Real Estate Teams Say Tech Isn’t Keeping Up — And It’s Hurting Business

While solo agents thrive with off-the-shelf platforms, teams are stuck making do with tools that don’t fit

Real estate technology has come a long way—CRMs, marketing suites, transaction dashboards, digital signing, lead generation, you name it. But if you’re working on a team, odds are you’ve hit a wall.

Turns out, what works wonders for a solo agent doesn’t always cut it for a team of three, five, or twenty. While independent agents enjoy clean dashboards and seamless automation, teams are often left juggling tools that were never built with them in mind.

And it’s starting to hurt.

Teams Aren’t Just Bigger Agents — They Operate Differently

The biggest myth? That a team is just a group of agents who can share a solo agent’s software license.

That couldn’t be further from the truth.

A real estate team functions more like a mini-brokerage. There’s structure, hierarchy, lead routing, commission splits, performance tracking, recruiting—none of which is native to most standard agent tech. So when teams try to squeeze into systems meant for individuals, things get messy. Fast.

One lead agent in Texas put it bluntly: “We’ve outgrown the platforms we started on. They’re built for solo hustlers. Not for managing people, not for scaling.”

And yet, that’s what teams are expected to use.

The Hidden Costs of “Making Do” with the Wrong Software

It’s not just annoying—it’s expensive. Teams that can’t streamline their tech workflows lose time, energy, and deals. Leaders spend hours manually tracking commissions or piecing together spreadsheets. Junior agents miss follow-ups because lead assignment isn’t automatic.

It gets worse.

• Recruiting becomes guesswork instead of data-driven
• Accountability falls apart without transparent tracking
• High performers get frustrated and walk

All of this eats into the one thing teams are built to protect: shared productivity.

A one-line paragraph, just to let that sink in.

Brokers Have Tools. Solo Agents Have Tools. Why Don’t Teams?

There’s a weird gap in the market. Brokerages are flush with enterprise-level systems—centralized data, compliance dashboards, internal messaging, and more. Solo agents? They’ve got dozens of sleek, agile SaaS platforms designed just for them.

But teams? They’re stuck in no man’s land.

Here’s how the current tech landscape looks:

That “Low to Moderate” readiness is a problem. It’s a blind spot the industry hasn’t fully addressed.

What Teams Really Need Isn’t Complicated — But It’s Rare

Ask any team leader what they want from their tech stack, and they won’t rattle off futuristic wish lists. What they want is simple, really.

• Shared pipelines and lead tracking
• Automated routing rules for incoming inquiries
• Commission and split tracking built into the workflow
• Team-level performance dashboards
• Role-based access without a headache

These are basics. Yet so many platforms still force teams to cobble together five different apps or hire a consultant to build a Frankenstein system that kinda-sorta works.

One New York team leader said they’re spending over $1,200 a month just patching third-party apps together. “It’s duct tape and Google Sheets at this point,” she laughed—only half-joking.

The Growth of Teams Is Outpacing the Tools Built for Them

Ironically, teams are one of the fastest-growing segments in real estate.

According to data from the National Association of Realtors, teams accounted for nearly 34% of all transactions in 2024, and the number has been rising steadily over the past five years. More agents are joining forces. More consumers are turning to teams for efficiency. But the tools haven’t kept up.

This is especially problematic as teams scale beyond five or ten agents. Without robust tech:

• Communication breaks down

• Lead conversion drops

• Admin workload explodes

• Profit margins shrink

In a business where time kills deals, this tech gap isn’t just frustrating. It’s a liability.

One sentence here for rhythm.

Some Startups Are Catching On, But It’s Early Days

There are signs of change. A handful of proptech startups have begun rolling out platforms that address team needs—structure, visibility, smart delegation. But adoption remains patchy.

Part of the problem? Real estate software is a crowded space. Convincing teams to switch platforms, migrate data, retrain their agents—it’s a tall order. And with thin margins and heavy workloads, most teams don’t have time to play software roulette.

Still, early adopters say team-focused tools are a breath of fresh air.

“We finally switched to a system where we can assign leads based on agent skill level and availability,” said a leader of a seven-agent team in Chicago. “It’s not magic, but it saves us three hours a week.”

Three hours saved is three more hours to close.