Sunday Spotlight.
Nobody’s market. Somebody’s opportunity.
Neither buyers nor sellers have full control right now. That gap is exactly where good deals get made.
When nobody has the edge, the people willing to negotiate get the deal.
Most market conversations assume there’s a clear winner: it’s either a buyer’s market or a seller’s market. Right now the Capital Region doesn’t fit neatly into either label. Inventory has loosened enough that buyers have real options, but demand is steady enough that well-priced homes still move fast. Nobody’s fully in control.
That kind of split market tends to reward people who negotiate rather than people who wait for conditions to tilt clearly their way. Sellers who hold firm on an unrealistic price sit longer than they used to. Buyers who wait for an obvious buyer’s market to show up may be waiting for a label that doesn’t quite apply here.
The opportunity in a market like this isn’t a secret trend, it’s a mindset. Come with realistic numbers, be willing to have an actual conversation on price and terms, and both sides tend to walk away reasonably satisfied instead of one side clearly losing.
Capital Region
price ratio
to contract
week of July 12
A sale-to-list ratio just above 99% with supply near a month and a half is right in the middle: not tight enough to guarantee a bidding war, not loose enough to hand buyers full control. That middle ground is where negotiation actually matters.
Coach clients to negotiate, not wait for a label to apply.
Buyers hoping for a clear buyer’s market and sellers hoping for last year’s bidding wars are both waiting for something that may not show up this year. The more useful conversation is about what’s actually negotiable in this specific deal.
Neither "wait for a buyer’s market" nor "hold out for last year’s prices" describes what’s actually happening. Negotiation does.
A realistic price still moves. An optimistic one sits.
This isn’t a market where any price works, but it also isn’t one where buyers have full leverage. Price to the current data and be open to reasonable terms conversations, and most well-presented homes are still moving in under a month.
Realistic pricing plus a willingness to talk terms is doing more right now than firmness on price alone.
You have more room to ask than you did a year ago. Use it.
This isn’t a market where you can lowball freely, but reasonable requests, closing cost help, minor repairs, a bit of time on the closing date, are landing more often than they used to. Get pre-approved and go in ready to negotiate rather than waiting for a full buyer’s market to arrive.
You don’t need a full buyer’s market to have real negotiating room. You just need a reasonable ask and a pre-approval in hand.
Nobody in this house has the clear upper hand either, if we’re being honest, I run the living room, Dad runs the office, and we both pretend the kitchen is neutral territory. Works out fine as long as everyone negotiates instead of digging in. Sounds like the market is finally catching up to how things work around here.
Deals that close on schedule aren't an accident. These are the people who lived it, in their own words, from Google, Zillow, Facebook and Experience.com.
Have a deal that needs some creative terms to work?
Whether you’re buying or selling, a split market like this one usually has more room to negotiate than either side assumes. Send me the details and let’s find the terms that actually get your deal done.
Sr. Loan Consultant, New American Funding · NMLS #481563 · Albany · NMLS #6606 · Equal Housing Lender.
Local market figures reflect third-party aggregated Albany data. Mortgage rate per Freddie Mac PMMS, week of July 12, 2026. Past market performance is not a guarantee of future results. Nothing here is a commitment to lend or an offer of credit.
