Appraised value or Deflated value?

Like it or not, sales that close at any amount show up in the statistics. They do affect the comps, real appraisals will give some wieghting to distress situations if they know about it, but I guarentee you the neighborhood knows. Gregg, I don't see a change in the market strategy for the next 6 months, the amount of inventory dictates that within subdivisions, with so many similar homes, the home that acts on a lower cash offer is the sale that gets made. The other homes that did not drop do not sell. Works with cars. Works in computers.  The pricing run up was artificial value. Period. Lenders are not willing to get caught with their pants down again so they will be getting very conservative appraisals for a while, plus they insist on a bit more cash down, further protecting their position..

Happy holidays Josh, And why dont you post this in more groups??

Hi, Josh

All sales are included in the final analysis.  As Gregg mentioned, a short sale is still a sale.  If the seller could have sold it for more, they certainly would have.  The selling price is true market value for that property at that time.  Does that short sale have a negative effect on the value of other homes on the market?  If the short sale is a comparable property, you bet it can.  Keep in mind that "market value" is a very fluid number and only represents value at one particular moment in time.  A home with a $400,000 market value today might be worth $375,000 or less tomorrow.  Conversely, it might be worth $425,000 in 6 months.  Overall buyer demand, bond performance, foreclosure rates, etc. all contribute to market value.