Three different processes all produce "what your property is worth", and confusing them causes real problems — like planning a sale around a number no bank will lend against. Here's the distinction.
A bank valuation is a formal, liability-backed opinion
When a lender orders a valuation, a certified valuer inspects the property and produces a formal report the bank relies on to size its loan. Valuers carry professional liability for the number, which makes bank valuations conservative by design — they're protecting the lender's downside, not cheering your upside. This is the number that decides how much a buyer can actually borrow against your property.
An agent appraisal is a marketing opinion
A real estate agent's appraisal is an informed estimate based on comparable sales — but it's produced by someone hoping to win your listing. Overquoting to flatter a seller into signing an agency agreement, then "conditioning" them down during the campaign, is one of the industry's oldest patterns. Treat any appraisal that lands well above the data as a sales pitch, not a price.
An AVM is a statistical estimate
Automated valuation models — the instant estimates on portals and bank apps — crunch sales data, land size and property attributes to produce a value range in seconds. They're excellent for orientation and trend-tracking, weaker on properties with unusual features the model can't see (a renovation, a view, a flood overlay). Their confidence range matters as much as the midpoint.
Using all three when you sell
The practical approach: start with AVMs from a couple of sources for an unbiased baseline, sanity-check against actual recent sales you can verify, and treat any single much-higher opinion with suspicion. Then let real buyer competition — genuine offers — settle the question. The market's collective bid is the only "valuation" that ends in money.