Lenders set an artificially low opening bid and then bid it up themselves up to some higher amount (sometimes even as high as a full credit bid). 

Petersburg submarket had the option of either increasing the size of their down payment to compensate for the fact that the house didn't meet the appraised value (artificially high values due to hedge funds' massive purchases) or look for a different, less expensive, house.SFHs were going for $400,000 for 2,000 square feet.

Because these prices are so artificially I'm going to go out on a limb and say prices will double in 7 years max.

I dont know about apartments but I know on shopping centers and office buildings this is generally done so that the seller can artificially inflate the price because he gets to capitalize the income from the master lease even though there likely isnt anyone actually in the space.

Artificially, keeping rates low for extended periods of time can only lead to bad things.

., the appraisal industry is out of whack right now, as pointed out in the video by the president of the appraisal institute, to make a long story short, an appraiser will come in with a artificially low appraisal either because they are unfamiliar with the area or to ensure another assignment from the lender who's untrained appraisal reviewer always seems to come in with a lower number.

Artificial indeed. 

.- Rent control in many cities is another rule keeping rents artificially low.

Risky but I am ok with it.My one question is when it comes to doing the cash out refinance at about 6 months, I will have a lot of my credit cards and my debt to income ratio will be artificially skewed because of the rehab costs on the cards (but no different than if I had a different lending source....hard money, commercial loan).

Thay can cry all they want, but we don't artificially inflate value.