Do you ever wonder if the person who works at an ice cream shoppe goes home and eats ice cream? Or if the Macy’s salesperson is so sick of clothes by the end of the day that they never know what to wear? What about a real estate agent? All day, every day is filled with industry data used to help people buy and sell homes. How does it go when they need to find a new residence?

John R. Wood agent Veronique Pascual is one of those people; she recently experienced the very thing she has helped others do for decades. Her 30 years of experience didn’t anesthetize her to the emotional whirlwind that often comes with these transactions.

Even with many homes removed from the market over the summer as sellers reconsider their strategy, industry brokers feel the Naples real estate market is still a stable one. In fact, they report that those searching for homes in Naples will enjoy more options this summer than any summer in the last 10 years, according to a recent 2025 Market Report by the Naples Area Board of Realtors.

Even with plenty of homes available, the process of preparing a home for sale, packing up, moving and settling into new digs is rarely peaceful, even for an expert.

“I just sold my larger home with a pool and downsized,” Pascual said. “We moved to an attached villa, but I must admit that from the beginning of the process in February to when we finalized the move in June, it was a very stressful few months.”

NABOR reports a moderate softening of home prices, which sparked a slight increase in closed sales this summer. Pascual’s professional experience allowed her to evaluate the trends both when she was selling the large home and searching for the perfect space.

“As a seller I very quickly saw that the real estate market was going down,” she said. “So I promptly reduced my price and yet still had to do it again to attract buyers’ interest.”

Her knowledge of the industry allowed her to adjust accordingly, but not without the frustration and anxiety that often comes with the process. Luckily she had a co-listing agent to advise her. Her advice for others: “Get a full-time professional Realtor to guide you and keep a constant eye on the competition,” she said.

Simultaneous to the stress of selling, Pascual was looking for the perfect new home. “As a buyer I acknowledge we are in the best buyer’s market we have had in Southwest Florida in the last 10-15 years. When I found the home that suited my needs, I went for it,” she said. “I could have waited for the market to go down some more — like many buyers seem to want to do — but I found the location I wanted, and found my lovely new home.”

Pascual, now settled in her villa, acknowledged that it is tempting to obsess on the market while waiting for it to “reach a bottom,” but her decades as a Realtor have taught her, “Buy when you are ready. This is the best time! Historically, real estate always goes up.”

Those words might just get you packing.