Whichever agent names the biggest number is obviously the one who has done the most homework.
Most sellers reach this conclusion the moment three appraisals arrive forty to sixty thousand dollars apart. On the surface it tracks. A sharper read on the market should produce a bigger, more defensible number, so the agent with the highest figure must be the one who understands the property best.
The Appraisal Variation Sellers Take at Face Value
When a seller gathers three appraisals for the same property, the results are rarely a tight cluster around one figure. The spread is frequently wide enough that at least one number cannot be close to right. Sellers seldom stop to consider which. Trust tends to default to the biggest figure offered, largely because it lines up with what the seller wanted to hear in the first place.
An appraisal is not just a valuation. It is also, whether stated or not, a pitch for the listing itself. Two agents can walk through the same property, see the same comparable sales data, and still arrive at figures tens of thousands of dollars apart, because one of them is pricing the house and the other is pricing the opportunity to win the trust of the seller. Sellers who grasp this early tend to interview agents very differently For anyone weighing up their options before signing anything read this can help fill in the gaps early on. The specifics change from agent to agent, but the underlying pattern rarely does.
Why the Highest Number Is not the Most Accurate One
Quoting a high number is not evidence of deeper market insight. More often it reflects a readiness to say whatever secures the mandate. That does not require deliberate dishonesty from the agent. Many genuinely believe the optimistic figure, at least until the campaign gets underway and the market tells a different story. Whatever the intent behind it, the seller still ends up appointing an agent on the strength of a number that was never really about the market.
What makes this uncomfortable is that sellers rarely find out until the campaign is well underway, once the property has sat on the market for weeks without the level of interest the original appraisal implied it should get. A closer look at how this plays out shows the pattern clearly For anyone comparing notes before appointing anyone helpful information is worth a look before appointing anyone. The details vary by campaign, but the underlying lesson tends to repeat.
What a Genuinely Defensible Appraisal Looks Like
The appraisals worth trusting are rarely the ones stated with the most enthusiasm. They are the ones supported by specific comparable sales, recent settlement data, and an honest account of what buyers have actually paid for similar properties nearby in recent months. An agent who can walk through the evidence behind their number is doing something fundamentally different to one who simply asserts a figure with confidence. Confidence of delivery and accuracy of number are not the same thing, and sellers who cannot tell the difference tend to select for the wrong one.
There is an easy way to test this. An agent whose number genuinely holds up can usually name the specific sales it is based on, within a sensible timeframe and a genuinely comparable location. An agent leaning mostly on optimism tends to talk in vague terms about a strong market, without ever pointing to anything concrete behind the figure just quoted.
The property is not the problem here. The appraisal process is.
What Matters More Than the Number Itself
The question worth asking is rarely who thinks the property is worth the most. It is closer to: who has a defensible strategy for reaching genuine market value, and who is prepared to have an honest conversation if the campaign does not move at the quoted figure straight away. The track record of an agent on this specific point, how they have handled properties that needed a price adjustment mid-campaign, tends to reveal far more than any single number offered at the first meeting.
This is also where a direct question tends to teach a seller the most. An agent willing to talk through what happens if the opening weeks do not go to plan is behaving very differently to one who has only ever discussed the upside.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is there so much variation in appraisal figures for one house?
Appraisals combine genuine market judgement with an incentive to win the listing, and different agents weigh those two things differently. The spread between quotes often reflects that incentive as much as it reflects the property itself. An agent under pressure to secure new business has a reason to lean optimistic that has nothing to do with the comparable sales in the area.
Is it ever safe to just go with the highest number quoted?
On occasion, yes, but only when the evidence behind it earns that trust, not because it happens to be the biggest figure quoted. A high number backed by real comparable sales bears little resemblance to one offered purely to secure the business, and asking what it is actually based on is the only way to separate the two.
What should sellers ask an agent instead of what is it worth?
Asking what evidence supports the number, and what the plan of the agent is if the property does not attract offers at that figure early on, tends to reveal far more than the number itself. It also tends to separate agents comfortable defending their figure from agents who were hoping the question would not come up.
Is a lower appraisal figure a sign of a weaker agent?
Not necessarily. A lower, well-supported figure from an agent who can walk through the comparable sales behind it is often a stronger signal than a higher figure with no evidence attached. Sellers who filter agents purely on the size of the number they quote are optimising for the wrong variable entirely.
An appraisal functions less as a measurement of the house and more as an opening bid for the right to list it, and sellers who see this early tend to make a very different call to those who simply chase the biggest number. Throughout the Gawler District and the northern Adelaide corridor, where appraisal spreads can be just as wide as anywhere else in Adelaide, this distinction carries even more weight, given how quickly a mispriced campaign can stall in a market where comparable listings tend to appear close together.