If you want to know how to get clients as a real estate agent when the market is frozen, stop waiting for 2027 and build the pipeline now: past clients, owners who move for life reasons, and follow-up every day. Nile Lundgren, founder of the Lundgren Team at SERHANT., with $550M in sales, coaches agents on that daily work.
If you are an agent and want the system behind this, Lundgren365 is where I coach it.
What does a frozen market look like from an agent's seat?
It looks like a standoff. The owner on the listing call has a cheap loan and no reason to give it up. The buyer on the other side keeps saying they will wait for 2027.
The standoff shows up on listing calls. Neither side is wrong. The owner is protecting a low payment. The buyer is protecting their budget. But when both sides wait, the agent in the middle has nothing to do except refresh rate headlines and hope.
That is the trap. A standoff feels like a pause. For an agent, it is the most important building season there is, because almost nobody else is building.
Why is the housing market expected to stay frozen into 2027?
Because most owners are locked into loans they will not give up. Fortune reports that more than 95% of US mortgage borrowers pay less than today's market rate, and 65% pay at least 2 percentage points less (Fortune, Oct 20, 2026). In a note published Monday, Oct 19, Goldman Sachs economists pointed to that gap as what keeps the market stuck.
Their forecast, as Fortune reported it, is just 3.9 million existing-home sales in 2027, 26% below 2019 levels. Goldman also forecasts home prices up 0.8% in 2027 after 1.1% in 2026, and it expects the lock-in to fade only gradually after 2027.
Those are forecasts, not facts about the future. But read them for what they say: not a crash and not a rebound. A slow thaw. If you are building your year around a big unlock, a major bank's forecast says it is not coming fast.
Should agents wait for the market to come back in 2027?
No. Waiting is the plan that fails. If sales stay low, the agents who sit out this stretch will start 2027 with an empty pipeline, while the agents who kept working will already be the name people call.
The consensus says survive until rates fall. I read it the other way. A slow market does not reward the agent with the sharpest forecast. It rewards the agent with the most relationships that are still warm when someone finally needs to move.
I learned that early. When I came to New York with $200, I built my career on a 300-name list and index cards. No market gave me that business. The list did, worked one name at a time.
How to get clients as a real estate agent in a freeze: where does the business come from?
It comes from two places: people who already trust you, and owners who have to move no matter what rates do.
Rates are the reason owners stay. Life is the reason they move. A new job in another city, a household that grew or shrank, a divorce, an estate. None of those wait for a rate cut, and every one of them needs an agent the family already knows.
So the pipeline in a freeze is not a mystery:
- Past clients. They trusted you with a move once. They are often the first to tell you another one is coming.
- Your sphere. Friends, neighbors, other professionals who see life events first.
- Owners in your market. Stay in front of them with something useful, so when a life change forces a move, your name is already there.
The skill is not finding new tactics. It is staying in touch long enough to be there on the day it matters. I wrote about the brand side of this in how agents build a brand that attracts clients, and about steadying buyers when rates spike in how teams coach buyers when rates change overnight.
If you want to train this process with other agents, register for the free Lundgren365 training.
What should an agent do every day in a slow market?
Work the list on purpose, every day, whether the market is moving or not.
Here is the daily process I coach:
- Call past clients. Not to pitch. To check in and be useful.
- Follow up on every open conversation. The owner who said "maybe next year" deserves a call this month.
- Track life events. Know who in your sphere just changed jobs, retired or lost a parent, and show up with care, not a listing agreement.
- Share what you see. One clear read on your local market, sent to the people who trust you.
- Review the list weekly. Who did you not reach? They go to the top of Monday.
None of this is new. That is the point. In a fast market, anyone can look busy. In a frozen one, the discipline shows. Preparation Creates Freedom: the agent who does this work now will not be scrambling when the market turns.
FAQ
Should I wait until 2027 to sell my house? If you need to move for life reasons, the Goldman forecast does not point to a big rebound to wait for. Price for today's buyer and talk to a local agent about your own numbers.
How long will the housing market stay slow? Goldman Sachs economists forecast low sales through 2027, with lock-in fading gradually after that, as reported by Fortune on Oct 20, 2026. That is a forecast, not a guarantee.
How do new real estate agents get their first clients? Start with the people who already know you. Build a list, reach out one name at a time and follow up consistently. Results vary with the work and the market.
How do I contact Nile Lundgren about coaching? Coaching runs through Lundgren365 at lundgren365.com. You can also call (917) 453-4526 or use the contact page at nilelundgren.com/contact.
Nile Lundgren, founder of the Lundgren Team at SERHANT., is a Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker in New York and a real estate agent in Florida, a cast member of Netflix's Owning Manhattan, and a RealTrends Top 1 percent agent with $550M in sales over 19 years. He coaches agents through Lundgren365. Start with Lundgren365, call (917) 453-4526, or reach Nile through the contact page.
