Should You Sell Your Home Right Now? Why Sometimes the Best Advice Is: Don’t Sell

Not every homeowner meeting ends in a listing. And honestly—that’s a good thing.

This week, I sat down with a Seattle townhouse owner who was ready to move on. They had plans, a vision for their next chapter, and selling their place felt like the natural step forward.

On the surface, that sounded straightforward. But once we pulled up the numbers, the reality came into focus.

Their townhouse hadn’t appreciated since they bought it. In fact, based on current market conditions, they would likely sell for less than their original purchase price. And that’s before factoring in selling costs.

Layer on a Seattle townhouse market that is currently saturated with inventory—buyers have more options than usual—and the fact that we’re heading into one of the slowest seasons of the year for selling, and the picture becomes even clearer: right now, selling would likely mean taking a loss.

Do I make money from telling them that? No.
Was it still the right advice? Always.

This is a side of real estate that doesn’t get talked about enough. There’s a perception that our job is just to sell houses, but in reality, the best agents spend a lot of time telling people not to sell.

It’s about more than one transaction. It’s about helping people make smart, well-timed decisions that protect their financial future. Sometimes that means sitting still and waiting for a better market.

In the long run, real estate is built on trust, not on forcing deals. The right recommendation—even when it costs a commission—creates relationships that last well beyond a single sale. And those relationships are what sustain a long-term business.

For many Seattle townhouse owners, patience can be a strategy. If you find yourself in a similar position, sometimes doing nothing is the smartest move you can make.