# The Florence Market Pulse: Why Now Is the Time for Strategy

By Kevin Medlin (@kevinmedlin) · Published 2026-11-03

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Florence's housing market has stopped being a sprint and started being a chess match. The average home here is worth $224,906, up a modest 3.1% over the past year ([Zillow](https://www.zillow.com/home-values/45291/florence-sc)), and for the first time in years buyers aren't fighting a bidding war — they're deciding. In the last sixty days I've had three sellers walk away from offers rather than accept a price that stung, where a year ago they'd have countered within the hour. That's the shift I see every week in my office, and it demands a different kind of strategy from both buyers and sellers than the market trained us on.

Let me be direct about my take: the days of "list it and it sells" are over in Florence. The market is stabilizing, and whoever acts with a plan — not whoever acts fastest — is going to come out ahead.

## The Inventory Reality

The headline number is **373 homes** sitting in active inventory as of September 30 ([Zillow](https://www.zillow.com/home-values/45291/florence-sc)) — a level that gives buyers genuine choice for the first time in the post-pandemic run. When inventory was thin and demand was hot, sellers could set the terms. That leverage has flipped.

The clearest evidence is in how sales close. **54.1%** of Florence homes sold in August went **under** their list price, while only **14.7%** sold over it ([Zillow](https://www.zillow.com/home-values/45291/florence-sc)). A year ago the mix was nearly the reverse. Homes still move — the median time to contract is **31 days**, which is not slow — but they now move at the buyer's pace, not the seller's.

That's not a crash, and I want to be clear about that. Prices are still up, just at a crawl, and the market is holding its value. What's changed is the negotiation. Florence isn't falling; it's recalibrating.

## The Interest Rate Tug-of-War

The other half of this equation is what buyers can afford to borrow. Mortgage rates are the single biggest influence on a household's payment, and they are not cooperating. Nationally, higher rates pushed **pending home sales down 7.3%** in September from a month earlier, and **11.3%** from a year ago (NAR). Fewer buyers can qualify when the monthly payment climbs, which is exactly the pressure Florence's cooling demand is reflecting.

The honest read for buyers is that rates aren't the enemy they were two years ago, but they're also not the friend they were in 2021.

The strongest case for waiting is pure math: a rate drop of a point or two on a typical loan would cut a monthly payment by hundreds of dollars, and over 30 years that is real money. I respect that argument — nobody wants to lock in a rate and watch it fall. But timing rates is a gamble, and the market data cuts against it. NAR reports that "buyers and sellers may simply be holding back until mortgage rates move favorably" ([NAR](https://www.nar.realtor/newsroom/pending-home-sales-decreased-7-3-percent-in-september)), which is exactly what's slowing demand right now. When rates do ease, the competition returns and the negotiation room closes. The buyer who acts now locks in today's price — and can always refinance later if rates fall. You can't refinance your way back into a house you didn't buy.

## What Sellers Need to Do Now

If you're selling in Florence this fall, the message I'd give you is simple: price it right the first time. With more than half of sales now closing under list, the market is punishing sellers who hold out for last year's number. NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun put it in plain terms this month, saying higher inventory and longer days on market give buyers "improved negotiating power" and that sellers need to be "realistic about local market conditions" ([NAR](https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics/housing-statistics/existing-home-sales)).

The window where a home would sell itself is closed. Today, condition and price do the selling. I tell sellers to expect that the first offer may be the strongest one, and that waiting for a better one can cost more than it saves. The good news is you still hold an advantage from all the equity built in recent years — and a home priced at market will still generate offers, just not the frenzy of 2021.

## The Opportunity for Buyers

For buyers, this is the most realistic market Florence has offered in years. The leverage that sellers lost is yours. With **373 homes** on the market and the majority of sales closing under list, you have room to negotiate on price, on closing costs, and on repairs — negotiating power that simply didn't exist in the frenzy years.

The trade-off is the rate, and it's the reason demand is cooling at all. NAR reports pending home sales fell 7.3% in September from the month before as rising rates priced buyers out ([NAR](https://www.nar.realtor/newsroom/pending-home-sales-decreased-7-3-percent-in-september)). My advice to buyers is to stop waiting for the perfect moment and instead get pre-approved, know your number, and move when the right home at the right payment appears. In a stabilizing market, the buyer who is ready wins — not the one who waits.

## A Market That Rewards Preparation

Here's my bottom line, and it cuts both ways. The sellers who adapt — who price against what this market will actually pay and lean on the equity they've built — will close. The buyers who prepare — who get pre-approved and move with conviction instead of waiting for a rate they may never see — will find real value in Florence. What neither side can afford anymore is indecision.

I've spent my career financing homes in this community, and I've watched the market swing through every kind of cycle. This one isn't a crash, and it isn't a boom. It's a return to normal — a market where a house sells because it's priced and presented honestly, not because it's the only option on the block. That's a healthier place to buy and sell, even if it asks more of us than the frenzy did.

My team at Movement Mortgage works with Florence buyers and sellers every day, and the strategy that wins right now is the same one that wins in any market: know your number, move on good information, and don't let a headline decide for you. The market has leveled off. How well you play it is still entirely up to you.

I saw it play out last month on a home I financed in West Florence. The seller had listed at what their neighbor fetched in 2024, and the house sat with only a trickle of showings for three weeks before they repriced closer to current comps — it went under contract in days. That's not a story about a bad decision; it's the reality that Florence buyers now compare every listing against the 373 other options on the market ([Zillow](https://www.zillow.com/home-values/45291/florence-sc)).

Price it right, present it well, and the equity you've built still works for you.