After working with banks all these years, I have learned one important thing about them. Banks are most approachable and helpful when they want you to borrow from them, not when they want you to pay them back. In other words, they lend you the most when you need them the least. So my advice when talking to banks about housing loans is: Always negotiate down to the last dollar. Donald Trump has this to say about mortgages in his book Trump: Think Like a Billionaire: “Never accept a first offer, and always ask for better terms. Negotiate or be eaten alive! If you receive a better deal from lender A, always go back to lender B and see if they can match it … Mortgages are designed to be haggled over, and not to do so is the equivalent of burning money in the street.” Don’t feel bad. ......