Stop Asking “How’s the Market?”
One of the most common questions I hear is:
“So…how’s the market?”
It’s a perfectly reasonable question. In fact, it sounds like exactly the kind of question someone should ask before buying or selling a home.
The problem is that it assumes there’s just one market.
There isn’t.
There are dozens of markets operating at the same time.
A first-time homebuyer shopping for a $450,000 starter home isn’t experiencing the same market as someone selling a $2 million luxury property.
A condo owner may face a completely different level of demand than someone selling a four-bedroom home with a backyard.
Even neighborhoods a few miles apart can move at noticeably different speeds depending on inventory, schools, commute patterns, and buyer demand.
When someone asks me, “How’s the market?” my honest answer is usually:
“Which one?”
That’s the question that actually matters.
The Market You Care About Is Yours
If you’re planning to buy or sell, you don’t need a national headline.
You don’t even need a Portland headline.
You need to know what’s happening in your market.
How quickly are homes like yours selling?
Are buyers negotiating?
Are multiple offers still common?
Is inventory rising or falling where you want to live?
How many competing homes would yours face if you listed this week?
Those answers are far more valuable than knowing whether “the market” is hot or cold.
Broad Statistics Can Be Misleading
Real estate statistics are averages.
Averages are useful, but they also hide important details.
Imagine hearing that the average commute in Portland is 30 minutes. That doesn’t tell you whether your commute will be 12 minutes or 55.
Housing data works the same way.
The average days on market, median price, or inventory level might be technically accurate while telling you very little about the home you’re buying or selling.
Ask a Better Question
Instead of asking:
“How’s the market?”
Try asking:
“How’s my market?”
That changes the conversation completely.
Now we’re talking about homes similar to yours, buyers with budgets like yours, neighborhoods you’re actually considering, and the conditions that will affect your decisions—not someone else’s.
Real estate is local. More than that, it’s personal.
The more specific the question, the more useful the answer.
Because “the market” is broad enough to hide what’s happening in the only market that really matters:
Yours.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, it varies across geography, home type and price point, even within a zip code or town name.
This is a tough one, because the term "neighborhood specialist" has no real meaning. Agents all call themselves specialists in the neighborhood the house is in. The agent needs to understand the area, but they also need to know what's going on around/outside the area, so they can speak more intelligently to other agents about why your numbers and terms look like they do. Also, buyers and sellers don't typically only operate in a neighborhood, even if that's where the house or focus are at. So...yes, a local specialist can help, but they aren't necessarily the answer.