The Morning Call reports from Pennsylvania. "The sellers of the 1,900-square-foot townhouse in Alburtis had agreed to leave the refrigerator. But their buyer, Lisa Gerancher, wanted the washer and dryer as well."

"Had the transaction occurred a year ago, Gerancher might not have said anything. 'They were willing to negotiate because they were moving to West Virginia and had already bought a new house,' Gerancher says."

"In recent months, the tide has turned. These days, says (realtor) Catherine Amant of Coldwell Banker Heritage Real Estate in South Whitehall, 'buyers are bidding under and asking for the world.'"

"Don't want to overpay? Have an agent do a full comparative market analysis for you, (realtor) Christopher Zajacek in Bethlehem says. 'You really want to look at the market and what it has done in the last 45 days.' Because some prices are changing, the shorter the timeframe for that analysis the better, Zajacek says."

"As buyers read and hear stories about the housing market slowing, 'they think that everything has switched in their favor,' says Scott Schultz, an agent in Center Valley. So they try and negotiate $30,000 off a $300,000 house. The market is not so bad that the sellers can't hold firm and say, 'Let's be realistic here.' 'The market is slower but it's not stagnant. Ridiculously low offers still are being refused.'"

"Amant always recommends to her sellers that they at least consider every offer, even if it is low. 'A lot of buyers in this market think they can offer $180,000 on a $200,000 house,' she says. 'But I tell my sellers, rather than reject it out right, let's counter. Instead of saying, 'God, they only offered $180,000,' say, 'We'll counter with the full price.' I always recommend to my people to counter because that leaves the door open and that's what negotiations are all about."

"Home prices in the region fell in November for the first time in more than two years, according to statistics from the Lehigh Valley Association of Realtors. The average cost of an existing home in Lehigh and Northampton counties was $208,000, a drop of 2 percent from November 2005."

"Buyers, on the other hand, have their pick of properties, allowing them to make offers that are below the listing price."

"The number of homes sold has fallen six consecutive months. In November, the number of homes sold fell 22 percent, compared to the same month last year. And the glut of homes on the market is slowing the pace of sales. The number of pending sales — a measure of future buying activity, fell 25 percent. It was the lowest number of pending sales contracts since December 2003."