It's difficult for traditional Charleston home sellers to compete
... with foreclosures, short sales and new construction.
These days in the Charleston real estate market, if a homeowner wants to list their home for sale in Charleston, there is a lot of competition and not just from the fact that there are thousands of properties listed for sale in the Charleston MLS.
First of all, there are a lot of buyers who would rather buy a home that is new, has all the latest features like large open kitchens, luxurious master suites, energy efficiency that can be found with new home construction. Of course, not everyone wants to live in a newer neighborhood without established foliage and generally smaller lots but a pretty good percentage of buyers do like new homes.
But compounding the problem for Charleston home sellers are lender owned homes and short sales which generally sell at a substantial discount to market value. If a traditional home seller wants to sell, they have to price their home accordingly to be able to compete and even though the condition is generally much better and they will agree to do repairs which more often than not, lenders and short sale sellers won't do, they are being squeezed by current market conditions.
That's why you see the phrase, "not a foreclosure or short sale" so often in Charleston MLS descriptions because if a home is priced competitively with foreclosures or short sales, that will get positive attention from potential buyers and of course, there are people who don't want to buy distressed properties in lousy condition or wait endlessly for a short sale to get approved by the lender.
Business Week reports that distressed homes are selling at a 26 percent discount to market value and almost one in four sales in the US is currently in some state of mortgage distress.