Selling in Naples

Your Power Move guide to selling your home

If you are thinking about selling in Naples, you have probably read a few of these. Most are the same. Generic stats, national averages, and a pep talk about how it is always a great time to sell. This is not that.

I wrote this for the homeowner sitting at the kitchen table running the numbers, wondering whether now is the right time, whether the house is ready, and whether the person listing it is going to do right by them.

Selling well in 2026 is not the same as it was in 2022. Inventory is up and buyers are pickier than they have been in years. The homes that sell get prepped right, priced right and marketed right from day one. The ones that do not, sit, drop, and sell for less. That is what the Power Move Method™ prevents.

The 2026 Naples market, no spin

Here is the version of the market report I would give my own sister. After the pandemic boom, the market transitioned. Inventory across Collier County has climbed. Single family homes have held more stable than condos, and the condo segment carries more inventory, partly from insurance costs and post Surfside reserve requirements driving up assessments.

If you are selling in 2026, you have to earn the sale. Buyers have options. They are not competing with six other offers on a Tuesday. That means condition, price and presentation carry all the weight now.

The first two weeks decide more than anything else in this guide.

The longer a home sits, the bigger the eventual reduction. That is the pattern in almost every market, and it is why launching correctly matters more than almost anything else you will do. The encouraging part is that single family homes in Naples have held their value well. Your equity is still there. The work is positioning correctly from the start so you capture it, instead of chasing the market down.

The Power Move Method™

Four pillars, one result. When we follow the plan, the results follow. Every home I take runs through it in the same order, every time.

• Diagnose. You cannot negotiate from a number you were never sure of. Start with the Equity Protection Audit™. We identify every reason it could put your equity at risk and fix it. We do not guess on anything. It is all strategic.
• Reposition. Your first showing happens on a screen. Your home cannot just be on the market. It has to be the one buyers emotionally connect with the moment they see it. Buyers do not fall in love with floor plans.
• Visibility. Available is not the same as wanted. Listing on the MLS and waiting is why most homes sit. Your buyers are online, so we go where the buyers are with detailed geo marketing.
• Restoration. A listing that has been sitting can start over. If a home already came off the market unsold, the market formed an opinion of it. We relaunch with a different strategy.

The Equity Protection Audit™

Most agents list the home, hope it sells, and react when it does not. By then the market has already decided what your home is worth, without you. I do the opposite. An in home walkthrough, about an hour, before anything goes live.

• Service history documented. Roof, HVAC, water heater, appliances.
• A current wind mitigation report pulled, to lower buyers’ insurance projections. Florida buyers shop insurance before they shop houses.
• AC and roof examined hard. The two items most tied to insurability here.
• Leaks, moisture and deferred repairs flagged.
• A real comp analysis for your neighborhood and your buyer pool.
• Pricing locked before listing, not after.
• Right prep, not over prep. I walk it like a buyer and find the friction points they notice before they reach the kitchen.

You walk out with three things: what the home would sell for today, what has to happen before it hits the market, and a net proceeds estimate at today’s prices.

I will not ask you to spend a dollar unless I know it will make you three.

The logic underneath it is simple. Every unaddressed issue becomes leverage in the buyer’s hands: a credit, a price cut, or an exit. The cheapest time to fix a problem is before a buyer’s inspector finds it. On your terms it is routine maintenance. On theirs it is a discount off your price.

Pricing, the one that matters most

I am a certified Pricing Strategy Advisor, so this is a trained discipline rather than an opinion. I read three kinds of data differently. Active listings reflect what sellers hope to get. Pending sales show interest but hide the final price and terms. Sold listings are reality, where buyers actually committed.

I prioritize sold data, then balance it with buyer psychology and timing. Not the fantasy number, not the fire sale number. The number that gets buyers competing.

Today’s buyers have seen every comparable home online. They write offers when the price matches real sold data, the condition justifies it, and it feels move in ready. When a home feels overpriced, they do not counter. They just move on. An overpriced home that sits has a cost beyond money. The showings thin, the feedback goes quiet, and you start wondering what is wrong with it. Nothing is. The price told buyers the wrong story.

Beware the agent who tells you the highest number just to win your signature.

If three agents say one number and a fourth promises far more, that fourth agent is not pricing your home. They are pricing your hope, and if the price drops later you will net less than the honest number would have gotten you on day one.

Questions to ask any listing agent, including me

• Show me your actual closings. Addresses, prices, dates. I publish all of mine.
• What will you do in the first fourteen days, specifically?
• What would you have me fix, and what would you leave alone?
• Tell me about a deal you talked a client out of.

It may not be the answer everyone wants, but it is the conversation we need to have. The goal is not to test the market. The goal is to make a move.