Ego's and 500 bucks, what's a kid to do

Partners can be a great asset in negotiations, but they are not fool proof if you can't check your ego at the door.  The number of RE deals that I analyze on a daily basis is staggering.  I feel my unconscious constantly running numbers as my eyes saccade from home to home.  I know when I have a good deal, probably because I've seen so many bad ones!    

While rehabbing the end of a 6 unit brick row house built circa 1900, the owner of the adjacent unit put up a FSBO.  I wasted no time calling him to arrange a meeting.  Due to my schedule, I had my partner check out the condition of the property.  He stopped by later while we were working.  He is an older gentleman that LOVES to talk.  I respected my elder but realized that there were more stories than new insight...  Long story short, his advertised price was 32K.  I explained what I do, my current experience in real estate markets, and how much less we paid for our unit (we paid 23,500).  Feeling some camaraderie, he continued on for some time (I'll spare you the details) Finally, he tells me he can take 26K and we part ways with me telling him I will talk to my partner and let him know.  

Not Bad, I've said nothing and he is down from 32K to 26K 

A few days later we meet again (this is all happening during the holidays).  I tell him that I don't mean to offend him, but we're prepared to offer 22K, which was our initial offer on our unit.  My hope was to end at 24K and all be happy.  He wasn't coming anywhere near that, but did make a concession to 25K.

Great!  I should be jumping for joy right here, I've got him down 7K or 22%!!!

 At this point I should have bought it and congratulated him on a great deal and job well done.

I got into trouble with my negotiations by convincing my self that I needed to get him down to 24K or 24,500 at the worst (a compromise between the 24 I wanted and the 25 he agreed to).  In his mind he was down 22% already, damned if he would go to 24%, even if we were only talking about $500... I would have had to increase my offer 4%.... not really an earth shattering percentage.  

He got into a emotional state, I briefly described some REOs in the neighborhood I was also considering to justify my position.  His feathers were ruffled and he stormed off the scene leaving me feeling like a young punk kid!

Looking back, my gut knew he wouldn't go past 25K, and I knew it was a good deal then.

What do you think:  IF I called him tomorrow would he take 25?

Only one way to find out ;-) 

UPDATE: We waited a bit before calling.  25 and everyone is happy.  Should be closing soon :D