You need to sell your house. Wouldn't you go with the agent that suggests the highest price for your house? I mean, don't you want to get the most profit possible from the sale? Sure, you do. But at what cost?
Let me explain what I mean. 
The real estate world is an interesting monster. There are amazing real estate agents and brokers out there that honestly have their client's best interest at heart. But, there are also agents that are unethical, greedy, and simply lack the integrity on being honest with their clients.A lot of times it is these agents that will take over price listings and they will do so for a variety of reasons.
#1. They just don't know any better.
A lot of new agents will take an overpriced listing because they are either desperate, haven't had a listing in weeks or months, or simply don't know the market. New real estate agents are likely to take just about any listing they can get, not only for the experience but because they don't know any better. This isn't necessarily a negative thing, but simply something they have not been educated on due to lack of experience. This is true in just about any industry. If we don't know any better, we cannot make better-informed decisions in just about anything we do in life. Real estate agents may take an overpriced listing or simply agree with the homeowner on pricing the home to get the listing or with the assumption they can lower the price if they don't get an offer. There are negative implications and pitfalls to overpricing a home even if you plan on lowering the price later on. But, we will talk about that later.
#2. They're doing it for more leads.
And this may be real estate's dirty little secret as I read an article last week. Many real estate agents will take over price listings just so the listing will sit on the market longer and they have the potential to get more listings or more buyers. There are more chances for open houses and the more times people see the real estate sign in the front yard, the more the perception of that real estate agent will become a reality. Think about political campaigns. Many people vote simply because they recognize the name they've seen on billboards and political signs all over town rather than on the ethical opinions and stands of that politician. The same is true with real estate. The more often home buyers or homeowners see a person's name on a sign throughout the neighborhood, the more likely they are to recognize that name when searching online or as someone they can call up for real estate services.
Now, as you are reading this, you probably are thinking that homeowners should be doing their own homework on the real estate agent before just calling anyone, right? Well, does everyone do that with politicians? Probably not. We do lead a somewhat alarming mentality in our society where we go with the flow regardless of what our actual opinion really is. This is in my opinion, this is literally proven fact. Our brains are wired to go with what the majority is going with regardless of how we really feel because we don't want to be perceived as being wrong or missing out on what everyone else is doing.
Read my article on our fear of missing out - FoMO
I can't make someone do their own homework and educate themselves when it comes to real estate agents but it is important to talk about this because there are agents out there that will only take an overpriced listing with the intention of marketing to potential leads. There's really no intention of selling the home for this price. Even if the listing expires, that agent has their name out there for a good three months or more. If the home sells for the inflated price, congratulations to both agent and homeowner. If the homeowner wants to drop the price to a more reasonable amount, the agent still may be able to sell the property.
There are dangerous pitfalls to overpricing the home but many homeowners don't even want to consider that until the listing has sat on the market and gotten stale for several weeks or even months. Once the home is priced where it should have been priced in the beginning, buyers are actually wary of making an offer, thinking there must be something wrong with the home because of how long it is been on the market.
This is why it is crucial to price the home correctly from the beginning. Sure, you can always reduce the price, but now the home has a stigma of not selling at the original price. Buyers are doing their homework these days and will usually ask how long the home is been on the market. If the home is been on the market any longer than a couple of months, buyers assume there's something wrong with it, even though he could just have been overpriced in the beginning.
Related Resource: How to Increase the Value of a Condo
The takeaway: homeowners should price their home correctly from the beginning otherwise they run the risk of sitting on the market far too long or become victims of their real estate agents underhanded intentions of simply marketing themselves rather than the property.
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