Maybe it was my stubbornness, or maybe it was my skill. 

I told him all of the above advice plus, and he stubbornly argued every point with me..

IMHO when someone is not satified you are usually stubborn, spoiled, forgetful and ungreatful.

Stop asking for comps on 25k junkers that no one wants to buy-kind of joking, kind of not on that oneLike I said we mostly get here in a meeting or two, but some are more stubborn.

I learned that perhaps in some rare cases such as this, One should always look for the 70-80% discounts first, but for those stubborn owners who won't budge on their price, perhaps you can get them under contract and offer the property up at their price during a short option period.

So to me, the question is, why is NYC stubbornly holding on to the high commissions?

the customer is always first.my only gripe about the 15-50 room motel industry is that the barrier to entry is quite high, and not just for pricing reasons. very few are for sale as most owners simply just dont want to sell, and most are too stubborn to list them for a reasonable price. in a way, i guess it benefits me because that means less competition...but i dont know. 

Okay, maybe, but not that great.So since you asked for help, I'm going to offer my stubborn, ornery little rule, borne of hard personal experience. 

Older people are more stubborn & if they've been living in the property that long, they're probably going to die owning that house.

It is likely the seller is stubbornly sticking to an unrealistic price, but months on the market and possibly weeks between showings might increase their motivation.