I concede that, if I spend an otherwise valuable hour on this site (a) finding the old discussions and (b) setting up my "favorites," I might grow used to this new, ad-space-intensive format.

For example, national security which was supposed to be for the 'war on terror' is now used by the FBI on us citizens and obaministration are using that as a basis to snoop into everyone facebook and emails now ( legally and without permission or warrants) a free people do not concede to these things without any motivation to do so.

I can concede that there is often undue pressure to do things that may cause harm.

If not, I concede that you're right...

We spent $35k on our rehab and replaced the hvac, flooring, fixed plumbing leaks etc. but we didn't touch the roof (it is about halfway through its' lifespan) so while I feel it is fair for us to offer to negotiate on that, are we conceding too much by offering to negotiate repairs?

If you already live in and are familiar with a market with high cap rate multi's, then I concede that your home court advantage may very well tilt things the other way, but not for an out of state investor.

So, I will concede that the analogy was a poor one (I will delete) but you're kind of missing the overall point, and I disagree that this has no deleterious impact on the seller.  

So a buyer with FHA financing can pay as much as the house can appraise for with .5% down if the seller will "concede" 3% closing costs in the negotiation?  

I think the next big jump is going to take peoples breath away so better to be in the game at this markets high instead of being late to the game on the next one.I'll concede to your better market knowledge at this time but I do have history on my side. 

I will concede that some people do commute into Bangor from those locations, but I think there is much bigger market for renters (if that will ever be your goal) or purchasers (if you aim to sell the property at some point, or your heirs will), if you stick within 20 miles or so of Bangor.