Every year, the marketing world gets a flood of "State of" reports.
State of Inbound. State of Sales. State of Content.
They're how marketers in every other industry figure out what's actually working right now versus what was working a year ago.
Real estate has never had its own version. Until now.
We're running the 2026 State of Real Estate Marketing survey.
What channels are converting? Where is the wasted spending hiding? What are the top producers doing differently? Where is AI saving time versus where it's just noise?
If Jimmy and I have helped your business, please return the favor right now and take the survey.
Here’s what is on this week’s B.I.T.S. agenda:
🏆 [B]est in Class: 36M views of the fastest home tour ever
💡 [I]deas That Work: Pre-listing move that ends the price fight before it starts
📈 [T]raffic & Attention: Inside the $115M listing breaking Tampa Bay records
🔔 [S]eller Signals: "The neighbor got 58 offers." Here's the new conversation.
Let’s dive in 👇
🏆[B]EST IN CLASS - Real agents. Real execution. Worth stealing.
How a 21-year-old built a 2.1M-follower business by tripping through houses.
Trenton Miller started selling real estate at 18.
Three years later, he's at eXp in San Antonio with 1.7M TikTok followers, has a brand deal with Hilton, a guest spot touring Jake Paul's house, and one video that's done 36 million views and has 6 million likes.
@trent_miller__ It’s Time For Another SPEED TOUR‼️💨 Thank you guys for all the love and support!! More videos coming soon! Looking To Buy Or Sell Real Es... See more
The format: he sprints, slides, and bends through listings in socks, shouting "THIS IS A GARAGE!" while a friend follows him with a phone.
One take. No script. Lots of wipeouts.
His best month after launching the format: $1.6M in listings traced directly to the videos.
Why it works
It's a pattern interrupt.
Most listing videos open the same way: drone shot, soft music, "Welcome to this stunning…" The brain categorizes it in under a second and scrolls.
Trent's videos break the category before your brain finishes processing what you're looking at. By the time you realize it's a listing tour, you're already 15 seconds in.
But here's the part that's easy to miss because it's funny: the speed isn't a gimmick. It's a tell about where the entire game is heading.
We all hit 2x on podcasts and YouTube videos. We swipe past anything that takes more than a beat to make its point.
The standard listing video was designed for an attention economy that no longer exists.
Trent isn't just being entertaining. He's pacing his content for the way people actually consume it now. That's the real insight, and it applies whether you ever sprint through a house or not.
Cut the intro. Lose the establishing shot. Get to the thing in three seconds. Assume your viewer is on 2x and decide whether your video still lands.
The other things worth studying:
He posted daily for months and got 10 likes per video. He didn't quit. He iterated.
Once the format hit, he committed. Same energy, same catchphrases, same backbend. He didn't water it down to seem more "professional."
The wipeouts stay in. The trips and stumbles are the trust mechanism. Polish reads as performance. Imperfection reads as real.
The production is intentionally low. A phone. A friend. One take. The format scales because it doesn't require a videographer, a script, or a perfect home.
The lesson for agents who'll never run through a house in socks
You don't need to copy Trent.
You need two things: a distinctive format you'll commit to for 100 videos before it works, and the discipline to make every second of every video earn its place.
Most agents quit at video 2. Trent's first viral video came after months of posts that flopped. The format wasn't the breakthrough. The reps were. The pace just gave the reps a chance to land.
Sellers don't hire you because you went viral. They hire you because they've watched 30 of your videos and feel like they already know you.
Trent's quote says it best: "They see my videos — they feel a connection and like they already know me."
That's the whole game.
Distinctive enough that no one else can copy you. Fast enough that they actually finish watching. Consistent enough that sellers feel like they've already met you before they call.
Takeaway: Attention spans aren't getting longer. The agents winning right now pace their content for how people actually watch videos in 2026.
Monday ✅
If you skipped the survey at the top, here's your second chance.
The honest truth: this report is only as useful as the agents who fill it out. The more responses we get, the sharper the picture of what's actually working in 2026 versus what agents think is working.
That gap is where the real insight lives.
Takes four minutes. No email gate. Results will be unveiled later this month on a livestream.
Here’s what is on the rest of our agenda this week:
Today: 36M views of the fastest home tour ever
Tomorrow: Pre-listing move that ends the price fight before it starts
Wednesday: Inside the $115M listing breaking Tampa Bay records
Thursday: "The neighbor got 58 offers." Here's the new conversation.
See you soon,
- Chris Smith and Jimmy Mackin
