Should I Leave Room for Negotiation in my Asking Price?

The answer to the above question is a definite NO! The longer, more reasoned answer follows.
Leaving room for negotiation in your list price is flawed thinking for at least two significant reasons. First of all you are inviting a low ball offer. The buying Realtor will be able to determine that the price is above market value by preparing a Current Mark Analysis. (CMA). He will likely recommend a less than market offer. This leaves the seller behind from the very beginning of the negotiation. Secondly experience tells most Realtors that properties priced at market value are the first to sell. Often a market valued home will receive more than one offer and likely within hours or after only a few days. Often the seller will even receive a higher selling price than the asking price as a consequence of the competing offers.
Home Owners using the principle of high asking prices will find few; if not no calls for showing and at the very lowest offer. Homes remaining on the market for many weeks or months will lead to buyers thinking that there is something wrong with the home, again inviting low ball offers.