen, or The Colony and the honest answer to that last question is not clear, that is the conversation worth having. We do it in 15 minutes. No pitch. No pressure. Just the real numbers for your specific situation. That is The Good Word on why experienced agents build further on a team than they do alone. -- Nick Good --- ### eXp Realty vs. Keller Williams in DFW: A Numbers-First Comparison URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/exp-realty-vs-keller-williams-dfw-comparison Published: 2026-06-22 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: eXp Realty, KW Comparison, Agent Playbook, Commission Split, DFW Agents Summary: I spent nearly 12 years at Keller Williams and the last 7 at eXp Realty. Here is the straight split-and-cap comparison for DFW agents. Real numbers, no spin. If you're a producing agent in Dallas-Fort Worth comparing eXp Realty and Keller Williams, the decision usually comes down to one thing: how much of your commission you actually keep. I spent nearly 12 years at Keller Williams building one of the top teams in DFW. I've spent the last seven at eXp Realty. I've lived both models, run the math on both, and turned down a seven-figure offer to go back to KW. This is the straight comparison. Real splits, real caps, real numbers. No spin. The Commission Split eXp Realty in Texas is an 80/20 split. You keep 80% of every commission until you hit your cap. Keller Williams is typically a 70/30 split on paper. After the 6% franchise royalty, the effective split lands closer to 64/36 on every deal until you cap. On a $400,000 sale at a 3% commission ($12,000 gross), here is the difference before either of you caps: eXp: you keep $9,600KW: you keep roughly $7,680 after the royalty That is about $1,920 more per deal at eXp before capping. The Annual Cap This is where the gap widens. eXp Realty: a flat $16,000 cap, the same number in every marketKeller Williams: DFW market center caps typically run $21,000 to $30,000 depending on the office, plus the 6% royalty until you hit the royalty cap Once you cap at eXp, you keep 100% of your commission minus a $250 transaction fee, which drops to $75 after 20 transactions. Franchise and Monthly Fees eXp: no franchise fee, with an $85 monthly brokerage feeKW: a 6% franchise royalty on every commission until the royalty cap, on top of your split For a high-volume agent, that 6% royalty adds up fast. What Keller Williams Does Well This isn't a hit piece. Keller Williams has real strengths: established market centers, in-person training, and a strong brand presence in many DFW offices. For a brand-new agent who needs hands-on, in-person management every day, a local KW office can be a fine place to start. Where eXp Pulls Ahead eXp's model is built for agents who want to keep more and build income beyond their own production: A higher split and a lower, flat capCompany stock awards for milestones, plus a discounted stock purchase planRevenue share through the Residual Agent Network (RAN) that compounds beyond personal production The split and cap math alone moves real money. The stock and revenue share are what make the model compound over time. The Bottom Line for DFW Agents If you're a producing agent in Frisco, Plano, McKinney, Allen, or The Colony, run your own numbers. Take your last 12 months of production and apply both models: eXp: 80/20 to a $16,000 cap, then near 100%KW: 64/36 effective to a $21,000-plus cap, plus the 6% royalty For most producing DFW agents, eXp keeps more in your pocket and gives you two income streams KW doesn't. If you are also researching what revenue share actually pays, read eXp Realty Stock, Revenue Share, and Agent Splits Explained at nickgood.com/the-good-word/exp-realty-stock-revenue-share-splits-explained And if you want to see the full model live before deciding anything, join the Thursday call at partnerwithnickgood.com/live If you want help running your exact numbers, book a 15-minute call at nickgood.com. No pitch. Just the math on your business. --- ### eXp Realty Stock, Revenue Share, and Agent Splits Explained, By Someone Who's Lived It URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/exp-realty-stock-revenue-share-splits-explained Published: 2026-06-22 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: eXp Realty, Revenue Share, Stock Program, Agent Playbook, Wealth Building Summary: I've been at eXp Realty for seven years. I turned down a seven-figure offer to go back to KW. Here's exactly how the stock program, revenue share, and split structure actually work, no spin, no recruiting pitch. I've been at eXp Realty for seven years. Before that, I spent nearly 12 years at Keller Williams building one of the top teams in DFW. I was offered seven figures to move my business back to KW. I turned it down. I'm telling you that upfront so you understand what follows isn't a recruiting pitch. It's a straight explanation of how eXp Realty's three income streams actually work, the split, the stock, and the revenue share, from someone who has lived them for seven years. If you're researching eXp, comparing brokerages, or trying to figure out whether the model is legitimate, this is the post I wish had existed when I was making my own decision. First, Is eXp Realty Legit? Yes. Full stop. eXp Realty is the largest independent real estate brokerage in the world by agent count, approximately 82,000 agents across 29 countries. Its parent company trades publicly on the Nasdaq. It has been profitable while most traditional brokerages have not. It has been ranked by Forbes as one of America's Best Large Employers. The skepticism agents carry into their eXp research usually comes from two places: the revenue share model looks like MLM at first glance, and the cloud-based structure feels unfamiliar compared to a traditional office. Neither concern is unfounded. But neither disqualifies the model once you understand how it actually works. Here's the breakdown. The eXp Realty Agent Split, What You Actually Keep eXp Realty runs an 80/20 commission split with a flat $16,000 annual cap. No franchise fee. No desk fee beyond $85 per month. Here's what that looks like in real DFW numbers. If you close $10 million in volume at an average 2.5% commission, your gross commission income is $250,000. At an 80/20 split, you pay eXp $50,000 until you hit the $16,000 cap. In this example you cap early in the year, after roughly $80,000 in GCI. After that, every dollar is yours minus a $250 transaction fee per deal, which drops to $75 after your 20th transaction. For comparison, most Keller Williams market centers in DFW run a 70/30 split with a 6% royalty fee on top, an effective 64/36 split, with caps ranging from $21,000 to $30,000 depending on the market center. On $10 million in DFW volume, the split difference alone puts roughly $8,000 more in your pocket at eXp before you account for a single dollar of stock or revenue share. That math is why agents are moving. The eXp Realty Stock Program, How Agents Build Equity eXp Realty's parent company trades publicly on the Nasdaq. This is what makes the stock program possible, and it's genuinely unusual in real estate. Most brokerages give you a split. eXp gives you a split and equity in the company. There are three ways agents earn stock: Sustainable Equity Plan (automatic stock awards) Every agent earns $200 in company stock on their first closing each year. When you hit your $16,000 cap, you receive another $400 in stock. When an agent you sponsored closes their first transaction, you receive $400 in stock for that agent. These awards have a three-year vesting period. Agent Equity Program (discounted stock purchase) Agents can elect to have 5% of each commission check withheld to purchase company stock at a 5% discount. The stock price is set at the closing market value on the last trading day of each month. There is no vesting period on these shares, you own them immediately and can opt in or out at any time. ICON Agent Award (top producer program) Top-producing agents who hit their cap and close an additional 20 transactions, or generate $500,000 in gross commission income and close at least 10 transactions, can qualify for the ICON award. ICON agents receive up to $16,000, their entire annual cap, back in company stock. Effectively, their brokerage costs them nothing for the year. I've used the stock to buy real estate directly. In 2024 I sold accumulated shares to purchase a property all cash in The Colony, Texas. That property has since appreciated roughly $80,000 and rents for approximately $2,400 per month. That's a real-world outcome of the stock program that most agents never consider when they're comparing splits on a spreadsheet. eXp Realty Revenue Share, What It Is and What It Isn't This is the piece of the model that confuses agents most and gets misrepresented most often. Revenue share is not MLM. Here's why. In a traditional MLM, participants pay into the system and earn from recruiting new participants. The money flows from new members upward. The product is the recruitment itself. In eXp's revenue share model, the money comes from the company's side of agent production. When an agent you sponsored closes a transaction, eXp shares a percentage of their company dollar, their side of the split, with you. The sponsored agent's commission does not change. They keep the same amount regardless. You earn separately from eXp's portion. No one is paying you to recruit. eXp is sharing revenue with you because you helped grow the company. That's a structural difference that matters. The revenue share tiers go seven levels deep. Tier one, agents you personally sponsor, pays the highest percentage. Each subsequent tier pays a smaller percentage of a smaller company dollar amount. One important note on realistic expectations: eXp's own data shows the median agent earns zero in revenue share. That number is accurate and worth taking seriously. Revenue share rewards agents who are intentional about helping other agents find the model, not agents who simply join eXp and wait. It is a built income stream, not a passive one you receive automatically. I currently have the privilege of being in partnership with more than 220 agents across 15 states through the Residual Agent Network. That took seven years of consistent work. The income is real and it compounds. But I want you to go in with accurate expectations, not inflated ones. The Revenue Share Calculator, Running Your Own Numbers Here's a simple framework for estimating what revenue share could look like for you. Tier one revenue share pays approximately 3.5% of the company dollar from each agent you personally sponsor, up to their $16,000 annual cap. That means if you personally sponsor one agent who caps, you earn approximately $560 per year from that agent. Five capping agents you personally sponsored: approximately $2,800 per year.Ten capping agents: approximately $5,600 per year.Twenty capping agents: approximately $11,200 per year. Those are conservative tier one numbers only, actual revenue share income includes tiers two through seven and scales as the network grows. But the tier one math gives you a grounded baseline. The agents who build meaningful revenue share income are almost always the agents who are already building well in their own business, producing, training, and helping others grow. The network is a byproduct of doing the work well. It is not a replacement for doing the work. If you want to run your specific numbers based on your production level and who you might bring into the model, that's exactly the kind of conversation I have on 15-minute calls every week. No pitch. Just the math for your situation. Why I'm Still Here After Seven Years I joined eXp in July of 2019. Eleven agents came with me from KW. Today The Good Home Team powered by PLACE has grown to nearly 40 agent partners with annual production consistently between $65 million and $70 million. I was offered seven figures to move my business back to Keller Williams. I turned it down. Not because KW is a bad brokerage, I have deep respect for what they built and the people still there. But because the eXp model, the split, the stock, the revenue share, and the PLACE operating system we run on top of it, creates something a traditional brokerage cannot: income that compounds beyond the commission check. I've watched agents at traditional brokerages have incredible production years and start back at zero every January. I've watched the same thing happen at eXp to agents who never plugged in. The model doesn't work automatically. Nothing does. But for the agents who engage with what's available, the training, the collaboration, the stock program, the revenue share, the compounding effect is real. That's The Good Word on eXp., Nick Good --- ### How I Support New Real Estate Agents, And Why Joining a Team Is the Shortcut Most New Agents Need URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/how-nick-good-supports-new-real-estate-agents-dfw Published: 2026-06-22 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: New Agents, Agent Playbook, PLACE, Mentorship, DFW Agents Summary: 62% of new agents make less than $10,000 in their first year. The ones who don't almost always have one thing in common: a system, a team, and someone who has done it before showing them the way. Here's exactly how we support new agents at The Good Home Team. The number that stops most new agents cold: $8,100. That's the median gross income for real estate agents with two years of experience or less, according to NAR's 2025 Member Profile. Roughly 62% of new agents made under $10,000 in their first year. Most lost money once you factor in licensing fees, MLS dues, marketing, and the months it took before their first commission check arrived. I've been in DFW real estate for 22 years. I've watched talented people leave this business not because they weren't good enough, but because they had no system, no leads, and no one showing them how to actually generate business from day one. That outcome is preventable. And it's exactly what we've built our new agent program to prevent. The Shortcut Most New Agents Don't Take Here's what the data says about joining a team versus going solo as a new agent. Agents on teams reported significantly higher transaction volumes in their first two years compared to solo agents. An independent study found that 85% of real estate agents believe being on a team provides a competitive edge, and 77% reported a positive experience working as part of one. The reason is straightforward. When you go solo, you are simultaneously the business developer, the marketer, the lead generator, the showing agent, the listing agent, the transaction coordinator, and the closer. Every role you're handling yourself is time you're not spending in front of buyers and sellers. When you join a well-run team, that equation changes. Leads are provided. Systems are in place. Marketing is handled. You focus on what moves the needle: conversations, appointments, and closings. For a new agent, that's not just helpful. It's the difference between building momentum in year one and starting over in year two. The PLACE New Agent Launch Program The Good Home Team runs on the PLACE operating system. At the core of our new agent onboarding is the PLACE New Agent Launch Program: a structured 12-week program built around one goal. Get new agents into production fast. The program works because it's built around a single proven metric: contacts logged in Brivity. New agents typically generate one pending or closed transaction for every 100 conversations logged. Before Day One, Pre-Launch Preparation Ten days before an agent officially starts Launch, they receive calendar invites for their Brivity Fast Track Training, Live Launch Calls, and weekly Live Labs. Required pre-launch coursework includes: PLACE New Agent OnboardingBrivity Foundations, 10 micro-coursesNew Agent Launch Prerequisites The Tuesday before Launch, our team hosts a 30-minute Group Pre-Launch Meeting to review expectations, set goals, and schedule weekly coaching sessions. By the time an agent starts week one, their systems are set up, their sphere is imported, and they know exactly what they're doing on day one. During Launch, The 12-Week Production System Every week of the 12-week Launch program has a defined structure. Agents know exactly what's expected of them, what they'll be trained on, and what success looks like. Weekly activity expectations: Log at least 50 conversations in BrivityHost one Open HouseSet at least one qualified appointment The Weekly Accountability Rhythm Every Monday, agents receive an overview email with their Lab Topic, a Perfect Week schedule, and success metrics. Every Tuesday, they receive an accountability email with coaching tips and a 1:1 coaching offer. Group accountability meetings run 15 to 30 minutes weekly. We review last week's numbers, share wins, work through a coaching moment, and set commitments for the week ahead. What Graduation Looks Like Suggested graduation metrics: Completed 100% of Launch course activitiesLogged at least 500 conversations in BrivitySet and logged 9 appointmentsPended or listed at least 2 properties An agent who graduates from our Launch program has already built habits, systems, and momentum that most solo agents spend two years trying to develop on their own. What We Provide Beyond the Program New agents at The Good Home Team receive: Leads, team-generated, not starting from zeroSystems, Brivity CRM and transaction coordinationScripts and training, live role-play and objection handlingTechnology, PLACE Tech Suite and AI toolsMentorship, 22 years of DFW market experience I'll tell you the same thing I tell every new agent who sits down with me: this business is hard enough when you have a system. Don't make it harder by trying to figure everything out alone. Join a team. Get into production. Build from there., Nick Good --- ### 7 Years at eXp Realty: Why I Turned Down a 7-Figure Offer to Leave URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/7-years-exp-realty-turned-down-7-figure-offer Published: 2026-06-21 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: eXp Realty, Revenue Share, Agent Growth, Mentorship, KW Comparison Summary: July marks seven years since I made one of the biggest business decisions of my career. I was offered seven figures to move my business back to Keller Williams. I turned it down. Here's why. July marks seven years since I made one of the biggest business decisions of my career. After spending nearly 12 years at Keller Williams, I made the move to eXp Realty in July of 2019. Looking back today, I can confidently say it was one of the best business decisions I've ever made. In fact, I was offered seven figures to move my business back to Keller Williams. I turned it down. That's how strongly I believe in what eXp Realty has built. If you're a real estate agent researching whether eXp Realty is worth it, looking for an eXp Realty sponsor in Texas, or trying to decide between eXp and another brokerage, I want to share my honest experience after seven years inside the company. Why I Left Keller Williams After 12 Years I joined Keller Williams in December of 2007. I learned a lot there and built relationships that still matter to me today. The business was growing. Our team was growing. We were comfortable. There wasn't some dramatic event that caused me to leave. The biggest reason I made the move was simple: I wanted to create more opportunities for my agents. At Keller Williams, I couldn't offer stock ownership opportunities to my agents. I couldn't offer the same level of revenue share opportunities either. When I saw what eXp Realty was building, I realized it created a path for agents to build wealth beyond commissions. That got my attention. My Biggest Concerns Before Joining eXp Realty Like many agents, I had concerns. I was told repeatedly that the revenue share model wouldn't work. I heard people say eXp would eventually go out of business. Others told me production would suffer because everyone would be too focused on recruiting agents. Honestly, those concerns almost stopped me from making the move. After all, we were doing well. Why leave something comfortable? Looking back, I'm glad I didn't let fear make the decision. What Happened After Joining eXp Realty When we joined eXp Realty, approximately 11 agents came with us. Today, The Good Home Team powered by PLACE has grown to nearly 40 agent partners. Our annual production consistently hovers between $65 million and $70 million. The Recruiting Myth One of the biggest myths I heard was that production would decline because agents would focus on recruiting. My experience has been the exact opposite. The agents who grow the most at eXp are usually the agents who are already producing, learning, building systems, and helping others grow. The brokerage's motto is: "Where the Pros Go to Grow." After seven years, I understand exactly why. The eXp Support System Most People Never Experience One of the most underrated parts of eXp Realty is the support. The brokers are accessible. The training opportunities are extensive. The collaboration is incredible. The resources available to agents today are better than anything I've experienced in my career. What surprises me is how many agents never fully plug into what's available. Many agents who struggle at eXp never take advantage of the training, mentorship, coaching, masterminds, broker support, and collaboration opportunities available to them. The opportunities are there. You have to engage with them. How eXp Stock Helped Me Buy a Rental Property With Cash One of my favorite personal examples happened in 2024. I was on a listing appointment in The Colony, Texas. The homeowner had lost his job and needed to sell quickly. I walked him through my listing presentation and showed him how we could market the property and maximize the sale price. But speed mattered more than price. He wanted a cash offer and wanted to be done with the property so he could move back to Massachusetts. I told him I could make that happen. Because of the stock I had accumulated through eXp Realty, I was able to sell shares, purchase the property all cash, and close in approximately two weeks. Today, that property has appreciated by roughly $80,000 and rents for approximately $2,400 per month. That's a real-world example of how stock ownership can create opportunities many agents never consider. Why I Believe More Agents Should Understand Revenue Share The revenue share model is something I'm becoming increasingly passionate about. Not because it's recruiting. Because it's leverage. Most real estate agents rely on one income source: commissions. If you stop selling, the income stops. Revenue share creates another stream of income. I've seen agents use it to supplement slower months. I've seen agents create additional financial security. I've seen agents build six-figure annual revenue share income streams that provide more time freedom and flexibility. What Revenue Share Does Not Require The best part? You don't have tenants. You don't have maintenance calls. You don't have repairs. You don't have vacancy issues. You simply help good agents discover opportunities that can improve their businesses. Why Some Agents Fail at eXp Realty This may not be popular, but it's true. Most agents who don't succeed at eXp never fully plug in. They don't attend training. They don't engage with leadership. They don't leverage their upline. They don't ask for help. They don't utilize the resources available to them. Then they conclude the brokerage doesn't work. The opportunity is there. The question is whether you're willing to use it. Advice for Agents Thinking About Leaving eXp Realty Before making a decision, ask yourself: Have I truly plugged into everything available? Have I attended the training? Have I connected with my upline? Have I asked for guidance? Have I explored team opportunities? Have I taken advantage of the systems already available? Many times, the answer isn't leaving. The answer is getting more connected. Why I'm Still Here Seven Years Later Today, I have the privilege of being in partnership with more than 220 agents across 15+ states. That responsibility is something I take seriously. Every one of those agents had choices. I'm honored they chose to partner with our organization. Would I make the same decision again? Abso-freaking-lutely. The only thing I would change is joining sooner. I wish I had joined in 2017 when eXp Realty was first introduced to me. If you're researching eXp Realty, looking for a sponsor in Texas, considering joining a real estate team with leads and mentorship, or simply want an honest conversation about your options, let's talk. At The Good Home Team powered by PLACE, we help agents grow through systems, support, accountability, lead generation, AI tools, and mentorship. No pressure. No recruiting pitch. Just a conversation about your goals and whether we're a fit., Nick Good --- ### Why I'm Still Building After 22 Years, And Why Most Agents Should Ask Themselves the Same Question URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/why-i-build Published: 2026-06-21 Category: Operator's Edge Tags: Mentorship, Legacy, Wealth, Operators Edge, 418 Rentals Summary: I lost my brother Austin to suicide. We were building together, companies, a portfolio, a future. After he passed, I asked myself a question every agent should ask: what am I actually building, and for what? I've been doing this for 22 years. Sold my first home in a market that would crater the following year. Survived 2008 with eight deals under contract that all fell apart overnight. Built a team, built a property management company, built a home services company, a capital vehicle, an agent network, a concierge business. Most people who've been in real estate for 22 years have slowed down. I've done the opposite. And people ask me why. The honest answer is something I don't talk about enough. Austin My brother Austin and I were building together. We had started ANG Real Estate, named after both of us, with a shared vision of what we could create side by side. Real estate was the vehicle. The portfolio, the legacy, all of it. We were going to do it together. Austin died by suicide. And there are no clean words for what that does to a person. To a family. To a future you had mapped out with someone who was supposed to be in it. After he passed, Heather and I made a decision. We named our rental portfolio 418 Rentals, a nod to Austin's birthday, April 18th. Every property we add is a piece of what he and I were always going to build together. When our youngest daughter was born, we gave her the middle name Nicole, making her Aubree Nicole Good. Her initials are ANG. The same initials Austin and I had put on our companies. He's in the foundation of everything. The Question Every Agent Should Be Asking I mentor real estate agents now, Six-Figure Mentor is not just a title, it's the work I do every day. And the question I ask every agent I sit down with is this: what are you actually building? Not what deals you have under contract. Not what your volume was last year. Not what brokerage you're on or what split you're getting. Those things matter, but they're not the answer. What are you building that will still be standing when you stop selling? I've watched incredible agents, people doing 30, 40, 50 deals a year at their peak, hit 55 or 60 and realize they built great income but not wealth. The commission stopped when the selling stopped. There's nothing left running. That's the real estate agent's version of starting over. And it's preventable. What Building Actually Looks Like I'm not saying every agent needs to run six businesses. I do that because it's how I'm wired. But every agent should be building at least these three things alongside their production: A real estate portfolio. Even two or three rentals creates a passive income stream that doesn't depend on closing deals. That's what 418 Rentals is for us.A residual income layer. The Residual Agent Network at eXp is the most practical vehicle I've found for this in real estate. When you help other agents find a better model, you earn income from their production. It compounds. It doesn't reset. And it's an asset you can pass to your family.A mentorship framework. I wrote Six Figure Agent because the roadmap I wish I'd had at year two doesn't exist anywhere else. The agents who think like operators consistently outperform the ones who are just grinding deals. Why I Am Still Building I'm still building because Austin never got to finish what we started. And because I have a daughter whose initials remind me every day of who I'm doing this for. If you want to understand what the income model looks like in practice, read The Income That Does Not Stop When You Stop Selling at nickgood.com/the-good-word/ran-passive-income-texas That's The Good Word today., Nick Good --- ### McKinney Has the #1 Housing Market in America. Here's What That Means for Agents. URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/mckinney-real-estate-agents Published: 2026-06-21 Category: DFW Market Tags: McKinney TX, DFW Market, Agent Playbook, eXp Realty, NAHREP Summary: WalletHub ranked McKinney the number one real estate market in the country for the third straight year. Richardson, Frisco, and Allen made the top 10 too. Are you positioned to win in it? WalletHub ranked McKinney, Texas the number one real estate market in the United States for 2025. Third consecutive year. Richardson came in at number five. Frisco at six. Allen at ten. Denton in the top ten. Plano in the top 50. You don't need me to tell you North Texas is where things are happening. You already know that. You see it every day. What I want to talk about is what that ranking actually means for producing real estate agents in McKinney right now, and whether you're set up to win in it or just participate in it. What the 1 Market Actually Looks Like McKinney's ranking was based on 17 metrics including overall market health, housing affordability, and economic environment. The second-highest rate of new housing built between 2010–2023 in the country. Master-planned communities like Trinity Falls attracting consistent family relocation demand. A buyer profile that includes corporate relocations from companies that have been choosing the DFW corridor for years. This is structural demand. Not just a hot cycle. A demographic tailwind that's been building for over a decade. For agents, that means consistent inventory movement, a buyer pool that keeps refreshing, and price points that produce meaningful commission checks. The Problem That Good Markets Create Here's the uncomfortable reality I've watched play out over 22 years: good markets create complacency. When deals are coming in and volume is there, agents stop asking whether the model they're on is actually building something. The brokerage takes their cut, the cap resets every year, and the agent never stops to ask: what am I actually accumulating? The agents I'm seeing build something real in McKinney right now aren't just producing more. They're on models that compound. They're building residual income alongside their production. They're using systems so they're not manually doing every step of every transaction. What Building in McKinney Actually Takes I'm going to be direct because I think you deserve that. McKinney's market will reward you for showing up and doing the work. But showing up and doing the work on the wrong model means every good year resets. The market grew. Your income grew. But your wealth didn't grow the way it should have. Make sure your split reflects the price points you're working. Understand what revenue share could layer on top of your production. Get your systems right, I run AI agents in my business now and the time savings are real. The 1 housing market in America is right here in our backyard. The only question is what you're building in it. Keep Reading Before You Decide For agents researching whether a team model makes sense in markets like McKinney, read Team vs Solo in DFW at nickgood.com/the-good-word/team-vs-solo-real-numbers , Nick Good --- ### Team vs Solo in DFW, I Ran the Numbers So You Don't Have To URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/team-vs-solo-real-numbers Published: 2026-06-20 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: Agent Playbook, Real Estate Team, DFW Agents, Income, PLACE Summary: 62% of new agents make less than $10,000 in their first year. Agents on teams close more transactions in year one and two. But the split question still trips people up. Here's the actual math. I get this question constantly. From agents who are new and trying to figure out where to start. From producing agents who are six years in and wondering if they've outgrown their current setup. From agents who have been solo and are finally honest with themselves about how much time they spend generating leads instead of serving clients. The question is: does joining a team actually make you more money, or do you give up too much in the split? Here's my honest answer, backed by actual numbers. The Solo Agent Reality The NAR 2025 Member Profile tells a story most brokerage recruiters won't show you: the median gross income for all real estate agents was $58,100 in 2024. After business expenses, marketing, leads, MLS fees, tech, E&O insurance, licensing, the median net income was approximately $36,600. And that's the median. Which means half of all agents made less. For agents with two years or less of experience, the median gross was $8,100. Roughly 62% of new agents made under $10,000 in their first year. The solo model has a fundamental structural problem: you are simultaneously the business developer, the marketer, the lead generator, the showing agent, the listing agent, the transaction coordinator, and the closer. Every one of those roles takes time you're not spending in front of buyers and sellers. What Teams Actually Do for Income Agents on teams closed more transactions in their first two years than comparable solo agents. More transactions means more income, even at a lower per-transaction split. Solo agent, year two. Generating their own leads. Closes 8 transactions at $450,000 average in the Plano market. Gross commission at 2.5%: $90,000. After expenses: net closer to $60,000. Team agent, year two. Leads provided, systems in place. Closes 15 transactions at the same average price. At a 60/40 team split: $101,250 gross. After expenses (significantly lower because the team covers infrastructure): net closer to $80,000–$85,000. More transactions. Better net. Because volume made up for the split difference and then some. The Split Question People Get Wrong The mistake I see constantly: agents focus on the split percentage and ignore the volume difference. A 70% split on 8 deals is not better than a 60% split on 15 deals. What matters is how many transactions you're actually closing and what your net looks like after real expenses. How I Built It at eXp When I built The Good Home Team powered by PLACE at eXp Realty, I wasn't trying to build a traditional team. I was trying to build a system. PLACE provides the infrastructure. eXp provides the model. The agents who partner with us don't just get a team, they get a business model that compounds. The goal isn't to stay on a team forever. The goal is to use the team to build volume, skills, and income fast, then make a fully informed decision about what the next chapter looks like. For experienced agents specifically, read Why Experienced Agents Net More on a Team at nickgood.com/the-good-word/growing-a-real-estate-team-that-lasts , Nick Good --- ### Why Frisco Real Estate Agents Are Quietly Making a Move Right Now URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/frisco-agents-better-model Published: 2026-06-20 Category: Agent Playbook Tags: Frisco TX, Agent Playbook, eXp Realty, DFW Agents, Commission Split Summary: Frisco has median home prices above $600,000 and one of the strongest buyer pools in the country. So why are some of the market's best producers looking for a different model? Frisco is one of the strongest real estate markets in the country right now. Median home prices above $600,000. Consistent demand. Corporate relocations from companies that keep choosing North Texas as home base. Buyers competing for good inventory. Homes selling in 10–14 days in the right neighborhoods. If you're a producing agent in Frisco, the market is doing its job. The question I keep hearing, and having, is whether the brokerage is doing its job for you. I've been in DFW real estate for 22 years. I've been through 2008, through the post-COVID spike, through every cycle this market has run. And the pattern I keep seeing is this: agents who are good at their job often build something great for their brokerage and very little for themselves. The Math Most Agents Don't Run Let's say you close $12 million in volume this year in Frisco. At a 2.5% commission, that's $300,000 in gross commission. At a typical 70/30 split with a $21,000–$30,000 cap at a traditional franchise brokerage, you're paying out a significant chunk of that before you touch it, plus a 6% royalty fee on every deal before the cap. Now ask yourself: what does that brokerage give you in return that you couldn't build yourself with better systems? I'm not writing this to tear down traditional brokerages. I came up in one. But I am saying that the model matters more than most agents realize, especially in a high-price market like Frisco where every percentage point in split is worth real money. What the Move Looks Like The shift I'm seeing among Frisco agents isn't dramatic or sudden. It's quiet. Producing agents, people closing 20, 30, 40+ deals a year, are doing the math and realizing that eXp Realty's 80/20 split with a flat $16,000 cap (no franchise fee) puts significantly more in their pocket at Frisco price points. Then they find out about revenue share. That part is different from anything a traditional brokerage offers. When you help bring another agent into eXp through the Residual Agent Network, you earn a percentage of eXp's revenue from that agent's production, not from the agent's commission. Their check stays the same. You get a new income stream that continues whether you're selling or not. That's income that compounds. In a market like Frisco where you're already closing volume, layering residual income on top of that is the difference between a great year and a system that builds wealth. What This Is Really About I'll be direct with you because I think you deserve a straight answer. The Frisco market will reward producing agents regardless of what model they're on. But the model determines whether that production builds something that lasts or just resets every January 1st. I've built six businesses in DFW. I wrote a book about building a six-figure real estate business. I run a team under the PLACE brand at eXp. And I actively help agents in Frisco, Plano, McKinney, Allen, and The Colony understand what their business could look like on a model that actually compounds. Run the Numbers With Me If you're a producing agent in Frisco and you've been curious about the math, I'll run it with you. No pitch. No pressure. Fifteen minutes and you'll know exactly what the numbers look like on your current volume with a different model. For the full split and cap comparison, read eXp Realty vs Keller Williams in DFW at nickgood.com/the-good-word/exp-realty-vs-keller-williams-dfw-comparison That's The Good Word on Frisco right now., Nick Good --- ### Build the Business, Then the Wealth Will Follow URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/build-the-business-then-the-wealth Published: 2026-06-18 Category: Business Tags: Systems, Leadership, Wealth Summary: Wealth is not the goal, it is the byproduct of a business built on systems, people, and relentless focus. Here is how to think about the order of operations. Most people chase wealth directly. They jump from tactic to tactic, looking for the shortcut that finally makes the money show up. After more than two decades building businesses, I can tell you the order is backwards. Start With The Business, Not The Outcome A business is a machine that solves a problem for a specific group of people. When the machine works, when it delivers real value, predictably, the wealth follows almost as a side effect. Your job is to build the machine, not to chase the money. Focus on three things before anything else: The problem you solve and who you solve it forThe system that delivers your solution the same way every timeThe people who run that system better than you could alone Systems Create Freedom Freedom is not the absence of work. It is the presence of a business that runs without you holding every piece together. Every time you document a process, train someone, or remove yourself from a bottleneck, you buy back a little more of your time. That reclaimed time is the real currency. You can reinvest it into growth, into your family, or into the next opportunity. Wealth Is The Scoreboard Money tells you whether the machine is working. It is feedback, not the mission. When you build something genuinely useful and back it with strong systems and the right people, the scoreboard takes care of itself. Build the business. Build wealth. Build freedom, in that order. --- ### Why Smart Investors Choose Passive Real Estate URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/why-smart-investors-choose-passive-real-estate Published: 2026-06-12 Category: Investing Tags: Passive Income, Syndication, Wealth Summary: Active investing builds a job. Passive investing builds freedom. Here is how seasoned investors put their capital to work without becoming landlords. There is a moment every investor reaches when they realize that owning more properties does not automatically mean more freedom, it often means more work. The smartest investors I know eventually shift from active to passive. Active Investing Often Becomes A Second Job Flipping houses and self-managing rentals can be profitable, but they demand your time and attention. Tenants call. Roofs leak. Deals fall through. If you have to be present for the income to exist, you have built a job, not a portfolio. What Passive Real Estate Actually Means Passive real estate lets you invest alongside experienced operators who handle acquisition, management, and execution. You provide capital; they provide the expertise and the hours. Common vehicles include: Real estate syndications, where investors pool capital to buy larger assetsMultifamily partnerships managed by a dedicated teamPrivate funds that diversify across several properties The Real Advantage Is Time When your money works without your hours attached, you are free to focus on your career, your family, or your next investment. That is the whole point of building wealth, to own your time, not to trade more of it. If you are curious how passive deals are structured, our syndication guide breaks down exactly how investors pool capital to own larger, professionally managed assets. --- ### Growing a Real Estate Team That Actually Lasts URL: https://nickgood.com/the-good-word/growing-a-real-estate-team-that-lasts Published: 2026-06-05 Category: Agent Growth Tags: Agent Playbook, PLACE, Leverage Model, Real Estate Team, DFW Agents Summary: Recruiting agents is easy. Keeping them productive and loyal is the hard part. Here is what separates teams that scale from teams that churn. Anyone can recruit agents with a good pitch. The teams that win over the long run are the ones that keep their people producing, growing, and staying. That is a different skill entirely. Lead With Value, Not Just Splits Agents do not stay for a commission split. They stay because they are getting better, earning more, and feeling supported. Give them leads, systems, mentorship, and a clear path to grow, and the economics take care of themselves. Build Systems Before You Scale A team without systems just multiplies chaos. Before you add headcount, document how your team handles: Lead follow-up and conversionTransaction coordinationTraining and onboarding for new agentsAccountability and performance reviews Mentorship Is The Multiplier The fastest-growing agents almost always have a mentor in their corner. When you invest in developing your people, you create producers who lift the whole team, and who bring others with them. If you are an agent looking for a team with real leads, systems, and mentorship, that is exactly what we have built. Learn more about joining a real estate team with leads. ---