Are Houses Actually Appraising for These Prices?

[Christian Harris]

Hi, everyone. First time poster.

We're shopping for a home in Los Angeles and are a little dumbstruck by this market. We'll find a house with a listing price of, let's say, $890,000, run it through the automated appraisal services (like Bank of America, Chase, etc.) and see its value estimated around $900,000-ish. But here's the thing: the place will then sell for $1.05M. 

Are houses actually appraising for these values?

Our realtor is suggesting we waive our appraisal contingency and get comfortable offering $100k over the estimated appraisal value. I'm like, "Doesn't that mean we'll pay the difference up front?" But she seems confident that these appraisals rarely come in low.

I have my doubts.

[Christian Harris]

Quote from @Russell Brazil:

Appraisers have a copy of the contract in hand. So they know what price to shoot for.

 Ha, now I see how we got in this mess :)