Buying a commercial real estate executive search engagement is one of the most consequential procurement decisions a CRE firm makes in a year, and the model you pick shapes everything that follows: speed, finalist quality, accountability, and how much the search actually costs you in the end. After 42 years in CRE executive search and more than 5,000 completed placements, the H Two National team has watched these five search models evolve, compete, and settle into specific use cases. The labels matter less than the trade-offs underneath them.
This guide breaks down each model, the buyer it fits, and the questions worth asking before you sign anything in 2026.
Key Takeaways
- Five search models dominate CRE in 2026: retained, contingency, subscription (RecruitPlus), confidential replacement, and interim/contract staffing.
- Retained search fees typically run 25 to 33 percent of first-year cash compensation; contingency runs a similar range but pays only on placement.
- Subscription models like RecruitPlus shift the economics for firms hiring more than two or three senior roles a year.
- Confidential replacement protects an incumbent who’s still in seat; the search runs quietly until the day a finalist signs.
- The right model is driven by role criticality, hiring volume, and confidentiality, not by which model is “best” in the abstract.
Why Does the Search Model You Pick Matter So Much?
The search model decides three things before the first candidate is contacted: how much dedicated effort the firm will give you, who’s accountable for the outcome, and how the economics work if the hire fails. A retained engagement and a contingency engagement on the same role can produce completely different shortlists, timelines, and finalist depth. The model is not a billing detail; it is a delivery system.
The CRE-specific wrinkle is that the senior talent pool is small, mostly passive, and relationship-driven. Generic search models that work in tech or healthcare don’t always translate. A contingency model that produces broad inbound for a director-level corporate role will starve for finalists at the SVP level in multifamily, where the right candidates aren’t on a job board and won’t respond to a posted ad.
The model also shapes candidate experience, which most buyers don’t think about until it costs them a finalist. A retained recruiter calling a passive SVP gets a different conversation than a contingency recruiter cold-pitching the same person. Senior CRE candidates know the difference, and they decide whether to engage based on it.
For the underlying methodology that drives most senior CRE searches, see our deep dive on the benefits of passive talent acquisition in commercial real estate.
How Does Retained Executive Search Actually Work in CRE?
Retained executive search is the dominant model for senior CRE roles, typically VP and above, where the firm is paid in installments across the engagement regardless of outcome. The economics align the recruiter to spend dedicated effort on a single client and a single search, and the accountability sits squarely on the firm’s named senior recruiter rather than getting diffused across a wider competitive bench.
The structure usually breaks into three payments: an engagement fee at kickoff, a milestone fee at finalist presentation, and a completion fee at placement. Total fees commonly run 25 to 33 percent of first-year cash compensation. Some firms layer in expense pass-throughs; better firms quote an all-in number and absorb research costs themselves.
The trade-off is exclusivity. The client commits to a single search partner for the duration of the engagement, and that partner commits to dedicated bandwidth: weekly sponsor calls, a written candidate identification plan, structured slate development, and a guarantee period if the hire doesn’t work out. For senior CRE roles where the cost of a mis-hire is large, the retainer pays for itself many times over.
For a side-by-side comparison of retained against the contingency model, see our retained vs. contingency executive search buyer’s guide.
Who Should Use Retained Search?
Retained search fits four buyer profiles cleanly: senior leadership hires at VP and above, asset-class-specific roles where generalist sourcing falls short, confidential or sensitive searches that can’t be marketed broadly, and roles where speed and finalist depth matter more than the lowest possible fee. If the role failing costs more than the search fee, retained is almost always the right choice.
When Does Contingency Search Make Sense for CRE Hiring?
Contingency search is paid only on successful placement, which means the recruiter takes the risk and the client pays nothing if no hire happens. Fees run in a similar 20 to 30 percent range, but the firm is typically competing against other contingency recruiters and the client’s internal sourcing. The model produces broader top-of-funnel coverage for mid-level CRE roles, especially director-level work where the candidate pool is larger and more active.
The trade-off is dedication. A contingency recruiter running five searches for five different clients can’t give any single search the same dedicated effort a retained engagement gets. Finalist depth suffers, candidate experience can be uneven, and the firm’s incentive is to push candidates fast rather than to find the best one. For director-level corporate functions where the talent pool is broader, that trade-off is often acceptable.
In our experience, contingency works well at the director level and below, breaks down at the SVP level and above, and produces the most disappointed clients when buyers use it for roles that should have been retained. The most common pattern we see: a firm runs contingency for a regional VP role, gets two or three weak finalists across 90 days, and then engages a retained partner anyway, having spent the time but not the budget.
What’s the Real Difference Between Retained and Contingency?
The short answer is exclusivity, dedication, and risk allocation. Retained shifts the risk to the client (you pay whether the hire happens or not) in exchange for dedicated effort and a clear partner. Contingency shifts the risk to the recruiter (no hire, no fee) in exchange for divided attention and broader, shallower sourcing. Neither is “better.” They’re built for different buyer needs.
What Is the Subscription Model (RecruitPlus) and When Should You Consider It?
The subscription model, which H Two National runs as RecruitPlus, replaces transactional search-by-search engagements with an ongoing relationship: the client pays a monthly or quarterly fee, the firm builds and maintains a continuous talent map for the client’s target asset classes, and roles get filled as they open without re-engaging on price every time. For firms hiring more than two or three senior roles a year, the math changes significantly.
Across H Two National’s RecruitPlus client base, the average time-to-shortlist drops from the standard seven business days to under three because the candidate identification work is already in motion before a role even opens. The 254,000-person CRE candidate database is segmented by client and continuously refreshed, which turns reactive search into pipeline-based hiring.
The economic break-even point depends on the volume. A firm hiring one senior role a year is usually better served by retained search. A firm hiring four or more senior roles a year, plus market intelligence and competitive talent mapping, will typically save 20 to 40 percent over the equivalent retained spend, and they’ll fill faster.
For a deeper look at how the subscription model compares to a one-off retained engagement, see our expert guide to subscription vs. retained search for CRE hiring and our explanation of CRE talent-as-a-service and its benefits.
Who Should Use Subscription Search?
Subscription fits firms in active growth mode (acquisitions, regional expansion, new asset class entry), firms running a continuous succession-planning function, and firms where the head of HR or chief talent officer wants ongoing market intelligence rather than reactive sourcing. It also fits clients who want a single accountable partner sitting inside their leadership planning rhythm.
How Does Confidential Replacement Search Work?
Confidential replacement search is the quiet model: a leader is still in seat, the firm needs to replace them without alerting the incumbent, the team, the board, or the market, and the search runs invisibly until the day a finalist signs. The trigger is usually performance, fit, or strategic redirection that can’t be communicated publicly until the successor is identified. Done badly, the incumbent finds out from a candidate who got called by the search firm. Done well, no one outside the hiring sponsor and the recruiter knows the search exists.
The operational requirements are specific. Outreach must be done by name (no job postings, no recruiter LinkedIn announcements), candidates must be screened for discretion as a hard requirement, and the firm has to track every outreach to ensure no candidate in the incumbent’s network gets contacted before the replacement is signed. The recruiter’s reputation for handling confidentiality becomes the deciding factor in firm selection.
The trade-off is speed. Confidential searches typically run 30 to 60 days longer than open searches because the outreach pool is narrower, the messaging is more careful, and the finalist round happens in unmarked conference rooms instead of at the client’s office. The slower timeline is the price of protecting the incumbent and the firm’s reputation simultaneously.
For the full picture on confidentiality protocols and when to use this model, see our coming guide on confidential CRE leadership replacement.
When Should You Use Interim or Contract CRE Executive Staffing?
Interim or contract executive staffing places a senior leader on a temporary basis: typically 90 days to 18 months, with a defined scope, a fixed end date, and the option to convert to permanent at the client’s discretion. The model exists for a specific operational need: a permanent leader has left or is leaving, a permanent search is in motion, and the role can’t sit vacant during the 60-to-90-day search window.
Common use cases: a sudden CEO departure where the board needs operational continuity while a permanent search runs, a portfolio acquisition that needs an asset management leader to stabilize the new properties for 6 months, a regional reorganization that needs interim leadership while the new structure beds in. The interim leader is typically a seasoned CRE executive who runs interim work as their post-career engagement, not a junior consultant.
The economics are different from permanent search. Interim placements are billed as a daily or weekly rate, often $1,500 to $3,000 per day depending on seniority and asset class, with a placement fee or markup to the staffing firm. The model is more expensive on a per-day basis but cheaper than the cost of a 90-day leadership vacuum on a $400M portfolio.
For the practical playbook on when interim works and when it doesn’t, see our upcoming guide on interim CRE executive leadership.
How Do the Five Search Models Compare Side by Side?
The five models break down cleanly across four dimensions: exclusivity, payment structure, ideal role level, and primary trade-off. Retained gets exclusive effort and pays through the engagement; contingency gets broader sourcing but only pays on placement; subscription replaces transactional pricing with ongoing access; confidential replacement runs quietly with restricted outreach; interim places a temporary leader to bridge a permanent search.
The decision matrix that matters most is criticality and volume. If you’re hiring one senior role and a mis-hire would cost more than the search fee, retained. If you’re hiring multiple senior roles per year and want continuous market intelligence, subscription. If the incumbent is still in seat and the search has to stay quiet, confidential replacement. If you can’t tolerate a 90-day leadership gap during a permanent search, interim. Contingency works for director-level roles where the talent pool is broader.
The mistake we see most often is buyers selecting on price first and model fit second. Retained looks expensive next to contingency until you count the time, the lost productivity from a stalled search, and the cost of the mis-hire that contingency actually produced. The cheapest search is the one that closes correctly the first time, which is rarely the lowest-fee model.
What Does Each Model Cost in 2026?
Retained search runs 25 to 33 percent of first-year cash comp. Contingency runs a similar 20 to 30 percent but pays only on placement. Subscription pricing varies by firm but commonly ranges from $5,000 to $25,000 per month depending on volume and intelligence scope, often pricing out at 30 to 50 percent below the equivalent retained spend for high-volume buyers. Confidential replacement is priced as retained, sometimes with a premium of 5 to 10 percent for the discretion requirements. Interim placements bill at daily rates with a markup, typically equivalent to 1.5× to 2× the executive’s permanent comp on a normalized basis.
What Questions Should You Ask Any CRE Search Firm Before Engaging?
The four questions that separate a strong CRE search partner from a weak one are: how many placements have you completed in this specific asset class in the last 24 months, what is your average time-from-engagement-to-shortlist, who specifically will run my search and will they delegate to junior staff, and what is your guarantee structure if the hire doesn’t work out. The answers should be direct, factual, and consistent across firms you’re comparing.
Beyond those, the questions that reveal the firm’s actual operating model: do you cap the number of searches each senior recruiter runs concurrently, what does your candidate identification process look like before the first outreach, how do you measure success internally (placements only, or also retention at 12 and 24 months), and what does a kickoff call look like in week one. A firm that can’t answer these specifically is running searches improvisationally.
The tells that should make you walk away: a firm leading with “we recruit across all industries,” a partner who can’t tell you the names of three CRE placements they personally led in the last year, a fee structure that won’t survive a written redline, or a kickoff process that doesn’t involve a written success definition. These are not edge cases. They are predictable signals that the engagement will go badly.
For the full vetting checklist, see our guide on how to vet CRE executive search firms in 2026.
How Have CRE Search Models Evolved Over 42 Years?
When Leo Turley started in CRE executive search in 1984, the model was almost entirely retained, the relationships were almost entirely phone-based, and the candidate pool fit in a Rolodex. The contingency model expanded through the 1990s as recruiters scaled into mid-level CRE roles, and the subscription model emerged in the 2010s as institutional CRE owners and operators wanted to convert reactive search into continuous talent intelligence.
The biggest model shift we’ve watched in the last decade isn’t a new model. It’s the move from search-as-a-transaction to search-as-a-program. The CRE firms hiring well in 2026 are running their talent function the way they run their acquisitions function: with a market map, a continuous identification process, and a relationship layer that runs whether or not a specific role is open. RecruitPlus and other subscription models exist because buyers got tired of starting cold every time a role opened.
The C-suite vs. regional-director distinction has also sharpened. For analysis on how senior-level segmentation shapes the right model choice, read our breakdown of CRE executive search trends comparing C-suite vs. regional director strategy.
The technology layer has also evolved, but not in the direction most outside observers expected. Generative AI has not replaced relationship-based search. It has made the volume of generic outreach a candidate receives so high that senior CRE candidates filter most of it within seconds. The model that still works is human, specific, and grounded in trade-group networks the recruiter has been inside for years. The technology can speed up identification. It hasn’t replaced the recruiter.
Which Search Model Is Right for Your Open Role?
If you’re hiring one senior CRE role and the cost of a mis-hire exceeds the search fee, retained is almost always the right choice. If you’re hiring four or more senior roles a year, RecruitPlus or another subscription model will lower your cost-per-hire and shorten your time-to-shortlist. If the incumbent is still in seat and the search has to stay quiet, confidential replacement is the model. If you can’t tolerate a leadership gap during a permanent search, interim bridges it. Contingency works for director-level roles where the talent pool is broader and the cost of a slow hire is lower.
The decision sequence that works in practice: define the role and its criticality, decide whether the search can be public or has to stay confidential, estimate your hiring volume over the next 24 months, and only then select the model. Buyers who reverse that sequence (model first, role second) end up with mismatched engagements that produce slow searches and disappointed sponsors.
What H Two National brings to the model conversation: 42 years of CRE-focused operating history, 5,000+ completed placements across retained, contingency, subscription, confidential, and interim engagements, a 254,000-person candidate database, and an honest recommendation on which model fits the role in front of you. Our services and fees page lays out the structure for each model so you can compare apples to apples before the first conversation. For the diagnostic call, see our search process.
For cross-cluster context on what a bad model selection actually costs, see the real cost of a bad hire in commercial real estate and our 2026 CRE hiring trends report based on 5,000+ placements.
Where to Start When You Have an Open Senior Role
If you have an open senior CRE role today and you’re not sure which model fits, the right first move is a 30-minute diagnostic call with a firm that runs all five models every week. The conversation should be model-agnostic on the firm’s side: a strong search partner will tell you when subscription doesn’t fit, when contingency is fine, and when interim is the better answer, even if the recommendation is less profitable for them.
Talk to the H Two National team about your open role, your hiring volume over the next 24 months, and whether the search can be public. The first conversation is diagnostic, not transactional. We’ll be honest about the right model for your situation, even if the answer is one we don’t run.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a CRE executive search firm and what do they actually do?
A CRE executive search firm identifies, recruits, and places senior leaders in commercial real estate, typically at the VP level and above. The work goes beyond posting jobs: the firm runs direct outreach to passive candidates, screens for asset-class fit and culture match, manages the interview process with the client, and supports offer negotiation and onboarding. H Two National has completed more than 5,000 placements across multifamily, office, industrial, retail, hospitality, property management, and asset management roles over 42 years.
How much does a CRE executive search cost in 2026?
Retained executive search fees in commercial real estate typically run 25 to 33 percent of first-year cash compensation, paid in installments. Contingency models run a similar percentage range but pay only on successful placement. Subscription models like H Two National’s RecruitPlus shift to a monthly or quarterly fee, often pricing 30 to 50 percent below equivalent retained spend for firms hiring multiple senior roles per year. Interim placements bill at daily rates of $1,500 to $3,000.
What’s the difference between retained and contingency CRE executive search?
Retained search is paid in installments through the engagement regardless of outcome, with the firm operating as the exclusive partner. Contingency is paid only on successful placement, with the firm typically competing against other recruiters. Retained produces dedicated effort and finalist depth at senior levels; contingency produces broader top-of-funnel coverage for mid-level roles. The choice is driven by role seniority and the cost of a mis-hire, not by which model is generally “better.”
When does subscription search like RecruitPlus make sense?
Subscription search fits firms hiring more than two or three senior CRE roles per year, firms in active growth mode (acquisitions, regional expansion, asset class entry), and firms that want continuous market intelligence rather than reactive sourcing. The economics typically save 20 to 40 percent over equivalent retained spend at higher volumes. For a firm hiring one senior role a year, retained is usually the better fit. The break-even is volume, not company size.
How do I know if a CRE search firm is worth engaging?
Four signals separate strong partners from weak ones: asset-class specificity (not “we recruit across all industries”), named senior recruiters who run the work themselves, a written and consistent search methodology, and verifiable placement history at the level you’re hiring. Ask how many placements they’ve completed in your specific asset class in the last 24 months and who will personally run your search. Direct, factual answers indicate a real operating firm.
The Bottom Line
The five CRE search models, retained, contingency, subscription, confidential replacement, and interim, exist because no single model fits every hiring need. The firms making good model selections in 2026 start with the role, the criticality, and the hiring volume, and only then decide on the engagement structure. The firms making bad selections start with the fee number and back into a model that doesn’t fit the role.
The economics matter, but they matter second. The cost of running the wrong model is almost always larger than the spread between any two model fees: it shows up as slow searches, weak finalists, mis-hires, and the cost of starting over.
H Two National’s view, after 42 years and 5,000+ placements across all five models: the right search engagement is the one that matches the role’s criticality, your hiring volume, and your confidentiality requirements. Get those three inputs right and the model selection becomes obvious. Get them wrong and no fee structure will save the search.
Start a conversation with the H Two National team about an open senior CRE role, or review our services and fees for the retained, contingency, and RecruitPlus structures we run every day.