How Real Estate Agents Pick a Niche (And Why 84% Haven't Closed a Home This Year)
- Jerad Larkin
- 5 minutes ago
- 8 min read
How do real estate agents pick a niche? Pick the lane where you already have traction, go deep enough that you become the obvious choice in it, and build a short bench of partners who handle everything outside it. Agents who spread themselves across every opportunity tend to stall out.
On August 20 I sat on a panel at the Unfiltered Event, held at Denver X inside Dairy Block downtown. Jordan Terrell was hosting, Gavin Ekstrom was next to me, and about halfway through Jordan put a number up that quieted the room: 84% of agents have not closed a home in 2026.
I am not a real estate agent. I sell title insurance for Chicago Title of Colorado, and I make my money on commission the same way you do, so I watch this market from a seat right next to yours. What I can tell you is that the agents I work with who are still producing this year have one thing in common, and it is not that they found a magic lead source. They picked something and went deep.
That is what this whole conversation was about. Here it is.
What this video covers
Why running around trying everything is the losing move in a market this tight
How Gavin Ekstrom narrowed a 30 year mortgage career down to agents and builders
The two things I tried first that completely failed, and what finally worked
What a real title and lender partnership looks like past the transaction level
Gavin's redwood analogy for why agents who work alone stop growing
Why trying everything is the losing move right now
In a good market, spreading yourself thin still produces. There is enough volume moving that a little effort in ten directions puts some deals on the board.
In a market where most agents are not closing, that same behavior produces nothing. You end up shallow in ten places instead of deep in one, and shallow does not get you referred.
Here is the part that stings. Trying everything feels like working hard. You are busy, your calendar is full, you are learning new tools every week. But busy is not the same as building a position. A position is when somebody in your market thinks of a specific situation and your name is the first one that comes up.
Jordan framed it plainly from the stage. You are not going to get ahead by running around trying everything. You get ahead by going deep in a lane. That is where specialization wins.
The two things I tried first that completely failed
I started in title insurance nine years ago. Leah Newbauer was brave enough to hire me. I did not know a single person in Denver and I am not from here. So I did what everybody tells you to do.
Cold calling. I called real estate agents. Nobody wanted to talk to me, and honestly, why would they? If you are successful in this business you already have a title partner. And even when I did convince somebody to meet, plenty of them no showed.
Pop-bys. Another title rep told me to try them. I would go to Costco and spend hours building out baskets and cards. I ran a milk route around the metro dropping them off. The whole time I felt like I was bothering people. You were all busy. That did not work either.
Two strategies, real effort behind both, and neither one built anything.
What finally worked was deciding what I actually wanted, which was to be in front of an audience instead of chasing people one at a time. That meant teaching classes and hosting events. Last year I did 119 classes and events for the Colorado real estate community. Jordan did the math on stage and pointed out that is one every three days, and some days it is two or three.
I did not get there by being talented at events. I got there by picking the lane and then refusing to leave it.
How Gavin narrowed 30 years down to one lane
Gavin has been in mortgage since 1993. He could have spent that career being a generalist and done fine.
About four years ago he shifted almost entirely to events. Last year he put on more than 50 of them in Denver, speaking to over 2,000 agents. His focus is real estate agents and builders, and that is it. His reasoning was simple. He wants to bring value to his agent partners so they can do a little bit more business. Everything else got cut.
Two things he said are worth writing down:
"I go end zone to end zone." His words on why he finishes what other people abandon at midfield.
"I don't want people to use me because of me. I want people to use me because of my systems." He hires ahead of need, builds the system, and lets the system be the reason people stay.
That second one is the harder lesson. Most producers are the product. Gavin deliberately built something that works when he is not in the room.
The redwood analogy, and why working alone stops your growth
This was the best thing said all night.
The coastal redwoods in California grow over 200 feet tall with trunks 30 feet across. What almost nobody knows is that their roots only go down about 10 feet.
So how does a tree that tall stand up on roots that shallow? The roots intertwine. Each tree is holding up the ones around it.
Gavin's point: if you are in real estate and you are trying to do this on your own, you are missing the thing that actually makes the tall ones stand. We do not succeed in isolation. We succeed in partnership.
The Unfiltered Event itself was proof of the concept. It happened because Jordan called his lender partner and his title partner and said we should do something together. That event put 360 people in a room.
What a real partnership with a title rep and a lender looks like
Most agents think of a title rep as somebody you call once you are under contract. That is the transactional level, and it is the smallest version of the relationship. Here is what the deeper version looks like in practice:
Your title and lender partners should be in your right and left pocket. Not people you call at contract, people you plan with.
They should bring you business ideas, not just closings. Marketing help, market data, class content, an introduction to somebody you need to meet.
They should be a real filter for fit. Gavin's line is let's get together and make sure we are the right fit. Not every partnership should happen, and the good ones say so out loud.
Everything you build should be built in conjunction with them. Events, farming, listing presentations, seller education. If you are doing those alone you are paying for them alone.
As an Account Executive with Chicago Title of Colorado, this is the part of my job I care most about. Title and escrow has to be smooth, that is table stakes. The reason agents keep working with me is the stuff that happens between closings.
If you want to know how to start that conversation with anybody, mine included, the answer both Gavin and I gave from the stage was the same. Call, text, DM, whatever. Then actually have the conversation about what you are trying to build.
How to pick your lane, practically
The panel did not hand out a worksheet, so here is how I would run this if I were sitting in that room.
Look at your last 10 closings. Not the ones you wish you had. The real ones. What do they have in common by price point, property type, neighborhood, or client situation?
Pick the overlap you actually enjoyed. Specialization only survives if you can stand doing it for three years. Gavin has done his for 30 because he likes it.
Name the lane in one sentence. If you cannot say it in one sentence, nobody can refer you into it.
Cut two things this quarter. Specialization is subtraction before it is addition. Pick the two activities producing the least and stop them.
Build the bench. One lender, one title rep, one inspector, one stager. People you plan with, not people you call.
Go public with it. Teach it, post it, host something around it. A lane nobody knows about is a hobby.
Give it a year before you judge it. Nine years ago I was trying to convince agents to make a video and post it on social media. That turned into social media basics, then Facebook ads, then Google ads, and now it is AI. The lane stayed the same the whole time. The tools kept changing.
The thing nobody says out loud about failing
Jordan asked me what my superpower is. My honest answer: I am not afraid to try something and have it completely flop.
The Unfiltered Event had 360 people sign up. That is the version you see. What you do not see is the classes I have run this year where one person showed up, and the ones where nobody did.
Jordan turned it back on the room and asked how many people have not done the thing they knew they should do because they were afraid it would not work. Every hand should have gone up, including mine on plenty of occasions.
If you are sitting on a niche you have been circling for two years, the fear of it not working is costing you more than the failure would.
About the panel
Gavin Ekstrom has been in mortgage since 1993. He built his niche around real estate agents and builders and now runs one of the highest volume event calendars in Denver, speaking to thousands of agents a year. He is unusually direct about the fact that his team, not his personality, is the product.
Jordan Terrell hosted the panel and kept the room honest about what it costs to stay a generalist. He built his own business through partnerships over the last decade and is the reason the Unfiltered Event exists.
Recorded live at the Unfiltered Event, Denver X at Dairy Block, downtown Denver, on August 20, 2026.
FAQ
How does a real estate agent pick a niche?
Start with your last 10 closings and find what they actually have in common by price point, property type, geography, or client situation. Pick the overlap you enjoyed most, name it in one sentence, and cut the two activities that are producing the least. Specialization is subtraction before it is addition.
Is it risky to specialize in a slow market?
The instinct in a slow market is to widen your net, and it is usually the wrong one. When volume is down, shallow effort across many lanes produces nothing, while being the obvious choice in one lane still produces referrals. Narrowing feels riskier than it is.
What should a real estate agent expect from a title rep?
Beyond a smooth closing, a good title partner should bring you market data, marketing support, education, and introductions. If your title rep only shows up when you are under contract, you are using a fraction of the relationship. Ask them directly what they can help you build.
How long does it take for a niche to start producing?
Plan on a year before you judge it. The agents I work with who committed to a lane usually saw referrals start compounding somewhere in months nine through eighteen, because that is how long it takes for other people to reliably associate your name with a specific situation.
What was the Unfiltered Event?
A live panel event held August 20, 2026 at Denver X inside Dairy Block in downtown Denver, built around candid conversations with people in and around the Colorado real estate industry. It came together because a lender, a title partner, and an agent decided to build something together instead of separately.
Pick the lane
If you take one thing from that panel, make it this. The market is not rewarding effort right now. It is rewarding position.
Pick something. Go deep. Build a bench around you so your roots have something to hold on to.
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Jerad Larkin The Mile High Title Guy Chicago Title of Colorado 303.630.9430 | Info@MileHighTitleGuy.com milehightitleguy.com
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