Staying ahead of the curve: How to keep up with market trends

I always tell my sellers: do not wait for the “buzz.” Set aside time every week to monitor local real estate metrics like active inventory, median list price, and days on market. By watching those trends in your ZIP codes, you will notice whether the market is heating or cooling. In my own business, I review those dashboards weekly and compare them month over month.

Beyond raw data, I lean heavily on the network I have built: local appraisers, mortgage lenders, and fellow brokers. We talk candidly about what we are seeing in the trenches, which neighborhoods are lagging, which ones are hot, and which buyer types are pulling back. That grassroots intel often predicts trend shifts before the headlines pick them up.

I also invest time in formal sources: real estate research firms, MLS statistical reports, and proprietary market reports we compile in-house. We produce our own local market snapshots and share them with sellers so they understand how houses like theirs are performing in real time.

Ultimately, the best sellers are the ones who stay curious and proactive. If you are willing to ask questions, watch data weekly, and rely on boots-on-the-ground insight, you will not be surprised. You will be prepared.

In the industrial real estate sector, one piece of advice I always give to sellers is to treat market awareness as part of your business routine. The landscape can change quickly, especially in a region like South Florida, where we operate. Factors like population growth, infrastructure development, insurance costs, and migration trends can all influence demand for properties like self-storage, small bay warehouses, or industrial outdoor storage.

We stay on top of market trends by combining real-time data with local insights. That includes reviewing quarterly commercial reports, maintaining close relationships with brokers, and attending regional planning meetings. These direct conversations with people on the ground often reveal changes before they show up in formal data. We also monitor tenant behavior closely and what types of businesses are moving in and how long they’re staying. That helps us stay sharp on where demand is going.

If you’re a seller, it’s important to be proactive. Don’t just check the market when you’re ready to sell. Follow your local business journals and talk regularly with professionals in your area. Staying informed gives you leverage when it’s time to price, negotiate, or time your exit.

The best advice I can offer sellers is to consider staying informed as a discipline, rather than as a reaction. Sellers have a habit of waiting to hear the headlines before they list, but by then, the wave has already washed over them. In Des Moines, where neighborhoods a mile apart can see wildly different buyer behavior, I tell sellers to watch not just average selling prices but also how long it takes for places to sell and how much inventory is on the market and what percentage of list price houses are fetching. In 2022, for instance, we observed homes on the west side of Des Moines remain hot while the east side started cooling; those sellers who adapted early on the east side — selling with more aggressive staging or listing dates — were rewarded with stronger offers before the slowdown hit there more openly.

It has been a combination of structured data and being on the ground to see. I’m very reliant upon MLS data for absorption rates, price trends and new listing information but I’ll also drive neighborhoods. I talk to contractors about where activity is picking up in terms of renovation or rehab then solicit lenders what types of buyers are getting prequalified. Des Moines, and you can often glean as much from walking through an open house there or chatting up your roofer about the demand for materials as you can from a national index.

As one example: in 2023 I saw roofing contractors who were back-ordered for months, which was a leading indicator that homeowners were re-investing rather than selling. It helped explain to me why inventory remained scarce even as interest rates ticked up. The numbers told me one thing, but talking to tradespeople gave me another layer of it. The sellers who appreciate both — the high-level stats and what’s happening at street level — are

One piece of advice we often share with sellers is to make staying informed about market trends a regular habit rather than something you only pay attention to when making a big decision. Markets are always shifting, sometimes subtly and sometimes more dramatically, and having a steady awareness helps you respond with confidence instead of surprise.

We have learned that the best way to stay updated is to use more than one source of information. We look at regional reports and industry publications to get a broad view of market conditions, but we also pay close attention to the conversations happening within our own community. Listening to guests, local partners, and neighboring businesses often provides insights that data alone cannot capture.

We also make it a priority to revisit this information regularly. Setting aside time each week to read updates or review local trends helps us notice patterns early. Over time, this practice has made us more adaptable. Instead of reacting to sudden changes, we are often a step ahead, ready to adjust our approach to meet new conditions.

The balance comes from combining hard data with real conversations. Numbers give us the big picture, while people’s experiences bring it to life. Sellers who can bring both perspectives together are in the best position to understand not just where the market is today, but where it might be heading tomorrow.

If you take one thing from me as a full-time real estate investor and direct cash home buyer, let it be this: build a simple, repeatable “market check” and stick to it. The clearest read on your selling environment comes from supply and demand at the neighborhood level — watch months of supply, days on market, the weekly ratio of new listings to pendings, and the share of listings taking price reductions; when inventory and DOM rise, buyers gain leverage and pricing should be tighter, and when they shrink, you can price more assertively and focus on terms. Pair those with affordability drivers: mortgage rate moves, concessions and credits showing up in comps, and appraisal outcomes.

Practically, create a saved search limited to your micro-market (same school zone, bed/bath count, and condition tier), track 10-15 close comps and active competitors in a simple sheet (list date, reductions, DOM, close price per square foot, concessions), and review it once a week for a month — you’ll see the trend line faster than any headline. Leading signals I value: spikes in showings but flat pendings (buyers browsing, not committing), pending-to-new-listing ratio under 60% (softening), an uptick in builder incentives and seller credits (affordability stress), and title/escrow timelines stretching (backlogs or deal fallout).

How I stay updated: I pull MLS hot sheets daily, read lender rate sheets and lock data, speak with title officers and appraisers weekly, walk competing inventory, monitor permits and code-enforcement activity, and compare rent and vacancy prints with for-sale inventory to gauge investor demand. Use what you learn to match strategy to conditions: in a softening patch, front-load the most visible repairs, price to the market you have, and prioritize clean terms (short inspection, firm financing or cash, strong EMD); in a tightening patch, test price bands, stage for maximum first-week impact, and negotiate for favorable terms like appraisal or rent-back flexibility. Data beats anecdotes — check the same indicators, at the same time each week, and let the numbers guide timing and pricing.

Our best advice for home sellers is to focus on local reality, not national noise.

The real estate headlines you see online often paint a picture that doesn’t match what’s happening in your local Texas neighborhood.

Your home’s value depends on what’s going on within a few miles of your front door.

Watch hyper-local trends like new listings, days on market, and price adjustments. Then layer in what you see and hear on the ground, such as open house traffic or whether buyers are asking for closing cost help.

Our team stays ahead of the curve by combining data and firsthand experience. Every week, we review Dallas-Fort Worth MLS reports, title company updates, and lender feedback, then compare that information with what we see across active properties.

That balance of numbers and real-world insight helps the team spot shifts early and guide sellers toward the best options to sell.

After more than 2,900 real estate transactions across Texas, we’ve learned that the key to selling well is paying attention to both the data and the dialogue.

In a market that is experiencing rapid changes, the data you review and the information you seek need to be as recent as possible and from the front lines. This is harder for a seller to obtain, but it is readily available. Decisions must be based on data to achieve results.

Here are my top recommendations for a home seller on how to understand what is going on in their market. All of the suggestions below can be completed by using Redfin or Zillow to look up the information needed.

• Review pending home sales of comparable properties. Check how long the home was on the market before it went pending, and did it have any price reductions.

• Review sold comparables for the last three months. Again, check to see how long it takes the homes to sell, and whether there were any price concessions.

• Contact the listing agents for pending sales and sold properties, ask them for their feedback on what is going on, and what their experience was.

Obtaining this information will allow you to have a ground-level understanding of what is going on in your market right now. You will understand the average days on market, sales prices, and price reductions needed to get the job done.