Phil Hoover at the Boise Blog made some very insightful comments about home values that I thought were worthy of a front-and-center reference:
The simple truths of real estate value are:
- Your home isn’t worth what you need to get.
- Your home isn’t worth what you want to get.
- Your home isn’t worth what you owe on it.
- Your home isn’t worth what your neighbor says it’s worth.
- Your home IS worth what a buyer will pay for it.
- If no one will part with their money to buy your home, the value is undetermined and you will still own it!
Well said! How often we have found ourselves in a no-win situation this past year. When we have priced a home appropriately, to sell, the neighbor has been known to accuse us of sending the neighborhood values down the river. If we were to price it where the neighbor perceived value, however, it would sit and sit and sit… We would become the guys that can’t sell homes to save our lives. I recommend we all pin Phil’s “simple truths” to our foreheads.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Kris Berg is Co-Owner and Designated Broker of San Diego Castles Realty. If not-so static web sites are your thing, go here at once where you will find loads of real estate information including homes for sale, market trends, floor plans and more. Kris's hobbies include fencing and spot welding. She likes kittens. 
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Kris, What you (and Phil) say is so true. But then you meet people who respect your opinion, look forward to your advice and put themselves in your hands-and you do your damndest to perform for them. If that weren’t so, the no-win situations would be intolerable and drag us down.
The most fun is when I’ve had clients looking to sell their home, where my suggested list price is maybe 10 – 15% higher than the compettition – AND the sellers tell me that they want to list with me, BUT they’re concerned because my price is higher than that of 2 other reputable agents in town – 10-15% or so higher – AND they assure me that I can reduce my suggested list price to match the competition, if I want, AND they will still list with me. WOW. A little jittery, a bit of trepidation, but I stuck with my price (on every occassion) and on every occassion we sold in a reasonable time close to list price. Talk about happy clients and a supremely confident agent, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound and smile thru no-win situations for at least a week.
(This is not to suggest that I’ve never listed property for more $$$ than I should have, either mistakenly or in a kind of loose cahoots with the seller, I have)