Why Real Estate Agents Leave Teams and What Leaders Can Do About It

Key facts

• Author: Amy Youngren, who says she has led North Group for nine years.
• Post published June 24, 2026.
• Core claim: agents leave when they run out of future with the team.
• In 2022, the team lost about $100 million in sales volume over six months, according to Amy.
• A partner told Amy her vision at the time lacked clarity and she could not see where the team was going or where she fit.
• Three current North Group team partners left at some point and chose to return.
• Amy built a questions channel in Slack to stop being the hub of the team.

Why do real estate agents leave teams?

Amy Youngren, who has led North Group for nine years, says agents leave when they run out of future with the team. In her view a revolving door is not a recruiting problem but a leadership problem. Departures are data that show where a leader's leadership needs to grow.

What happened when agents left Amy Youngren's team, North Group?

Amy Youngren says North Group looked successful from outside in its early years, with awards, rankings and stages. Inside, it was growing too fast, with shaky processes, unclear expectations and everything running through her. In 2022, about $100 million in sales volume left over six months. One departing partner said Amy's vision lacked clarity.

Why is "they just weren't the right fit" the wrong response to an agent leaving?

Amy Youngren says telling herself a departing agent was not the right fit moved ownership from her to the agent. Even when someone is truly not a culture fit, she says it is still on the leader: expectations may not have been clear enough, or something was missed in the interview process.

What questions should a team leader ask to improve agent retention?

• Amy Youngren shifted from asking "How do I stop agents from leaving?" to "How do we build an environment where they see their future?"
• If I pulled our top agent into a room and asked where they see themselves in two to three years, would they describe a future that includes me and our team?
• When did someone on our team last grow into something bigger, and did it happen because I helped build that path?
• If I disappeared for 90 days, would our team get stronger, stay the same, or fall apart?

Why should a team leader build a team that doesn't depend on them?

Amy Youngren says that if a team falls apart without its leader, the leader built a dependency rather than a team, and dependency is what agents eventually leave. She stopped being the hub by building a Slack questions channel and connecting people to each other, which strengthened North Group's culture.

What should a team leader do when an agent decides to leave?

Amy Youngren advises against talking people into staying when they are already leaving, since it buys only a short-term relationship. Instead, she suggests entering the exit conversation with humility, asking what you could have done differently, sending a handwritten card and keeping the door open. Three current North Group partners left and later returned.

Frequently asked questions

Who wrote this post?

Amy Youngren, an agent, team leader at Real and founder of UNTD, wrote it. It was published June 24, 2026.

How long has Amy Youngren led North Group?

In this post, Amy says she is nine years into leading North Group.

What is the main reason agents leave teams, according to Amy Youngren?

Agents leave when they run out of future with the team, which she calls a leadership problem rather than a recruiting problem.

How much sales volume did Amy's team lose in 2022?

About $100 million in sales volume left over six months in 2022, according to Amy.

Do agents ever return to North Group after leaving?

Yes. Amy says three current team partners left North Group at some point and chose to return.