Fear is mostly a story about something you don't fully understand yet. The more you understand it, the less it can do to you. That's true of a dark bridge, it's true of a basement, and it's true of this housing market.

Here are the numbers that might make you want to run. All single-family homes in Jefferson County (Louisville), straight from our MLS.

The scary part

• For sale in September: 2,527. A year earlier: 1,922. That's 31% more inventory.

• Went under contract in September: 669. A year earlier: 888. That's 25% fewer.

• In just the last 30 days, 658 sellers took their homes off the market and haven't put them back on. Some canceled, some let the listing expire. Same 30 days last year: 498. That's 32% more people giving up.

Now turn on the basement light

Sold in September: 858. A year earlier: 847.

People are still buying houses in this city at almost exactly the same pace. What changed is that buyers have more to choose from and less reason to rush. When buyers have choices, they have leverage. That's not a scary market. That's a negotiating market.

And those 658 sellers didn't stop needing to sell. They just stopped being on the MLS, which means most buyers can't see them anymore. A lot of them are now open to quieter, off-market conversations. If you're a buyer, that's the opportunity. The dated house in a good spot that's been sitting is where the room is. You buy it and add the value yourself. If you're a seller whose house didn't sell, it's usually price, condition or exposure.

Bonus, since somebody always asks this time of year: do you have to tell a buyer the house is haunted?

I'm a realtor, not a lawyer, so treat this as a starting point.

A "stigmatized property" is a home affected by something that happened there, not by anything physically wrong with it. A death, a crime, or a reputation for being haunted.

In Kentucky, since June 24, 2003, the law (KRS 324.162) says sellers and agents don't have to bring that stuff up on their own. Indiana's law works about the same way. But in both states, if a buyer asks directly, you have to answer honestly. So buyers: if it matters to you, ask in writing. Sellers: if it's the reason you're moving, it's usually smarter to say so up front than have it come back and haunt you later.

Does it hurt the price? A Wright State University study of 102 stigmatized homes found they took about 45% longer to sell and went for about 3% less. And a Zillow survey found nearly 70% of buyers said they'd buy a house they believed was haunted if it checked all their other boxes. A 3% discount and a little patience, in exchange for a story to tell at parties. That's a trade a lot of investors would take.

Question for folks in other markets: are you seeing the same thing? Closings holding steady while pendings drop and withdrawn listings jump? Or is your market actually slowing at the closing table too?