Total newbie: Normal to trust numbers from seller?

[Christopher Arter]

Hey everyone,

I'm a total newbie and learning everything I can. I'm currently studying for my upcoming Real Estate exam, too.

Question.. as a thought exercise, I've been analyzing deals that I have no intention of buying yet (still getting my personal finances in order), but I'm a kinetic learner so I'm doing deal analysis as practice and to learn my market.

A lot of the ads I see for properties include a lot of rehab estimates and ARV values from the seller of the properties. Apparently, every deal on the market is a slam dunk, right!? :) I'd imagine these numbers are taken with a huge grain of salt, and a diligent investor wouldn't pay any attention to them and do their own analysis, right? And if that's the case, are they there just to hype a careless buyer? What's the point?

This is my first post, and I've had a lot of questions like this that I think are probably "dumb question" but life is short so here I am.

Thanks in advance for your input! :)