Real Estate Agents Face a ‘Mirror Problem’: Industry Insider Calls for Narrative Shift

Courtney Poulos, founder of SERHANT. CA and team lead of ACME | SERHANT. in Los Angeles, has a blunt diagnosis for her profession: “We have a mirror problem.” She is not talking about appearance, but about how real estate agents are perceived—and the industry’s role in shaping that perception.

“A lot of people see real estate agents as overpaid paper pushers who don’t earn what they make,” Poulos said. “And while the class action lawsuits and the public relations battles are largely driven by forces outside agent control, the way we show up, how we communicate, how we position ourselves, that is on us.”

Poulos recently completed Harvard University’s Advanced Management Development Program (AMDP) at the Graduate School of Design, graduating in July after working alongside urban planners and developers. The experience sharpened her view on what she calls the “self-reflection gap” in real estate.

“The only thing that is really missing,” she said, “is real estate agents considering themselves as senior-level executives in a business. We are not taken as seriously as we ought to be, like a lawyer. And we are still contending with a degradation of our perceived value, even at the senior level.”

She cited a recent example where a client chose to rent their property instead of listing it for sale, then attempted to negotiate Poulos’s commission down to a figure that would not cover the marketing already spent. “That is the level of disrespect I am talking about,” she said.

One key lesson from her AMDP coursework came from Carmine Gallo, who trains executives on communication. The focus: audience-centric messaging, starting with what matters to the client rather than what impresses peers. Poulos said many agents fall into the trap of “marketing to each other,” posting sales for other agents to see and competing on metrics clients do not care about.

“We miss the opportunity to explain, in plain terms, what we actually do and why it matters,” she said. The core work, she argued, mirrors that of executives in any complex industry: data analysis, risk management, negotiation under pressure, and sustained client relationships. “We protect our clients. We navigate. We clarify. That is the message. And most agents are not saying it.”

Poulos is now translating these ideas into action. She is developing a series of workshops and seminars, with the first session launching this week in Orlando, open to agents at all brokerages. The goal is to help agents build messaging that resonates with clients, the press, and regulators, and to rebuild public trust in a profession that has taken a significant reputational hit.

“If what we can clarify for the public is that we are not overpaid, that we are experts, and that our public relations battles are not actually about whether we deserve to be paid, then we start to reverse the narrative,” she said. “And the housing market is a place where there is a lot of good stuff going on, despite the headlines. It is the moment for something optimistic.”

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