Don’t trust a charlatan.

Don’t trust a charlatan.

One of the most common questions I am asked when showing properties to buyers or when meeting with homeowners to discuss helping them sell their home is: “So what do you think it’s worth?”?

As an agent, whenever I am asked this question, I almost always give some variant of the same answer: “I’m not sure. I have to take an in depth look at the property itself and the relevant market data to give you an answer that’s actually worth something.” Sometimes this answer can seem surprising to clients who see values as something that an agent just ‘has a feel for’.?

Any agent who claims to have access to some sixth sense for values has ceased being a fiduciary and become something more resembling a common charlatan. Opinions of value based on anything but? real-world market data can’t really be used to plan a family's financial future.?

As alluring as it might be to present the confidence of a number for value firmly stated (but, in reality, pulled out of thin air) this practice only gives a family a false sense that value is both something an agent can pinpoint with arithmetic precision and that property values themselves are something that admit of arithmetic certainty. This is not the behavior of a true fiduciary who understands markets and how markets actually arrive at value. Evidence and facts-based opinions of value are the only data that can give a family a firm and durable basis on which to build a picture of the value of a home.