As the real estate market swings away from sellers, buyers are in position to makes financially advantageous purchases. This is no more so the case than with builders.

For the last five years or so, people selling properties in the real estate market have made out like bandits. Demand was so high, they could ask what they wanted and often get it. Buyers were so worried about missing out on a property, they often rushed in and made any old purchase they could get.

Alas, the real estate tied has shifted in a rather big way. For the last year or so, the market has cooled dramatically. Property prices have been falling for the first time in a long time. On the finance front, interest rates have also moved north reducing the potential pool of buyers available to sellers. While all of this has made it difficult for individual sellers to move their properties, there is another group it is really hurting.

If you really want to maximize the leverage of your purchasing power, it is time to go visit new developments. Simply put, builders are having an incredibly difficult time these days. In the mad rush to build, build, build, the market has become saturated. In fact, recent surveys have revealed builders are expecting the next year to be a bad one when it comes to sales. You can see evidence of this if you know anyone that works for a developer. If they have not already lost their job, they definitely know of others who have.

As a buyer, the pain of the builder is your gain. Simply put, they really need to move properties so they can handle their financing. This means you have all the leverage. You can ask for free upgrades, modifications and so on. Depending on how slow things are in the particular development, you can expect to get the builder to agree to some or all of your requests.