sending a letter to the owner of a home not for sale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP how much over appraisal are you willing to pay?

+1. Some rich guy in Potomac offered a million dollars over valuation to buy up some houses in order to tear them down.

really hate people like that

why? They are making the area much better, that old stuff should have been torn down in the 90s. Don't stop progress.

Because people who live in them may have very happy families and memories there. In fact, if this is in potomac, there's still a huge baby boomer generation there where lots of them are now grandparents and not ready to give up their home yet. How can you be so heartless to just say it's old stuff and should be torn down in the 90s?

AHH the asshole boomers at it again, please hurry up and leave the area you are ruining the world

Troll much?

I'm far from the baby boomer generation, I just have more heart than you do.

They have their houses paid for, they may have families back for the holidays and they have built their community and friends in their quaint neighborhood. Why the hell should they have to move and how the heck are they "ruining the world" ?

Are you a house flipper or developer who just uses cheap materials to turn a quick buck so you want to raze the "old homes" and build up McMansions that in less than 5 years goes into foreclosures or better yet sit on the market for over 145 days on the open market because it won't sell at the ridiculously inflated price tag you have slapped on it for a "profit" ?

Look I don't come to your job and knock the squegee out of your hand. Point is you havent' a DAMN clue of the quality of homes being put up today. Even the cheapest mcmansions (as you call them) are better built because of much more stringent building codes.

Anyways have fun in yer old shit shack

[Anonymous]

I have definitely heard of this working in other areas - not always right away, but sometimes things just work out.

I used to live in a very hot area of DC in an especially desirable location and we got these letters at least 2-3x/month. They always went straight into the trash. When we did sell, it was with a realtor because we knew we'd get multiple offers and a bidding war.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP how much over appraisal are you willing to pay?

+1. Some rich guy in Potomac offered a million dollars over valuation to buy up some houses in order to tear them down.

really hate people like that

why? They are making the area much better, that old stuff should have been torn down in the 90s. Don't stop progress.

Because people who live in them may have very happy families and memories there. In fact, if this is in potomac, there's still a huge baby boomer generation there where lots of them are now grandparents and not ready to give up their home yet. How can you be so heartless to just say it's old stuff and should be torn down in the 90s?

AHH the asshole boomers at it again, please hurry up and leave the area you are ruining the world

Troll much?

I'm far from the baby boomer generation, I just have more heart than you do.

They have their houses paid for, they may have families back for the holidays and they have built their community and friends in their quaint neighborhood. Why the hell should they have to move and how the heck are they "ruining the world" ?

Are you a house flipper or developer who just uses cheap materials to turn a quick buck so you want to raze the "old homes" and build up McMansions that in less than 5 years goes into foreclosures or better yet sit on the market for over 145 days on the open market because it won't sell at the ridiculously inflated price tag you have slapped on it for a "profit" ?

They don't have to move - all they have to do is say "thank you, we are not interested in selling." No one can make you move if you don't want to.

But if you do sell, you lose every right to tell people what to do with the property that is now THEIRS.

[Anonymous]

haven't read the replies but if you are looking in 22182 go ahead and send it. You may have our house in mind, and we would definitely bite, since we are building a house that will be ready in March and not looking fwd to listing and showing. It woudl save us that plus the seller fees....But we are planning on selling anyway. Letter mayget ignored by all of our neighbors who love the neighborhool.

We have rentals in NC and people look at the tax records and when they see the owners live out of state they send these letters all of the time. Sometimes I am intriqued but DH always throws them away because he says anyone who does that prob doesn't want to pay market anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP how much over appraisal are you willing to pay?

+1. Some rich guy in Potomac offered a million dollars over valuation to buy up some houses in order to tear them down.

really hate people like that

Well, if someone wanted to pay me $2.5M for my $1.5M home, I would sell it.

BINGO!!!! Same here...if someone, ANYONE, wants to offer to buy my house at a premium waaaay above mkt value, I would consider it. If it was carzy-high enough, I would sell. Why not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP how much over appraisal are you willing to pay?

+1. Some rich guy in Potomac offered a million dollars over valuation to buy up some houses in order to tear them down.

really hate people like that

why? They are making the area much better, that old stuff should have been torn down in the 90s. Don't stop progress.

Because people who live in them may have very happy families and memories there. In fact, if this is in potomac, there's still a huge baby boomer generation there where lots of them are now grandparents and not ready to give up their home yet. How can you be so heartless to just say it's old stuff and should be torn down in the 90s?

Let me explain: because, if they BUY the property, then they OWN the property. And they can do whatever they please, withing zoning laws, etc. Heartless is a consideration only for losers in real estate. Stop being so PC - it is a transaction involving two parties. Neither will enter into the deal if they feel it isn't fair, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP how much over appraisal are you willing to pay?

+1. Some rich guy in Potomac offered a million dollars over valuation to buy up some houses in order to tear them down.

really hate people like that

why? They are making the area much better, that old stuff should have been torn down in the 90s. Don't stop progress.

Because people who live in them may have very happy families and memories there. In fact, if this is in potomac, there's still a huge baby boomer generation there where lots of them are now grandparents and not ready to give up their home yet. How can you be so heartless to just say it's old stuff and should be torn down in the 90s?

AHH the asshole boomers at it again, please hurry up and leave the area you are ruining the world

Troll much?

I'm far from the baby boomer generation, I just have more heart than you do.

They have their houses paid for, they may have families back for the holidays and they have built their community and friends in their quaint neighborhood. Why the hell should they have to move and how the heck are they "ruining the world" ?

Are you a house flipper or developer who just uses cheap materials to turn a quick buck so you want to raze the "old homes" and build up McMansions that in less than 5 years goes into foreclosures or better yet sit on the market for over 145 days on the open market because it won't sell at the ridiculously inflated price tag you have slapped on it for a "profit" ?

First off, no one, repeat, no one is forced out of their houses if they own them. Show me one example.
Next: you apparently know nothing about business and real estate. Would you move if you learned, that 200 years ago, 3 native Americans were raped and killed, on the exact spot where your house sits? OF COURSE NOT!
So, if someone wants to buy your house at an agreed to price, would you back out of the transaction if they had a desire to knock down the house? Cause if you did, you were and are nuts. And, if they did the above, and, the house was on the markets, for days, weeks or months, so what?!?!?! The buyer assumed those risks. Not you. That is called commerce.

[Steve]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure why everyone feels like this is so offensive. We did not use this tactic but we bought privately and it was so easy and saved everyone time and money. We sold through the open market and it was the biggest pain in the ass. Having to purge and stage and keep your house pristine while people come through and comment about every little thing and then deal with offensive low ball offers and then once you have an offer, haggle over the inspection while dealing with realtors. I would have gladly lowered my price by 5% if someone had just offered to buy my house from me without any of that hassle. If you are not in the market, throw the letter away.

You would have to enlighten me on how to do about buying a home through private channels. We are house hunting and haven't had any luck with the properties on the market right now. We're waiting until spring to do anymore open houses. We know where we want to be, but haven't fallen in love with any specific neighborhood. We know more about where we don't want to be. If you have suggestions for buying privately, I'm all ears.

Usually it's through word-of-mouth: friends, neighbors, neighborhood listservs. You could use agent tactics like casing neighborhoods and seeing which houses are in disrepair or seem to have some renovations going on. Or you could use a website where homeowners can find you...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It feels offensive because it feels like I'm being stalked. It feels like you walked up and looked through my windows when I wasn't home. I have to say that the letter idea feels significantly more intrusive than just the realtor saying they have a client interested in buying in my neighborhood. That's a more general message that is sent out to all homes fitting a certain real estate wish list (X rooms, Y bathrooms, Z sq ft, etc). Whereas a personal letter from a potential buyer family sounds like they've cased my house.

I would throw it away, but frankly, I would never respond to that and I frankly, I'd be going a lot of research into the name on the letter to try and figure out who this was and see if I found you hanging around the neighborhood.

Paranoid much? You live in the public realme.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:has this ever worked for anyone?

Has anyone themselves ever sent a (presumably hand written) note and had it work?

something like,
"hi, we're a family of 5 looking for a house like yours. Pls contact us if you have any thoughts of selling".

For what it's worth, this is not in an especially hot market (not DC). Things sell but take 30-60 days to do so.

thx

stalker

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't ever send me that kind of letter if my house is not on sale.

What's your address (so we can be sure we don't)?

[Anonymous]

I get 2 or 3 such letters a month. I live near Eastern Market.

[Anonymous]

If you sent me that letter, be prepared to pay quite a bit over market value.

[Anonymous]

Don't do it. We get them all the time, and save them in a folder. The letters are annoying after a while.

[Anonymous]

I have trashed such letters in the past, because I don't intend to move.

The reason people may take offense is that such letters are often sent by unscrupulous developers and they usually target older and smaller homes in desirable neighborhoods, with the presumption that the (possibly elderly) owner may need the money and may accept a lower price.

So don't be surprised if you receive 0 response.