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The Great Ghosting
Sellers beware: buyers are walking away like it’s no big deal
Splits and Caps Daily: Action for Agents
August 28, 2025
📈 Market Move:
Signed, Sealed… Psych!
The “fall-through” is becoming the hottest trend in real estate. In July, 15.3% of U.S. home deals got canceled—the highest July since records started in 2017. That’s about 58,000 buyers ghosting their contracts.
Why? Prices are high, rates are brutal, and inventory’s finally fattened up. Translation: buyers have options, so they’re bailing at inspections or just deciding, “nah, I’ll find better.”
San Antonio leads the league with nearly 23% of deals tanking, followed by a Florida tag team (Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Tampa) and Atlanta. Meanwhile, Virginia Beach gets the award for fastest-growing quitters—cancellations jumped 3.6 points YoY.
Bottom line: buyers have more leverage than they’ve had in years, and they’re using it. Sellers who think a signed contract = money in the bank? Not so fast.
Agent Takeaway: A signed contract ≠ payday. Deals are fragile, so stay close to your buyers, over-communicate through inspection, and have backups lined up. On the listing side, prep sellers early: it ain’t sold till it’s closed.
🌟Quote of the Day:
“Losers quit when they fail. Winners fail until they succeed.” — Robert Kiyosaki
⚡ Quick Win:
Inbox Triage – Create three email folders: “Reply Today,” “Reply This Week,” and “Ignore.” Move everything accordingly. Your brain will thank you.
🎉 Fun Fact of the Day:
That’s the Spirit: 🏰 The Winchester Mystery House in California has stairs that go nowhere and doors that open into walls. Basically, the first “open concept” gone wrong.
📚 Book Recommendation:
“Key Person of Influence” by Daniel Priestley — This book is basically a cheat code for becoming the person everyone wants to work with in your industry. Priestley breaks it down into 5 steps: Pitch, Publish, Product, Profile, Partnerships. Nail those, and suddenly you’re not just another agent/broker/whatever—you’re the person people call first.
It’s not about grinding harder, it’s about positioning yourself so opportunities chase you instead of the other way around. Read it if you want to stop being invisible and start being the name people drop in every conversation.
The gap between ordinary and extraordinary is just one more rep.
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