What do you do when you go see a home and the seller is there during your visit?
Plainly put? You can say three things to the seller: Hello, thank you, and goodbye. NOTHING ELSE! I learned something very valuable a number of years ago that I would like to share with you. You can COST yourself a lot of money by talking to the seller. I hate to say it, but it's true. The only time you should ever compliment a homeowner on their property during a showing, is if you are not interested in buying the property.
Go on and on about how nice the home is to the seller, and put in an offer? NOT A GOOD IDEA! Smart sellers will not negotiate as much, because they know they don't have to. We were all taught that it's very polite to give an honest compliment, and I believe you should in almost every instance, EXCEPT when you are buying your home. If you want to tell the seller how much you love their home AFTER we've negotiated, that's fine. It doesn't cost you any money at that point.
I always advise my buyer clients to not even ask questions of the seller during the showing. Tell me what you want to know, and I will ask. The fine art of obtaining basic information from a seller in a conversational way is best. So leave the questions to your real estate agent, (That's me!) and you very well may be saving yourself thousands of dollars!