After 13 years of seller-driven conditions, Florida’s coastal real estate markets are undergoing what Bobby Johnson views as a necessary correction that both agents and consumers should recognize as a normal part of the market cycle. Johnson, a team leader at EXP Realty with 25 years of experience, believes the industry has been delaying this adjustment by promoting the idea of an imminent return to seller-favorable conditions.
“Maybe we’ve been in a seller’s market for 13 years, and we’re supposed to be in a buyer’s market,” Johnson said. “This is just part of the process that we have to go through.” His perspective challenges the prevailing industry narrative that current conditions are a temporary setback rather than a natural phase in the market’s evolution.
Johnson’s views also extend to the topic of interest rates, where he believes expectations have become disconnected from historical norms. “6% historically, six and a half percent historically is not bad. There’s a study, you go back 50 years, the average interest rate is 8%,” Johnson pointed out.
This context leads Johnson to question whether agents are helping clients by continually suggesting better financing conditions are just around the corner. “I feel like we’re kicking the can down the road when I say things like that, and I’ve been kicking the can for a while. We keep saying that to people: ‘As soon as interest rates go down, as soon as this, maybe, maybe.’ But maybe five years later, right?”
Johnson’s approach is grounded in the acceptance that real estate markets are cyclical. “There comes a moment where real estate maybe isn’t supposed to be the everything at that very moment. There’s a moment where we have to pause and kind of gather, what’s this thing doing? How can we always be in an up-going market? We can’t be. We’re not supposed to be.”
He sees the current buyer’s market as an overdue correction following an extended period of seller dominance. This shift, Johnson believes, is not an anomaly but a typical part of the real estate cycle that should be expected and accepted.
Florida’s unique challenges are intensifying the current correction, according to Johnson. “We have problems with insurance. We have problems with beach access, beach right issues. We have prices that are high. You have a lot of high demand, but not a lot of product as well.”
These conditions, Johnson says, have created a situation where the market appears stalled. “So it’s almost like, why is the market stalled? I think it may be just time. Maybe you’re in it for a couple years, and then you move out of it.”
Rather than resisting current conditions or encouraging clients to wait for rapid improvement, Johnson recommends what he calls “the observation stage.” This means accepting the state of the market and watching for real signs of change instead of hoping for a quick return to previous trends.
Johnson’s perspective suggests that those who recognize current conditions as a normal phase of the market cycle may be better prepared than those holding out for another prolonged seller’s market. He believes that the industry’s tendency to promise improvement may be hindering the healthy adjustments that markets need to function properly.
Accepting market cycles as normal, rather than viewing them as problems to be solved, marks a notable departure from the growth-focused mindset that has shaped much of recent real estate thinking.
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