The #1 Myth About Selling in 2026

Let me say the quiet part out loud, because someone should: the single most expensive belief in real estate right now isn't about interest rates, or the economy, or the headlines. It's three words a lot of St. George homeowners are telling themselves this year.

"I should wait."

Wait for the market to bounce back. Wait for rates to drop. Wait for the frenzy of 2021 to return. Wait until it "feels" like a good time. I hear it almost every week, and I understand exactly where it comes from. But it's a myth — and acting on it is quietly costing people real money and real time. So let me break it down with certainty, not fear.

Where the myth comes from

For about two years, Southern Utah sold itself. Homes went under contract in a weekend, often over asking, sometimes sight unseen. That market was an anomaly, not a baseline — and when it normalized, a lot of would-be sellers quietly decided the "good time" was over and they'd wait for it to come back.

Here's the problem with that logic: you're comparing today to a once-in-a-generation spike, and then using the gap to justify standing still. The 2021 market isn't the bar. It was the exception.

What's actually true about the St. George market

The honest picture — the one I'd give you across my desk, not the one that drives clicks:

Inventory has risen from the lows, so buyers have more to choose from than they did two years ago. Homes are taking a little longer to sell. And through all of it, prices in greater St. George have held remarkably steady. This isn't a falling market. It's a normal one — the kind we actually had for years before the boom distorted everyone's memory.

In the luxury segment I work in, the dynamic is even clearer. The buyer at the $750K–$3.5M level isn't scared off by a headline or a half-point on a rate. They're relocating, retiring, upgrading, or buying a second home in a place they've decided they want to be. That demand is steady, qualified, and very much active right now. Well-priced, well-positioned homes are still selling. The ones sitting are almost always the ones priced to 2021 and marketed like it's 2015.

The truth the myth hides: you can't time it, but you don't need to

Timing the market is a myth. Reading it isn't.

Nobody — not me, not the loudest voice on the internet — can tell you the exact week prices or rates will hit their perfect point. Anyone who claims they can is selling certainty they don't have. What a good advisor can do is read where things actually are, price and position your home to the real market, and get you a strong result in the conditions in front of us.

And here's the part the "wait" myth conveniently ignores: waiting isn't free. While you wait, you're carrying the home — taxes, insurance, maintenance, opportunity cost on your equity. If you're planning to buy your next place anyway, a "down" market cuts both ways: whatever you might give up on the sale, you tend to make back on the purchase, often with more negotiating room than you'd have had in the frenzy. The move-up or right-size math frequently works better in a balanced market, not worse.

Waiting also assumes you know which direction things move next. You don't. Neither do I. That's exactly why a decision built on "wait and see" is a decision built on a guess.

So what actually determines your result?

Not the calendar. Three things:

• Price. Anchored to today's comparable sales, not to what your neighbor got in 2021 or what a portal estimate guesses. The right price on day one outperforms chasing the market down with cuts.
• Positioning. Professional presentation, the right buyer targeted in the right channels, and a story that makes your home the obvious choice in its price band.
• Representation. An agent who will tell you the truth about your home and your number — even when it's not what you hoped — and then go execute.

Get those three right, and the "is now a good time?" question mostly answers itself.

The honest bottom line

If you need to sell, this is a perfectly good market to do it in — with the right strategy. If you want to sell but you've been sitting on the fence waiting for a sign, consider this it: the sign isn't a market that returns to 2021. The sign is a clear-eyed look at your equity, your goals, and what your specific home would actually do today.

That's a conversation, not a guess — and it's one I'm glad to have with you, with real numbers, no pressure, and the truth either way.

Let's get you a real answer

Curious what your home would actually do in today's market? I'll put together a straight, no-spin valuation based on real comparable sales — and tell you honestly whether now or later makes more sense for your situation. Reach out anytime, or see what's currently selling across greater St. George.

Colin Dockstader · The Agency St. George 435.619.4609 · stgforsale.com · @colindockstader

Market conditions vary by neighborhood, price point, and property, and change over time. This article is general information, not a guarantee of results or specific financial advice. For guidance on your individual situation, request a personalized market analysis.