03.11.2026 PropStream
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Key Takeaways:
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As summer approaches, so does peak real estate season, when the market surges with eager sellers and competitive buyers.
For some agents, the rush feels chaotic as they struggle to create marketing materials on the fly, generate consistent leads, and position listings in a crowded market. Others, though, have spent months preparing for this moment, from digging into hyperlocal market trends to identifying likely sellers.
To better understand how agents should prepare for peak season, we spoke with two top-performing agents: Matthew Martinez, CEO and Broker of Diamond Real Estate Group in Northern California, and Jeff House, Strategic Real Estate Advisor at Real Estate Bees in the Ohio Valley Region.
Q: What do you start doing 60-90 days before peak season that most agents wait too long to implement?
Martinez: I start acting like future listings are active listings 60 to 90 days before owners ever agree to sell. That requires getting back in touch with old clients, investors, and homeowners and dropping hints while quietly setting up inspections, top-notch photos, vendor walkthroughs, and a strong pricing strategy. By the time peak season rolls around, my homes are ready to go. They've been listed and pre-marketed to eligible buyers. Most agents don't wake up until the sign goes in the yard. I'm already three steps ahead.
House: From New Year’s on, my team acts as though we’re already in peak season. My marketing and implementation partners and I get very clear on who we’re talking to in each market segment—downsizers, move-up buyers, relocating families—and then we build simple, consistent messaging targeting their specific pain points.
We’ll line up targeted campaigns, mail, video, and follow-up calls ahead of time so that when inventory jumps, we’re not scrambling to figure out what to say.
As summer hits, we shift from “warming the market up” to real-time adjustment: we look at which neighborhoods are responding and which price points are moving. The groundwork is done early so we can spend peak season responding, not reacting.
Q: How do you adjust your pricing strategy when inventory spikes in your market?
Related: How To Determine the Asking Price for a Home: Listing Agents 101
Martinez: I set my prices to win quickly, not to see how high I can go. High inventory punishes greed: properties that are too expensive lose momentum and sit. I'd rather strike the market sharply and a little bit ahead of the comps, get people to bid in the first 7 to 10 days, and let the competition raise the final number. Chasing cuts later hurts credibility; moving quickly early on enhances it.
House: When inventory jumps, we stop talking about “price” in isolation and start talking about “position.” In my experience, the worst thing you can do in a crowded market is to list and then chase the market down with public price cuts.
Instead, I show sellers where similar homes are stacking up and how buyers actually search online. We look at price brackets, days on market, and showing activity, and choose a number that gives us a clear advantage in that band. Then my team and I make sure the marketing justifies that position with a better presentation, clearer story, and stronger exposure than anything else at that price. If we need to adjust, we do it intentionally and early, before the listing looks stale.
Q: How do you use property data and local market insights to win listing presentations in competitive neighborhoods?
Martinez: I don't just put comps on a spreadsheet. I break down absorption rates, day-on-market trends by street, buyer demographics that change in real time, and what individual features are making a difference right now. Sellers want to know for sure when, for how much, and to whom their home will sell. I show them exactly why this is the case, using micro-market data that no one else bothers to obtain. It's not a range; it's a map that makes people feel safe.
House: When I’m in a competitive neighborhood, I focus on context: how long similar homes stayed on the market, where buyers actually came from, and which features consistently commanded a premium.
Behind the scenes, my marketing and implementation partners help me break the area down into micro-markets and most likely buyers rather than treating the whole area the same. I can then sit with a seller and say, “Here’s what’s happening on homes like yours within a mile, here’s who is most likely to buy it, and here’s how we’re going to get in front of those people specifically.”
That combination of data, local insight, and a clear execution plan usually sets our team apart from agents who only show a stack of charts.
Pro Tip: Want to study local data, create lead lists, and start your outreach in one convenient location? PropStream It! Learn more about what you can do with this all-in-one platform as an agent here.
Q: Have you ever landed a big win because of your marketing preparation?
Martinez: Last peak season, I had a Napa Valley estate that was professionally set, photographed, and pre-priced four months before the owner was ready to sell. We soft-launched to a select group of buyers, did great on the open market, and closed 12 days later for 8% more than the asking price, even though the market was slow. That one deal turned into three referrals and two off-market exclusives because the seller became my biggest fan, telling everyone how being prepared converted chaos into control.
House: One year, about two months before peak season, my team and I built a focused plan around a specific move-up price point that our research told us would be busy. We prepped content, mail pieces, and follow-up scripts that spoke directly to families who had simply outgrown their current home but weren’t sure they could manage a move. We prepared targeted videos aimed directly at them and flooded the market with this content.
By the time the season hit, those homeowners had already seen my name, our team, heard the same simple message several times, and understood that we had a path to get them from “bursting at the seams” to the next home without chaos.
That early work turned into multiple listings, several buy-sell deals, and a steady referral stream from that one pocket of homeowners.
Act Early for Maximum Momentum Using PropStream
Building momentum in peak season, like Martinez and House, isn’t about being busy; it’s about focusing on the right opportunities before the rush hits. Otherwise, agents find themselves scrambling to catch up when the market is already in full swing.
Gear up for the summer now with PropStream by running comps, gathering market intel, and identifying highly motivated leads.
*PropStream engages an independent third party to perform skip-tracing.
