I Tour 15 Homes a Week — Here's What I'm Seeing Right Now
I hear a lot of people talk about "the market" from behind a desk. Charts and data and national trends. That's fine — data matters. But there's a difference between reading about the market and actually being inside it every day. I'm in 15+ homes a week. I see what's happening on the ground. And here's what I'm actually seeing right now.
What's Selling Fast
The properties that are moving — I'm talking under 14 days — all have the same profile: well-priced, well-presented, and realistically positioned from day one. There's no secret sauce.
In the $400k–$700k range, I'm seeing turnkey homes in good locations get multiple offers within the first week. These are properties that show well, are priced within 5% of recent comparable sales, and don't need major work. Buyers in this range have less patience for fixer-uppers. They want to move in and not think about renovations for the first year.
In the luxury segment — $1.5M and up — the fast movers are the ones that offer something genuinely unique. Direct intracoastal frontage. A lot with room for an expansion. Architectural character that you can't replicate with new construction. The generic luxury spec homes are sitting. The special ones are selling.
What's Sitting
I could write a whole other post about this, but here's the short version. The listings sitting for 60+ days share three common traits:
1. Price delusion. The biggest and most common problem. I walked a listing last week that's been on the market for 78 days. Three-bedroom, two-bath in a decent area. Nothing special — average finishes, small lot, no pool. Priced at $899k. The comps say $750k, maybe $775k if you squint. The seller is convinced their home is special. The market disagrees, loudly.
2. Poor presentation. Cluttered rooms, bad paint colors, overgrown landscaping, dated kitchens that the seller insists are "vintage." I get it — updating is expensive and inconvenient. But in a market where buyers have options, the home that looks tired is the one that gets skipped. I've seen sellers spend $5,000 on staging and professional decluttering and get an offer within two weeks after sitting for three months.
3. Bad photography. This one drives me crazy. There are still listings hitting the market with dim, poorly composed iPhone photos. In 2026. In the luxury South Florida market. Listen, I don't care how good the property is — if the photos look bad online, buyers aren't walking through the door. Period.
What I'm Seeing From Buyers
Buyer behavior has shifted noticeably in the last six months. The "FOMO frenzy" of 2021–2022 is gone, and in its place is a more cautious, deliberate buyer. That's not a bad thing — it's healthier for everyone. But it does mean sellers need to adjust their expectations.
Today's buyers are doing more research before they tour. They're pulling permits, checking flood zones, researching HOA financials before they even book a showing. When they do tour, they show up with questions — real questions about roof age, AC replacement dates, insurance costs, and recent assessments.
The buyers writing offers right now are serious. But they're also disciplined. They're not getting into bidding wars on overpriced listings. They'll walk away and wait for the next one. That's smart, but it means sellers who want top dollar need to earn it — through pricing, presentation, and transparency.
What Sellers Need to Hear
The market has stabilized. It hasn't crashed. It hasn't boomed. We're in a normal market — which feels weird after the insanity of the last few years. In a normal market, the fundamentals matter more. Price it right, present it well, and be realistic about timing.
If you're thinking about selling, here's what I'd tell you: don't wait for the "perfect" moment. The spring market was strong, summer is steady, and well-priced homes are still moving. The mistake I see most often is sellers waiting for conditions that are never going to return — like peak-pandemic demand with 3% mortgage rates. That world isn't coming back. Price for this market, not the one you wish we were in.
What I'm Watching For
A few things have my attention going into the fall. Inventory is creeping up — not dramatically, but consistently. That gives buyers more choices and puts downward pressure on prices in the segments where there's the most competition. I'm also watching insurance costs closely, because that's becoming a bigger factor in buyer decision-making than I've ever seen before.
But the biggest thing I'm watching? Seller expectations. If sellers continue to resist market reality, we're going to see more price reductions and longer days on market through the end of the year. If they adjust — and I think they will — we'll see a healthy, active market where well-priced homes sell quickly and fairly.
That's what I'm seeing from the ground. Nothing from behind a desk — just what I walked through this week. I'll be back with more observations soon.
See something different out there?
I'd love to hear what you're seeing too. Text me, call me, email me — let's compare notes. Real talk only.
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