Blog > They Told Me I Didn’t Belong in Real Estate, Minnesota Proved Them Wrong : By Ken Alger, REALTOR®
They Told Me I Didn’t Belong in Real Estate, Minnesota Proved Them Wrong : By Ken Alger, REALTOR®
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They Told Me I Didn’t Belong in Real Estate, Minnesota Proved Them Wrong
By Ken Alger, REALTOR® — Farmington & Twin Cities, Minnesota
That’s not spin. That’s the truth.
At my first brokerage, a member of the training staff sat across from me and said—without hesitation—that they didn’t believe they could teach me anything and that I wouldn’t be able to do this. Then they wished me luck and sent me on my way. It landed hard. It stayed with me longer than it should have.
I moved on. I kept working. I transferred to another large brokerage. Nothing really happened there—no growth, no support, no direction. Eventually, I transferred again, this time to another office within the same corporate family. Different office, same machine.
That’s where things fell apart.
I experienced what I now understand as a medical crisis—likely triggered by a severe tooth infection that was affecting my mental state. Once I was on antibiotics, the fog lifted. Anyone who’s dealt with serious infections knows this can happen. But instead of support, understanding, or even basic humanity, the brokerage made a different calculation.
I was a liability.
So they fired me.
Not because I harmed a client.
Not because I violated ethics.
Not because I cut corners or lied or cheated.
Because I wasn’t producing enough units—and because I was inconvenient during a crisis.
That’s the part consumers rarely see.
What Big Brokerages Won’t Say Out Loud
Large brokerages in Minnesota—and nationally—love to talk about relationships. They say they’re people-first. They say they’re community-driven.
But let’s be honest.
Big brokerages are transactional by design. That’s not an insult; it’s a business model. Scale requires volume. Volume requires agents to function as interchangeable parts. If you don’t move enough product, you are replaceable—no matter how ethical you are, no matter how deeply you advocate for clients, no matter how loud your conscience is.
There is no such thing as a large, non-transactional brokerage. If there were, it wouldn’t be large.
And here’s the uncomfortable truth for consumers:
When agents are treated like commodities, clients become commodities too.
That’s not theory. That’s math.
The Irony They Didn’t See Coming
Today, I serve as the elected Chair of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the Saint Paul Area Association of Realtors—the second-largest REALTOR® trade organization in Minnesota, behind the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors. At the statewide level, we’re all part of Minnesota Realtors, under the umbrella of the National Association of Realtors.
Let that sit for a moment.
The agent they dismissed as unteachable.
The agent they viewed as a problem.
The agent they cut loose instead of supporting.
Now helps lead DEI efforts for thousands of REALTORS® across Minnesota.
One of the people who treated me as disposable—a fellow LGBTQ professional—made it clear that my gender made me inconvenient. Today, I help shape what inclusion actually looks like in practice, not just in marketing copy.
That isn’t revenge.
It’s accountability.
Why This Matters to Consumers
If you’re buying or selling a home in Minnesota, here’s what you deserve to know:
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A big brokerage name does not guarantee better representation.
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High-volume environments often reward speed over care.
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Ethical agents who slow things down, explain risk, and advocate hard are often seen internally as “inefficient.”
That should concern you.
Because the agent willing to push back on a bad deal, call out a red flag, or tell you not to proceed is rarely the agent being celebrated on the office leaderboard.
They’re too busy protecting you.
Why I Stayed Loud
I’m not a top producer by traditional metrics. I never pretended to be.
What I am is relentless about ethics.
Relentless about fair housing.
Relentless about informed consent.
Relentless about not treating people like inventory.
And yes—I’m stubborn. I’m loud. I don’t fold easily. That’s exactly why I’m still here.
Real estate doesn’t need more silent closers. It needs advocates. It needs agents who will speak when it’s uncomfortable. It needs professionals who see housing as shelter, stability, and generational impact—not just commission.
To the Brokers Who Wrote Me Off
You were wrong.
Not because I “won” some imaginary contest—but because the values you dismissed are the very ones this industry is being forced to reckon with now.
You couldn’t stop my voice.
You couldn’t shrink my ethics.
You couldn’t turn me into a unit.
And for consumers in Minnesota, that’s a good thing.
If you want representation that treats you like a person—not a product—you already know what to text.
Text KARE to 85377
or email kenalgerrealestate@gmail.com