As a new agent, part of my training included learning how to do a CMA. This, without a doubt, was the most difficult part of the business for me as nobody had a fool proof way to do it. They said, you add a little here and subtract a little there and then you come up with a selling price.

I was brand new and had a friend who already had their house on the market. I asked him if I could come and present to him as i needed the practice. I spent time putting the presentation together as well as working through a CMA. After presenting all of my marketing, it was time to get to the numbers. I went through them and told him definitively that his house should be listed for $129,000. He looked at me, a bit puzzled, and told me that his house was on the market for $199,000. Apparently I had not put a sold date on the system and was getting sales that were 6 years old. Embarrassed was the word of the day.

As you get more experience in this business, you learn more tricks which include finding out if the seller has a number in mind, pulling actives, pendings and solds for the last 6 months and adjusting for special features that the comparable homes do not have.

In the end, hopefully you and the sellers can come to a consensus but even in our current short sale and foreclosure environment, sellers are not always willing to take your professional advice.