Writing a letter to prospective sellers aka, "are you selling your house soon?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's like hovering over a table at a restaurant waiting for the other couple to finish their meal. Just rude.

+1

If I received such a letter, it would make me want to sell my house to anyone BUT you.

[Anonymous]

I've received one and nearly went ahead with a sale. Buyers/ letter senders had a big life change and things didn't go through.

I didn't think the letter was rude at all. The prospective buyer was both apologetic about wanting to buy and very complementary about the house.

Finally: money is green. A private sale saves both parties lots of costs. It makes more sense for non-standard properties, but to everyone pinching their pennies, just think of what standard costs are on selling a $1M home.

[Anonymous]

Look at the responses you've gotten here: 70% would be irritated or offended, 30% would be unoffended but trash the letter. Even if you don't understand why it would bother people, you should recognize it won't help you in your house hunt. Post something in the neighborhood listserves (try to get someone who lives there to post it for you), but recognize that you're only this desperate because what you want in this neighborhood seems unlikely to materialize. You're hoping for a miracle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've received one and nearly went ahead with a sale. Buyers/ letter senders had a big life change and things didn't go through.

I didn't think the letter was rude at all. The prospective buyer was both apologetic about wanting to buy and very complementary about the house.

Finally: money is green. A private sale saves both parties lots of costs. It makes more sense for non-standard properties, but to everyone pinching their pennies, just think of what standard costs are on selling a $1M home.

Exactly. Don't listen to these people OP. There is no reason why you should not exercise all available options to you to try and buy the house that you want. The worst that could happen is that they say no. Stay positive.

[Anonymous]

I'd rather my house go on the market to the top bidder.

[Anonymous]

OP--what you are suggesting is how we found our current house so I will be the voice of dissent and say that it can be a successful tactic. We were able to see two houses before anyone else, really liked the one house and put an offer in immediately. No worries about competition, escalation, etc. And the owners, who were in the 80s, didn't have to worry about prepping the house for open house, finding a realtor, etc. It worked out great for both of us but it was definitely a stroke of luck--we happened to be looking at the same time they were starting to start the process of selling so the stars aligned. Not sure how common it is that those types of letters actually work but for us, it was perfect timing.

I would definitely let your realtor send the letters--that's why you pay them. Ours sent to homes where the owners have been there 10 years or more within xx miles from the elementary school (which we wanted to make sure was walkable). Realtors have access to that kind of info.

[Anonymous]

I recently received one of these letters. We are considering it. I actually really want to move to another city, but we've only been in the house a year and transaction / realtor costs are so high we didn't think we could afford to move so soon. Not sure what will happen yet, but we are considering it.

[Anonymous]

I posted here recently that I get annoyed when realtors ask if I'm selling (because I live in what DCUM would call a teardown shitshack in an in-demand area).

Assuming anyone falls in love with my $800K house in a neighborhood of $1.4Ms, I would be much more open to a prospective homebuyer sending a personal letter with reasons why they love my house. Or my land, if you want to know the truth! I would toss out a generic "Are you thinking of selling? Let us know!" letter but would give careful consideration to, "We've been in the market for a classic Cape like yours."

[Anonymous]

These responses are so interesting. I don't know that we need a miracle, just good timing. People do downsize, and some in the neighborhoods already have (there are a number of homes we'd love but were sold within the last 15 years, and we wouldn't send letters to them).

We're looking at 4-5 bedrooms homes, and many people don't want those once their kids are in their 20's/30's.

I hear you guys on the list serve suggestion. My only concern is that more than 50% of the homes are smaller than we want. I'd hate to offend anyone who contacted us.

Also, these areas are desirable to me, but they aren't "super hot". We're not looking in Chevy Chase or Old Town or anything. It's a family-friendly area outside of the beltway. I happen to like these neighborhoods because of the elementary school/walkable to an upscale (relatively speaking) shopping center combination. Target price is $800-900K. Many of these homes will go for $650K because they are so much smaller, and we are flat out not interested (would never want to say that to a potential neighbor!).

I'm not ignoring all those who are super, super offended. I just don't want to miss out on a dream home because they waited until June to put in on the market and we really wanted to make a decision before that. Because of our kids' ages, we want to get them settled before the next school year starts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I posted here recently that I get annoyed when realtors ask if I'm selling (because I live in what DCUM would call a teardown shitshack in an in-demand area).

Assuming anyone falls in love with my $800K house in a neighborhood of $1.4Ms, I would be much more open to a prospective homebuyer sending a personal letter with reasons why they love my house. Or my land, if you want to know the truth! I would toss out a generic "Are you thinking of selling? Let us know!" letter but would give careful consideration to, "We've been in the market for a classic Cape like yours."

Ah, got it. We're looking for a large colonial in a family neighborhood with many more modest homes mixed in. I totally get what you are saying - if someone kept bugging me to sell my older home so they could McMansion it, I would be annoyed, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These responses are so interesting. I don't know that we need a miracle, just good timing. People do downsize, and some in the neighborhoods already have (there are a number of homes we'd love but were sold within the last 15 years, and we wouldn't send letters to them).

We're looking at 4-5 bedrooms homes, and many people don't want those once their kids are in their 20's/30's.

I hear you guys on the list serve suggestion. My only concern is that more than 50% of the homes are smaller than we want. I'd hate to offend anyone who contacted us.

Also, these areas are desirable to me, but they aren't "super hot". We're not looking in Chevy Chase or Old Town or anything. It's a family-friendly area outside of the beltway. I happen to like these neighborhoods because of the elementary school/walkable to an upscale (relatively speaking) shopping center combination. Target price is $800-900K. Many of these homes will go for $650K because they are so much smaller, and we are flat out not interested (would never want to say that to a potential neighbor!).

I'm not ignoring all those who are super, super offended. I just don't want to miss out on a dream home because they waited until June to put in on the market and we really wanted to make a decision before that. Because of our kids' ages, we want to get them settled before the next school year starts.

You can just post your minimum number of bedrooms and baths in your listserve post. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These responses are so interesting. I don't know that we need a miracle, just good timing. People do downsize, and some in the neighborhoods already have (there are a number of homes we'd love but were sold within the last 15 years, and we wouldn't send letters to them).

We're looking at 4-5 bedrooms homes, and many people don't want those once their kids are in their 20's/30's.

I hear you guys on the list serve suggestion. My only concern is that more than 50% of the homes are smaller than we want. I'd hate to offend anyone who contacted us.

Also, these areas are desirable to me, but they aren't "super hot". We're not looking in Chevy Chase or Old Town or anything. It's a family-friendly area outside of the beltway. I happen to like these neighborhoods because of the elementary school/walkable to an upscale (relatively speaking) shopping center combination. Target price is $800-900K. Many of these homes will go for $650K because they are so much smaller, and we are flat out not interested (would never want to say that to a potential neighbor!).

I'm not ignoring all those who are super, super offended. I just don't want to miss out on a dream home because they waited until June to put in on the market and we really wanted to make a decision before that. Because of our kids' ages, we want to get them settled before the next school year starts.

Just be specific:

"We're a young family looking for a house with at least 2500 square feet, 4+ bedrooms and a fairly new kitchen" or whatever.

[Anonymous]

I think you are hearing naysayers from the burbs, where I guess this isn't as common. In desirable neighborhoods in DC, we get at least one of those letters a quarter. As a PP said, I find it flattering, show it to my husband, and then it immediately goes into recycling because we're not planning on moving. I don't actually think there is an harm in it if it's a neighborhood norm. That said, I pay slightly more attention to letters from the known handful of realtors who handle much of the traffic in our neighborhood. Random realtor who is sending a bad form letter is less interesting and seems scam-like. Along those lines, I'd definitely only use a realtor who specialized in the particular neighborhood. They are the ones who know the scuttlebutt and who might be moving and who is aging and who was tempted last year but didn't sell but might be ready this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you are hearing naysayers from the burbs, where I guess this isn't as common. In desirable neighborhoods in DC, we get at least one of those letters a quarter. As a PP said, I find it flattering, show it to my husband, and then it immediately goes into recycling because we're not planning on moving. I don't actually think there is an harm in it if it's a neighborhood norm. That said, I pay slightly more attention to letters from the known handful of realtors who handle much of the traffic in our neighborhood. Random realtor who is sending a bad form letter is less interesting and seems scam-like. Along those lines, I'd definitely only use a realtor who specialized in the particular neighborhood. They are the ones who know the scuttlebutt and who might be moving and who is aging and who was tempted last year but didn't sell but might be ready this year.

I'm 13:41 and I live in the suburbs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think you are hearing naysayers from the burbs, where I guess this isn't as common. In desirable neighborhoods in DC, we get at least one of those letters a quarter. As a PP said, I find it flattering, show it to my husband, and then it immediately goes into recycling because we're not planning on moving. I don't actually think there is an harm in it if it's a neighborhood norm. That said, I pay slightly more attention to letters from the known handful of realtors who handle much of the traffic in our neighborhood. Random realtor who is sending a bad form letter is less interesting and seems scam-like. Along those lines, I'd definitely only use a realtor who specialized in the particular neighborhood. They are the ones who know the scuttlebutt and who might be moving and who is aging and who was tempted last year but didn't sell but might be ready this year.

I'm 13:41 and I live in the suburbs.

13:41, how many letters did your realtor send?