Gift baskets, holiday stockings, festive mugs, succulents on the desk, flavored coffee gift boxes, branded insulated water bottles… Chances are, as a real estate agent, you’ve received most of these as holiday gifts. While these are all nice, it doesn’t really scratch the surface of what agents REALLY want for Christmas.
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25 things real estate agents really want for Christmas 2025
Here’s my list. Let’s start with the obvious first:
1. 2025 is over
Let’s put a fork in it. This has not been a good year for most officers, and it just has to happen so we can move forward.
2. Agents answering their phones
This appears at the top of most brokers’ lists every year. You had hoped the word would be out by now. That would be followed up by agents actually reading the MLS comments, disclosures, reports and other important information.
3. Recognizing that being a real estate agent is a real job
We are one of the few companies where I know that hundreds of previous sales and years of experience don’t seem to matter. The customer always seems to think they know more than us, especially if they have watched countless hours of HGTV or have a friend/family member who bought or sold a house over a decade ago.
4. Buyers who don’t ask for a share of your commission
While this may not be an issue in some parts of the country, it is the first question many buyers in our region ask.
5. The ability to do YELP reviews for our customers
To steal a quote from Eliza Doolittle from My Fair Lady: “Wouldn’t it be lovely!” It might not change anything, but it would certainly feel great.
6. A truth serum for buyers
The old saying “Buyers are liars” exists for a reason. Agents I’ve talked to hope that someday a method will be discovered that will bridge the colossal gap that many agents have with their buyers who say they want one thing and then go buy something completely different with a different agent.
7. Buyer’s agents who know how to use buyer’s agent agreements
We still encounter agents showing homes without a signed agreement, finding copies of confidential buyer agreement forms between the buyer’s agent and the buyer included with listings, seeing misstated agreements and more.
You would hope that enough time has passed between August 17, 2024 and now to figure out the new rules and associated forms, but you would be wrong.
8. An end to false listing prices
While this is not common in some regions, we have agents in our market who routinely list homes hundreds of thousands of dollars below their actual value to create an auction-like environment. The problem is simple: there are actually buyers who think that the low price is realistic. When they submit offers at list price, they are told to “get real.”
9. Parents supervising their children during open days
Why not take your dog with you and let him run around the house too? Those of us who have encountered unattended children at open houses know what I mean. Perhaps the solution is mandatory parenting classes for parents who insist on taking their children to open houses.
This also applies to parents who ask their 3-year-old, “Do you like this house?” I suspect this is the same group that allows their children to wait in line at McDonalds for hours, by giving children who can’t make up their minds the chance to order their own food.
10. Customers who understand that HGTV is just entertainment
A kind of fake news. Nice to look at, but not even closely related to reality. The ability to view three houses, contract on one, close in a few weeks, and then completely renovate it a week later – pure fiction – kind of like a Hallmark Christmas movie.
11. A joke for the media
Let’s face it: the mainstream media is not our friend. From sensationalizing market conditions to promoting outright fiction (as during the commission trials), the media is only interested in viewership – not the truth.
Agents are forced to waste an inordinate amount of time explaining the facts to clients, or worse, are never given the opportunity to work with those who refuse to enter the market because they believe the media is throwing them at them.
Maybe a joke, a cork, or huge fines for publicly misrepresenting the truth. Definitely a lump of coal.
12. Customers who read
As in the contract documents. Unfortunately, many just sign the documents their agent sends them for electronic signatures – and then blame their agent when something goes wrong, and it’s their turn.
13. Customers who understand that AVMs (such as Z estimate) are not accurate
I saw a funny photo the other day. It read: “Don’t be hard on kids who believe in Santa; there are still adults who believe Zillow is accurate.” Or any other AVM on other platforms.
14. The 12 Days of Christmas 5-star reviews
Posted on the website of your choice…
On Christmas Day you got one review. Two on the second day. You get the idea. At the end of the 12 days you would have 78 reviews. Add to your wish list reviews that are actually on YELP! have stayed! The truth is, if you get 78 reviews in 12 days, YELP would mark most of them as “reviews not currently recommended.” Please, Santa, fix YELP!
15. Lead generation companies that produce real leads
Real. Instead of the industry average of one in a hundred (or less), we want leads that become actual buyers and sellers. Leads that produce closed escrows. We are all bombarded with calls from companies asking, “Can you handle eight to ten additional closures per month?” I feel like responding, “Do you think I’m stupid?”
Wouldn’t it be great if some of these companies actually told the truth?
16. Buyers with warm feet
We all have buyers with cold feet. Santa, please send us something else.
17. Zoom cameras enabled
Since much of our business has migrated to Zoom, it would be nice to actually see who we’re talking to. And you only have to be dressed from the shoulders down.
Now for the more serious wishes…
18. Lower interest rates
Not so low that they trigger multiple offers, raise prices and deepen the housing crisis, but low enough to prompt sellers to put their homes on the market and more buyers to enter their homes.
19. Insurance companies that actually insure our advertisements
Please keep in mind that these are wishes, okay? We want insurance companies that will insure our offers at reasonable rates and not cancel them. We want to be able to easily transfer the existing seller’s policy to the buyers.
20. A lawyer-free year
Stop it already. This is beyond ridiculous. Enough said.
21. Web portals showing the virtual tours we paid for
For example, we pay for Matterport tours because our customers love them – the smooth interface, sharp graphics, accurate maps… It is simply ridiculous when a major portal refuses to put them on their site because of a turf war and can even negatively affect prices.
22. An end to the off-market listing wars
Let’s assume that what we are actually doing is putting our customers’ interests ahead of our bottom line or stock valuations. We want a world where all buyers and their agents have equal and full access to all listings on one site.
23. A national association of real estate agents that is relevant
As a massive trade association, NAR has the ability to represent the interests of its members and make substantial and meaningful contributions to U.S. real estate policy. We want an association that is free from scandals, that offers meaningful leadership and policies that actually make sense.
24. A higher tax exclusion on the sale of homes
Currently it is limited to $250,000 per eligible seller. That’s fine in regions where house prices are relatively low. However, in areas such as the San Francisco Bay Area, it is not unreasonable to sell a home purchased decades ago for a dramatically higher price.
For example, a house purchased for $50,000 forty years ago can easily sell for $1,550,000 in today’s market. That’s a difference of $1,500,000. Assuming there are two homeowners, they can deduct a total of $500,000. This leaves a capital gains liability of $1,000,000.
Even if they can take deductions for home improvements, they still face a huge tax liability. This doesn’t just affect their income taxes; it also changes the eligible rate for those on Medicare. Increasing the home sales exclusion to $500,000 per person would help ease this burden and make it more palatable for more homeowners to actually sell their homes.
25. AI that provides meaningful answers to real questions
I asked Gemini, “How does Santa put chunks of coal in lawyer’s stockings?” Instead of giving a real answer, it stated the following:
“That sounds like the beginning of a classic Christmas joke! The traditional story of Santa Claus leaving a lump of coal in a naughty child’s stocking is a piece American folkloreand the mention of a lawyer suggests a humorous legal twist. The traditional idea for Santa Claus leaving coal for naughty children is simply out of convenience: immediately after coming down the chimney, he would reach into the fireplace or nearby coal bin and drop a piece into the undeserving child’s stocking before going back up. However, since your question is specifically about a lawyer, I assume you are looking for the punch line! Do you want me to try to find the joke, or are you interested in learning more about the origins of the coal lump tradition?
No… I want to know how Santa Claus gets a lump of coal in the sock drawer from the lawyers who bring the endless stream of real estate related lawsuits… just saying.
#agents #Christmas