Appraisal Valuation so Close to the Selling Price

[Scott Szurek]

Why do appraisals required by lenders for properties purchased with conventional mortgages always - a very high percentage - get valued at a ridiculously close number to the final selling price?

There is no way appraisers are this accurate.  

It's almost as if appraisers make backwards appraisals with their comp selection, to make the value as close as possibly to the selling price. 

[Stephen Fryer]

@Scott Szurek

I have done both wholesale and fix and flip deals. Contrary to the comments above, I have not found any of the people that I have worked with to be brain dead, dupes or idiots. Most of the time they are reasonable people that find themselves in a circumstance where they have to move the property quickly or it is having a negative impact on their lives. If they could sell it for retail, they would, but for some reason or another they cannot. Wholesalers serve a segment of the marketplace that conventional realtors normally don't bother with. The same way that @Chris Masonserves a segment of the market that banks don't serve.