Michael Himmel is a broker associate with Mott & Chace Sotheby’s International Realty, based in Charlestown. A lifelong South County resident, he focuses on residential real estate transactions in southern Rhode Island. He holds degrees in multimedia design and communications and has professional experience in photography and technology, which informs his approach to marketing and negotiation.
Himmel has nearly two decades of experience in the real estate industry and has been a member of the Mott & Chace $10 Million+ Club each year since 2017. He has also been the leading agent at the firm’s Charlestown office for total units sold and total sales volume for multiple consecutive years.
PBN: You have a pulse on real estate in the Charlestown area. What was 2025 like for the real estate market there compared with previous years?
HIMMEL: The year started off very slow with low inventory and low demand, especially for the higher-end vacation second-home market. The traditional spring market seemed to be delayed into the mid-summer months. That is very out of the ordinary for the summer vacation homes.
PBN: What are your expectations for the new year, in terms of the Charlestown and the Greater Rhode Island markets, buyer and seller behaviors and how this may all impact your career?
HIMMEL: I have had a larger-than-normal amount of sellers reach out to me this past fall about listing shortly after the new year. I feel the first quarter of 2026 might be busier than normal. And I think there will be much more business overall than 2025.
PBN: Inventory challenges and the high cost of housing have been a recurring theme in Rhode Island. What are you telling clients about how to navigate these difficulties?
HIMMEL: Most of my business is summer vacation home listings. Buyers are paying cash more often than not and affordability is not a concern.
PBN: As technology, marketing tools and client expectations evolve in an age of artificial intelligence and ever-increasing smartphone connectivity, what changes are you seeing in how real estate professionals need to operate to stay competitive in 2026?
HIMMEL: Learning to work remotely from the road on your mobile phone and providing people information quickly and efficiently is important. Using AI to do time-consuming tasks helps me free up time so I can be working on more-important things.
PBN: What keeps you most optimistic about Rhode Island real estate, the market and the profession in 2026?
HIMMEL: Buying and selling real estate is something that needs and will happen no matter the economy or political environment. AI is not something that can work with people on-site in a house and give personal service, advice, guidance and emotional support. Real estate sales and rentals will always have a human involved – at least in my lifetime.
Marc Larocque is a PBN contributing writer. Contact him at Larocque@PBN.com. You may also follow him on X at @Marc_La_Rock.
