Many home sellers are eagerly - no desperately - looking for a buyer in today's market. As we know, most sellers typically add a "pad" of 5-10% for "negotiating" room. What we are seeing in the current environment are sellers who are eliminating this pad, just to generate some interest and traffic.

For example, a seller who would settle for $400,000 as a final sales price might start at $450 to allow for some negotiating. If this home sold for $410, then both parties would feel like they won since it came in $40K under asking price, yet $10K over what the seller would have ultimately accepted.

To use this same house as an example, maybe they started at $450 and then dropped to $425 after 60 days. Showing traffic has dried up, and so they drop the price to $400 "firm" just to attract a ready and willing buyer.

Even though $400 is one heck of a deal for this subdivision, buyers and their agents still feel like if they pay "full retail" then they are not getting the best deal.

If you are a BUYER: Be aware if it's a deal or not. If the asking price is a reasonable one, you may need to pay the seller his/her asking price. Talk to the listing agent and see how much room there is. If they tell you that it's their bottom price, and it truly is a deal, I recommend you buy it.

If you are a SELLER: Be careful not to go to your lowest price too early. As opposed to reducing the price, offer to make some upgrade concessions or pay closing costs. If this doesn't work, then lower the price and make it clear that it is a FIRM price. You want to imply that it's an AS IS price, but do not say this in the litsing. Any listing with "AS IS" in the description signals that it's probably trashed.