In a market where inventory has loosened and sellers are offering concessions, the expected result would be more transactions. In parts of North Texas, the opposite is happening. Qualified buyers are browsing for months, viewing dozens of homes, and declining to commit, not because they can’t find something, but because they can’t stop wondering whether something better is about to appear.
Heather Shimala, a nearly 20-year veteran at Reserve 76 Realty who also coaches agents across the country, says the pattern has become widespread enough to define the current market’s central friction. “You’ll have a situation where you’ll have an agent who’s got a buyer, the buyer’s qualified, they’re in a situation where they can move quickly if the right house comes along,” she says. “The right house does come along based upon what they’re telling the agent. But the buyer isn’t making a decision.”
The root of the issue, according to Shimala, is not affordability or rates; it’s information overload. Buyers now have access to every major listing platform around the clock, and many spend months browsing before ever contacting an agent. She compares the experience to scrolling a streaming service without ever choosing something to watch. “There’s like 3,000 opportunities, but you can’t find one. You can’t pick just one.”
When those buyers finally engage with an agent, the pattern often continues. Shimala hears regularly from agents who have shown a single buyer 100 homes. The fear driving the indecision has several layers: that rates will drop and create better terms, that more inventory is coming, or that committing now means missing something better tomorrow. “They’re afraid that something better is going to come on the market tomorrow after they make the decision.”
Many of today’s buyers were active during the 2021 frenzy, when 40 offers on a single home were common. Shimala says those buyers are now back in the market but approach it differently, hyper-focused, picky, and reluctant to act quickly. Without an agent who can set clear expectations through a structured buyer consultation, both sides end up frustrated.
The result is a market that reads as a seller’s market on paper, based on inventory levels, but behaves more like a buyer’s market in practice. Buyers are asking for concessions, negotiating prices down, and in some cases receiving reverse offers, where a listing agent has the seller bring an offer directly to a buyer’s agent. Shimala says she’s working one such deal right now.
For sellers, the takeaway is blunt: pricing errors are punished immediately. Shimala says homes priced appropriately based on comparable sales data are still moving quickly and drawing multiple offers. Homes that aren’t sit, delist, and sometimes don’t return. “If you price a house incorrectly, it’s just not going to move.”
She actively searches that delisted inventory when working with buyers who have specific criteria. But the strategy has limits. Many delisted homes were purchased during the 2021 surge at inflated prices, and sellers still expect to turn a profit the market doesn’t support. “Think you’ve got a buyer who bought back in 2021 and overpaid for a house by $100,000,” Shimala says. “The market hasn’t caught up to that number yet.”
The broader DFW market has drawn headlines about cooling, but in the communities Shimala covers, Lantana, Argyle, Flower Mound, and parts of south Denton County, she describes conditions as steady rather than soft. Major corporate moves continue to support demand. Goldman Sachs and other banking firms are establishing offices in the area, and AT&T is building a large corporate campus in Plano. “From a commuting standpoint, it’s pretty easy to get to any of these places,” Shimala says. “So we’re still seeing a good amount of movement in North Texas.”
Two new master-planned communities in south Denton County are absorbing some of that demand. Furst Ranch is positioning as a higher-end development with luxury homes, restaurants, and upscale retail. Landmark, originally named Hunter Cole Ranch before developer Hillwood rebranded it, targets families with parks, schools, and Denton ISD access.
New construction is competing effectively against pre-owned homes, in part because builders with in-house mortgage companies can offer rates that resale sellers can’t match. Shimala notes that builders are pairing those rate advantages with other incentives to attract buyers.
The buyer pool itself has diversified. Out-of-state relocations continue, but the mix now includes move-up buyers, first-time buyers, often the children of existing clients, and a significant cohort of downsizers. Empty nesters leaving large homes are gravitating toward lifestyle-oriented communities like Robson Ranch, a 55-and-over development in south Denton County that offers built-in social programming and neighbors in the same phase of life.
What connects these buyer types, according to Shimala, is a need for rate expectations to be recalibrated. She regularly reminds clients that the historical average mortgage rate sits around 7.25 to 7.5 percent, and that the 2.5 to 3 percent rates of recent years were an anomaly the market cannot sustain. “I don’t think we’re going to see anything below a 5 percent in more than a decade.”
Her framing to clients is practical: when rates are low, prices rise, so the two forces roughly offset each other. Buyers who wait for lower rates may face higher purchase prices when they arrive. “If there’s a need, they will make a move,” she says.
Shimala is also directing energy toward mentorship. She says new agents are leaving the industry too quickly, in part because large brokerages prioritize headcount over training. “I feel like there are a lot of big-box brokerages that just want headcount so that they can get their guaranteed revenue each year. And what’s happening is these newer agents are getting lost in the shuffle.”
To address this, she is launching an intern program at Reserve 76 Realty. Each intern will shadow her on every appointment, learning the business from initial consultation through closing. She plans to take one intern every six months.
For buyers navigating a market defined by abundant choices and persistent hesitation, Shimala’s advice is direct: stop consuming headlines and start asking questions of a local professional who can explain what’s happening in their specific area. “The housing market is not bad,” she says. “It’s cyclical. You have a buyer’s market, you have a seller’s market.”
About the Expert: Heather Shimala is a nearly 20-year veteran at Reserve 76 Realty, covering Lantana, Argyle, Flower Mound, and parts of south Denton County, Texas, and also coaches agents across the country.
This article is based on information provided by the expert source cited above. It is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or real estate advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals before making any real estate or financial decisions.
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