Real estate professionals across the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex are preparing for a slower market over the next 12 to 24 months, and one prominent team leader is taking a counterintuitive approach: instead of cutting costs, he is increasing investment. Justin Nimergood, who leads the Top Gun Team at Epique Realty, believes the coming period will be difficult for many agents, but he is planning now rather than waiting for the slowdown to hit. “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 pull back but to double down on his team and its infrastructure while others retreat.
Nimergood points to Warren Buffett’s long-held strategy of investing when others are fearful as a model for agents and teams. “While everyone else is pulling back, I’m actually going to be doubling down on our team,” he said. That means more spending on the team itself and on tools that support agents over the next year. The reasoning is simple: agents who stop building during a slowdown often have little in place when the market turns. “We’re not going to sit back and just grind it out for the next 12 months,” Nimergood said. The goal is to emerge from the downturn better positioned than competitors who spent the year in survival mode.
A key part of the plan involves changing how clients first encounter the team. Many agents focus almost entirely on production, but Nimergood sees a slower market as the right time to focus on connection. 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 aim 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. The practical takeaway for agents: if business slows, use the extra time to show up consistently—share local market knowledge, explain the process, and let people get to know you. That work pays off when activity picks up again.
Nimergood also warns that slow markets push many agents to work longer hours for fewer deals, which can lead to burnout. “I think a lot of people are going to face burnout next year,” he said. His team is structured 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 himself 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. Without one, many agents end up choosing between burning out and pulling back from their business.
For buyers and sellers, a tougher market does not eliminate the need 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’s first priority is to survive the next 12 months; the bigger one is to use that time well enough that the team comes out ahead when the market turns. The implications are clear for real estate professionals across Dallas-Fort Worth: those who continue to invest in relationships, technology, and team support may be best positioned to capture business when the market recovers, while those who retreat risk being left behind.
