A house divided? 2024 election tests the agent-client bond: Intel

This report is the first in a two-part series focused on the presidential election and is available exclusively to subscribers of Inman Intel, Inman’s data and research arm. Subscribe today and check back on Oct. 28 for the conclusion to the series.

Intel survey results are clear: For most real estate agents and brokerage leaders, the 2024 election discourse doesn’t really affect their day-to-day experience.

Showings go on, offers get submitted, clients close, and agents get paid — regardless of whether they agree on what should happen in Washington, D.C.

But as the two major parties present increasingly conflicting visions for the country’s future — and even competing accounts of its recent past — some agents report that cases of political tension with clients are becoming less rare.

And some brokers say they’ve seen it spill over into friction within the brokerage itself.

• Many agents — nearly half of those surveyed in late September and early October by the Inman Intel Index — say their clients bring up politics, compared to only 1 in 5 who say their clients never raise the topic.

In late September and early October, hundreds of agents and brokerage leaders shared with Intel who they plan to support in November, and what their experience has been with clients and brokerage team members.

Their responses shed light on an industry that typically bends over to avoid personal disagreements getting in the way of a deal. 

The results also reveal how two distinct experiences — that of a Donald Trump-supporting real estate professional, and that of a Kamala Harris-supporting agent or broker — sometimes diverge.

Read the full breakdown in the report below.

The agent-client relationship

Whether it happens at a showing or in another setting, it’s clear that many agents run into clients who are loose-lipped about their political opinions, especially on a presidential election year. 

And while most real estate professionals see little difference in 2024 vs. 2020, about a quarter of agent respondents told Intel that election talk is causing more issues with clients than last time.

• A sizable majority of agent respondents — 2 in 3 — said this election is putting no more strain on the agent-client relationship than the 2020 election did. 
• But of agents who say they have noticed a change, those who observed the tension is higher this year outnumber nearly 4-to-1 those who say it’s less tense than they remember four years ago. 

As mentioned above, it’s not uncommon for the topic of politics to come up while on a showing with a client.

That said, despite occasional cases where tension bubbles under the surface, agents of all political stripes tend to manage the situation rather than stoke conflict.

• Only 2 percent of agent respondents said they feel comfortable weighing in after a client shares a political opinion with which they disagree.
• On the other hand, 48 percent of agent respondents said they “almost always” keep their opinion to themselves when their client shares a political opinion that doesn’t align with the agent’s beliefs.

Still, this leaves the door open for political conversations of a different nature: one where a client raises a point that the agent agrees with.

• 23 percent of agent respondents told Intel that once they learn their clients share their views, the agent then feels comfortable weighing in with their own opinions.
• But a share nearly as large — 18 percent — will almost always steer clear of sharing political opinions even when they think their clients might agree with them.

But this sort of client discussion isn’t the only way the election has seeped into the brokerage experience.

The broker-agent relationship

Broker-owners and executives are less likely to report that politics is a common topic of discussion at the brokerage level.

• About 1 in 3 brokerage leaders who replied to the Intel Index in September said that their agents occasionally bring up politics, vs. 1 in 7 who say their agents almost never bring up the topic.

Within the walls of the brokerage, however, executives and broker-owners are much less likely to keep their mouths shut when they hear a political opinion from an agent that they disagree with. 

• Only 20 percent of brokerage leader respondents told Intel that they “almost always” keep their opinions to themselves when an agent shares a political stance that they disagree with, compared with 48 percent of agents who said the same of their interactions with clients.
• A similar share of brokerage leaders — 20 percent — told Intel that they feel comfortable weighing in to disagree with an agent’s political opinion, compared to the 2 percent of agents who say the same of their client interactions.

This freer attitude makes sense. The broker-agent relationship is much more familiar than the client-agent one. And when a political discussion between agent and broker turns south, it’s unlikely to jeopardize a deal from the broker’s perspective.

Interestingly, some brokers believe that this election has been less disruptive at the brokerage level than the contest in 2020.

• 11 percent of brokerage leaders told Intel that this election has placed less strain on the broker-agent relationship than they remember happening in 2020.
• Still, these leaders are outnumbered by the 25 percent who said this election has caused more tension than last time, and the 63 percent who said it’s been about the same.

These takeaways reflect general conditions both within the brokerage and out in the field. 

But Intel also found distinct differences in the way that Trump supporters and Harris supporters engage with politics in their real estate business. 

2 brokerage experiences

Most agents who replied to the Intel Index this month don’t have a clear idea of where their typical client falls on the political spectrum.

But of those who do, some patterns emerged in the survey.

Agents who plan to vote for Harris are…

1. …more likely to feel out of step with their clients’ political beliefs — 23 percent of Harris supporters say they perceive their clients are more conservative than they are, compared to only 11 percent of Trump supporters say they perceive their clients are more liberal than they are.
2. …and more likely to report an “unwelcome tension” when their clients bring up politics — 11 percent of Harris supporters report feeling such tension, while only 3 percent of Trump supporters say the same.

Meanwhile, some patterns of behavior with clients appeared to be more prevalent among Trump-supporting agents in the survey.

Agents who plan to vote for Trump are…

1. …more likely to say their clients bring up politics with them — 51 percent of Trump supporters say this of their clients, compared to only 45 percent of Harris supporters. On a related note, only 15 percent of Trump supporters say their clients never bring up politics, compared to 26 percent of Harris supporters who say the same.
2. …and more likely to report that political interactions with clients are getting more tense — 31 percent of Trump supporters say politics have been a source of greater tension with clients in 2024 than they remember from 2020, compared to 21 percent of Harris supporters who report the same experience.

Next week, Intel will go deeper into the results of the Inman-Dig Insights consumer survey, examining client behaviors and attitudes toward the real estate industry through the lens of support for Harris and support for Trump.

Inman Intel Index methodology notes: This month’s Intel Index survey was conducted from Sept. 18 through Oct. 4 and received 441 responses. The entire Inman reader community was invited to participate, and a rotating, randomized selection of community members was prompted to participate by email. Users responded to a series of questions related to their self-identified corner of the real estate industry — including real estate agents, brokerage leaders, lenders and proptech entrepreneurs. Results reflect the opinions of the engaged Inman community, which may not always match those of the broader real estate industry. This survey is conducted monthly.

Email Daniel Houston