344: Selling in a Softer Market After a Bidding War Era Purchase

Hustle Humbly Podcast

Alissa Jenkins & Katy Caldwell

Entrepreneurship, Business

4.9 • 914 Ratings

🗓️ 9 March 2026

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

If you sold homes during 2020–2022, you likely helped buyers compete in bidding wars, escalate over asking, and stretch to win. Now? Some of those same clients are calling because they need to sell.

And the market is… softer.

In this episode, Katy and Alissa walk through what it really looks like when COVID-era buyers need to resell in a different market than they purchased in. From tight equity situations to emotional listing appointments, they're sharing honest stories, practical scripts, and how to protect your own mindset while delivering hard news.

This isn't about panic. It's about professionalism.

Here's what we cover in this episode:

Why today's "soft market" is not the 2008 crash
How to handle sellers who are breaking even (or barely making money)
What to say when the comps don't support their expectations
Why condition matters even more when you're pushing price
The danger of "just offering an allowance"
How to walk sellers through worst-case scenarios using a net sheet
When renting might be the better move
How to avoid carrying your clients' emotional stress

If you're feeling that sinking-in-your-stomach feeling when running CMAs lately, this episode will help you reframe the situation, set expectations early, and guide your sellers with clarity and confidence.

Key Quotes & Takeaways

Katy: "Devastating news isn't breaking even. Devastating news is having to beg the bank to let you sell."
Alissa: "You can care about your clients without carrying their stress inside your body."
Katy: "If you're pushing the price above the comps, your condition has to be A-plus."
Alissa: "I can't want this more than you do."
Katy: "Are these the numbers you were expecting?"

Products, People & Previous Episodes Mentioned:

Seller Net Sheet + Buyer Cost Sheet: https://hustlehumblypodcast.com/netsheet

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Send us a voice or video message with your name, who you're toasting, and why! Email it to team@hustlehumblypodcast.com.

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You're making it sound like you're deciding between purple carpet and red carpet, and you can't
0:07.0	make that choice for a buyer. That is BS, and that is just a story that sellers tell themselves to try not to do the work.
0:14.8	But then people are going to get here. They're going to see it and they're going to smell it. And they're going to say,
0:18.7	this is no good, this is no good, this is no good over and over and over again until we drop the price. And then we're going to see it and they're going to smell it and they're going to say this is no good this is no good over and over and over again until we drop the price and then
0:24.0	we're going to get a new wave of showing the amount of relief because I filtered it by
0:30.6	what I thought was success right sure and that's not success for that seller they have
0:35.1	an agenda beyond the dollar figure.
0:38.3	I sold many houses during COVID I did not feel financially comfortable with, but all my clients knew that.
0:46.3	Devastating news is not breaking even. Devastating news is you need to bring money or you don't have the money you need to bring and you have to
0:54.8	beg the bank to let you sell it for less.
0:58.7	Hi y'all. Welcome to Hustle Humbley. It's Alyssa and Katie and we are two active realtors in the Baton Rouge market.
1:05.1	We work for two different companies where we should be competitors, but we have chosen community over competition.
1:10.2	The goal of our podcast is to encourage you to find your own way in business.
1:14.0	So stop comparing yourself and start embracing your strength.
1:19.0	Hi, Alyssa.
1:20.1	Hey, Katie.
1:20.9	Welcome to episode 344.
1:23.6	I'm too peppy.
1:25.3	Selling in a softer market.
1:26.7	Yeah, soften it up, Katie.
1:27.9	This is a serious topic.
1:29.2	Let's take it down. Let's take it down way down. Selling it in a bad market. Yeah. Not a bad market. It's not a soft market. Okay, here's my thoughts. It's not a bad market. I actually think I'm feeling pretty optimistic about 2026. Okay. But here is what we are starting to encounter.
	...

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