Overpriced listings do not sell
Overpriced listings don't sell and I don't take overpriced listings, they are a waste of time and money, after all, a real estate agent only gets paid if a home closes and if you take an overpriced listing that has slim to no chance of even being shown let alone getting a contract, you are simply wasting both time and money. You see, it costs you money to market a home for sale and if no one buys it, it's like throwing money away. As to time, well, I value mine and while I work hard and put in long hours selling Charleston real estate, I prefer to spend my time productively.
I'm actually a better buyers agent than I am as a listing agent and I enjoy the buy side of a transaction more than the sell side. But I always have several listings of Charleston homes for sale and I've been very fortunate to sell them quicker rather than slower or not at all. I think one reason is that I have a very good sense of the real value that a property should sell for.
Now I'm not saying any of this to give myself a big pat on the back or to build up my (already inflated) ego. 
The simple fact is that if you really want to sell your home, you have to price it correctly from the beginning and in today's market, the condition should be pristine. Of course, that takes a little work but please understand, the buyers have lots of choices and they don't have to settle for poor condition.
Here's a little story. One of my clients called and asked me to come over to evaluate their home for sale. I did a comparative market analysis (CMA) of not only the homes similar to theirs that had sold recently but pulled the active listings that their home would be competing with. I knew before I went over that the news wasn't going to be great and of course they were disappointed with the price range that I suggested. They felt their home was worth significantly more and I left with everyone knowing that I couldn't list their home at their desired price. It wasn't as if I wanted them to sell for less and "leave money on the table" but the table wouldn't serve the bounty they had in mind.
Fast forward a few weeks and of course, their home is listed for sale for a full $25,000 more than I suggested it could possibly get. More interesting was that several new listings of similar homes came on the market in their neighborhood, one at the center point of my suggested range and one priced just a couple of thousand dollars more. I'm not feeling vilified, I just feel badly that their home will sit on the market unsold and unloved and they will go through the inconvenience of listing their home with no chance to sell it and even sadder, when I get the listing after 6 months of their frustration, it's likely, they'll actually sell for even less than they could have had they priced it right from the start.
Here is a link to a post that I recently wrote on my new blog/website that talks about 5 myths of overpricing when listing your home for sale in today's Charleston real estate market. Please read, Pricing Myths.
And it will give you a chance to see my new website, I'm sorry the blog and the website aren't quite as nicely developed as I had hoped just yet but I promise you, I'm working on it!
Photo courtesy of Flickr by Jondis96