SD Realtor said: “I think we all lose… This now becomes a comp that will be used by others.”
That is not usually true. For example, let’s say I’m doing an appraisal of a house for a refinance, and I have four recent closed sales nearby, one pending sale, and three listings, that all make me think the subject property is worth around $800,000, and lets say I see a record of one sale on the same street that sold for $975,000. I might see it on the MLS, but it’s more likely that it wasn’t reported as a sale on the MLS, and I noticed the sale while researching sales on public records. After I investigate this higher sale, I find that it was listed on the MLS for $825,000 a couple of months ago, then the listing was cancelled. At that point I’m 99% sure that it was not a fair market sale, and there is no way that I will use it as a comparable sale in my appraisal. I see these kinds of situations frequently, and the high sales almost always have an 80% first and a 20% second, so you know that it’s just a matter of time until it becomes a bank REO.
