When Numbers Change but Expectations Don’t

Recently, I had a conversation with another agent in my office about a condominium they own.

They have a few properties, including student rentals near McMaster, and this condo was purchased years ago with the idea that they might live in it. Life changed. Interest rates rose. Carrying costs increased. Financial pressure followed.

The plan now is to rent the condo.

The challenge is that the rental market has shifted. Rents are lower than they were before. Despite listing the unit below what they used to get, it has not rented. They are frustrated and adamant that they will not rent it for less than a certain number because they believe they need to make a profit.

I walked through the numbers with them. I showed comparable rentals. I explained how the market has changed. The response was simple. It does not matter. They are sticking to their number.

At that point, the conversation became less about the market and more about expectations.

Here are three things this situation highlights.

First, yesterday’s numbers do not matter if today’s market does not support them.

Second, profit is not the same as relief when debt and stress are piling up.

Third, holding onto a property because of a peak price you missed can quietly create bigger problems over time.

What makes this especially interesting is that selling is an option. They bought the condo for roughly two hundred fifty thousand. It could realistically sell today in the high four hundreds. That would clear the debt and reset everything.

But that option is off the table because of one number. The price it could have sold for at the peak.

We are no longer in that market.

This is not unique. Many owners are in similar positions right now, especially those who stretched themselves thin expecting prices to always rise. When the plan backfires, some people freeze, not because selling is impossible, but because letting go feels like admitting failure.

Real estate decisions work best when they are based on current reality, not past opportunity.

Sometimes the smartest move is not maximizing a number, but minimizing stress.

Essam

P.S. The market does not care what a property was worth before. It only responds to what makes sense today.