I was doing some spring cleaning today and came across an evaluation from May 2011.
I evaluated a home at $415,000, but didn’t get the listing. Curious to see what eventually occurred, I’ve looked up the history on MLS, and here’s what the seller ended up doing…
June 2011: Listed the house at $479,900 with another realtor
- 17 days later: Reduced price to $457,000
- 45 days later: Reduced price to $447,000
- 68 days later: Terminated the listing
August 2011: Hired a new realtor and listed home for $435,000
- 6 days later: Reduced price to $429,900
- 21 days later: Home finally sold for $410,000
If the home had been priced realistically at the beginning, the seller would have had a good chance of obtaining a better price. I advised the seller to list for $429,900 in May.
If your home remains on the market for a long period of time, and you reduce the price repeatedly, your property will become stigmatized. “It’s been on the market a long time…there must be something wrong with it.”
The longer your property is on the market, the less you will eventually get for it, not to mention all the hassle you’ve gone through.
I don’t believe there are many realtors who will evaluate a home incorrectly just to get the listing, but if we agree to take a listing, we must follow the seller’s instructions. It seems to me to be a colossal waste of time, but do you know why some realtors will take a listing, even when they know there’s little hope of it selling?
Bob's real estate blog 
Here’s another one:
I evaluated this single family home in March 2011 at $630,000. The seller wanted to price it at $869,000. Of course I didn’t take the listing, but another realtor in our company did. Here’s what transpired:
April 2011: Listed the house at $869,900
■ 14 days later: Reduced price to $819,000
■ 36 days later: Reduced price to $749,900
■ 70 days later: Terminated the listing
June 2011: Hired a new realtor and listed home for $689,900(the realtor is the “area specialist”)
■ 23 days later: Reduced price to $669,900
■ 52 days later: Reduced price to $649,900
■ 67 days later: Reduced price to $629,900
■ 72 days later: House eventually sold for $610,000
If it had been priced realistically in April, chances are the seller would have got very close to my evaluated price. Undoubtedly, this property sold for less because it became stigmatized by being on the market for too long. I was surprised to see the “area specialist” couldn’t even get it right.