Real Estate Myth A home initially priced too high will eventually sell for a lower price than if it had been properly priced. True. "The longer an overpriced home sits on the market, the greater the probability the market will perceive something wrong with it," says Delaney. "It becomes stigmatized." Delaney doesn't mean stigmatized in the sense that there was a murder at the property-only that when properties sit for too long, buyers wonder whether other buyers know something they don't, so they shy away. "Buyers will know about it, and sales associates won't market the properties as hard, even though in theory, there's no reason that should happen," explains Jim Gaines, a research economist at the Real Estate Center at Texas A&:M University. "I call this a Wal-Mart world, where if something's on sale, you buy it," says Kokel. "The first time a property comes on the market, if it's competitively priced, people compete for it. If it's overpriced, they write it off." Exception: "It's over-simplistic to say overpriced listings sell for a lower price," says John Baen, a professor of finance, insurance, real estate, and law at the University of North Texas in Denton. "There are really two markets, and the rule is true in a down market but not in an increasing market. When houses are appreciating, the longer it takes to sell a home, the more likely it'll sell for a higher price. Sellers can wait for the market to catch up. In a declining market, the longer sellers wait to sell an overpriced listing, the less likely the home will be sold."

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