A buyer sat across from me last month, close to tears because she’d done everything right to win the house and it still wasn’t enough. A week later, a seller sat in that same chair, furious at the very buyer who had won his home, nitpicking the inspection, digging his heels in, and nearly blowing the entire deal over a few hundred dollars.
Neither of them was wrong to feel what they felt. Neither of them was standing in the market they thought they were.
Atlantic Highlands never left the sellers’ side of this — in June alone, twelve homes sold here for an average of just over a million dollars, in a town you can walk end to end in 30 minutes. Nationwide, less than half of homes sell above list price. Here? It’s the norm to sell above list price, not the exception.
What has shifted is the mindset: buyers fight like it’s a seller’s market to win the house, then act like it’s a buyer’s market the second the offer is accepted. Meanwhile, sellers get high on multiple offers and forget that a deal isn’t done until the ink is dry.
We all know that this town is no longer a secret with Netflix here, cameras up the hill, down the shore, and everywhere the Seastreak drops you off. Now you have double the buyers chasing the same inventory. The downsizers are leaving the big estate to be closer to their kids while commuting into the city. The first-timers want the ferry ten minutes from their door instead of an hour. Same motivation, same houses, same weekend.
That is why a strategically priced home doesn’t get a decision-making runway anymore. Buyers get one showing—thirty minutes—before it’s gone.
So here’s what I tell every client before we start: know what game you’re actually playing.
- Buying? Winning the bid is just the beginning, not the finish line.
- Selling? The number you got was a gift from demand—protect it by staying human, not by digging in over the small stuff.
This market doesn’t reward whoever fights the hardest. It rewards whoever understands the reality of the game—or has a seasoned agent with the experience to guide them through it. That is the only edge that has ever mattered here, and it’s the only thing I actually sell.
If you are buying or selling in Atlantic Highlands, or anywhere along this stretch of Eastern Monmouth County, I’d rather tell you the truth about the market we are really in—let’s talk real estate.
Any content, resident submissions, guest columns, advertisements, and advertorials are not necessarily endorsed by or represent the views of Best Version Media LLC (BVM) or any municipality, homeowners associations, businesses, or organizations that this publication serves. BVM is not responsible for the reliability, suitability, or timeliness of any content submitted, inclusive of materials generated or composed through artificial intelligence (AI). All content submitted is done so at the sole discretion of the submitting party.
