I didn't say anything about asking prices. I said "contract prices," which is the final agreed-upon price for the house after an offer is accepted. Even if th

I didn't say anything about asking prices. I said "contract prices," which is the final agreed-upon price for the house after an offer is accepted. Even if the asking price is higher or lower than the contract price, it's typical for the appraisal to come in right at the contract price. The appraiser knows this value going in, and it's pretty typical for the appraised value to be exactly the contract price. This is, at least, a very interesting coincidence.