"The house has been in his family for many decades and he hasn't even lived there in almost a year." This is your problem, Glassapples. This kind of seller may be one of the hardest to work with, because he/she has no incentive to bargain with you. Owners who have inherited property from parents or family members often have very little, or even zero, costs associated with the house -- especially if Mom & Dad left a bit of cash to cover taxes and repairs. Consequently, they are disinclined to see the disadvantages of the home in realistic terms and are all about making as much pure profit as possible. If you end up in contract with this seller, I think you should be prepared for a tough time. When we were looking to buy two years ago we focused our search in a small city where prices were flat and where there was a good-sized inventory of small, affordable homes from the 1920s - 1960s. What I realize now is that many of these older and smaller homes change hands because the initial sellers die off and no one from the second generation wants to go back and live in their childhood home. Instead, they plan to sell the property off and share the proceeds. The problem seems to be that this type of seller often sees the sale as a windfall, not as a business deal, and they won't budge from the imagined value they've placed on the home. We viewed several properties with 'off-premise' sellers offering horror-homes for nutty prices -- like the one home that was filled with dead flies covering the pink wall-to-wall carpet, or the closets that held porta-potties and molting mink stoles. We saw one -- a small 1 & 1/2 story built in 1935 -- that could have been the right place for us, with some work. The hardwood floor in the liv. room stank of cat pee, however, and the small kitchen hadn't been updated since 1979. The selling agent explained that the husband and wife who raised their family there had both died and the kids were selling it (my heart sank when I discovered Dad's well-worn moccasins tucked in a cubby on the stairway down to the basement... son and daughter had overlooked them when cleaning the house out, along with two truckloads of trash in the basement.) We asked her if they were firm on the price, because it reflected a house of that vintage in top condition, with new appliances, a new roof and nore modern bathrooms -- in other words, about $20,000-30,000 more than the fixer-upper was worth. The agent said no, don't even bother making an offer much below asking -- apparently the house had been listed for three months already and the sellers were 'holding out' for their price. Not long after, we found the house we were looking for, at a very good price, and we live there now. About a year later, I found myself in the same part of town and drove up the hill to see the little Colonial with the shaggy camellias and the old man's moccasins on the stairs. The place looked shabbier than ever. It was empty, and a new agency's "For Rent" sign stood out front in the uncut grass. The moral of this story is: beware of a buyer with nothing to lose and everything to gain. From you. If he/she has got the house you want, then you may willing to deal. But as you yourself have pointed out, so far, you're the only one negotiating.

I had the upstairs knobs changed to levers a couple weeks ago and I love them! Changed the hinges to match (orb). I think they make the entire second floor hallway (surrounded by 5 doors) look so much better, and they are easy to use...no problems. Laschnit, I had Kwikset levers installed that I purchased at HD. I think they look and feel super, and my handyman said they were easy-peasy to install. They are still fairly pricey, (though I know not close to Baldwin's prices)as the bill adds up when you go from door to door! So worth it, though. I'll change out the downstairs after I re-do the powder room and paint a couple of doors. HD had Baldwin on display, but I didn't think they looked any better than the ones I bought. I couldn't justify the cost differential. In fact, I liked the way the Kwikset looked more than the orb Baldwin options.

iroll - this is a fantastic tip! That's what I've been missing. Whenever I searched Ebay, I'd only come up with sellers who had one or two levers for sale. So I was loosing hope for Ebay. I just tried your suggestion and it opened up a world of possibilities for us. Thanks very much!

Thank you! I’m probably overthinking this like every other renovation decision. I ended up going with satin brass everywhere. There are only 2 places where it might clash: hallway bathroom and en suite bathroom upstairs that both have chrome fixtures. But I’ll bring in some brass accents or accessories into those rooms. I’m slightly disappointed that Schlage’s satin brass reads more gold than brass. But I can live with it. If I had an unlimited budget, I’d get unlacquered brass door handles everywhere but alas…