Real estate professionals across Dallas-Fort Worth are preparing for a slower market over the next 12 to 24 months, but at least one team leader is responding by expanding rather than contracting. Justin Nimergood, who leads the Top Gun Team at Epique Realty, said he believes the coming period will be difficult and is planning for it now instead of waiting to see how hard it hits.
“It’s our belief that the next 12 to 24 months in the real estate market is going to be tough,” Nimergood said. His response is not to cut back but to put more into his team while others pull back. He points to Warren Buffett’s long-held approach of investing when others retreat as a better model for agents and teams. “While everyone else is pulling back, I’m actually going to be doubling down on our team,” he said, adding that the goal is to come out of the downturn better positioned than competitors who spent the year in survival mode.
A big part of the plan is changing how clients meet the team. Many agents focus almost entirely on production, but Nimergood sees a slower market as the right time to focus on connection instead. The team is launching a new website with individual agent pages, a mortgage calculator for buyers and sellers, and an AI-based home valuation tool. Combined with the team’s YouTube channel and social media accounts, the idea is to give buyers and sellers a reason to spend time with the team before they ever pick up the phone. “We want them to know us almost before we even have that first conversation with them,” Nimergood said. For homeowners who want a low-pressure starting point, the team’s property valuation tool is one example of that approach.
Nimergood also expects burnout to become a major issue. Slow markets push many agents to work longer hours for fewer deals, and he predicts that will catch up with people. “I think a lot of people are going to face burnout next year,” he said. His team is set up so agents can cover for one another. One Top Gun Team agent will spend most of November in India, and the team will keep her clients moving while she is away. Nimergood has a cruise planned for next May and said he is not worried about stepping away. For any agent, the lesson is to decide now who can back you up—a trusted colleague, a team, or a clear handoff plan makes it possible to rest without letting clients down.
For buyers and sellers, a tougher market does not stop people from needing to move. Job changes, growing families, and downsizing still happen. What changes is how much buyers and sellers benefit from an agent who is steady, informed, and still investing in the work. Nimergood put the goal plainly: the first priority is to survive the next 12 months, and the bigger one is to use that time well enough that the team comes out ahead when the market turns.
