Are you flexible enough to sell your house
The Charleston South Carolina real estate market has a lot of inventory and fewer buyers than before. This is not news. For about a year, this has been the market except that there is even more inventory and fewer buyers. Pricing your home for sale from the start is important but even more important is handling the negotiation with flexibility.
I know there are some people out there who think they can "steal a home" in Charleston because they have been watching the news media report bad news on the housing front across the country or here in Charleston. I've gotten several phone calls from buyers inquiring about the Charleston real estate market conditions and asking how far below the listing price they can buy at. A few who don't have a clue think economic and housing conditions in Charleston are as bad as where they are calling from and it is difficult to explain that the Charleston real estate market is actually much healthier than most of Florida, for example.
I ran into a colleague today who told me the story of a home listed for $450,000 that recently got a lowball offer of $300,000. This agent has been in the real estate business a long time and I know that he prices his listings sharply at market. Of course he expects that a full price offer won't be forthcoming but a reasonable offer below list price is to be expected.
An offer 33% below list can't be negotiated because the buyer is likely to be inflexible in their bid to "steal a house" and there isn't much point to counter offering. I'm sure that the buyer will try it again a few more times and may or may not get it. If I was their buyer agent, I'd try to explain that below market is one thing, below reality is another and after failing to get any response from the seller on several occasions, they should either get serious about buying or go away.
This past weekend, we were the looking at beach houses to rent for a week for a family get together at Thanksgiving in Hilton Head Island. My wife Polly is one of 6 children and there are 11 nieces and nephews and her father for a total of 24 people. A couple of years ago, we rented 2 houses across the street from each other to celebrate her father's 70th birthday and we had to rent early at full price to get the accommodations we needed. This time, only 16 will be there for Thanksgiving so we thought we could get by with one big house and wait until a little later and get a better price.
It is always a thrill to walk through and analyze how a multi million dollar luxury home will fit your needs. We saw about 10 homes, most were very nice, actually, several were simply stunning but a couple were in poor condition and a few didn't have the right configuration of sleeping accommodations. By the way, if you don't think condition matters when selling your home, just read the last sentence once again and remember, we were only renting for a week. Condition does matter.
So we narrow down and which house did we choose, well, it was perfect for our needs, the bedroom configuration was excellent, on the golf course, 4th row to the beach on the beach path, nice kitchen, dual ovens, an extra refrigerator and dishwasher in a butler's kitchen (butler not included), dual laundry rooms and ...
The owner was flexible on price. 
The property management company knows which owners are flexible and which are firm on their price and we were able to get about 12% off which covers the tax and fees. Now, fast forward to the other owners who are inflexible, they have 2 months to go to get their home rented for the week, if they are able to rent it, they make money, if it sits vacant, they don't receive any money.
It really is the same for a seller in today's Charleston South Carolina real estate market. First of all, price the house right. Overpriced listings are doomed from the start and as the price is reduced over time, buyers wonder if something might be wrong. Why hasn't it sold?
For sellers, if your home is priced right and you receive a reasonable offer below list, now is the time to be flexible if you want to sell your home. Your real estate agent can negotiate on your behalf and come to an agreement with the buyer and the buyers agent and you will sell your house despite the difficult market. Other than a ridiculous lowball offer, this is no time to be insulted by an initial offer from a qualified buyer, this is the time for flexibility to negotiate the sale of your house.
Bottom line for buyers. You can buy a house for less than list price but be realistic. Greedy isn't likely to work and there is very little likelihood you will succeed in "stealing a home". At the very least be as flexible as the seller and please remember, it isn't just buying a house for a low price that makes it a good deal; you'll be living in the home for at least several years so make sure you actually like the house and it suits your family's needs.