There are circumstances in which it can be extremely challenging to find reliable comps. For example, a home may be located in a rural area that has seen very few sales in recent years, listed at the start of an economic downturn that renders previous sales meaningless or so unique that it’s impossible to find anything like it.
In situations like these, where there are not enough recent sales to run a comparative market analysis, real estate agents will look at listings currently on the market, pending or even expired. Since offers have been accepted already, pending sales provide a better indication of value than the other types of listings. However, current listings shed light on the current competition, while expired listings can give insight into the kinds of prices buyers think are too high.