As what is likely to be the biggest financial deal of your life, finding a way of reducing the price of a home from its market price is one of the basic elements of house hunting. This requires that you negotiate on the price of the property and, perhaps most importantly, picking your battles carefully.

Negotiating when purchasing a house starts as early as possible; before you’ve even met the estate agent. This is something which people rarely consider doing but it is absolutely necessary, because you’ll find that estate agents will often push your budget to the limits and beyond so “low-balling” them on your actual budget will ensure that you find a home which is a bit more in your price range.

When actually house hunting, it is very important that when ever you view a home that you don’t react too positively, even if that is your honest response. This is because if the person showing you the house feels like they’ve got you; that this is the home you absolutely want; that it is your dream home; they will negotiate from a position of power. In part this involves building up a back-story which doesn’t say “I’m looking for my dream home”, but instead says “I’m just looking for a home where the value will remain stable over the ten or so years I plan to stay there”. If they believe that the latter is the case for you, then getting a home for its actual value or even below will be considerably easier.