In a negotiation you can never go backwards. If you make an offer and it’s accepted immediately, it means you could have gone in lower. It’s too late to do anything about it now though, because the vendor knows that you’re actually willing to pay that amount – so backpedalling won’t work. By having your first offer rejected you can satisfy yourself that you’re not going in too high, and also “anchor” the conversation around your number. Even if the vendor is mortally offended by your offer of 40% below their asking price, somewhere in the back of the mind they’ll start to question whether, hey
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