Negotiation is an important part of the home buying process. In fact, you can negotiate just about anything when buying a home, from the price of the house to any conditions, contingencies, and concessions you’d like. But while you’ll have an opportunity to negotiate, you won’t necessarily succeed. Market conditions will often be the determiner of whether or not the home’s seller accepts your offer. When homes for sale are scarce and buyers are fighting for available options, a seller is less likely to agree to your terms than at a time when there are more homes than buyers. Fortunately for today’s home shopper, it looks like buyers are finally regaining some negotiating power. According to newly released data, 52 percent of recent home buyers negotiated with the home’s seller and 94 percent succeeded. Additionally, 34 percent of buyers were able to pay below asking price – a significant improvement from a couple of years ago when only 27 percent of buyers successfully negotiated a lower price. (source)
