The housing market constantly fluctuates, so when you are buying you need to work at controlling the only variables you can influence: the property you choose and the price you pay.

There are plenty of tried and tested tricks to ease open the wallets of purchasers. Negotiations begin far earlier than most people realise. It’s not exactly a level playing field: estate agents have the properties, know the values and are experienced deal-makers, and now they know all your information. And the more you pay for that house, the more they earn next month.

"So you’ve viewed a property you like. You’ve walked past at night, you’ve checked out the rest of the street, you’ve engineered a chat with a neighbour and you want to live there. You’re listening to your emotions but not letting them take over. You haven’t been seduced by the fixtures and fittings, and you’re happy the place offers all you need.

The big question in your mind is, “What’s it worth?” Remember that the asking price is exactly that: an asking price. It will have started life as something of a valuation and then had the vendor’s and agent’s hopes and dreams added onto it.

An important part of a building society surveyor’s work involves ringing round agents to find evidence of sale prices from comparable properties — try doing this yourself. Find out when they were sold and what condition they were in. To give a general sense of value, calculate the price per square foot for each.

Start asking questions. The more information you have, the more confident you can be. Standard questions to be put to both the agent and vendor are how long the property has been on the market and whether the owners have anything to move into. This can be followed up with why they are moving and what the feedback has been from other viewings (ie, why it hasn’t sold before?). If it’s a flat, how long is the lease and how is the building managed and maintained? Who’s the freeholder? Is there a service charge and what does it go towards? What fixtures and fittings are included in the sale? Have there been any offers? In other words, how can the asking price be substantiated?

Apply all this information back to the individual property and decide what you’d be happy to pay for it. Make your offer, but avoid playing your best card first. Anticipate having your first offer rejected — gauge the reaction. Will they make a counteroffer? Might anything be included in return for an increased bid?

It’s not just price that’s up for negotiation — what about exclusivity, timescales, fixtures and fittings? Work them all into the deal if you can.

Market forces dictate value, not surveyors, not square-foot calculations and not even comparable evidence. The amount you are willing to pay will be a reflection of what you can afford and how much you like, love or need that specific home.

Agents claim they’ll write to you confirming things but in ten years of purchasing properties for clients I’ve seen this done usefully on very few occasions. You need to do it as quickly as possible: your letter should be titled “Subject to contract and survey” and needs to outline everything relevant to the deal, because from this stage on you will be incurring costs.

Communication is key. You found the property, you want it to be your home, so you personally need to oversee and control the transaction. Nobody is legally obligated at this time; both buyer and seller can move the goalposts, change their mind or walk away. However, agents and vendors are less likely to let your purchase lose priority if you’re actively demonstrating how committed you are. Expectations need to be managed and momentum maintained. Keep the agent regularly informed. Don’t wait for them to call you and don’t rely on everything they tell you — because, remember, they are working for the vendor, not you.