37%? oh dear.

I was looking at two reports last week that, taken together, explain why so many people feel stuck around buying right now.

One is about pricing:

There are now 242 cities in the U.S. where “starter homes” are over $1M.

That number was 80 just a few years ago.

The other is about trust:

63% of buyers believe agents are knowledgeable.

Only 37% believe those same agents are actually working in their best interest.

Ouch. It won’t be long before I’ll be writing an email about that topic.

That gap is where most of the friction lives.

Because when the financial stakes are high and the process doesn’t feel fully trustworthy, people don’t lean in, they step back.

And what I’m seeing locally is that hesitation isn’t about capability.

A lot of buyers today are financially qualified, analytical, and doing the work, reviewing data, tracking rates, modeling payments, even running scenarios through AI tools.

But the issue isn’t access to information.

It’s a lack of structure around how to make the decision.

At some point, more inputs stop helping and start creating second-guessing.

What actually moves things forward is a framework that holds up under pressure.

Not just:

“What can I afford?”

But:

What is the opportunity cost of deploying capital into real estate right now versus keeping it invested elsewhere?

How sensitive is this decision to interest rates, timing, and your expected hold period?

And just as importantly, does this purchase actually improve your day to day life in a meaningful way?

Whether the number is $500K or $2M+, those are the right questions.

Because once you answer them, you’re no longer guessing but you’re operating inside a defined range that makes sense both financially and personally.

To make that more concrete, here’s how this often shows up locally:

Let’s compare:

An $850K attached home in Louisville

vs.

A  $1.2M single family home in Boulder

Most buyers instinctively lean toward the Boulder property.

But when you actually run the numbers and think through usage, the decision isn’t that simple.

You’re looking at:

Different capital requirements and monthly carry

Different sensitivity to interest rates and appreciation rates

Different hold period risk if plans change

And potentially a smaller lifestyle gap than expected depending on location and design

In some cases, the higher price point is the right move.

In others, it’s not.

But you don’t figure that out by browsing Zillow; you figure it out by working through the structure of the decision first.

And from there, the search becomes a lot more efficient.

Inventory today, in most segments, is more available than people think.

Are there tighter pockets? Sure, well designed homes close to trails and bike paths, main floor primaries, low friction HOAs, and strong micro locations still command competition.

But broadly speaking, this isn’t a market where there’s nothing out there.

It’s a market where the right opportunities become obvious once your criteria are grounded in a real strategy.

That’s where I spend most of my time with clients:

Helping clients get clear on the decision first-

and then executing on the real estate piece with that clarity.

Because at that point, it’s not about chasing a perfect home or reacting to headlines.

It’s about making a capital allocation decision you can feel confident in.

It’s a decision that holds up financially and actually works for how you want to live over the next 5-10 years.

If you’ve been close to making a move but haven’t quite gotten there, it might not be a market issue.

It’s that one or two of these variables haven’t been fully worked through yet.

Happy to help you think through it in a straightforward way.