50+ Tips on New Habits, Storytelling, AI: R4 Speakers Covered it All

One of the many noteworthy highlights of the 2026 REMAX R4 was the world-class quality of the authors, experts and industry insiders who shared their insights from the big stage in the MGM Grand Garden Arena. (As well as bow-tie economist Elliot Eisenberg, who captivated the crowd at the Closing Session.)

The speaker lineup at every R4 is robust. But this year’s list was especially strong.

While the best way to experience speakers like this is to hear them in person – go ahead and plan on being in Vegas next Feb. 22-24 – here’s a curated collection of some of the best tips and insights.

Presented here – in alphabetical order – are highlights from the General Session and Closing Session speakers:

• 1000WATT (Brian Boero, Marc Davison)
• Brian Buffini
• Ricky Carruth
• James Clear
• Elliot Eisenberg
• Ryan Estis
• Michael Thorne
• Vanessa Van Edwards

1000WATT (Brian Boero, Marc Davison): Smart, Strategic Storytelling
Brian Boero and Marc Davison are co-founders of 1000Watt, the powerhouse real estate branding and marketing agency.

1. Don’t confuse marketing and promotion. Providing information with a call to action isn’t enough. That’s just promotion.
2. Know your customers. “The best marketing happens when you understand how your customers are feeling, who they are, and what their story is. You’re not selling yourself. You’re relating to your audience.” (Davison)
3. Get creative. “Walk through every property you list and you’ll recognize things in that house that will register with a buyer. Capture that in your headline and a ‘Just Listed’ becomes something much more.” (Davison)
4. Listen with intention. “If you listen to them, your customers will tell you what your marketing should be.” (Boero)
5. Stay connected. Once a quarter, email your entire sphere a piece like “3 Ways I Can Be Helpful to You.” Then provide them with an item of value – a list of service providers, an updated home evaluation or an offer to provide insights on a home improvement project.

Brian Buffini: Have Your Ultimate Year in Real Estate
Brian Buffini is a world-renowned speaker, author, podcast host, and founder and CEO of Buffini & Company.

1. Seize your opportunities. Fewer agents in the industry means less competition, and that means more business opportunities for you.
2. Get face-to-face with customers. “When you meet their transactional needs, you get a paycheck. When you meet their emotional needs, they become an advocate forever.”
3. Show them your value. This spring, reach out to every withdrawn listing from your MLS in the past 12 months to offer a fresh approach to getting their home back on the market. One out of every seven listings in the U.S. and Canada was withdrawn from the market last year. When surveyed, 92% of those homeowners said they intend to put their house back on the market in the spring.
4. Be smart about it. Match the seasonality of customer tendencies with the rhythm of the business.
5. Plan to do it all – with systems. We’re human. We can’t do everything every day. But we can plan ahead and build systems for:

• Lead generation: mailers, calls, pop-bys, social media
• Transactions: showings > listings > negotiations > closings
• Referrals: generate 1-2 referrals from each closing
• Organization: re-evaluate, re-organize, and plan

Ricky Carruth: Principles to Increase Production
Ricky Carruth is a top real estate agent, coach and motivational speaker based in Orange Beach, Alabama.

1. Value relationships over transactions. Connecting with people builds a business quicker than focusing on setting appointments and closing deals.
2. Stay top of mind with your sphere. When they’re ready to buy or sell a home, you’ll be the first person they reach out to.
3. Work the whole spectrum. While you’re helping people who are actively ready to buy or sell, continue to work on those who aren’t at that point yet.
4. Stay focused. Don’t expect immediate results. Stay vigilant with lead generation and watch the compound effect of your consistent efforts over time.
5. Be prepared for slowdowns. Even in the slowest market conditions, closings still happen every day. Create a business model that excels in the slow markets – and you won’t have to worry about ups and downs.

James Clear: Developing Winning, Sustainable Habits
James Clear is an American writer best known for is self-help book Atomic Habits.

1. Focus on small steps. If you improve by 1% each day, you’ll get 37X better by the end of a year. Making small, sustainable changes each day creates long-term growth.
2. Do what they won’t. Devote your small, daily changes on improvements your competitors aren’t thinking about or taking the time to do.
3. Learn how habits form and work. Once you understand the science behind them, you can be the architect of your habits rather than the victim of them.
4. Keep your eyes on the prize. Don’t get bogged down by your goals. Instead, focus on your trajectory and your systems.
5. Break the bad ones. To break a bad habit, make it invisible or create friction between you and it. For example, to stop eating junk food, resolve to never bring any into your home.
6. Develop positive triggers. To create a good habit, foster the right environment – and behaviors that support it. Make your cue – the trigger for acting on your habit – obvious and a big part of your everyday patterns.
7. Get social with it. We’re highly influenced by our social environments, so belong to groups that match your desired habits.
8. Find easy actions to build your habit. Scale down the habit you’re trying to create into something that takes two minutes or less to do.
9. Create a habit tracker to see your progress. Visualization is satisfying. It will help motivate you to keep your streak going.
10. Set goals around your identity. If you want to read a book, your goal is to become a reader. Once you believe your new identity and take pride in it, the habit will become much easier to stick to.

Elliot Eisenberg, Ph.D.: Economics can be fun! Really!
Elliot Eisenberg is known as the “Bowtie Economist” and is an internationally acclaimed economist and public speaker.

1. Know the months of inventory in your market. This is the most important indicator on the health of a local market, and provides a good barometer of where to focus business. “Inventory is the intersection of supply and demand.”
2. 2026 should be an OK year. The Fed is expected to cut rates once or twice, job growth is expected to remain stagnant, and inflation should decline. One area to watch as a potential sign of a recession? Unemployment.
3. Inflation will drive rate cuts. If inflation drops in a meaningful way – like a full percentage point – it could trigger reduced 10-year treasury 30-year mortgage rates.
4. The economy is … weird. Home construction is at a recession-low level, and low earners are not happy – but wealthier individuals are still spending. AI is taking off, and it’s driving the stock market. “It’s weird, but it’s working.”
5. AI is driving construction, too. AI companies spent over $700 billion on infrastructure last year – about 2% of the U.S. GDP.
6. The population is shifting. 2025 was a very slow year in population growth, but certain areas are still growing – like the Carolinas, Texas and Utah. Knowing demographic trends is essential in knowing where people want to buy.
7. Covid is still having an impact. In some respects, today’s market is like “the reverse Covid market.” Strong real estate markets during Covid are now struggling, and those that struggled are now doing well. For instance, the Midwest and upper Midwest states are gaining population for the first time in decades.

Ryan Estis: The Art of Standing Out
Ryan Estis is a bestselling author and strategic advisor focused on hyper-growth and expanding the human-centered movement.

1. Personalize and customize. Make sure you’re providing the best experience possible for your clients to show that you know and understand them, their wants and their needs.
2. Learn all you can. Become the trusted expert for your clients and deliver the insight and guidance they truly need.
3. Create unique experiences. Help clients visualize what their life could look like if they purchased the home. Make it feel real, personal, and exciting for them.
4. Understand your mission. You’re not selling real estate. You’re helping somebody make the right decision. Shift your focus from how you can be successful to how you can be helpful.
5. Stack your value. Don’t just meet expectations – look for small ways to surprise and delight your clients throughout the process. These thoughtful touches create a memorable experience that sets you apart and leaves a lasting impression.
6. Embrace change. Change can be challenging, but it reveals opportunity – lean into it. Automate the tangible. Humanize the intangible. Artificial Intelligence is brilliant at scaling volume; Authentic Intelligence is what’s required to scale value.
7. Be an answer engine. We’re drowning in a sea of information, and most clients are overwhelmed by it. Be an answer engine – that’s your competitive edge.
8. Cultivate empathy. It fosters connection, elevates resonance, improves trust, increases urgency, and drives partnerships.
9. Know – in your heart – you can do it. “Everything you need to accomplish … all you desire in this business … and all you deserve in your life is inside you.”

Michael Thorne: AI is Your Cheat Code
Michael Thorne is a prominent real estate professional, coah and expert in the intersection of AI and real estate.

1. Use AI like a cheat code for growing your business. Studies show that AI use can greatly reduce the time it takes to complete tasks while increasing the quality of the output. Do more, and do it better, with AI.
2. Make use of your saved time. You can save a lot of time using AI. Put it to good use! Improve your work-life balance, devote more time to non-tech tasks, visit former clients – whatever it may be, use your extra time wisely.
3. Elevate your listing presentations. Learn to use Gemini Nano Banana AI. When you need a perfect photo of the home and you don’t have one, grab a screenshot from Google Street View. Prompt the AI with something like: “Turn this into a high-end real estate photo. Add leaves to the trees, remove the car from the driveway and make the grass greener.”
4. Lean into your REMAX resources. Utilize REMAX tools, like Canva, and upload the images created by AI to add in the REMAX logo, brand colors, etc.
5. Tap into AI for brainstorming assistance. Ask ChatGPT for imaginative, unconventional ideas. Have AI turn the ideas into solutions with a refined proposal and practical steps to implement.
6. Talk to it! Use the Advanced Voice Mode within ChatGPT to leverage your expertise. Have a conversation with the AI and tell it about your local market. Or ask it to interview you with questions that build off of the information you give. When you’re done, ask ChatGPT to create a marketing piece based on the exchange.

Vanessa Van Edwards: The Secret Language of Charisma
Vanessa Van Edwards is a behavioral researcher, bestselling author, founder of Science of People, and Harvard instructor who has spent two decades sharing evidence-based people skills.

1. Know the difference. There’s a formula for charismatic people. They’re sending clear signals that you can trust and rely on them. Recognize the signs.
2. Be around them. Charisma is contagious, so spend time with charismatic people. The more charismatic you are, the more charismatic you make everyone else.
3. Understand the signals you’re sending. The signals you send tell others how to treat you. Make sure you’re in control of these signals. You could be the most trustworthy person in the room, but if you’re not signaling it correctly, people will not believe you.
4. Be likeable and warm … “Competence without warmth leaves others feeling suspicious.” This is the curse of very smart people. You could have the best ideas, best home, best data, and best numbers, but if you don’t present yourself with warmth, people will not believe in you.
5. …without going too far. The desire to be liked can get in the way of being respected. Never sacrifice credibility for likeability.
6. Recognize your power. Your warmth and competence cues trigger other’s warmth and competence. The clearer your signals, the more you’ll inspire people. You have the power to change an entire interaction with one word – so be purposeful with your words. Gift the behavior you’re hoping to see with the kinds of words that you use.
7. Know that it all adds up. How you say things matters just as much as what you’re saying. Your non-verbal cues need to align with your verbal cues.

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