[Jim 9922]

All resales are negotiable! I've purchased 2 houses of my own and "assisted" friends with 4 others all at substantial "discounts". Right now there are a lot of "fish in the pond" and it is a real buyer's market. A few things to consider when buying.
Asking price is a high end guess in the mind of the real estate agent. Never forget - agents are driven by commission.
No matter what they say, agents have a very vested self interest interest in the final price. Every dollar less, is less in their pocket, even the person who is supposed to be representing you. One way to gain a little leverage to your own side is, if possible, to make the offer using the listing agent -- all of a sudden that person has double the commission at stake.
Do your OWN home work on appraised values, recent sales of neighboring homes, etc. Spend some time on the internet at Zillow.com and each of our 3local county appraisers have excellent web sites with all kind of sales history.
Make a "clean" offer without a bunch of contingencies. Have your money in hand, waive nickle-dime faults the inspector may find totaling, say $700, closing date when the seller wants, etc, etc.
Make the offer timeframe very short. If during the day maybe six hours. This helps prevent the agent from calling all other known interested parties and trying to dredge up a better bid. Put a tough face forward to the agent (or owner if dealing directly) that your price is is not "even probably open" to change and that there other homes in line if this fails.
The agent is obligated to submit all ligitimate offers to the seller. Don't let the Agent try to up or modify an offer by implying" I know the owner will reject". Let the owner think about it and do the rejection.
You should have determined in advance how desperate the owner is to sell, what is the real reason they are selling (did they buy another home, are they in financial trouble, don't like the villages), how long the home has been on the market, etc.
Go into the offer process with the attitude that the price you offer is tops for you. If you lose this one there are a bunch more out there.
All the deals I've been involved in have been first price offers. All it takes is a fair price based on current market conditions, a positive attitude, and a strong stand.
Remenber you don't owe the seller or the commissioned agent anything! It is your own pocketbook that you are working for.