A good broker is not the one who always says yes to you

Your house isn’t selling? Your broker doesn’t control the market.

There’s a conversation I’m increasingly having with my seller clients.

And I’m going to be transparent: it sometimes starts to weigh on me.

“Why haven’t we had an offer yet?”

“Should we advertise more?”

“Is there anything else you could do?”

“Yet, my neighbor’s house sold in three days a few years ago... ”

I understand completely the worry behind these questions. Selling a home is probably one of the biggest financial transactions of a lifetime. When days go by without an offer, doubt sets in.

But we also need to have an honest conversation about what a real estate broker can control... and what they will never control.

The market has changed. Period.

For several years, Quebec sellers were used to a market that was completely off the charts.

Properties sold in a few days. Showings piled up. Multiple offers. Buyers who were afraid of missing their chance.

By living in this reality, we ended up believing it was normal.

That wasn’t.

In 2026, the Quebec market shows clear signs of normalization. In the second quarter, 27,296 residential sales were made through real estate brokers, a 5% decrease compared to the same period in 2025. Listings, however, are rising. (GlobeNewswire)

The APCIQ had even predicted for 2026 a slightly lower activity, with about 95,700 provincial transactions, a projected 2% decline. Among the factors cited: affordability, demographic shifts, and greater buyer caution. (APCIQ - Website)

That doesn’t mean there is nothing left to sell.

It means that not everything sells automatically anymore.

And that distinction is huge.

My job isn’t to manufacture buyers

It’s probably the most important part of this article.

I can put your property in front of thousands of people.

I can hire a professional photographer.

I can do drone footage.

I can produce video content.

I can invest in advertising.

I can reach out to buyers.

I can contact brokers.

I can analyze the statistics.

I can reposition the strategy.

I can advise you on presentation, price, and negotiation.

I can work extremely hard.

But I cannot take someone who doesn’t want to buy your home and magically turn them into a buyer.

And no broker can.

Marketing creates visibility. It doesn’t artificially create demand.

That’s a fundamental distinction.

“Yet, I’m getting a lot of views…”

Exactly.

And sometimes that’s where the situation becomes even more frustrating.

A property can be viewed 5,000, 10,000, or 20,000 times online and still receive no offer.

Why?

Because being seen and being desired are two completely different things.

If your property is broadly broadcast, potential buyers see it, but they don’t take action, the problem may no longer be visibility.

The market is sending us a message.

And my role as a broker isn’t to tell you what you want to hear.

My role is to decode this message with you.

A good broker isn’t the one who always says yes

This is where my view of the profession has evolved a lot.

I no longer see myself simply as a home seller.

I am a real estate advisor.

And advising someone sometimes means telling them something they don’t want to hear.

Maybe the price needs to be adjusted.

Maybe the presentation needs to be improved.

Maybe certain features of the property naturally reduce the pool of buyers.

Maybe a competing property just hit the market with better value.

Or maybe we simply have to accept that the selling timeline will be longer.

It’s not always pleasant.

But inventing a new marketing strategy every two weeks just to give the impression that we’re “doing something” isn’t necessarily good brokerage.

Sometimes the best strategy is to stay the course.

Sometimes you need to adjust.

And being able to tell the difference is precisely an important part of our work.

The price remains the most powerful lever

There’s a phrase sellers don’t always want to hear:

The market doesn’t know how much you’d like to get for your home.

It doesn’t know the amount of your next property.

It doesn’t know your renovations.

It doesn’t know your mortgage payoff.

It doesn’t know your plans.

And unfortunately, it also doesn’t know the sentimental value of your kitchen.

The market compares.

It’s cold, but that’s the reality.

A buyer looks at your property at 799,000, then looks at what else they can get for 799,000.

Then they decide.

That’s why the asking price is not simply a number you put into Centris.

It’s a positioning against all other properties competing for the same buyer.

And yes, sometimes it frustrates me.

I’ll say it.

Because behind a listing there is a lot of work the seller doesn’t necessarily see.

There are calls.

Follow-ups.

Conversations with other brokers.

Statistics we monitor.

Feedback from showings we analyze.

Advertisements.

Adjustments.

Difficult conversations.

Evenings when we still answer the phone.

So yes, when a market slows and the first conclusion becomes:

“Maybe my broker isn’t doing enough.”, it can be frustrating.

Because I would sometimes love to have that magic button on my desk:

SELL NOW — FULL PRICE

Believe me, I would press it at every listing.

But it doesn’t exist.

And the one who makes you believe it exists is probably selling you their own narrative more than your house.

The current paradox: a slowing market without prices necessarily crashing

That’s what makes the 2026 market particularly interesting.

We can see fewer transactions and more caution from buyers without a generalized price collapse.

In Q1 2026, APCIQ already reported a 2% drop in provincial transactions and a 6% rise in active listings, while indicating that conditions remained generally favorable to sellers. (APCIQ - Website)

In other words:

a slowdown does not mean disaster.

It mainly means buyers have more choice, time, and, in some areas, more negotiating power.

And when buyers become more selective, sellers must become more strategic.

So, what is your broker really for?

Not to control the market.

To stop you from being subjected to it blindly.

My job is to understand what’s happening.

To look at your real competitors.

To analyze buyers’ reactions.

To measure interest.

To tell you when to wait.

To tell you when to move.

To defend your property.

To negotiate when the buyer arrives.

And above all, to tell you the truth even when it’s less pleasant than the answer you hoped for.

Because in real estate, a good advisor isn’t the one who promises that everything will go exactly as planned.

It’s the one who knows what to do when that’s not the case.

Let’s stop confusing selling time with the quality of the broker

A property that takes 60, 90, or 120 days to sell isn’t automatically a bad listing.

And a broker who doesn’t receive an offer in the first three weeks isn’t automatically a bad broker.

Ask the right questions instead:

Is my property properly positioned?

Do buyers see it?

What feedback are we getting?

How are my competitors performing?

What has actually sold since I went to market?

Is our strategy still in line with the data?

Those are productive conversations.

Because at the end of the day, we have exactly the same objective.

You want to sell.

And believe me:

me too, I want you to sell.

I'm paid when the transaction goes through.

I therefore have absolutely no interest in watching your sign take root in front of your house.

But I also refuse to pretend to control something no real estate broker controls.

The market decides. Our job is to know how to respond.

The broker doesn’t create the market.

They don’t create interest rates.

They don’t create buyers’ budgets.

They don’t create their sense of urgency.

And they can’t force someone to fall in love with a property.

But an excellent broker can help you make the right decisions while the market, itself, does what it wants.

And in my eyes, that’s precisely where our value is greatest.

When everything sells in 48 hours, almost anyone can look like a genius.

It’s when it becomes harder that you truly understand your broker’s value.