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Volume XXVI, Number XLVII | November 2, 2026
Will Your Home Sell?
Nobody puts a home on the market planning to take it back off. Yet nearly 1 in 5 Tallahassee-area listings end without a sale.
My team and I followed 11,895 existing homes listed in Leon and Wakulla counties whose listings ended between November 1, 2023, and October 31, 2026. Of those listings, 2,370 came off the market without the home ever selling.
Think about what those owners lived through. Showings booked at the last minute. A house kept spotless every single day. Leaving work early to rush home and get it ready. Dinners and weekends rearranged around strangers walking through. And the worst part: the waiting, never knowing if this would be the week. Six months of that, and they still own the house. So what went wrong? Comparing the homes that sold with the ones that didn't points to three mistakes.
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Three Mistakes Sellers Make
The first is hiring an agent who will let you list at a price that costs you money, because they either don't know the market or won't tell you the truth. The second is setting an initial asking price above its market value. The third is holding on to that wrong price for too long. This chart shows, since 2006, how much each seller gained or lost against market value (the price per square foot of similar nearby homes that sold within 90 days), in dollars, on a median-priced home, grouped by the extent of the seller's price reduction.
The chart makes it clear. The asking price you start with decides two things: how long you have to keep your home in showing condition, and how much money you collect at closing. Start too high and you pay twice, with months more of showings and a smaller check at the end. I don't know about you, but $32,200 means a lot to me, and to every median-priced homeowner in Tallahassee.
And yet another mistake is limiting who sees the home. If the agent you hire isn't an effective marketer, fewer people will know your home is for sale. An agent with a strong pre-marketing program gets the word out to everyone and can have buyers lined up before the home even hits the market.
What Should You Do?
Thinking about selling? The asking price you start with is the second most important decision you'll make. The first is which agent you hire. Choose one who knows the market numbers inside and out, so you can trust their advice and follow it. The right starting price puts the most money in your pocket on the timeline you need to move.
Which seller will you be? In this short article, we show you how to answer this question favorably by examining how the decisions you make before you list determine whether your home sells in today's market.
Just Published
The full study shows what the sellers who succeeded did differently and what each size of price cut cost those who waited.
Succeeded or Failed: Which Home Seller Will You Be?
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Data updated Nov 2, 2026. Source: the Tallahassee Board of Realtors multiple listing service (MLS), existing-home sales with bank sales, short sales and auctions excluded.
Until later,
Joe Manausa MBA
Joe Manausa Team at Xcellence Realty
P.S. What would you want to ask an agent before putting your Tallahassee home on the market? The article also tells the story of a family whose job moved them out of state before their Tallahassee home sold. See What Happened to Their Sale