After 25+ years of selling real estate and teaching agents, I know one thing for sure:
Most agents hate doing CMAs.
One day, a pre-licensing instructor friend said to me,
“Agents don’t feel good about them because of the way we teach it. We give them the comps, the adjustments, the formulas — but we skip the reasoning skills.”
Exactly.
Hi, I’m Jo Mangum — delivering clear, candid wisdom for agents and leaders who’d rather grow than guess.
We’ve made pricing feel like a math test, not a strategy.
And that’s where the myths begin.
Myth #1: A CMA is the definitive process for establishing value.
Let’s clear this up.
Agents don’t establish value — we establish probable sales price.
And the CMA? It’s historical. It tells you what has happened, not what’s happening right now.
If you’re not also factoring in current demand, competition, and seller motivation, you’re missing the point.
The CMA is just one piece of the pricing puzzle — not the entire picture.
Myth #2: My CMA is either right or wrong.
Nope. Pricing isn’t binary.
Yes, a CMA uses math — but there’s also a human filter.
Give 10 agents the same property and you’ll likely get 10 slightly different ranges.
That doesn’t mean anyone’s “wrong.”
It means there’s professional judgment involved — and that’s what makes you valuable.
Remember: The CMA informs your strategy, it doesn’t dictate it.
Myth #3: I need to adjust for every feature in the house.
Please, stop torturing yourself.
We over-adjust everything.
An agent once called me to ask, “How should I adjust for the antique corbels?”
My answer? You don’t.
Stick to the basics.
The more adjustments you make, the less reliable your CMA becomes.
Precision is not perfection — it’s clarity.
Myth #4: Somewhere, there’s a magical list of perfect adjustments.
If only, right?
This one’s the most dangerous myth of all.
There is no sacred list in the sky.
Stop waiting for someone else’s answers — create your own.
You’re a professional. That means becoming a student of your market.
Here’s how:
Get a few curious agents together and start studying appraisals.
Compare sales. Talk to appraisers. Look for patterns in price differences for garages, baths, and square footage.
In a few weeks, you’ll discover two things:
- The local truths about adjustments.
- A whole new level of confidence in your pricing skills.
Myth #5: I don’t need to know about CMA’s my online program does it for me.
I get it, you have this software that does all these geewezz things for you, why would you just present that? Here’s the problem…you have to understand it, cover it and defend it with your sellers. So if you don’t have deep understanding of it how will you do that?
Final thought:
Pricing isn’t about guessing — it’s about growing your judgment.
