[Porsche-O-Phile]

I disagree Eric. I don't have time for B.S. I make my offer and if it's good enough, fine. If not, fine. That's how I roll. Like Rick, the place we were going to buy in CA ended up appraising on an FHA for slightly below the accepted offer price so it would have been moot anyway but ultimately we pulled the plug on the transaction two days before closing and walked away due to a layoff. No skin off my butt. The place we're in now we will likely pick up on an agreed purchase-option with the owner, so there's no further negotiation required. I'm happy. If it doesn't work out for whatever reason between now and the end of next year, that's fine too. I'll reassess then and start the process over. No matter.

Renting is a very good place to be right now - and will be a very good place to be until concerns about the job market and the overall economy stabilize. Rates aren't going anywhere significant for a while and prices aren't going anywhere but down or flat in the near term. I see little if any pressure to act quickly and run the risk of being taken advantage of.

The keys I've found to getting a good deal is to be emotionally detached and as close to indifferent as possible - and to be completely unpredictable to salespeople and the manipulative little head games so many of them like to play - in other words, be completely dead honest from Square #1. It has always worked well for me - I've always ended up with good and fair prices, no guilt, etc. I have no plans to change a strategy that works by throwing all the stress back onto the seller knowing that there is no negotiation that will occur and no back-and-forth time-wasting B.S. If you don't want to do it that way, fine - but it works for me and like I said, I've no plans or reason for changing it as a result.

But I digress (this isn't a thread about negotiating tactics - it's about mortgage delinquencies. Can we please get back on subject here?