No Mo No Go! The life-change that is motivating the move (the sale or the purchase) has to be strong enough to pull them through the challenges of today's market. Life makes people move: births, deaths, promotions, divorces, weddings, grandchildren, school districts, inheritance and BK's or just the strong desire to invest. Life is what happens to real estate despite markets, rates, Crashes & Pandemics.

Why should people buy and sell?

That question has as many answers as grains of sand on the beach . . . they should except when they shouldn't. LOL

The people are the market ... therefore the challenges. Raising the bar in this industry remains the age-old challenge as well. 

It does feel that we need a bit more motivation these days. Housing prices are high and staying high ( at least in my L.A. area) despite what some medias reporting. *Also I feel that DOM is often not relevant anymore, it just often takes longer to sell and it does not mean that the final sold price is going to be lower. 

Good question. People buy and sell for many reasons. Many people have the "golden handcuffs" aka low interest rates and they may not want to give that up. so, there has to be a compelling reason to move. Some are counting on boomers to move and they have time on their side. So are waiting to see if housing prices do indeed come down. 

I spoke to a gentleman yesterday who is basically waiting for the new Apple campus. Apple just announced they are pushing the project out 4 more years so he may be waiting a while.

Job opportunities bring many families to our area. The low housing  inventory makes it very challenging for the prospects and the agents.

Death, divorce, job transfer, births, empty nest... those are the main reasons.  Sometimes you get the people who want to move to the other side of the street for the view, but that is pretty rare.

Seek first to understand! What is a buyers or sellers current dissatisfaction? Is there suitable properties in your market that can provide future promise? At that time you can expose the parties to what you think will fit. Trust is key!

The market IS all about the people - those who want to sell and those who want to buy. The dynamics are always shifting.

Is this really a change from other times, probably not "more" of a need, likely just a continual part of the dance.