The Scariest Place to Be Is the Same Place as Last Year: 10 Moves to Make Before 2027

by Carrie Little, Broker Owner of CARMARC Realty Group

The dream is free, but the hustle is expensive.

As real estate professionals, we can spend an entire year working, attending events, posting on social media, answering calls, and helping everyone else without making meaningful progress in our own businesses.

Being busy does not automatically mean you are building a profitable business.

Before 2027 arrives, take time this fall to review what worked, acknowledge what did not, and create a plan that reflects today’s real estate market. The industry is changing. Consumer behavior is changing. Technology is changing. Your strategy must change, too.

Here are 10 moves you should make now to prepare for 2027.

1. Reconnect With Your Why and Your Purpose

Why did you choose real estate?

Your answer cannot simply be that you enjoy looking at houses or saw someone making the business look easy online. Real estate is not HGTV. Behind every closing are conversations, negotiations, inspections, marketing, follow-up, and problems the public may never see.

Your why should be strong enough to get you up, get you dressed, and keep you working when a transaction falls apart or the phone is not ringing.

When you understand your purpose, it becomes easier to recognize the difference between busy work and income-producing work.

2. Honestly Assess Your 2026 Business

Do not wait until December to review your year.

Ask yourself:

1. Is real estate working for me?
2. Am I making money?
3. Where did my business come from?
4. Which activities produced clients and closings?
5. What did I spend time or money on that produced little or nothing?

Review your business from 2026, but do not stop there. Look at 2025, 2024, and even your business before the pandemic. You may discover that something you stopped doing was one of your strongest sources of business.

I had to admit that while I was teaching, speaking and helping other agents grow, some consumers thought I had stopped selling real estate. That realization required me to change my messaging and become more intentional about reminding my audience that I am still a working real estate professional.

Sometimes growth begins with an honest look in the mirror.

3. Clean Up Your Sphere of Influence

Your database is one of the most valuable assets in your business, but only if you use it.

Where are your contacts stored? Are they in your phone, your MLS, a spreadsheet or a CRM you pay for but rarely open?

This fall, clean up your database. Correct contact information, organize your audience, and identify the people you have not contacted recently.

Then review the rest of your communication strategy. Look at your email marketing, social media, blog, direct mail, and follow-up. Determine what is working and what needs to be changed.

Your next transaction may already be inside your database, quietly waiting for you to follow up.

4. Learn How to Use Artificial Intelligence

You do not have to love artificial intelligence, but you do need to understand it.

Consumers are already using AI to research neighborhoods, ask questions about buying and selling and evaluate financial decisions. They may even use it to develop an offer strategy before speaking with an agent.

Our value isn’t in pretending technology doesn’t exist. Our value is in understanding the market, the data, the transaction, and the information clients should provide to receive a useful answer.

AI can help with research, content creation, client communication, business systems, and productivity. It should support your expertise, not replace your judgment.

Professionals who learn to use AI responsibly will be better prepared to explain its limitations and protect their clients.

5. Review Your Personal and Business Finances

Real estate income fluctuates, which means financial planning cannot be optional.

Review your income, expenses, savings, taxes, and recurring charges. Review your bank and credit card statements carefully. You may be paying for subscriptions, systems, or services you no longer use.

Then ask the question many agents avoid: How much money do I actually need to make?

Once you know your income goal, work backward. Determine the number of transactions you need, the average price point you must target and the number of closings required each quarter and each month.

A financial goal without the numbers behind it is just a wish wearing a business suit.

6. Decide Where Your 2027 Income Will Come From

Do not create an income goal without identifying the activities that will produce it.

Will your business come from:

1. Your sphere of influence
2. Networking and community involvement
3. Social media
4. Email marketing
5. Direct mail
6. Open houses
7. Geographic farming
8. Referrals
9. Past clients
10. Association relationships

Choose the strategies you are genuinely willing to execute. You do not have to do everything, but you must consistently do something.

Break each strategy into daily and weekly activities. A checklist you follow is more valuable than an impressive business plan you never open again.

7. Make Time to Reset

Your business plan should include more than production goals.

Schedule time for yourself, your health, your family and continued learning. Life moves quickly, and success is not worth much if you are too exhausted to enjoy it.

Taking care of yourself requires intention. Start with what you can manage. Walk around the block. Improve one meal. Schedule a medical appointment you have been postponing. Take time to reconnect with the people who matter.

Rest is not the opposite of productivity. Sometimes it is the reset that makes progress possible.

8. Find an Accountability Partner

An accountability partner does not have to work in real estate. It should be someone who helps you stay focused and tells you the truth.

That person may be a mentor, coach, instructor, colleague, or Women’s Council connection. The right accountability partner may tell you something you do not want to hear.

Before becoming defensive, pause and ask:

• Is it true?
• Is there something I need to improve?
• Can this feedback help me move forward?

Accountability isn’t always comfortable, but comfort isn’t the goal. Progress is.

9. Create More Than You Consume

Check how much time you spend on your phone and social media. Then compare that number with how much content you actually create.

If you spend hours watching other people build their businesses, but you are not educating your audience, sharing your expertise or starting conversations, you are consuming more than you are creating.

Your content does not have to be perfect. Share what buyers and sellers need to know. Tell stories. Explain the market. Answer the questions clients ask you every week.

Use your insights to understand what your audience responds to, but do not allow perfection to keep you invisible.

10. Focus and Stay Connected to the Industry

The market is not the same everywhere. One area may favor sellers while another favors buyers. National headlines cannot replace local knowledge.

That is why real estate professionals must stay involved and informed.

Attend local association meetings. Participate in state conferences. Take advantage of MLS education. Attend legal updates. Volunteer for a committee. Become active in Women’s Council.

These relationships are not only about networking. They help us understand what is changing, learn from other leaders and bring valuable information back to our clients and colleagues.

Managing brokers and broker owners have an additional responsibility. We must continue learning so we can prepare the professionals we lead.

Start Now

Don’t wait until January to start working on 2027.

Review your goals. Clean up your database. Examine your finances. Learn something new. Protect your health. Strengthen your relationships and decide which activities deserve your focus.

You do not have to say yes to every opportunity. You do need to say yes to the actions that move your business forward.

Believe it. Dream it. Then take action.

Do the work first, and then go outside.

Follow Carrie Little

Connect with me for more real estate, technology, AI, marketing and business-building strategies:

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