• Don’t show emotion when previewing the home. Be polite, but if you let the seller know what you are really thinking it doesn’t matter what else you do! He knows he’s got you hooked.

• Get totally loan approved. A pre-approved buyer (not just pre-qualified) is almost as strong as a cash buyer. And if you are totally certain of your ability to obtain the necessary financing you may even want to remove all financing contingencies except appraisal so that you are exactly like a cash buyer. By letting the seller know that you are willing to risk your earnest deposit in this fashion he can assured you are serious and confident of a timely closing.

• Offer the seller more earnest deposit than he was asking for. This is guaranteed to get the seller’s attention when you are negotiating. By giving him a larger earnest deposit he is assured of your seriousness and is confident of a timely closing.

• Be flexible about moving dates. Whether the seller wants more or less time on a closing, if you can give him what he needs here, you can almost always assure yourself of some price concession. You may even offer to close and allow the seller to "lease back" the property from you for a short time. This gives him access to the funds he may need for closing on his next home or moving. Just be sure the lease back period is not longer than 30 days or your lender will consider you an investor and may charge you a higher interest rate. And make sure you retain a security deposit from the seller’s proceeds in case something goes wrong at the house after the closing that is not covered by a home warranty policy.

• Hide your closing costs in the sales price. Though this does not necessarily work every time, sometimes a seller who feels he has received his "selling price" may agree to pay some of the buyers closing costs as part of the transaction. Instead of thinking of his bottom line - what he nets from the transaction - he is consumed by getting a specific amount for his property.

• Ask for seller concessions in the sales price. These can range from including existing appliances to a carpet or paint allowance.

Key Tactics

The final step is to "guess" what the seller was "hoping" to get, based on the information you have gathered about the seller and the property. If you offer too low he may be insulted and retaliate in kind on his counter offer. The key is to try and figure out an amount that is slightly less than what he was hoping to get, but that is close enough that he gets more nervous about losing a possible sale and a strong buyer than he is about lowering his sales price.