Real Estate Organizations Have a Crisis Readiness Problem – and Social Media Is Accelerating the Consequences

Written by:

Steve Marcinuk

Date:

06 Jul 2026

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Most real estate organizations do not have a crisis management plan. And of those that do, many have never tested it. That is the candid assessment of Edward Segal, a crisis management consultant, author, and Forbes Leadership Strategies Senior Contributor who spent more than a decade leading two major realtor associations in California.

His observation is not theoretical. It comes from years of managing crises from the inside, first as a press secretary for members of Congress, then as CEO of both the Greater Los Angeles Association of Realtors and the Marin Association of Realtors, and now as an advisor to organizations across dozens of industries. His latest book, The Crisis Casebook: Lessons in Crisis Management from the World’s Leading Brands, draws on that accumulated experience to examine how companies and organizations handle high-pressure situations, for better and worse.

A Sector Prone to Denial

The real estate industry, like many others, tends to operate under the assumption that serious crises happen to someone else. “Most companies, whether in real estate or not, are usually in a state of denial,” Segal notes. “They never think a crisis is going to hit them.”

That mindset creates real vulnerability. Realtor associations, brokerages, and property management firms face a wide range of potential disruptions – from regulatory changes and internal HR issues to reputational damage spreading rapidly across social media. Without a plan in place, the response is often reactive and disorganized, which can make a manageable situation significantly worse.

Segal’s time running the Marin Association of Realtors in Northern California offered a clear illustration of proactive crisis management in practice. When the San Rafael City Council moved to impose a business license fee on realtor members, Segal did not wait to see how the situation developed. He briefed his board immediately, secured their authorization, and launched a coordinated public relations and advocacy campaign within days. The city backed down. “When you find out there’s a problem, don’t wait,” he says. “The longer you wait, the worse things will get.”

A similar principle guided a decision by the Greater Los Angeles Association of Realtors, which had booked its annual gala at the Beverly Hills Hotel. When it became public that the hotel’s owner, the Sultan of Brunei, presided over a country with laws that criminalized homosexuality, the association moved quickly to cancel the contract and find a new venue. The timing proved critical. Hollywood was already organizing protests against the hotels; it would have been publicly associated with a controversy it had no part in creating. “As soon as you learn there’s a problem, take action,” Segal says. “The sooner you act, the more likely it is you’ll have a better outcome.”

The Social Media Effect

Beyond traditional operational and regulatory risks, social media poses a category of threat that most real estate professionals are ill-equipped to handle. A single negative post from a dissatisfied client, a former employee, or a community member can spread quickly and, if left unaddressed, take on a life of its own.

Segal explains that a bad experience with a realtor or real estate organization, once posted publicly, can create a crisis not just for the individual agent but for their brokerage and even their realtor association. The risk compounds when organizations choose silence over response. “If they just let it sit there and do nothing, the assumption will be that the derogatory statement must be true,” he says, “because if it were false, the company or individual involved would respond to set the record straight.”

His recommendation is straightforward: monitor constantly and respond quickly. That means having systems in place before a problem surfaces, not scrambling to build them after one already has. For real estate organizations without in-house expertise, he advises working with outside consultants who understand both the communications and technical dimensions of managing a social media crisis, including how platform algorithms affect the visibility of negative content and how to highlight and promote more favorable information.

Planning for the Unexpected

Preparedness gaps extend beyond whether an organization has a plan at all. Even among those with documented procedures, Segal finds that most fail to account for multiple scenarios or contingencies. A single document covering one type of disruption is rarely sufficient. “You have to have a plan A, B, and C,” he says, “and perhaps to account for different contingencies, you need a plan X, Y, and Z.”

Even organizations that have documented plans often fail to update them as conditions change. New regulatory environments, advances in technology, and evolving social dynamics all create new risk categories that older plans may not address. Testing the plan against realistic worst-case scenarios is equally important, and equally rare.

For real estate professionals looking to close that gap, Segal offers a free crisis management template on his website, thecrisiscasebook.com. The downloadable resource is designed to serve as a starting point for organizations of any size to build or benchmark their own preparedness framework.

The Cost of Waiting

The broader lesson running through Segal’s experience is that timing matters more than almost anything else in a crisis. Organizations that move early, communicate clearly, and take visible action tend to contain damage. Those who hesitate, hoping a situation will resolve on its own, typically find it does not.

For real estate professionals navigating an environment shaped by tight inventory, regulatory pressure, shifting commission structures, and heightened public scrutiny, that lesson carries particular weight. The question, as Segal frames it, is not whether a crisis will arrive, but whether the organization will be ready when it does.

About the Expert: Edward Segal is a crisis management consultant, author, and a Leadership Strategies Senior Contributor with Forbes.com. His background includes serving as CEO of both the Greater Los Angeles Association of Realtors and the Marin Association of Realtors, as well as prior experience as a press secretary for members of Congress. He is the author of “The Crisis Casebook: Lessons in Crisis Management from the World’s Leading Brands”.

This article is based on information provided by the expert source cited above. It is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or real estate advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals before making any real estate or financial decisions.