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Nobody wants to pay too much for something, especially something as expensive as a home. No doubt you have friends or relatives who always seem to get great deals. What you should recognize is that there are proven tactics to negotiations, ones you can learn that will help you get a good deal on a home.

Have you ever heard the old saying, “don’t go grocery shopping on an empty stomach”? Very simply, it means that you shouldn’t put yourself in a situation where you’re apt to buy without thinking. This is very important if you want to negotiate a good price on a home.

The best time to buy a home is when you don’t absolutely need to. You won’t be feeling pressured to get a house before you have to move out of your existing home. When you’re not feeling pressured, you’ll be able to clearly spot a deal, and you’ll feel more comfortable walking away from negotiations that aren’t going the way you want them to.

Of course, in order to spot a deal you have to know what the going prices are. If you’re looking to get the best price on a house, spend some time researching homes that have sold in the areas you’re looking at. Pay particular attention to the homes that most closely resemble what you’re looking for.

Obviously, the best time to buy is in a down market such as we’ve seen in 2007 through 2009 (and maybe beyond). There are many times, though, when certain areas of the country are experiencing depressed prices. These times are to your advantage as a buyer.

When you’ve found a home you’re interested in, and you know its approximate value compared to other homes that have sold, you need to size up the seller. Is he wiling to negotiate? If not, it may be due to a few reasons: he isn’t strongly motivated to sell; he’s reduced his price as much as possible already; or he’s just being stubborn. If you don’t think the home is priced fairly, and the seller won’t budge, walk away. Chances are you’ll still see it on the market months later, and the seller will probably be more inclined to haggle on price.

Negotiating the best price on a home shouldn’t be a negative experience. In fact, the more pleasant the transaction, the more likely you are to get the best deal. The art of negotiating involves making the seller feel as though he’s winning, even if he isn’t.

Perhaps you’ve experienced this when buying a car. The sales person is ultra-friendly, comes across as being on your side, and wants to be as helpful as possible. When you make an offer on the car, though, the sales person has to “run it by the sales manager.” All the sales person is doing is letting the sales manager be the bad guy, and letting him say “no” to your offer.

You can do the same thing when negotiating a home price. Do your best to get concessions from the seller, then say that you need to run it by “the boss.” The boss could be your spouse, your father, your realtor, or just some imaginary person you created on the spot. The point is that you want to let someone else say no to the seller’s offer, while you remain his friend. If the seller has already made some concessions to you, there’s a good chance he’ll make more to satisfy “the boss.”

If the seller agrees early on to a price you think is good, don’t accept it right away unless you absolutely have to. Remember, you want to make the seller think he’s winning the negotiation. By accepting right away, you’ll make him wonder if he’s made a mistake. If you come back with a counter offer, he’ll likely think that he’s still winning, and may be open to reducing the price further.

Your demeanor is an important factor in negotiations. Most people talk too much after the other party presents an offer. It’s much better to say something along the lines of, “you’ll have to do better than that,” then wait to see what the seller has to say.

Contrary to what many people think, your demeanor shouldn’t be cool and collected when the seller present his offer. A look of shock or surprise on your part can throw the seller off balance and make him think he’s made a big mistake. If he really wants to sell, your reaction may get him to reduce the price further.

In almost every transaction, one party says, “why don’t we split the difference.” Don’t let that party be you. If you let the seller offer to split the difference, you’re again making him feel like he’s winning. If the negotiating continues, you’re still the one in control.

It always helps in negotiations to have something in your back pocket you’re willing to give up, even before the negotiations begin. It can be almost anything, as long as it makes the seller feel as though he’s winning.

One thing you must absolutely have in your back pocket is a clean offer. You wont’ be in any position to negotiate if you have to wait for the mortgage lender to approve you for a loan, or if the purchase is contingent upon the sale of your existing home. If you want to be able to negotiate, get pre-approved for the amount you want to borrow, and either sell your existing home or get approved for a bridge loan so you can carry your existing mortgage until the house sells.

You’re not going to be able to wheel and deal on every home you come across. Some homes attract buyers like bees to butter. Other homes will be so attractively priced that trying to negotiate would be pointless. If you come across one of these, and you want the home, buy it without reservation.

If the process of haggling on home prices isn’t something you enjoy, consider having someone else do it for you. Many people use realtors as buyers agents to good effect. The realtor will know the market, and should have the negotiating skills to get you a good price.

There are a number of ways that written materials can support and enhance an oral presentation.

I do a lot of public speaking, teaching, and training. I utilize PowerPoint slides extensively.

I also prepare written materials which I distribute to participants to take with them which serve as a reference tool so that when they have a question later, they can use those materials to refresh their recollection and clear up any confusion they may have. I make it a practice to include a cover and table of contents, as well as appropriate authoritative citations, so that the packet will be “user-friendly” and, thus, have an increased chance of being added to the participant’s library. I generally include a printed copy of my PowerPoint show, as well.

I believe that communicating information in three differing formats is the best way to assure comprehension and retention. The PowerPoint presentation serves primarily as an outline containing only key words, terms, and concepts. The written materials are extremely detailed, of course. And depending upon the topic, my speech may contain a lot of examples and illustrations that are not included in either of the written formats, along with some personal recollections.

Whether or not you should utilize such tools in your presentation depends upon a number of factors.

First of all, you must consider the subject matter, of course. What type of presentation are you making? Does the topic lend itself to the use of visual aids such as a PowerPoint show? Will such tools enhance or detract from the main points you are communicating? Will text, graphics and/or music assist your audience in not only understanding your presentation, but also in recollecting the main points over time? Will such displays “pound home” the message or can it be delivered more effectively with just the inflection, dynamics, tenor and tone of your spoken words?

Once you have decided that you want to utilize a PowerPoint presentation as you speak, there are some things you can do to maximize its effectiveness. Most importantly, bear in mind that a slide show or other graphical display should never be a script (although it can effectively serve as an outline, as explained below). I have suffered through too many interminably long presentations where the speaker thought that every salient point should be included in the PowerPoint show and, as if that weren’t bad enough, decided to read the content of the slides to the audience. Sadly, the information being imparted on most of those occasions was of interest to me, but the speaker could not hold my attention once he/she decided to stay “on script” rather than speak contemporaneously.

A PowerPoint show or other graphic presentation should be used solely to augment and clarify your oral commentary, but should never overtake or overshadow it. This is one area where the old adage “less is more” is applicable.

Note that I said bullet points. Not lengthy, rambling paragraphs of text, but, rather, short, concise synopses that the audience can jot down if they’d like. Bullet points can also be read quickly by the audience as you are speaking without deflecting attention from what you are saying. There is nothing worse than looking out into the faces of your audience to discover that they are no longer listening to you because they are focused completely on reading all of the verbiage set forth on the slides you are projecting.

I use custom animation so that I can dictate when specific key words, terms or phrases appear on the screen. For instance, I find that the audience remains engaged if you pepper your presentation with questions. Ask participants if they know the answer to a particular question and open the floor for discussion and questions. When you are ready to conclude the discussion and move on, you can announce, “Here’s the answer” or “Look at how things turned out,” at the moment that the relevant information is projected. This is particularly effective if you ask your audience to guess numbers, percentages or the outcome of hypothetical scenarios. It is fun to hear the gasps when the group is surprised by the correct or actual answer, leading to further enthusiastic discourse and a memorable presentation.

By organizing your PowerPoint slide show, you will find that you have organized your discussion. This is a great way to stay on track. Make sure that you include each and every important point you want to make during your presentation as a bullet or outline point. That way, when you glance at the slides as you are speaking, your memory will be jogged and you will be sure not only to mention those key points, but also elaborate upon them.

Finally, as to the aesthetics of the PowerPoint show, let your topic and audience guide your selections. If you are talking about a very serious, thought-provoking subject, the colors and graphics that you select will probably be different than those appropriate to a more light-hearted or fun conversation. The possibilities are limitless, bounded only by the constraints of your imagination.