I am not sure what would be unethical. No sale price is “ultimate” (this property resold for far more years later). It is our job to consult and give our opinion of market value for a given property in a given area at a given time. Perhaps I don’t understand what you are asking.
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I was just wondering whether a realtor making a public estimate (in other words, posted on a website or otherwise made available to the public) about what s/he thinks a property would sell for might have the tendency to (a) influence a buyer or seller; or (b) rile a buyer’s or sellers agent. It just seems like it might interfere with an ongoing business transaction. I wasn’t referring to consultation with clients. Now that I think about it, I guess Zillow does provide their “Zestimates” – but I don’t think they’re terribly reliable.
The point I was trying to get at is this – I wonder how close, on average, the best “estimator” could predict the ultimate sale price of a given house.[/quote]
Given a large enough sample size, a good estimator could give estimates that average within 1-2% of closing (good being the operative word). However, a single property has far more potential to be arbitrary. As far as an ongoing transaction, the seller does not have the right to switch buyers unless a buyer has violated the contract (and even then the mechanisms are structured). The buyer, however, can back out prior to close if he changes his mind (gets cold feet, sobers up, dies…whatever). So if I had shown up (like I got hired to consult) while a DIY was happening and I told the buyer the price was too high, he could say “lower the price or I am walking”. The terms of the contract would determine whether he got his deposit back or not.
