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Don't Spend a Dollar on Your Home Before You Read This
A homeowner came to me after she'd already spent $45,000 getting her home ready to sell. New landscaping, updated fixtures, a handful of cosmetic projects all done with good intentions, all done before she ever called me. When we sold the home and I looked at what that spending actually returned, maybe $12,000 of it showed up in the final price. That gap haunted me a little, honestly. Not because she'd done anything wrong she'd done what most homeowners do. She guessed. And I


The Don't Fire Me Report
There's a moment that happens in almost every home sale, and nobody talks about it. The home has been on the market for a few weeks. The initial excitement has worn off. And the homeowner starts wondering: is my agent actually doing anything right now? That silence not knowing what's happening behind the scenes is where doubt creeps in. And doubt is expensive. It leads to premature price cuts. It leads to frustration. It leads to homeowners firing agents right before the righ


Why I Built My Business This Way
There's a version of this business that would have been easier to build. Bigger team, faster growth, more homes moving through the pipeline at once. I could have chased that version. I didn't. If you watched the video that goes with this post, you already know the short answer: I built this business around depth, not volume. But I want to use this space to go a little further into what that actually means day to day, because "quality over quantity" is the kind of thing everyo
Living in Fort Lauderdale


The Fourth Belongs to Fort Lauderdale
There are a handful of moments each year when this city reminds you exactly why you chose to live here. The Fourth of July is one of them.
Three days from now, Las Olas Oceanside Park will fill up with the kind of crowd that Fort Lauderdale does best, not the tourist-season variety, but the
The 60 days before a home hits the market is where luxury listings are won or lost. It's the window most sellers either rush through or ignore entirely.


What to Do in Fort Lauderdale This Week & Weekend (June 22–28)
Fort Lauderdale in late June has a rhythm all its own. The tourists have thinned out, the snowbirds are long gone, and what’s left is the city at its most authentically itself locals on the water, long golden evenings, and a social calendar that doesn’t slow down just because it’s summer. Here’s how to spend the week. On the Water This is the week Fort Lauderdale earns its title. Rent a boat or join a sunset cruise along the Intracoastal and watch the city from the water. It


What It Actually Feels Like to Live on Fort Lauderdale's Intracoastal
People come to Fort Lauderdale for the water. That part everyone knows. But what they often don't anticipate until they've actually lived here is how completely the Intracoastal redefines everyday life. This is not a view you glance at on your way to the kitchen. It becomes the backdrop to your morning, your evenings, your entire sense of pace. And for the clients I've worked with over the years who have made the move to Intracoastal living, the word I hear most often when th


South Florida Luxury Market Update: Week of July 6, 2026
Every summer brings its own rhythm to the South Florida luxury market, and this year is no exception. As we move deeper into the second half of 2026, the data continues to tell a story of resilience with a few important nuances worth understanding if you're thinking about your home's place in the market right now. The Big Picture South Florida's luxury housing market saw notable growth in transaction activity in the first quarter of 2026, with gains in both single-family and
Lourdes Maestres
7 days ago


A $55 Million Listing, Buyers Off the Sidelines, and What the Numbers Say Right Now
Fort Lauderdale's luxury market has had a busy few weeks. A new record was set, significant deals have closed, and the data heading into July tells a story that sellers paying attention should find encouraging — with some important nuance attached.
Lourdes Maestres
Jun 29


South Florida Luxury Market Update: Week of June 22, 2026
Luxurious waterfront home at 700 SW 12th Ave, Fort Lauderdale, showcasing modern architecture, a spacious pool, and lush greenery. As we move deeper into summer, the South Florida luxury market is doing what it does best: rewarding the sellers who are prepared and exposing the ones who aren’t. Here’s where things stand heading into the final week of June. Inventory Remains Constrained at the Top Active listings above $3M in Broward County continue to track below their five-ye
Lourdes Maestres
Jun 22


Selling a Luxury Home in Fort Lauderdale This Summer? Here’s What the Market Is Actually Doing
What the Fort Lauderdale Luxury Market Actually Does in Summer
When out-of-state buyers pull back, local buyers step in. These are Fort Lauderdale residents who live here year-round, people who have been watching a specific neighborhood, a specific price point, or a specific type of waterfront property for months. They’re not in a frenzy. They’re deliberate. And in the luxury market, deliberate buyers are serious buyers.
Lourdes Maestres
Jun 15


Global Spotlight and Flat Rates Shape Fort Lauderdale's Summer Market
The opening matches of the 2026 FIFA World Cup at nearby Hard Rock Stadium have brought an unmistakable international energy to South Florida this week, yet local real estate metrics remain firmly tethered to an evolving macroeconomic script. The contrast between global celebratory attention and domestic financial discipline is defining the early summer market.
Lourdes Maestres
Jun 12


The Balanced June Market: Why Time and Contingencies Are Returning to Fort Lauderdale Real Estate
A subtle pullback in borrowing costs has intersected with a multi-year high in active listings to deliver the most balanced real estate environment Broward County has seen since the post-pandemic recovery began. According to Freddie Mac’s primary mortgage market data for the week ending June 4, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate ticked down to 6.48%, a marginal decline from the previous week’s 6.53%.
Lourdes Maestres
Jun 5


The Late-Spring Pricing Realignment: How Broward Sellers Are Adapting to the 6.5% Rate Floor
As headline inflation anxieties push the 30-year fixed mortgage rate back above the 6.5% threshold, the late-spring narrative in Broward County has shifted from inventory accumulation to aggressive price recalibration. Rather than causing a complete withdrawal of buyers, the recent upward pressure on borrowing costs, stoked by persistent consumer price index pressures and escalating energy markets has catalyzed a long-overdue alignment between seller expectations and real-tim
Lourdes Maestres
May 29


The Inventory Inflection: Why May’s Supply Surge is Testing the Floor of Broward Home Prices
The release of April’s existing home sales data this week confirms what many South Florida analysts have suspected: the spring selling season has reached a significant inventory ceiling. In Broward County, active listings have hit a three-year peak this May, a development that is beginning to exert downward pressure on the "velocity" of sales, if not yet the median price itself. While the 30-year fixed mortgage rate remains tethered to the 6.4% range following the Federal Res
Lourdes Maestres
May 22


The Yield Trap: Sticky Inflation and the Widening Bid-Ask Spread in Fort Lauderdale
The mid-May economic data has introduced a fresh layer of complexity to the South Florida housing narrative. With the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report showing inflation remaining stubbornly above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, the optimism for a summer rate cut has largely evaporated.
Lourdes Maestres
May 15


The Great Divergence: Fed Stability and the Condo Reform Shift in Fort Lauderdale
As the Federal Reserve concluded its May 1 meeting with a decision to hold the benchmark interest rate steady at 3.50% to 3.75%, the South Florida real estate market is entering a period of distinct divergence.
Lourdes Maestres
May 6
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