If I had a dollar for every time a client told me something about real estate that simply isn't true anymore, I could retire early. Real estate "common knowledge" tends to lag reality by years — sometimes decades — and in a market like Spring Hill, Tampa Bay, Hernando County, and Hillsborough County, believing the wrong thing can cost you a home, a buyer, or thousands of dollars.
Here are the ten myths I hear most often, and what's actually true in 2026.
Myth #1: "You need 20% down to buy a house"
This is the single most damaging myth in real estate, and the numbers back that up — surveys show roughly 62% of Americans believe a 20% down payment is required to buy a home. It isn't, and it never really has been for most buyers.
The truth: Conventional loans can go as low as 3% down. FHA loans require just 3.5% down. VA loans offer qualified veterans and active-duty service members 0% down. USDA loans offer 0% down in eligible rural and suburban areas — and yes, parts of Hernando County qualify. Nearly a third of would-be buyers say a lack of down payment savings is holding them back, and for many of them, that's simply based on bad information.
Myth #2: "You need perfect credit to get approved"
Close behind the down payment myth is the belief that anything short of an 800 credit score gets you rejected at the lender's door.
The truth: FHA loans have approved buyers with scores as low as 580 (and sometimes lower with a bigger down payment). Conventional loans typically start around 620. Perfect credit gets you a better rate — it doesn't gatekeep the entire process. If your credit isn't where you want it, talk to a lender before assuming you're stuck renting another year.
Myth #3: "Getting pre-approved locks you into that lender"
Buyers often avoid getting pre-approved early because they think it commits them to whichever lender ran the numbers.
The truth: A pre-approval is simply a snapshot of what you can responsibly borrow based on your financial picture. It's not a contract. You're free to shop rates with other lenders right up until you're under contract, and I always encourage buyers to compare at least two or three before choosing.
Myth #4: "Renting is always cheaper than buying"
On a month-to-month basis, rent can look cheaper than a mortgage payment — but that comparison leaves out most of the story.
The truth: Rent buys you nothing but a receipt. A mortgage payment builds equity, and part of it (the interest, and often property taxes) is tax-deductible. Meanwhile rents in Tampa Bay have climbed steadily for years with no ceiling, while a fixed-rate mortgage payment stays exactly the same for 30 years. The math shifts based on how long you plan to stay in the home, but "always cheaper" is rarely accurate once you run real numbers.
Myth #5: "Spring is the only time to buy or sell in Florida"
This one comes from national real estate advice that doesn't actually apply here.
The truth: Florida's market doesn't follow the same calendar as, say, Ohio's. Our biggest wave of buyer activity often comes in the fall and winter, when snowbirds and relocating retirees are house-hunting ahead of season. Sellers who wait for "spring buying season" in Spring Hill or Hernando County are sometimes missing the exact window when the most motivated, cash-ready buyers are in town.
Myth #6: "You should wait for interest rates to drop before buying"
Trying to time the mortgage market is a lot like trying to time the stock market — everyone thinks they can, and almost nobody actually does.
The truth: Rates are unpredictable, but home prices historically don't wait around for buyers to feel ready. Buying when you're financially prepared and refinancing later if rates drop is generally a more reliable strategy than sitting on the sidelines indefinitely for a rate you can't control or predict. "Marry the house, date the rate" is a cliché in this business for a reason.
Myth #7: "All real estate agents are basically the same"
I understand why people think this — every agent can pull up the same listings on Zillow. But access to data isn't the job.
The truth: Your agent negotiates on your behalf, catches problems in inspections and contracts before they become expensive surprises, knows which neighborhoods in Hernando and Hillsborough County are appreciating and which have flood or insurance issues worth flagging, and manages a deal through dozens of small decisions that can make or break a closing. The agent you choose affects your bottom line more than most buyers and sellers realize until it's too late.
Myth #8: "You have to sell your current home before you can buy a new one"
This myth stops a lot of homeowners from even starting the process.
The truth: There are several ways to buy before you sell — bridge loans, home equity lines of credit, contingent offers, or simply timing a longer closing on your sale to overlap with your purchase. It takes more coordination, but "sell first, then buy" is a default assumption, not a rule.
Myth #9: "You can't get affordable homeowners insurance in Florida anymore"
This myth was closer to true a couple of years ago. It isn't anymore, and it's worth updating your assumptions.
The truth: After several rough years, Florida's insurance market has been stabilizing in 2026 — more carriers have re-entered the state, competition has increased, and regulators have reported premium decreases in a growing number of counties. That doesn't mean insurance is cheap everywhere, and coastal or flood-zone properties still carry real considerations. But "impossible to insure" is outdated advice that scares off buyers who'd otherwise be fine.
Myth #10: "The listing price is firm" (or, "you should always lowball your first offer")
Buyers tend to fall into one of two camps: convinced they have to pay full price, or convinced every seller expects a lowball. Both are oversimplified.
The truth: List price is a starting point set by the seller and their agent, informed by comparable sales — but local conditions matter. In today's more balanced Tampa Bay market, homes are selling at roughly 97% of list price on average, and a meaningful share come with price reductions before they sell. A good offer strategy depends on how long the home has sat, how it's priced relative to comparables, and what else is happening in that specific micro-market — not a blanket rule in either direction.
The bottom line
Most of these myths were true at some point, or true for someone else's market, or just repeated so often they started to sound like fact. Real estate decisions are too big to base on secondhand advice from a few years ago.
If you're thinking about buying or selling in Spring Hill, Tampa Bay, Hernando County, or Hillsborough County and want a straight answer instead of an outdated myth, I'm happy to help you sort out what's actually true for your situation.