There is an extraordinary coincidence about guide prices. Guide prices published day after day in the newspapers inevitable come in below the price at which the property is sold. These guide prices are, apparently, set by people who have an expertise in this area. Their only expertise is in continually ensuring that the prices set to give a gullible public a guide are, inevitably, pitched well below the prices at which these houses sell. Why is this? The reason is quite simple. It sucks people in, makes them borrow more and makes them do more valuations and architectural inspections. Inevitably, people are disappointed and spend more money and the property is sold for much more than the guide price, sometimes twice as much. How can valuers make mistakes like that?