08/30/2026
Last year, I went on a listing appointment for a home that had been purchased just a couple of years earlier when home prices were higher.
The seller had purchased the property off-market, directly from the previous owners without representation. The property was financed and appraised.
Fast forward to last year. The market had changed. We were seeing more inventory, fewer buyers, and quite a bit of new construction nearby.
I ran the comps, reviewed the current comparable homes for sale, and explained the difference between what the home had previously appraised for and what the market was actually supporting at that time.
Then I gave the seller my list price recommendation.
It was $5,000 less than what he had paid for the home.
If you've worked with me before, you know I'm HUGE on data when helping clients make real estate decisions whether we're submitting an offer or determining the list price for a home.
I don't just tell you what I think. I show you the data so you can see how I arrived at my recommendation.
The seller was upfront with me and told me he'd interviewed another agent. He even shared that agent's pricing recommendation, so we looked at the comps together.
The difference?
The other agent's comps supported a much higher list price, but they included larger, newer homes that I didn't believe were truly comparable to his property.
A couple of days later, the seller called and told me he had decided to go with the other agent. And I'll give him credit. He didn't ghost me. He was a stand-up guy and let me know. I appreciated that so very much.
That home went on the market and was eventually listed more than once. It spent nearly a year on the market without ever going under contract.
And unfortunately, the market didn't wait.
Interest rates were higher than when the seller originally purchased the home, and two similar properties eventually sold for significantly less than what he had originally paid.
Talk about a double whammy.
This is one of the reasons I'm so passionate about pricing a home based on today's market, not yesterday's market and not what a seller needs to net.
Overpricing can cost you much more than simply "chasing the market."
While you're waiting for the right buyer to come along, you may continue paying the mortgage, taxes, insurance, utilities and maintenance. Meanwhile, interest rates can change, competition can increase, and the market can move even further away from you.
My job isn't to tell you what your home is worth because it's the number you want to hear.
My job is to give you the most accurate picture I can of what the market is telling us, backed by actual data, so you can make an informed decision about whether selling now is the right move for you.
Sometimes the best advice isn't the easiest advice to hear.
But I'd rather lose a listing because I told you the truth than win a listing by telling you what you wanted to hear.
