Home priced 15K over county assessmnet

[Ariella Cohen]

I'm currently looking at a duplex in Columbia, SC which is assessed at 48K. The sellers are asking 62.5K. Most of the units in the area are priced to sell for about 10K less than their assessed value.

My question is should the assessed value and asking price be a little closer together, or are they numbers that are just set by different interests and have no real relation to one another? How can I use this information when I go to make an offer?