We negotiated a price reduction on the house we recently built. It was from a single builder upscale neighborhood of semi-custom to custom houses. What we did was take one of their floor plans and met with them on several occasions and had them change the floorplans/elevations to our liking (in our case we added square footage, rearranged the floorplans and changed the front elevation). They then gave us their proposal of what it would cost with the changes. We could tell that they were really anxious to sell. So we made an "offer" to them for about 10% off their total price. They accepted. Our thought was that it never hurts to ask.

I suppose one could chastise you for all of the things you have done wrong, but you asked for advice so I will throw in my two cents. You were (are) in a marriage that is failing and you are choosing to put that failure all on yourself - stop right there. Neither one of you was putting your full effort into the situation. He doesn't follow through with his promises to land a job and then won't follow you to your next job? He needs to stay with/follow you. There is no reason for him to stay behind (no job and your daughter is not in school, yet). Yeah, you cheated. And he is taking advantage of that instead of trying to get things back on track. You are both at fault here. You both decided to 'take a break and see other people'? That is not marriage. And you allowed yourself to believe that the only job you could do is one that takes you away for weeks at a time. You both need to change careers - yours is actually a career change; his is getting off the couch. You need to think about what is best for your daughter. And that would be a stable home life. Not mom or dad gone for 6 weeks at a time. If the marriage does end, then you will surely be forced into a new career if you have any hopes of raising your daughter alone. Would that be so bad? To put your daughter over a career? Careers/jobs can come and go. Your daughter is not so expendable. Do what is best for her.

Have you looked into items and spaces that will make life easier once you move in? Such as shelves in the laundry room, where you'll put the kitchen garbage pail, etc. I wanted to dwell on this point a little more, too. That you should focus on setting up the INFRASTRUCTURE you will need. I love infrastructure--we often ignore it, esp. stuff like shelving, etc. Be sure you have hooks for brooms, enough shelves int he closets (in any closet w/ shelves, seriously consider adding ONE MORE shelf) Then, you can decide what you want to put there. "Gumball Rally" is what I thought it was.And that's a great philosophy for lots of situations. Gloria, we're contemplating a move down the block, and my DH was saying "no need to pay movers except for the piano and the couch; we can just carry it down." Over my dead body! We've got 2 kids, and 4 people's worth of stuff. Last time we moved, I nearly killed one of his friends (who was helping us but wouldn't listen to me) out of frustration. I told DH then, we are never moving ourselves again. It is just TOO HARD. And, that same friend moved, w/ DH helping, and he packed some, moved some, etc. It's VERY inefficient. MUCH more efficient to pack everything, truck it over in ONE trip (get as big a truck as you need), and then unpack. I suppose 4 doors away doesn't require a truck, but it'll use a handcart, and major packing. I've really learned mylesson from watching those friends. Pack everything before you move ANYthing.

This is a little OT from the OP question but some things to consider nonetheless-- I didn't want to proceed without a Realtor for our side-- But in my case, it wasn't all about price- I am interested in a new construction home. The builder usually only builds custom homes but had an opportunity to develop a small subdivision of about 28 homes. I asked our realtor about them. He didn't know this particular builder but said there was some risk in this market (already happened with another builder) that the builder could go belly-up in the middle, leaving the development half finished or that they could run low on funds and start cheapening up the materials during the building process. He heard of another case in town (again, not this builder) where people lost their earnest money and their houses were left unfinished. The funds were not put into escrow but used to begin construction but buyers didn't know that going in. I've been (unoffically, usually online) looking for the right home for us for 2 years. When I walked into this model home I fell in love. The price was within our range but the home's look/feel/features were so much above and beyond what I had seen in this price range, so I was skeptical. I wanted the Realtor, who looks at homes day in and day out, to look-- to check the build quality, the surrounding neighborhood (older and not as upscale)to dig up information, and also his opinion on the pricing. Talking price is always uncomfortable for me. I don't want to insult anyone or come across as a cheapskate but I also don't want to overpay so I did ask my Realtor if there was room to move on the price, especially in this market and since I am clueless in the new construction process. He told us there might be a little wiggle room but that he and everyone else that goes into this home can't believe they aren't asking more. I believe they have priced it right to start with (compared to everything else I've seen) and although who wouldn't want to pay less, I think the price is fair. He was also able to check the sales in the developement. He confirmed what the builder told us which was all 5 spec homes they have built so far have sold except one (and builder told us they have a possible contract coming on it) and they have done about 4 pre-sales. The model has only been open for about 6 weeks. Their agent told ours that they got 3 new contracts last weekend. Some builders may be hurting and are giving away the farm to sell, but it is not the case for our builder. Another advantage this builder offers is free consulting with his wife, who is an Interior Designer on all your materials as well as paint colors and modifications (I just paid 75.00 per hour for this in our current home to pick new carpet & paint and other flooring for resale) Also, since they usually build custom, they allow for (and help design) modifications to the plan --we have a few we are already considering-- One is to turn a full sized closet in the laundry into a mudroom style bench with pull out drawers below and hooks for coats & keys and cubbies for gloves/hats etc. Most new construction homes wouldn't change a thing for us, beyond letting us pick the standard carpet etc... The Realtor also negotiated a 6 month contingency to allow us some time to sell our home, while this one is being constructed, and during that time, they can't sell the home from under us and I still get to pick all the colors etc. (I will have to prepay for those modifications upfront which I may not do if my home hasn't sold by that time. I still love the home as is~) I honestly don't have a clue how my Realtor is being compensated by the builder. Maybe they pad the price by a few K to cover it. But he has already handled many details in the contracts that I would not have thought of and I feel I have someone that knows what they are doing lookng out for my best interests in the transaction. We get along wonderfully (at least so far) with this builder but this is the biggest ticket item we will EVER buy, not having a a rep on our side for me would be like going to trial with out a Lawyer.