Negotiate seller concession towards buyer CC vs price reductions?

[Greyson Dixon]

I used this negotiation technique with a first time home buyer, recently, and I'm curious how it would translate to RE Investment. In my market (SLC, UT area) the market is beginning to plateau. Longer DoM, higher interest rates, more price reductions, etc. Buyers are seeing it, but sellers are slow on the recognition. My buyers found a great FSBO that was slightly stale with no price reductions. Initially, we asked for a price reduction of about $10k and $5000 concession towards buyers closing costs. Seller countered full price, with $5000 concessions. Rather than walking away, I had my clients ask for a full 3% seller concession (about $8000), and use the excess to buy down their rate. With the seller buying down their rate, they saved about $45/month on their payment over the $10k price reduction, and the seller was happy to net a little extra cash. My thought is this same technique could help investors in 2 ways: 1) Create buying opportunities with unrealistic sellers when an extra $500/year could make or break your investment. Seller gets a win with extra cash, investor gets a win with more profit/lower holding costs. 2) Creat sales opportunities for investors who need to salvage as much equity as possible on their sale, while creating a better deal for potential buyers. Is this technique being utilized across other markets? What are the pros/cons, in your opinion?