The Florida coastal real estate market is undergoing a sharp correction, but according to one veteran broker, the roots of the problem go beyond typical market cycles. Randall Rintala, Associate Broker at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Beach Properties of Florida, says many agents misled buyers during the COVID boom by presenting inflated rental income projections based on unsustainable occupancy rates.
“They’re giving you numbers where it’s 100% occupancy but for what reason? COVID. Nobody put two and two together for the most part,” Rintala says. “And in a true market, it would be making half of that. Well, guess what? Their numbers were off, what, $300,000? Now reality set in.”
Rintala, who has worked in the Destin-30A corridor for 23 years, says the pandemic brought an unprecedented wave of buyers to Florida. With much of the country under lockdown, Florida’s open policies made it an outlier. “Florida was pretty much the free world,” Rintala says. “People were traveling here to get away from other areas that were locking them down. No cruise ships. So it was easy to drive down here.”
The Occupancy Rate Illusion
Rintala says the core problem was not just optimism, but the way agents treated temporary pandemic conditions as permanent facts. During COVID, rental properties along the 30A corridor achieved unusually high returns because travelers had few alternatives. Cruise ships were docked, international travel was limited, and demand for accessible beach destinations soared. Agents used these extraordinary numbers to project future income, ignoring the reality that such occupancy levels had never been sustainable long-term.
“People weren’t doing their jobs,” Rintala says. “Real estate agents were popping out of nowhere as usual, and people were just buying properties without really thinking it through.”
According to Rintala, experienced agents should have recognized that the surge in rental income was a short-term effect tied to travel restrictions. Instead, many simply extended the recent performance into the future, failing to warn buyers that once travel normalized, occupancy rates and rental income would drop.
The result is a market now filled with overpriced rental properties that are underperforming for owners who bought based on inflated projections. “There are a lot of overpriced homes, and not just overpriced—they are not well taken care of,” Rintala says. He notes that owners disappointed by rental income shortfalls often defer maintenance, further eroding property values.
The Broader Market Impact
Rintala contends that the widespread use of misleading projections has created systemic issues for the entire market. “There are so many people giving such bad information, and what happens is, we all get affected by it. They don’t realize the domino effect of what you’re doing,” he says.
When buyers discover their properties are generating only half the projected income, some become distressed sellers, while others keep their homes off the market as they reassess their options. This dynamic leads to unpredictable inventory levels and price uncertainty, affecting even buyers and sellers who had accurate information.
Rintala also points to a persistent reluctance among agents to fully inform buyers. “I’m probably a real estate market’s worst nightmare if I really wanted to tell you what was on my mind,” he says. “It upsets me because there are so many people giving such bad information.”
Recently, Rintala accompanied friends looking at properties in the $4-8 million range and was struck by the gap between asking prices and realistic valuations. “I cannot believe that they’re trying to get those numbers. Look at the numbers,” he recalls telling his clients.
The Missing Maintenance Factor
In addition to inflated occupancy projections, Rintala says agents frequently underestimate the costs of maintaining coastal properties. “When you’re near the beach, the beach crushes a home—that salt air, all this stuff, so you’ve got to be prepared for maintenance. That’s another cost people aren’t telling you,” he says.
Rintala says the combination of overstated income and understated expenses has left many buyers facing investments that don’t perform as promised.
A Different Approach
Rintala’s company has adopted a different model for new construction sales, which he says removes the pressure to misrepresent property value. “The best thing about my job, I don’t represent anybody. I represent the deal,” Rintala explains. “When you represent the deal, you have nothing to hide.”
This structure, he says, allows him to provide buyers with all relevant information without worrying that transparency will cost him a commission. “All I do is present the facts, and I can’t make you sign anything. You sign when you’re ready,” he says.
Whether this approach will spread more widely may depend on how long the current market correction lasts and whether buyers increasingly demand the kind of transparency Rintala describes as still rare in the Florida coastal market. As the market adjusts and more owners confront the gap between pandemic-era projections and current realities, the demand for accurate information and honest representation is likely to grow.
