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November 1, 2010 Charleston SC Real Estate Market Update

Posted By: In: General
Date: Mon, Nov 1st 2010 3:40 pm

Still not much good news for sellers and owners in the Charleston area.  It's better if you're in Summerville, Goose Creek, or North Charleston, but there is still WAY too much inventory.  That being the case, you must be very clear in your marketing strategy that what you owe is COMPLETELY irrelevant to the picture.  Know your competition, and price to win the game BEFORE you end with time being against you.  It makes no sense whatsoever to start out with a higher price, just because you still have a few months.  You'll get the best price by pricing it right to begin with.  If an agent tells you different, they're telling you what you want to hear to get your listing. 

It's interesting that now that the tax credit is gone, there is more of a true picture of how sales are going.  Sales are no longer falsely inflated.  They are what they are.  And what they are is not too good.  It could certainly be worse.  As it is, there were more than 800 transactions in September, and inventory went down from August to September.  The numbers never quite tell the whole story though, because we don't know how many people gave up and took their home off the market. 

For buyers, if you can qualify for a loan, you're a scarce commodity indeed.  Take advantage of that scarcity, and you could end up with quite a bit of equity whenever the economy turns around.  I'm not an economist, and pay no attention to pundits on either side of the isle.  (I think they're both about as effective at assessing current conditions and predicting the future in a meaningful way...which is not very.)  The economy is unstable, but is there more or less risk now than when we THOUGHT the economy was stable???  Interesting question if I do say so myself.  You won't see this on a billboard or TV ad, but buyers, the best thing you can do in general right now is to take your time.  Naturally, it makes sense to keep an eye on interest rates.  The other side of the equation is that if you jump on an attractive rate now, home values could still slip some more depending on what part of town.  The prices are showing signs of hitting bottom, but the trend is not substantial.