Century 21’s Mike Miedler: Recruiting Latino talent is a growth strategy, not a diversity talking point

Photo by AJ Canaria for HousingWire The Gathering

Right now, the real estate industry is consumed by consolidation, capital and the next big brokerage model. Century 21 CEO Mike Miedler is focused on a more grounded question: Who will be sitting across the kitchen table from tomorrow’s homebuyer?

For Miedler, the answer is not just about consumer demographics. It is about whether brokerages are building the agent pipeline, cultural fluency and community relationships needed to serve the next generation of Latino homebuyers — before someone else does. The Century 21 CEO’s larger message was direct: For brokerages looking for growth, the opportunity is not theoretical. It is already here.

Speaking at HousingWire’s The Gathering in Austin, Texas, Miedler said industry leaders often spend time analyzing consolidation, capital and corporate strategy. But he argued those conversations only matter if they ultimately help the agents working directly with consumers.

“What does this mean for the agents at the ground level?” Miedler said, referencing recent industry consolidation. “Any of those big consolidation plays in this industry as a whole have to drive more value to the agents who are serving our consumers and make the homebuying experience a little bit easier.”

Time to be more intentional about recruiting

For Miedler, the discussion comes back to the fundamentals of real estate — and to where future demand is expected to come from.

“I am kind of of the old school — 30 years in this industry,” he said. “One of the things that I’ve learned is that there are no hacks in this business. It is really all about the hustle.”

That hustle, he said, now requires brokerage leaders to be more intentional about recruiting, training and supporting Latino agents and loan officers. Miedler said Latino buyers are expected to represent a significant share of new homebuyers over the next 30 years and pointed to the cohort’s broader economic power as a reason companies should pay attention.

“They’re also driving the local economy,” Miedler said. “So they’re going to be the people spending money on retail banking with us.”

But Miedler said serving that consumer requires more than marketing. It requires trust, cultural understanding and a workforce that can connect with buyers at the kitchen table.

“The way that you build trust with any segment, with any cohort, with any individual consumer is you have to resonate with those folks,” he said. “You have to realize how they think about transactions, how they think about homebuying, how they think about the process.”

Miedler noted that Latino real estate professionals remain underrepresented compared with the market opportunity. He said about 13% of NAR sales professional members are Latino, while the share rises to about 15% among real estate professionals under 40. Mortgage lenders, he said, are slightly higher, at about 16%.

“To me, you close that gap by being present,” he said. “It’s about you being there as a support and an ally in not just advocacy, but in education.”

Miedler said that is why he serves on the corporate board of governors for the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP), even though, as he joked, “the extent of my Spanish is buenos dias.”

“I am not Latino, but I know that this is where the business is heading,” he said. “That’s why you have to be really intentional around that strategy.”

At Century 21, Miedler said that means building spaces for Latino agents and entrepreneurs to connect, including programming at the brand’s global conference that brings together agents from Spanish-speaking countries and the U.S. He also pointed to Century 21 Integra’s work developing Latina-led teams through coaching, training and business-building support.

“It is about bringing the talent into the business,” he said.

Century 21 has also gone directly into high schools, colleges and universities through what Miedler described as its Empowering Latinos program, offering scholarships for prospective agents to get their real estate license. The program also connects new entrants with Latino and Latina agents already operating at a high level.

“Maybe it’s a fit to bring them onto a team,” he said. “Maybe it’s just a coach, kind of educator-type relationship, but it’s about really being tactical and getting down to the grassroots level.”

Miedler said the timing matters because production is becoming more concentrated among top agents and loan officers, with the industry’s long-standing 80/20 rule moving closer to 90/10.

“This is a growth market that we actually can control,” he said. “If we’re able to do that, it doesn’t just mean that we’re going to bring more Latinos into homeownership. That’s going to happen no matter what. But I think it will be better for the growth of your business and actually more profitable for you over a longer period of time.”

The companies that win, he said, will be the ones that show up early and consistently.

“I think they’re on the front line,” Miedler said. “They’re involved.”

This article was generated using HousingWire Automation and reviewed by a HousingWire editor before publication. The system helps convert company announcements and industry data into HousingWire-style news coverage.