A fake Truth Social post attributed to President Trump has sparked a very real debate inside the real estate industry.
The post claimed that only homeowners should be allowed to get a real estate license, arguing that agents who rent have “no skin in the game.” While the post itself turned out to be fake, the conversation it triggered quickly took off among agents online and on the latest episode of the Knowledge Brokers Podcast.
Before learning the post wasn’t authentic, KBP hosts Byron Lazine, Tom Toole, and Lisa Chinatti unpacked the bigger question behind it: should owning a home matter when it comes to advising clients in real estate?
From there, the conversation turned into a deeper discussion about credibility, experience, honesty, and what actually makes someone a great agent.
Should Homeownership Be Required to Get a Real Estate License?
Tom Toole kicked it off with how he felt in his first year in real estate:
“I can tell you, when I was a new agent, I bought a home my first full year in the business. I felt like a total piece of crap because I didn’t own a home. It was embarrassing that I’m advising people without owning a property. So, I can understand. I don’t know that I would go this far as what the president said, but I did feel that way my first year in the business.”
He then turned it over to Byron and Lisa, asking, “What do you think about this? Should this be a checkbox on your real estate application? ‘Do you own a home?’ In order to get your license?
Byron responded with:
“Oh, clearly not… My elevator pitch, when I would go into listings or meeting with buyers, in the first handful of years of my career, during the recovery in Connecticut, was ‘I have an Ivy league degree in real estate.’ People would be like, ‘Really? Those exist…?’ ‘Yeah, I bought three homes, ages 19 to 21, didn’t know what I was doing, had four mortgages during the mortgage bubble, got my teeth kicked in, made every single mistake in the book, and I went bankrupt on December 31, 2008. And I got my real estate license and came into sales to help people just like you avoid making the mistakes that I made, through the lessons that I’ve learned.’
“That elevator pitch landed because it was truthful. It didn’t sound like everybody else’s… You can’t front in this business. And you should be very honest with people.”
That honesty is critical to building trust with your clients. And part of that honesty includes your own plans and mindset regarding homeownership.
As Byron put it:
“You can have a plan towards that. You’ve got to be truthful about where your current situation is, but had I never decided to buy more real estate, sell more real estate, flip more real estate, own my own home, I think there would have been, at some point, a little bit of a disconnect there.
“So, there has to be a plan to do it, not as a requirement to a license, but your truth is gonna resonate more with people if you have that in place.”
To be clear, he’s talking about the plan to become a homeowner (when your situation allows), not the proof of homeownership.
Lisa shared an analogy that applies beautifully to this situation:
“What I come back to is that old saying that a professional athlete never mocks anybody for being in the gym… And I think this is the same thing. I think anybody getting into real estate, not everybody’s in a financial position. Look at where prices are. Our average up here is above $600K. That’s not attainable for everybody right away.
“But, to your point, if there’s a plan and they’re willing to do the things to get there, and to learn—there’s a lot to learn about being able to guide a consumer through that—my personal feeling is you don’t necessarily have to own or go through the process to understand all of it.
“I think it does give you different insight into the emotion and the mindset of the client that you can’t get if you don’t go through the process. But I think you can be super knowledgeable about everything else without having to own.”
She added that some agents live in one neighborhood but serve a completely different neighborhood. But they make it their business to know everything there is to know about the neighborhood they serve. And that gives them an advantage over agents who live in those markets but don’t go above and beyond with their knowledge and service.
Byron and Tom both agreed with Lisa’s take and shared their own experiences as new agents. Tom admitted he wasn’t a homeowner when he started out. And while he felt embarrassed about that, he clearly made up for it and now runs the leading real estate team in Philadelphia.
“I think there is something to this, that it’s that want to serve people. That’s what I felt my first year. I became knowledgeable, and obviously, I’ve been doing this 26 years now. And I think you can do a great job without owning a home, but you’ve got to get educated about the industry.”
Agents Had a Lot to Say About This
When we shared clips from the episode BAM’s Instagram, the response was immediate: 1,000+ likes and over 200 comments. The vast majority of agents rejected the premise outright.
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One comment summed up the mood: she’d sold over 75 homes before she became a homeowner herself. Her comment racked up nearly 270 likes.
Other agents drew comparisons that put the argument in perspective. One pointed to male OBGYNs (116 likes). Another brought up Bill Belichick and Gregg Popovich, two of the greatest coaches in professional sports history, neither of whom played at the pro level (60 likes). A hairdresser-turned-agent noted she was known for cutting curly hair well, despite having straight hair.
Training and experience matter. Buying a home is one experience among many that agents deal with every day.
The comments reinforced the same point Byron, Tom, and Lisa made on KBP: what matters is knowledge, honesty, and a genuine desire to serve your clients.
Watch the episode here (or go right to the segment on Trump’s (fake) post) to hear Byron’s, Tom’s, and Lisa’s full responses.
