PP here. On second thought, I think it is lame and in this day and age, if someone wants the house, it is spoken for before the realtor sign is on the front lawn.

The letter strategy worked for a friend and they had to be persistent. this was during the boom.
They already lived in the neighborhood in a smaller house. they weren't pushy. An elderly lady was living in the house they were keen on and was not able to keep it up. Once a year they would leave a note saying something like if you plan to sell, we hope you would consider an offer. She was not offended and after a few years she sold it to them.

I write about real estate and would love to do something about such letters.

If you've received one recently or are sending them and don 't mind chatting about it, you can reach me at shina AT washpost DOT com

Thanks!

I got one just as my house went on the market last year. Didn't bother me at all and made sure my realtor got him in to see the house.

Anonymous wrote:It might work. But if you use this approach, and have really settled on an area you love, you should expect to be paying an above-market price, right?

Market price is, by definition, what a willing buyer and seller are agree to. Despite what the appraisers say, there's no such thing as paying "above market." The market is being set with every single transaction.

We got a letter for our townhouse (in Spring 2008, before the crash) which was a very unique unit in a desireable neighborhood. The letter was specific to the model of home that we had, and our specific cul-de-sac. We had been toying with the idea of putting our house on the market, and that did it for us - the idea that we could sell the house without much effort and without a realtor commission on our end (so that we could then ask for a higher price since they didn't have to pay that in closing costs) seemed great. We got a very strong offer, worked with a RE attorney on the contract and went under contract. Unfortunately, the prospective buyers ultimately couldn't sell their original condo, so the sale of our townhouse fell through, but we would have done it. It did get us jazzed about the idea of moving and, having done ome major decluttering before showing the house to those people, we were on the way and motivated to make it work. We ended up finding a realtor and selling our home two months after the other contract fell through. Unforutnately for about $20k less, but by then the market was starting to tumble.

Anonymous wrote:I bet if I wrote you a letter, stating I LOVE your house, and would pay you $2mm for it, you would strongly consider it.

I would look for the Nigerian return address. Why would I ever entertain an offer from some stranger who's blanketing the neighborhood with junk mail?

10:38 - what if your house is worth $2m+? Why would anyone leave for market price or below? If it was a sh*t shack in a knock down neighborhood, then you would be foolish NOT to!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We get form letters from realtors like that 1-2x per year. Just goes in the trash but doesn't bother me.

+1. just got one last week. I was actually happy to see that our neighborhood is hot to the point that buyers are looking for houses not yet on the markets. we are not planning to sell, so it just landed in the trash. but I we were, or of we knew of any neighboor planning to sell, I would have contact the writer or pass the letter along. definitely not tacky or anything (it would be different if we received phone calls or people showing up at the door, that wuold be a no-no)

+2. I actually really get a kick out of these letters. So nice not be underwater!

I live in Pimmit Hills, and the neighborhood is full of teardown-potential little houses in big lots. People who live in them are either older folks, or absentee owners looking for the right buyer. We get letters offering to buy our house regularly but they are mass form letters from builders, so into the trash they go.

I bet if I wrote you a letter, stating I LOVE your house, and would pay you $2mm for it, you would strongly consider it.

We have an entire folder of letters from people who wrote (usually their realtor wrote it) expressing interest in our home. We keep it for fun, but no letter would make us move. If anything, we would keep it and rent it out to annoy the neighbors

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have mass mailing in our neighborhood.

One wrote a very personal letter about our home and included a picture of their baby. We were flattered until we found out that every.single.home. In our neighborhood got the same exact letter. It was a joke at dinner parties.

We get so many letters from realtors too--contact them if we want to sell, etc. they go straight to recycling.

If there is a home you love and it is truly about THAT home--go for it.. It worked for my friend in Arizona.

People also advertise "looking for a home" in our community newsletter, btw. It's no wonder there is never a house on the market here.

+1

We got one yesterday from a realtor. We'd actually been contemplating a move so we didn't trash it right away. I think for someone who is thinking of moving but doesn't want the hassle of putting the house on the market and showing it, this could be a win-win.

Anonymous wrote:We have mass mailing in our neighborhood.

One wrote a very personal letter about our home and included a picture of their baby. We were flattered until we found out that every.single.home. In our neighborhood got the same exact letter. It was a joke at dinner parties.

We get so many letters from realtors too--contact them if we want to sell, etc. they go straight to recycling.

If there is a home you love and it is truly about THAT home--go for it.. It worked for my friend in Arizona.

People also advertise "looking for a home" in our community newsletter, btw. It's no wonder there is never a house on the market here.

We have mass mailing in our neighborhood.

One wrote a very personal letter about our home and included a picture of their baby. We were flattered until we found out that every.single.home. In our neighborhood got the same exact letter. It was a joke at dinner parties.

We get so many letters from realtors too--contact them if we want to sell, etc. they go straight to recycling.

If there is a home you love and it is truly about THAT home--go for it.. It worked for my friend in Arizona.