Buyers are in a strong position in today's housing market, and the advice is to make aggressive lowball offers while sellers are stuck.

• Sellers are sitting on homes longer, so low offers are worth making even when they look insulting.
• The suggested tactic: pull up what nearby homes actually sold for in the past year, then bid well under that.
• Making many offers at once costs nothing — the worst answer is no, and some sellers say yes.
• The window may be short: once mortgage rates drop, buyers flood back in and the advantage disappears.

Outlook: Buyers keep the upper hand until rates fall and demand returns.