Want Real Feedback About Your Home Before Listing It? Ask Your Agent to Be Brutally Honest... Not Your Friend.
The Lighter Side of Real Estate • February 12, 2026
When you’re getting ready to sell your home, it helps to take a step back and try and look at your house through a potential buyer’s eyes.
Sounds easy enough. But it can be difficult to truly put yourself in their shoes. After all, you’ve lived there for years. So little things like scuffs on the wall, dust on the light fixtures, or a squeaky front door easily blend into the background when you’re used to them.
But you can also be blissfully unaware of some things that might be more offensive if someone pointed them out. You might not only be used to living with a very bright shade of blue, it might be a color you think is stunning. Or while your home may not smell weird to you, a total stranger might pick up on the fact that you have a cat the minute they walk through the front door.
That’s why Realtor.com recently suggested what they call a ‘friend inspection’ before putting your house on the market. They suggest inviting your most brutally honest friend to walk through it and tell you what they see. Their fresh perspective might reveal things you might not notice.
It’s decent advice, but perhaps not the best advice.
Because as helpful as a blunt friend can be, there’s someone far better equipped to give you an honest assessment: your real estate agent.
Give Your Agent Permission to Be Brutally Honest
Your agent might not lead with “brutally honest,” but they need to be. It’s part of their job. The trick is, agents have to walk a fine line between being polite and being real. No one wants to offend a potential client before the listing paperwork is even signed, so they’ll usually start with compliments about your home’s best features.
But if you invite their full honesty—and you should—you’ll quickly find they can be your most valuable critic.
Agents know what buyers fixate on, what they’ll overlook, and what sends them running. Years of showing homes, writing offers, and watching what actually sells gives them an instinct that even your most design-savvy friend can’t match.
Of course they’ll spot the positives you might take for granted, like a great layout or natural light that photographs beautifully. But they’ll also notice the little things that quietly chip away at perceived value—the lighting that feels dim, the flooring transition that doesn’t quite line up, or the faint pet odor you’ve stopped noticing altogether.
And unlike your friend, your agent’s feedback is grounded in experience, not just their opinion. Every observation they make is based upon what they’ve come to know and understand working not only with other sellers, but also (and possibly more importantly) buyers.
That’s why it pays to let them be candid early on. The more you empower your agent to tell you what they really think, the better prepared you’ll be for what happens next, because their evaluation doesn’t stop after that first walk-through.
In fact, they often use several key moments and tactics to gauge how buyers will react to your home…
Your Agent Might Invite Some Other People in to Be Honest…
What most sellers don’t realize is that your agent’s evaluation doesn’t stop at their own opinion. Many take the process a few steps further to gather a broader and more realistic sense of how the market will react.
Here are some examples of how your agent might help you see the home through other peoples’ eyes:
- The Agent’s Initial Walkthrough
This is the first and most personal step. Your agent will go room by room, often using all their senses—sight, smell, even sound—to note anything that might raise a red flag for buyers. Lingering pet odors, creaky floors, dim lighting, or worn-out carpet? They’ll spot it immediately and help you decide what’s worth fixing. - In-Office Peer Input
The insights and suggestions other agents bring to the table can also be helpful. Many agents invite trusted colleagues from their own company to preview the home before it hits the market, or even before they give a homeowner their final advice. These mini “office tours” provide multiple professional opinions on pricing, presentation, and first impressions. - The Broker Open
Once your home is officially listed, a broker open house allows agents from other brokerages (not buyers yet) to walk through and offer candid feedback. This step can be invaluable: you’ll get early insight into what agents think their buyers will love or question, allowing you to make quick adjustments before the first public showing. - The Public Open House and Real Buyer Reactions
Many agents also use the first public open house to get a read on how actual buyers react. A seasoned agent will quietly observe visitors’ reactions and listen to their unfiltered comments. That real-time feedback helps fine-tune your strategy during the critical first days on the market, when interest is highest.
By layering all of these perspectives, your agent can help you see your home the way the market truly does.
But of Course Your Friend Is Welcome to Give Their Opinion!
Having a “friend inspection” isn’t a bad idea. If you have a trusted pal who’ll give you candid feedback, by all means invite them over. A second (or third) set of eyes never hurts.
But just keep in mind that even the bluntest friend doesn’t know the market dynamics, buyer psychology, or pricing strategy that a full-time agent does.
So by all means, let your friend point out that your entryway feels cluttered or that the bathroom lighting could be brighter. Then let your agent show you how to turn those observations into an action plan that adds real market value.
The Takeaway:
Before putting your house on the market, it helps to take a step back and look at it through the eyes of potential buyers. However, you might be a little biased, or just so used to some things that it would never even occur to you that it could be a problem.
Inviting a brutally honest friend over for a “friend inspection” can certainly give you a more objective perspective. Another set of eyes never hurts, so feel free to have a friend take a look around.
But ultimately, your agent’s trained eye, market expertise, and professional network take that insight several steps further. So encourage your agent to tell you the honest truth about your home, and be ready to listen to their advice.
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Every year, on the third Saturday of July, millions of people celebrate National Toss Away the “Could Haves” and “Should Haves” Day. OK… maybe not millions. But somebody probably does! While it’s not exactly the kind of holiday most people mark on their calendars, it’s built around an idea that’s surprisingly relatable. We all have moments we wish we could do over. Maybe you could have invested in a company before its stock took off. Maybe you should have kept that classic car instead of selling it years ago. Maybe you could have taken that job, started that business, or simply made a different decision somewhere along the way. Real estate has no shortage of “could haves” and “should haves,” either. In fact, one that’s been floating around quite a bit lately sounds something like this: “Maybe I should have sold my house a few years ago.” “Maybe I’ll just wait until the market gets better…” If you’ve been paying attention to the housing market lately, you may have noticed that some homeowners are putting their houses up for sale… and then deciding to take them back off the market. According to recent data , delistings have been on the rise as more sellers decide they’d rather wait than accept a market that isn’t quite living up to their expectations. In fact, they’re delisting at the highest rate since 2020, right around the time the pandemic began. When you think about it, it’s not hard to understand why. For several years, many sellers got used to homes selling almost immediately, multiple offers arriving within days, buyers waiving contingencies, and offers coming in above asking price. But, as real estate markets tend to do, they’ve changed in many areas. Depending on where you live, and the price range your home is in, buyers may have more choices than they’ve had in years. They may take longer to make a decision. They’re more likely to ask for inspections, repairs, seller concessions, or simply negotiate harder than they would have a few years ago. For some homeowners, that shift is frustrating enough to make them think… “Maybe I’ll just wait until the market gets better.” And for some people, that may absolutely be the right decision. Two Thoughts That Are Closer Than They Appear What’s interesting is that the two thoughts we’ve been talking about are actually pretty close cousins. “Maybe I should have sold my house a few years ago.” “Maybe I’ll just wait until the market gets better.” One is based on wishing you could go back and capitalize on yesterday’s market. The other is based on hoping you’ll recognize the right time to capitalize on tomorrow’s. They’re both completely understandable. In fact, they’re probably thoughts just about everyone has had at one point or another—not just in real estate, but in life. The catch is that neither one is particularly helpful when you’re trying to decide what to do today. After all, you can’t sell your house three years ago. And no one—not even the smartest economists—knows exactly what the housing market is going to look like three years from now. Or any other number of years for that matter. You can only make decisions based on what the market is currently doing. The Problem With Using Extraordinary as Your Baseline It’s also worth remembering that today’s market isn’t necessarily a bad market for sellers. In many parts of the country, home prices are still historically strong. In fact, if you ask many buyers how they feel about today’s market, there’s a good chance they’ll tell you homes are still too expensive and affordability remains one of their biggest challenges. What’s changed isn’t necessarily that sellers have lost all of their leverage. It’s that many of them have lost the extraordinary leverage they enjoyed just a few years ago. But now your home may take a little longer to sell. You might not have quite as many showings. Your buyer may ask for repairs or seller concessions that would have been laughed off during the frenzy of the pandemic market. None of those things necessarily mean it’s a bad time to sell. They may simply mean the market has become a little more… normal. And normal can feel disappointing when you’re comparing it to one of the strongest seller’s markets in modern history. Every Market Creates a Few “Should Haves” One of the interesting things about real estate is that every market eventually becomes the one somebody wishes they’d taken advantage of. Looking back, it’s easy to find a market where you wish you had bought, sold, or invested. The challenge, of course, is that nobody knows which market people will be saying that about until years later. Will some homeowners who decide to wait ultimately be glad they did? Absolutely. Every seller’s situation is different, and for some, waiting may prove to be exactly the right decision. But chances are, this market will also become one that at least some homeowners eventually look back on and say, “I probably should have sold then.” The only problem is that none of us knows which market that will be until we’re looking at it in the rearview mirror. That’s why “could haves” and “should haves” usually aren’t the best guide when making real estate decisions. They only show up after the fact. If you’re debating whether to sell now, wait a while, or even relist a home you recently took off the market, one of the smartest things you can do is have a conversation with a knowledgeable real estate agent. They can help you evaluate your local market, your personal situation, and your long-term goals so your decision is based on today’s realities—not yesterday’s regrets or tomorrow’s unknowns. And if nothing else, perhaps National Toss Away the “Could Haves” and “Should Haves” Day is a good reminder that yesterday’s market is gone, tomorrow’s market hasn’t arrived, and today’s market is the only one any of us actually gets to make decisions in.
Big Investors Are Backing Off and That’s Your Opening For years, a lot of would-be homebuyers have worried about the same thing. How do you compete with big investors who can swoop in, pay cash, and snap up the houses you want? Well, worry a little less. Because right now, those big investors aren't buying up the market. They're backing out of it. Investors Are Buying Fewer Homes Than They Have in Years According to Redfin, investor home purchases just fell to their lowest level since 2020 – when the start of the pandemic temporarily caused pretty much all homebuying to pull way back. Before that, you'd have to go all the way back to 2016 to find a time when investors bought this few homes (see graph below): Why the step back? Two big reasons. First, Washington passed a housing law that takes aim at large institutional investors. To be clear, these mega investors were never as big a part of the market as the headlines made it sound. They’ve always made up a relatively small slice of housing pie. But the law still targeted the largest ones, and it worked fast. According to Thom Malone, Principal Economist at Cotality: “When Washington announced its intention to curb institutional investors’ homebuying, the market reacted. . . Cotality data shows that investment by mega investors who own 1,000 or more properties retracted almost instantly. ” Second, the housing market has cooled. Price growth has slowed in much of the country, and in some markets, prices are dipping. That makes the math a lot less appealing for investors betting on quick gains. Lance Lambert, CEO of ResiClub, explains : “Ever since rates spiked and the Pandemic Housing Boom fizzled out in spring 2022, institutional single-family rental (SFR) operators have pulled way back from buying up homes on the resale market—the math just isn't as appealing right now. Home prices and rents are no longer ripping, holding costs (property taxes and insurance) have jumped, capital markets have shifted their attention elsewhere, and elevated materials prices make renovations expensive.” They’re Not Just Buying Less – They’re Selling More This is the part most people miss. Big investors aren't just slowing down their purchases. Data from Parcl Labs and ResiClub shows the largest institutional investors are now selling more homes than they're buying – and that gap is growing these past 4 quarters (see graph below): Every one of those homes goes right back into the market for buyers like you. And since big investors tend to own homes at the lower end of the price range, a lot of what they're selling is exactly the kind of home first-time buyers are looking for. As Malone puts it : ". . . this sudden dropoff in institutional investment is a signal to first-time homebuyers that there's an opening." Less competition from deep-pocketed buyers. More homes hitting the market. And many of them at prices that work for a first purchase . That's a shift that works in your favor. Bottom Line Big investors are stepping back, and they're adding homes to the market as they go. If you've been waiting for a better shot at buying, this could be it. Let’s connect so you can see what's popping up in our area. You may have more options than you think.
Home Price Growth Slowed Down. That May Be Changing. After more than a year of headlines talking about how home prices are going to crash , the latest data shows that price growth may be starting to pick back up again. And depending on whether you’re buying or selling, that shift means something different for you. The Numbers May Be Starting To Turn For the past couple of years, home price growth has been moderating – cooling from around 7% in mid-2024, according to Redfin (see graph below). But look at the right side of that graph. The pace of that growth appears to have hit its low point and started to turn. While a couple months of data doesn’t necessarily mean this will be a lasting trend, there are some other signs that this could continue. For example, fewer markets are seeing prices decline. According to ResiClub and Zillow, about 36% of the 300 largest housing markets had falling prices as of the middle of last year. Since the start of this year, that share has been shrinking. Now? Only 23% are experiencing those mild dips (see graph below): When fewer markets see prices falling, that means more markets are seeing prices rise again. And forecasts suggest this shift has room to run. On average, experts project home prices will rise about 2.3% nationally this year. And for that to happen, price growth would have to pick up a bit in the second half of 2026. But Remember, Real Estate Is Local While it looks like national prices may be starting to pick back up a tiny bit, that doesn’t mean that’s what’s happening in your neighborhood. National home prices are really just an average of hundreds of local markets. Some are climbing faster. Others are still cooling. But one reason the national average may be looking up is because a growing number of metros may actually be net positive for prices this year. Not long ago, the major metros were split about 50/50 – half seeing prices rise and half seeing them fall. Now, that balance looks like it’s starting to tip in a more positive direction. Just last month, more than half of the major metros saw prices go up, according to Redfin (see graph below): As Selma Hepp, Chief Economist at Cotality, explains : “. . . local markets continue to tell very different stories. Annual home price growth has changed little since the start of the year, but some markets, especially those supported by strong job and income growth in the West and more affordable Midwest markets, have seen notable acceleration in price gains.” What This Means for You Home price headlines can be confusing because they don’t always tell the full picture. Lean on an agent to understand what’s happening in your local market and what the early signs say for where prices may go from here. That’s the best way to stay one step ahead of the market. If you're buying: slower price growth has worked in your favor. You've had more room to negotiate and a budget you could plan around. If price growth is picking up in your area, buying now may mean paying less than you would later this year. If you own a home: you've been gaining equity all along, even while growth moderated. If growth keeps picking up, those gains could speed up, too. Lawrence Yun, Chief Economist at the National Association of Realtors (NAR), projects the typical homeowner will gain roughly $16,000 in housing wealth this year. And if you're thinking about selling, this shift is a good early sign for you. Just remember, the market is still pretty balanced and buyer-friendly in a lot of areas right now. Home price growth slowed way down, and now it's showing early signs of picking back up. Whether you're buying or selling, let's connect so you can see exactly what prices are doing in our local market and what that means for your plans. Bottom Line Home price growth slowed way down, and now it's showing early signs of picking back up. Whether you're buying or selling, let's connect so you can see exactly what prices are doing in our local market and what that means for your plans.
