Posting letters through the doors on a street you would like to live?

Nerra

Has anyone done this? I once knew a chap who wanted to live in a specific street and he did something similar.

I've seen a street in which I would like to live and have been checking the relevant websites for a while now but nothing has come up.

Is there a good way in which to go about doing this? I've had a look at some websites which give typical values of the houses on the street and I'm confident they're in my price range but obviously this is very subjective.

What would you say in the letter without sounding too dodgy?

Incyder

You will be in a WEAK position to negotiate a price if you get a call, as you've already advertised desparation.

You may also get the run-around from cranks/fraudsters who don't even own the house.

No-one in their right mind would sell to a leaflet poster anyway as they will rightly consider they will get the maximum price by advertising it properly through an EA.

If you put on your leaflet that you will offer them 10% higher than its worth you may tempt someone into selling.

birkee

Our local estate agents do it!

Post a leaflet through the doors saying "I am looking for a house to buy in ******* Street / Road /Avenue. If you are thinking of moving in the near future, I would be very pleased if you might give me a call on (not sure about this.....only if you have a mobile number, don't give address) so that I might talk to you about it, with a view to possibly purchasing."

silvercar

No-one in their right mind would sell to a leaflet poster anyway as they will rightly consider they will get the maximum price by advertising it properly through an EA.

Wrong. We did. We had gone under offer through an EA by the first person on their books, so it never got marketed as such. Two months later the buyer pulled out and I contacted someone who had put a note through the door. They came, saw, liked and bought - at the same price so saving the EA fees.:)

giddypenguin

Someone did this to us, at the time our house was on market anyway, not sure if it worked for them... if someone was umming and ahhing about putting their house up for sale it may swing them...

27col

They have done it on "Location, Location, Location" I believe.
In fact, the knowledge that someone might be interested in buying your house, might just be enough to stir someone into action, who has not bothered to market their house because the market is flat at the moment.

hcb42

if someone did that to me i would be pleased, providing they have a reasonable price expectation in mind

hethmar

Someone did this to us last year (I think the ones you get from Estate Agents every few months can be discounted!). It was a pleasant note saying the family wanted to live in our road and hoped we didnt mind them putting through the note. We never contacted them as we didnt want to sell but if I had been thinking about it I would certainly have rung them as they were obviously keen.

Nerra

Thanks for the replies people, I'm not out to try and con anyone and I'm perfectly aware that it doesn't put me in a strong bargaining position but I'm happy to pay what the house is worth within reason.

I agree with the above that if someone was thinking of moving or upgrading but had been put off by going through the stress of marketing the house in the current economic climate then this just might be perfect for them.

birkee

There will always be some, that try and milk a situation......Just don't deal with them!

A house by us went up at silly money, two or three years ago, but didn't sell..... The owners are still living there now!
They were just trying to see if anyone would be daft enough, to let them make a quick buck, they didn't REALLY want to move.