Miami, 2006: the seller who was right — for five years
The rarest regret story: the one where selling was correct. For a while.
Whoever sold a Miami condo in 2006 spent the next five years being told they were a genius, because they were: by 2011 the metro index had fallen about 44% from its 2006 average. This site is honest about that — sometimes not owning wins, and we print it.
Then the other half of the story happened. Held straight through the crash, a 2006-peak purchase is at 2.1× today. The seller was right for five years; the buyer who never looked at Zillow again was right for twenty.
Both people exist in every metro. The difference between them is usually not analysis — it’s whether they needed to move in 2011.
Figures are index-derived estimates for the metro market — not an appraisal of any specific house. FHFA data; this site is neither endorsed nor certified by FHFA. Not financial advice.