I talked about a psychological pressure strategy a while ago. First don't let the seller know that you are very interested, act as if it's not a must-have for you. Then give her a low ball offer, say 365K or 370K, along with the offer, attach a personal check of 10% deposit: 36.5K. Tell them this is the best you can offer, take it or leave it. After looking at the deposit check, I bet the seller, already under stress of quickly selling this house and forecloser coming, they make accept you low-ball offer. Don't worry about the personal check. If they cash it, from legal point of view, they automatically accepted your offer, so you don't have risk. If they don't accept it, they can't deposit the check. You are safe either way. This is a psychological strategy to FORCE a desparate seller to accept your low-ball offer. It often worked, although not always. But you have to be firm on your lowball price. It's a psychological struggle, if you are less firm, you lose power...