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First time home buyer. How to negotiate price?
Well it all kind of depends.   The Realtor is your pro, and you should communicate further with him.  Is this a neighborhood on the decline?  Is there a good reason to make such a low offer?  Are you totally off base when you think 85K is fair, and if so why?  Is he just working his tail off for you (a great thing)? One thing that is a key to this negotiation is financing.  What does your financing status look like?  A reasonable cash offer with no contingencies and a quick close might be less than 70K.  A person with strong financing can get a better discount then a person that is questionable. It could be that the Realtor is testing the waters to find the bottom price.  The home selling season is closed (typically the summer), and the home has been on the market for a bit.  Offering 70K might mean a counter at 82K, so you can work on an offer between 80 and 82.   To me, it sounds like this guy is working for you.  You should thank him.  It is pretty hard to find a realtor that is willing to negotiate his pay down in order to save you money.   Also he can answer the closing cost question better than us as he is more familiar with your particular market.