ABC News 4 Report from Wednesday

Home Sales Down, But Interest In Buying Homes Booms in Lowcountry



Charleston, SC - Home sales in the Lowcountry are still down, but sellers are getting more knocks on their doors.

Kimberly Beasley has a new routine.

“I wake up every morning and make sure the house is just in perfect condition,” Beasley explained. 4 Interact:
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Beasley's West Ashley house is for sale during a time many homes are just not selling.

In Charleston County, 193 homes sold in January, down from 236 in December.

“A little bit of worry and just wondering what the time line would be, how long it would take to sell,” Beasley said.

But in the last three weeks the home has been on the market and Beasley has mastered the home tour.

“We had three showings in one day,” Beasley said.

The number of interested buyers is on the rise around the tri-county. In January, there were more than 18,000 showings, nearly double the number from December.

With so many houses on the market, some real estate agents say they are surprised so many people are interested in looking for their next home.

“With everything that’s going on with the global economy, we just really weren’t too sure with what to expect,” President and C.E.O. of Carolina One Realty Patty Scarfile said.

There's a reason for the peak Scarfile said.

“What buyers are looking for are the homes that are particularly well priced or competitively priced,” Scarfile said.

People are starting to think about taking advantage of the lower prices, making home sellers get creative, she added.

“We have our home on viewthishome.com. It’s kind of a YouTube for real estate. We shot our own video of the house and uploaded it up to the website,” Beasley said.

Anything she can do to get a potential buyer's foot in the door.

There are currently almost 10,000 homes listed for sale with the Charleston Trident Multiple Listing Service.