What people need to realize is that when buying or selling, when dealing with brokers/agents EVERYTHING is negotiable. The number one thing to work on before buying or selling real estate is to work on your negotiating skills and realize EVERYTHING IS NEGOTIABLE.

I can't recommend You Can Negotiate Anything by Herb Cohen enough!

(Affiliate Link): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0553281097/ref=as_li_tl?ie=...

(Non-Affiliate Link): http://www.amazon.com/You-Can-Negotiate-Anything-Negotiator/...

If you're looking for a book on the subject, try: http://www.amazon.com/You-Negotiate-Anything-Herb-Cohen/dp/0...

You Can Negotiate Anything is a classic, and very inexpensive investment considering the upside.

I can't give you any advice that you won't find in this book.

Good luck.

For immediate negotiating help, I recommend the book You Can Negotiate Anything: http://www.amazon.com/You-Negotiate-Anything-Herb-Cohen/dp/0...

For longer term and more general help with persuasion tactics (which might be used to get you to agree to a lower offer), I recommend Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini: http://www.amazon.com/Influence-Psychology-Persuasion-Busine...

You will easily recover the cost of these two books using the knowledge from them.