As we close out 2025 and look ahead to 2026, here’s the reality in today’s housing market: the sellers who are actually closing deals aren’t the ones waiting for a “better” time or clinging to 2021 memories.
They’re the ones who adapted their strategy from day one.
This year, tens of thousands of homeowners listed their properties with high expectations… only to pull them off the market weeks or months later. Delistings and canceled listings have spiked all year, with sellers yanking stale listings at some of the highest rates we’ve seen outside of a full-blown crash.
The market isn’t broken.
Expectations just haven’t caught up to the new normal.
The two biggest reasons homes are failing to sell still come down to the same two things, every single time: **price** and **timing**.
Get these right from the start, and your home sells faster and for more money. Get them wrong, and you’re just another delisted statistic.
Here are the top 2 mistakes sellers are making right now — and exactly how to avoid them.
1. Pricing It Like It’s Still 2021 (Most Listings Are Still Too High)
The #1 reason homes sit and eventually get pulled? An asking price that’s detached from reality.
Right now, only about 25% of homes nationwide are selling above asking price (Redfin, October 2025 data — the latest available). That’s down significantly from the pandemic frenzy and continues a multi-year cooling trend.
Buyers today have more options, higher rates (even with recent dips), and zero urgency. If your price is even slightly optimistic, buyers keep scrolling. Many sellers wait weeks for offers that never come, then slash the price too late… or just give up and delist.
The fix is simpler than most people want to admit: roughly 27% of active listings have already taken a price reduction this fall (Zillow/Realtor.com, November 2025), and the typical cut is just a few percentage points.
Start sharp and competitive, and you’ll spark multiple offers. Start high and you chase the market down, train buyers to wait for discounts, and ultimately net less.
The silver lining? If you’ve owned your home for the last 5–15 years, you’re almost certainly sitting on massive equity. That gives you the flexibility to price aggressively and still walk away with life-changing money. Most of the sellers who delisted in 2025 never used that advantage.
2. Expecting It To Sell in a Weekend (Normal Feels “Slow” After the Frenzy)
The second major expectation gap is speed.
Many sellers still expect the instant-offer chaos of 2020–2021. That was never normal — it was a historic anomaly.
Today, the typical home is taking 60–64 days to go from listing to pending or close (Realtor.com & industry averages, November 2025), which is actually right in line with pre-pandemic norms.
It only feels painfully slow because we all got spoiled by the highway-speed market of a few years ago. Dropping back to the actual speed limit feels like crawling… but it’s the correct pace.
Buyers are deliberate now. They compare options, schedule second showings, get thorough inspections, and negotiate. That’s a healthy market, not a dead one.
If your home is priced competitively, professionally photographed, properly staged, and marketed aggressively, it can absolutely still go under contract in the first 10–14 days. But expecting that automatically — without the right strategy — is why so many listings are languishing and getting pulled.
Bottom Line from 2A Realty
The homes that didn’t sell in 2025 weren’t doomed by high rates or low inventory.
They were derailed by starting with the wrong price and zero patience.
Heading into winter 2025–2026, you can still sell quickly and for an excellent price — if you price competitively from day one, give the process the time it deserves, and partner with agents who know exactly how to position your home in this environment.
That’s precisely what we do every day at 2A Realty Group.
We’ve helped sellers thrive in shifting markets for years, even while others are delisting in frustration. We’ll give you a data-driven, no-BS picture of what your home is worth today and the exact strategy we’d use to get it sold fast and for top dollar.
Thinking about selling in 2026 (or even this winter)? Reach out to 2A Realty Group today.
In this market, the right strategy from the very beginning is everything.
