Agents change firms. NAR's 2026 Member Profile puts the median tenure with a current firm at six years, across a membership of roughly 1.44 million as of June 2026. Six years is a long time to build a web presence — and a short time to keep one, if the presence isn't yours.
This is the practical question nobody asks until the week they're leaving: what actually disappears?
A brokerage-provided website is usually a page inside the brokerage's website. That's the whole thing in one sentence. You can often see it in the address bar — your name sits in a folder or a subdomain under the firm's domain. In that setup the domain is registered to the company, the hosting is the company's, and the login that edits the page is the company's.
So when you leave, the page typically comes down or gets reassigned, the same way your desk does. Nobody is being unfair to you. It was never your property.
The table below describes the common pattern, not a universal rule — see the "varies by firm" section further down.
| Asset | On a brokerage-provided site | On a domain you own |
|---|---|---|
| Your web address | Usually gone — it belongs to the firm | Yours, as long as you keep renewing it |
| Your email address | Usually shut off | Stays |
| Testimonials posted on that page | Usually gone with the page (keep your own copies) | Stay |
| Contact form leads | Often route through the brokerage | Come straight to you |
| Links pointing at your page | Break when the page comes down | Keep working |
| Active listings | Stay with the broker either way — see below | |
| License, MLS ID, Zillow profile, your database | Yours either way | |
This one isn't about websites, but it surprises people so it belongs here. Your listings don't move with you. A listing agreement is a contract between the seller and the broker, not between the seller and you — the Texas Real Estate Commission states this plainly in its FAQ for agents changing sponsoring brokers, and many states follow the same general principle. Your old firm keeps the listing unless the broker agrees to release it and the seller signs a new agreement with your new firm. Any listing detail pages that lived on the brokerage site go with it. Check how your own state handles it.
Quietly the most expensive loss. Every past client, every escrow officer, every lender, every business card you've handed out for six years points at an address that may stop working. Some firms forward mail for a while; plenty don't. And a brokerage can change or retire its own domain even when you're not going anywhere.
It's not all bad news, and it's worth knowing exactly where the line falls:
We're not going to pretend every brokerage handles this the same way. NAR's 2026 profile found 53% of members are with independent companies, and independents range from a two-person shop to a large regional firm with a real marketing department. Some brokerages will let you point a domain you own at your agent page. Some let you keep a lead inbox. Some give you a genuinely good site and never touch your leads. A few will hand you an export of everything on your way out because they'd rather part on good terms.
And here's the part we'd rather say out loud than have you find out later: for plenty of agents, the free brokerage site is genuinely enough. If your business runs on referrals and your sphere already has your cell number, a page you didn't pay for is doing a fine job. Don't buy something you don't need.
The honest ask is just this: find out, in writing, what your specific firm's policy is — before you need to know.
Five steps. None of them require you to leave your brokerage or stop using its tools.
Your name, ideally: janesmithrealty.com. At-cost registrars price a .com around $10–$15 a year as of 2026 — Cloudflare, for example, sells at cost at $10.44/year with no first-year discount and no renewal jump. Register it with your personal email and your personal card, never the brokerage's. This is the single highest-leverage thing on the list.
jane@janesmithrealty.com follows you everywhere. You can still forward it to your brokerage inbox and work exactly as you do today.
Screenshot them, save the client's name and the date, and store them somewhere you control. Reviews on a page that vanishes vanish with it.
Business cards, signs, email signature, Zillow, Google Business Profile, Instagram bio. Then a brokerage change never breaks a link anyone has of yours.
A personal site doesn't exempt you from license law. Many states require the brokerage's name in your advertising — Florida requires the firm name adjacent to or immediately above or below your point-of-contact information on internet ads, Ohio requires it in at least equal prominence with the salesperson's name on sites the licensee controls, and Texas sets a minimum size relative to your own contact info. So your own page still displays your brokerage. The difference is that when you move, updating it takes about two minutes instead of starting over. Check your own state commission's current rule; they differ in the details.
Not magic. One page, at an address you control, that says who you are and how to reach you — and that survives every career decision you make. When you do move, you edit the brokerage name and, if you ever change domains, put a 301 redirect from the old address to the new one; Google's own documentation says permanent redirects don't cause a loss in PageRank, and recommends keeping them in place for at least a year.
That's the whole argument. Not that your brokerage's site is bad. Just that it isn't yours.
AgentSiteHQ builds one professional one-page site for a one-time $297. No monthly fee, no contract. You own it, you point your own domain at it (about $12 a year, bought by you, in your name), and it's usually live in around three days. You can build a free preview and see the whole thing before you decide whether it's worth paying for — and if your brokerage site is already doing the job, keep using it. We'd rather you spent the $297 on something you actually need.
Usually not. In the common setup, the domain, hosting, and content management account are registered to the brokerage, and your page lives as a subpage or subdomain of the firm's website. When your license moves, the page typically comes down. Policies do vary — some firms are more flexible than others — so ask yours directly, in writing, before you assume either way.
No, not automatically. A listing agreement is a contract between the seller and the broker, not between the seller and you personally. The Texas Real Estate Commission states this plainly in its guidance for agents changing sponsoring brokers, and many states follow the same general principle. Your old broker keeps the listing unless the broker releases it and the seller signs a new agreement with your new firm. Check the rule in your own state.
It depends where they live. Reviews on your Zillow profile stay with you — Zillow links your listings and past sales to the MLS Agent ID on your account, not to your brokerage. Google reviews on your own Google Business Profile stay with you too, since Google permits individual agents their own profile separate from the agency's. Testimonials posted on your brokerage's agent page usually disappear with the page, so keep your own copies.
Yes, in most states. Real estate advertising rules generally require the licensed brokerage name to appear — Florida requires it adjacent to or immediately above or below your point-of-contact information on internet ads, Ohio requires at least equal prominence with the salesperson's name on sites the licensee controls, and Texas sets a minimum size relative to your contact info. The rules differ in the details, so check your state commission. The advantage of owning the site isn't dodging the rule; it's that updating the firm name after a move takes two minutes.
Honestly, sometimes not. If your business runs on referrals and repeat clients who already have your cell number, a free brokerage page may be doing everything you need. The case for owning one is portability: you keep the URL, the email address, and the presence built around your name, no matter how many times you change firms. NAR's 2026 Member Profile puts median tenure at a current firm at six years, which suggests a firm change is a normal part of a long career rather than a rare event.
Register a domain in your own name with your personal email and card, and move your working email address onto it. That one step protects the thing that's hardest to replace — every past client, lender, and title officer who has your address saved. Then export your database (check your independent contractor agreement first) and save copies of your testimonials before you give notice.
Add your name and a listing and publish it free at agentsitehq.com/s/your-name. Want your own domain, the badge gone and the files to keep? A one-time $297 — no monthly fees, 14-day refund.
Build my site free →