Best Practices for Negotiation

[Scott Holloway]

All, I am interested to get some thoughts on negotiation. I have my first off-market lead and know that the seller is asking much higher than the number will need to be to cash flow with the goal being a short-term rental single family. His listing was an expired listing on MLS and he is asking the same price that was listed. My gut tells me to have a phone conversation with him telling him my max price to set expectation before trying to set up a face to face meeting. Negotiation probably makes more sense face-to-face but I don't want to waste either of our time if he is not motivated enough to come down to my number. I am interested to hear your thoughts on best practices in this situation based on experience. Thanks!