236 Deals. 7 Markets. 5 Months.

A look at where business was written, closed, and sometimes walked away from, January through May 2025.

The numbers are in for the first five months of the year, and they tell a story worth telling. Not just the wins, but the whole picture: the contracts signed, the closings celebrated, and the deals that fell apart before they could become something more.

Across seven states, California, Colorado, Louisiana, Michigan, Ohio, Texas, and Virginia, our teams collectively closed 236 contracts between January and May. Add to that 89 terminations across the same window (60 confirmed through the end of May, with 29 more in process heading into June), and what emerges is a detailed portrait of a market that is active, competitive, and in certain pockets, genuinely difficult.

This isn’t just a report card. It’s a map of where the market is moving, where it’s resisting, and what it means for buyers and sellers navigating the rest of 2025.

By the Numbers: January through May 2025

Here’s how each market performed over the full five-month period:

* Q2 terminations reflect April and May confirmed data only. June figures are still being finalized.

California: Volume, Velocity, and the Cost of Competition

California led every market on volume, and it wasn’t particularly close. 113 closings across the five months, with a peak month of 26 in January and a sustained pace through spring. April and May combined for another 41 closings, signaling that the California market didn’t slow when it typically might.

The flip side: 32 terminations in the first three months alone, with 18 more already confirmed heading into June. That’s a market where deals are being made aggressively and where the friction of a competitive environment shows up in the fallout rate. For every deal that broke apart, another client needed our team to regroup quickly and keep moving.

California rewards preparation. Buyers who come ready, pre approved, flexible on timing, and informed on comps are the ones who close. The termination data reinforces it.

Texas: The Accelerator Market

51 closings across five months makes Texas our second most active market and the trajectory is the more interesting story. The year opened modestly, with 4 closings in January, before March delivered 16 in a single month. April and May continued at a combined 25.

Seven terminations in the first three months, and just 2 more confirmed through May, suggests that the deals being written in Texas are increasingly sticking. Whether that reflects stronger buyer preparation, better pricing alignment, or simply a market that has found its footing after a period of uncertainty, the signal is encouraging. Texas is building momentum, not burning it.

Colorado: The March Surge and What Comes After

Colorado’s five-month story is defined by a single month. After a slow January and February, March produced 13 closings more than the prior two months combined. The spring surge didn’t sustain at the same intensity (11 closings across April and May), but the overall picture is a market that responds well when conditions align.

Eight terminations across the first three months is notable, a fall through rate that reflects a market where buyers and sellers don’t always arrive at the table equally prepared. Going forward, pre contract education in Colorado will be a focus area for our team.

Virginia: Steady Hands in a Friction-Heavy Market

32 closings across the five months positions Virginia as a consistent, moderate volume market for our teams. The first three months delivered a balanced 24 closings, followed by 8 more in April and May.

What stands out in Virginia is the termination story. 12 terminations in the first three months against 24 closings at a 50% ratio is the highest in our portfolio. Add 4 more confirmed in Q2, and Virginia emerges as the market where deal friction is most pronounced. This isn’t necessarily a reflection of client quality or agent performance. It’s a market structure challenge. Appraisal gaps, inspection demands, and financing delays are all showing up here at elevated rates.

Our Virginia teams know this going in. The preparation we invest before a contract is signed directly reduces the exposure after it is.

Ohio, Michigan, and Louisiana: Small Volume, Real Stories

Not every market story is told in double digits and these three states remind us why presence matters even when volume is modest.

Louisiana

One closing. Zero terminations. A 100% close rate is worth noting regardless of the sample size. Louisiana operates on its own rhythms, and when we’re in that market, we’re in it to close.

Michigan

Two closings, one termination. A small footprint with a clean conversion story. Michigan clients receive the same level of process attention as our highest volume markets and it shows.

Ohio

Ohio is the market to watch heading into the second half of the year. Zero closings across the first three months, one in April, and five Q2 terminations already confirmed which tells us deals are being written, even if they’re not yet crossing the finish line. Early activity plus early friction is exactly what a market in transition looks like. We’re building our Ohio pipeline accordingly.

The Termination Conversation Nobody Wants to Have (But Should)

Across all seven markets, 89 terminations have been recorded through the end of May with June’s final count still pending. That’s a meaningful number, and we think it deserves a straight conversation rather than a footnote.

Terminations are not failures in isolation. They are data. They show us which markets are moving faster than buyers can keep up with. They reveal where financing is fragile, where inspections are surfacing deferred maintenance, and where sellers’ price expectations haven’t yet caught up with where the market actually is.

Every deal that doesn’t close teaches us something about the next one that will.

The markets with the highest termination rates, Virginia, California, and Colorado, are also among our most active. That’s not coincidence. Volume creates friction. Our job is to reduce that friction through preparation, communication, and honest expectation setting from day one.

We’re watching June’s termination data carefully. The Q2 window closes shortly, and the final picture will shape how we approach the second half of the year across every state in our portfolio.

What the First Five Months Tell Us About the Next Seven

The real estate market in 2025 is not simple. Rates remain a persistent headwind. Inventory in certain markets is creating bidding pressure that pushes buyers beyond their comfort zone. Sellers who purchased at lower rates are navigating their own calculus about when and whether to move.

But deals are getting done. 236 of them in five months, across seven states, at every price point. Our teams are adapting to the conditions in each individual market rather than applying a single approach to a landscape that doesn’t support it.

The agents, coordinators, and support staff behind these numbers aren’t just processing transactions. They’re navigating human decisions at some of the most consequential moments in people’s lives.

As June closes and the Q2 picture becomes complete, we’ll have a fuller view of where we stand heading into the summer market. The foundation is solid. The pipeline across Texas and California suggests continued momentum. Ohio is emerging. Colorado and Virginia will continue to reward teams that do the preparation work.

We’ll keep showing up. And we’ll keep closing.