Today's real estate market has obviously tipped in the favor of buyers.  But what's the best way to take advantage of this leverage?  One great idea that lenders have used in the past, when interest rates were high is called a "Buydown" of points on the mortgage.  The chart below describes the affect of buying down points on a loan as opposed to getting a home seller to reduce their price.  While your lender is the best source for in-depth information on this kind of stuff, I can tell you the basic idea of buying down points is to put money up front to reduce the interest rate on your mortgage. 

So, instead of paying 6.25% on your mortgage, you (or the home seller) can pay your bank up front to reduce the interest rate to something like 6%.  The savings over a 30 year mortgage life can be significant, or maybe you just want to pay less per month.  How you look at it is up to you.  A lot of sellers right now are willing to negotiate with you to get their home sold.  This could be a great bargaining tool to help reduce your monthly payments, and perhaps get you into a bigger home, better neighborhood, etc.

- Jay