I was recently speaking with a client who I did an appraisal for, she asked me, should I trust my agent? She was concerned that her agent had overpriced her home because she wanted the listing. Upon speaking with her, she said thath she believed the agent suggested the higher list price and stated that the other agents just wanted to list and sell it quick to get the commission. Believing that this agent could sell for more, she got the listing. Now 8 months later the home is still on the market and has had prices drop and the agent is now suggesting another which will bring her home in line with the listing prices that the other agents had originally suggested.
She now feels that all agents can't be trusted. However, I stated that she should have had a pre-listing appraisal by a non-bias independent appraiser who is not paid based on how much the home sells for. I've now completed the appraisal and it looks like she could have sold her home 8 months ago if it was priced where the other agents said for her to list at.
I don't think the agent should be blamed as they can only pull unadjusted sales that have sold and suggest a list price based on the sales that they think are similar. At the end of the day, a sell will be dead in the water even if it gets past contract but is above the appraised market value.
More about pre-listing appraisals:
Does anyone have any suggestions that I can give my clients that don't want to pay for a pre-listing appraisals?