In this market, I just know what a cash buyer would be willing to pay. My listings are generally on the market a little longer, maybe 10-14 days before getting an offer. I have only had to do a "highest and best" offer once, which I hate, because you loose two or three potential buyers that don't want to get into a bidding war. I price listings usually about $25-30k above what the seller thinks they can get. But if they trust me they end up with a full price offer. I had a couple that looked at comps on the public MLS sites and wanted to put their house on the market at $389,900. I told them it would bring $425k, they reluctantly agreed to the $425k, I brought them a full price offer within the week.
I have five or ten of the highest sales per square foot in our whole subdivision that I specialize in. None of those sales would have met a mortgage appraisal. We don't accept an offer without an Appraisal Waiver addendum. We let the buyer know that if they plan to finance, they have to come up with the difference between the appraisal and their offer, or they loose their earnest money. The market price is moving so quickly, that appraisers have not been able to keep up with the increases. I tell the buyer's agent it is in their buyer's best interest to use the appraisers that live in our subdivision since they know what is going on.
CHIEF