Charleston homes, Charleston prices
You have to wonder sometimes about both buyers and sellers when it comes to evaluating prices of Charleston homes for sale. To buy and sell, the buyer and seller have to agree.
I met with a seller recently who felt the value of their home was well above market prices. It didn't matter that similar homes in their neighborhood were selling for $50,000 less than what they felt their home was worth.
But sellers should understand that what they want, what they need or what they think their home is worth is irrelevant to the price that the home will sell for which is based only on what a ready, willing and able buyer is going to pay. So in the unlikely event that a buyer doesn't care if the home is overpriced, well, if they will be financing the home, their lender will care and of course, the home will have to appraise in order for the bank to finance the mortgage.
Now buyers are equally silly sometimes. Yes, it's a buyers market but that does not mean that you can offer any crazy price and expect the seller to agree to sell their home to you.
Buyers should understand that it doesn't matter what the seller originally paid, what a fair profit might be, what the original list price was or the price reductions that may have been taken in the interim or how long the home is on the market. These are all recipes for a lowball offer which in most cases will not even receive a counter offer from the seller.
Bottom line, in order to sell, you must price your home to market, in order to buy, you must offer something reasonably close to market value, which today is generally an offer a bit below list price, assuming the list price is reasonable. Of course, if the list price isn't reasonable, a buyer isn't likely to ever view the home in the first place so it's a bit of a catch 22.