None of these are stupid. Most of them were true once, or are true somewhere else, or are repeated confidently by someone who has never closed a transaction in Texas.
Not true, and it costs people years.
Twenty percent avoids mortgage insurance on a conventional loan. It is not a requirement to buy. VA has no minimum for eligible buyers, FHA’s agency minimum is 3.5%, and conventional starts at 3% for qualifying first-time buyers. Waiting to hit 20% in a rising market often costs more than the mortgage insurance would have.
It is a starting point, not a valuation.
Automated estimates work from public records and past sales. They cannot see that you rebuilt the kitchen, that the lot backs a greenbelt, or that the identical floor plan two streets over sits in a different school district. On unusual homes the gap is routinely six figures in either direction.
It is a bet, and it has a cost on both sides.
Lower rates bring more buyers back, which pushes prices up and competition with them. Rates can be refinanced later; a purchase price cannot. We are not going to tell you which way rates go — nobody credible will — but the trade is real in both directions and worth naming.
Barely, and shopping does not compound it.
A mortgage inquiry has a small, temporary effect. Multiple mortgage inquiries inside a shopping window count as one event to the scoring models, so comparing lenders does not stack up damage. What actually breaks a file is opening new credit or financing furniture between approval and closing.
You save nothing and give up your advocate.
The listing agent owes their duty to the seller. In a dual-agency arrangement neither side gets full advocacy, and the commission structure rarely changes in your favor. Representation is negotiated in writing now, so you can see exactly what you are agreeing to.
It is the single most valuable week you have.
In Texas the option period is the window in which you can renegotiate or walk for any reason. A roof at the end of its life, a failing HVAC or a foundation issue found here is a price adjustment. Found after closing, it is your problem and your money.
Condition and price beat the calendar.
There are fewer buyers in December, but there is also less competing inventory and the buyers who are out are usually serious. A well-prepared, correctly priced home sells year-round. A rushed one sits regardless of the month.
The paperwork is. The people are not.
Contracts and MLS rules are standard. What varies is whether one person owns your file end to end, whether they know the specific street, and whether anyone tells you the awkward thing before it becomes expensive. That is the whole product.