Lately, I’ve been hearing a lot of the same thing from clients:
“The market’s weird.”
“Stuff isn’t moving the way it used to.”
“I’m not sure what to say to sellers anymore.”
There’s a kind of unease floating around — like we all know something’s shifted, but no one’s quite sure where the fault line is. And when I ask what’s actually happening in their market, most agents give me a general read: it’s slow, or it’s soft, or the buyers have vanished.
But that’s not market insight. That’s just mood. And in a shifting market, mood isn’t enough. Especially not if you’re trying to take market share.
That’s why I’ve started asking clients to do something specific that cuts through the fog and gets them grounded in what’s actually happening.
I call it identifying their inventory cliff.
Here’s how it works:
You open your MLS.
You pull all active listings in your area.
Then you group them by price range — $200–300K, $300–400K, $400–500K, and so on.
You will 100% find a drop off in inventory at some price range, and that drop-off is your “cliff”.
Here’s a real-time example:
One of my clients ran the numbers and found 498 total active homes. But when we broke it down by price range, we found this:
- $300–400K → 62 homes
- $400–500K → 113 homes
- $500–600K → 90 homes
- $600–700K → 67 homes
- $700–800K → 41 homes
- $800–900K → 29 homes
- $900–1M → 21 homes
- $1–2M → 26 homes
- $2–3M → 16 homes
- $3M*+ → 14 homes
*we stopped at 3M because, in her market, 3M+ is no man’s land
It’s easy to assume the bottom half of the market is where the action is. Traditionally, for example, a 400K house would sell much faster than a 800K house in this market. But this data told a different story. The lower price points were sitting. Homes under $700K were flooding the market. But over that $700K line, inventory dropped off fast — and homes were moving.
That’s the cliff. Below it: saturation. Above it: opportunity.
And what you do with that insight matters.
For that client, it meant two completely different conversations with sellers:
- Under $700K? We’re going to be honest. Inventory is heavy. Your home will not sell itself. We need to price competitively, prep thoroughly, and bring your A-game to marketing — or you’re going to sit.
- Above $700K? We shift the message. You’re in a tight inventory band. Buyers are out there and they’re moving quickly. This may be your best window to get top dollar with less competition.
Two markets, same zip code. One message does not fit all. Gary Keller talks about this in SHIFT — that in any market, but especially in a changing one, you have to adjust both your message and your method.
Your message is what you say.
Your method is how you get that message out.
But most agents don’t pause to revisit either. They keep using the same listing presentation from 2021. They keep sending the same generic email scripts or buyer consultations or Instagram posts that worked when things were flying off the shelves. Not because they’re lazy — just because those tools are familiar and were working at some point.
But when the market changes, so does your responsibility. You don’t get to lead on autopilot.
You have to look closer. Get more curious. Ask better questions.
What’s actually going on in your market — not what you’re hearing from a national headline or your office chatter. What’s true in your MLS, in your neighborhoods, in your price points. And once you know, you adjust. You don’t just tell a better story, you tell the right one.
So if things feel off — if your pipeline has slowed or your listings aren’t moving — stop guessing. Run a cliff inventory. Find your line. Change your message. Then change how you deliver it.
You’re not here to just sell homes.
You’re here to interpret the market.
Start acting like it.