After years of soaring real-estate prices -- not to mention periodic bidding wars for third-rate properties -- inventories of homes for sale are rising in many parts of the country. As a result, some buyers are regaining long-lost bargaining power.

That gives buyers in many markets more room than they have had in years to push sellers to sweeten the pot. Buyers are asking for, and often getting, concessions ranging from help in paying their closing costs to money for repairs or redecorating.

And sellers in many markets -- including once-hot areas like Phoenix, San Diego and Boston -- are finding that they can no longer just slap a price on their home and expect it to move quickly. Increasingly, they are being advised to set more realistic pricing expectations and to spruce up their property with fresh paint or some new plantings out front to stand out from the crowd.

In Rhode Island, where active listings are up 43% from a year earlier, some agents are going even further .......

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