The Day I Lost a Listing — And What It Taught Me About Real Estate, Resilience, and South Florida

The Day I Lost a Listing

And what it taught me about this business — and myself

Sandra Alonso · Brown Harris Stevens · July 2026

I want to tell you about a day that did not go the way I planned.

I had spent days preparing for a listing appointment. Not hours — days. I had built a complete comparative market analysis in black and gold with the seller's property, five comparable sales, a pricing recommendation, and a marketing plan. I had created a net proceeds sheet showing five different scenarios — what the seller would walk away with under every possible combination of price and commission. I had gathered my three Google reviews, written my biography, assembled my Brown Harris Stevens credentials and our Christie's International affiliation.

I had prepared more thoroughly for this one appointment than I had for almost anything in my six years of doing this work.

The property was a completely remodeled home — 2026 renovation, impact windows, pool, all permits pulled. A genuinely special listing in a market where that combination is rare. I believed in what I was bringing to the table. I was ready.

Then the phone rang.

The seller called to confirm the appointment. And in that same conversation told me his brother was going with another agent — someone they had spoken to before. The appointment was cancelled before I ever walked through the door.

I will be honest with you. I cried.

Not because I am fragile. Not because one lost opportunity defines anything. But because I had poured genuine effort into something that disappeared in a two minute phone call. Because I had let myself be excited. Because I had already imagined what it would feel like to present that black and gold CMA across a table and watch a seller realize they were in good hands.

I sat with that feeling for a while. I think that is important — sitting with the feelings that are real instead of pretending they are not there.

The next day I drove past the property.The other agent's sign was already in the yard.

I drove past it. I did not stop. I did not knock on the door. I did not leave my carefully prepared presentation on the front step. The listing was someone else's now and I respected that completely.

But I did something else that day. I sent the seller a text.

"Thank you for the opportunity. I wish you all the best with your sale. I had prepared something special for you — and if anything ever changes or if you ever want a second opinion down the road, I am always here."

I did not expect a response. I sent it because it was the right thing to do — because grace under disappointment matters to me, not as a strategy but as a value.

Then I went back to work.

Here is what I did the day after losing that listing.

I pulled a list of seventeen expired listings in Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay. I wrote each of them a letter — a real letter, not a template, with my photo and my credentials and an honest explanation of what I believed could be done differently to get their homes sold. I mailed all seventeen.

I called every expired seller I had a phone number for. I left voicemails. I sent follow up texts. I wrote two new articles for my website. I posted on every platform I am active on. I filmed a video about the three biggest mistakes South Florida sellers make — because I had just lived through a version of one of them myself and I had something real to say about it.

I did not wait for the sadness to pass before I worked. I worked through it. And somewhere in the middle of writing those letters and making those calls the sadness quietly became something else — something more useful. Determination, maybe. Or just the simple discipline of showing up anyway.

I have been a Realtor in South Florida for 10 years. I have lived in Cutler Cay — a gated waterfront community in Cutler Bay — for twenty one years as one of the original owners. I have been through enough in this business to know that the day that tests you is almost never the day that defines you.

What defines you is the day after.

What defines you is whether you send the gracious text or let bitterness win. Whether you mail the seventeen letters or decide that effort is not worth it when outcomes are uncertain. Whether you show up the next morning and do the work again — not because you are guaranteed a result but because showing up is who you are.

I told this story not because it has a triumphant ending — at least not yet. I told it because I think the people who work with me deserve to know who they are actually working with. Not a highlight reel. Not a list of credentials. A real person who prepares carefully, feels things genuinely, loses sometimes, and gets back up every single time.

That is the agent I am. And it is the agent I will keep being — for every client who trusts me with something that matters to them.

If you are thinking about buying or selling in South Florida — in Coral Gables, Palmetto Bay, Cutler Bay, Pinecrest, or South Miami — I would love to earn your trust. Not just your business. Your trust.

Reach out anytime at www.homesbysandraalonso.com or call me at 305-613-3376. I respond to every message personally.

With honesty and gratitude,



Sandra Alonso

Realtor | Brown Harris Stevens

305-613-3376 · salonso@bhsusa.com

www.homesbysandraalonso.com

Coral Gables · Palmetto Bay · Cutler Bay · Pinecrest · South Miami