Approaching home owners directly offering to buy - has anyone done this successfully

JimmyTheWig

SpongeBobHexagonPants wrote: »

We'll clearly need to strike the right note with the wording though.

I'd say be as honest as you can.

busybird

steve1980 wrote: »

If your home has been on the market for a year then 9 times out of 10 it's on the market at the wrong price. Why not start a new thread or PM the details that are on Rightmove. I used to do all the Rightmove listing for the company I worked for and even it was a wreck you'd think it was a palace!

Unfortunately - although perhaps not the right word - more unluckily in the current climate, ours is an equestrian property with land and we are seriously downsizing as we only have two of us here now plus my daughter's horse and want rid of our mortgage at long last. It is been valued by three separate agents and we are negotiable on price and it has been suggested that we market independently. I will pm you the Rightmove info - if I can find out how to do it, and yes, I will start a new thread to see if anyone has any experience of selling this way. Thanks

tabby_cats_mum

Well worth doing, my friends did it and got their dream house as they struck it lucky with someone thinking of moving. The 2 parties looked at house sales in similar houses and came to an agreement. As there was no estate agent involved the sellers were happy to knock money off what they would have asked. People are always debating moving and something like that might give someone the incentive to sell up. Good luck.

BungleGirl

My parents sold their house to someone who put a really nice letter through the letterbox saying that they really liked the house and asking them to contact her if they were ever thinking of moving. So it can work.

MrRee_2

I tried this about 3 years ago on the South Coast.

Posted about 100 leaflets through doors in a road/roads we liked.

Nothing came of it, it can come across as a possible scam.

I put an e-mail address only on ... didn't want nutters ringing me.

But, it didn't work at all for us.

That said, I was thinking of doing the same again.

If you can target a house where the ex-owner is now deceased, the 'family' may take you up and investigate the suggestion ..... don't they have to prove 'Best Price' of som,ething?

DominicJ_2

I put an e-mail address only on ... didn't want nutters ringing me.

But, it didn't work at all for us.

Cant think why.....

suburbanwifey

SpongeBobHexagonPants wrote: »

We are in a position to move, no chain, completely genuine cash buyers but can't find what we are looking for on the market in our area.

We've been looking for about a year and have been messed around badly for various reasons. Three times we have been let down through no fault of our own.

Is it worth approaching home owners directly offering to buy? It would be nothing more than a leaflet through the door.

We're torn between feeling it's cheeky (it probably is) and nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Has anyone tried this with any success?

I'd go for it! Good idea if you ask me, not everyone who thinks of selling is actually listed as for sale, but make your offer realistic to have any hope of someone biting the cherry you offer.

bobthedambuilder

We sold our last house to a buyer who just knocked on the door. He had been looking at a house down the road which was up for sale, but that had already been sold. Our neighbours knew that we were thinking of selling, but hadn't yet put the house on the market, so suggested the guy come along and see for himself what the position was.

We fairly quickly agreed on a price (which was pretty well the asking price of the house along the street which he'd missed), agreed on a completion date (which allowed us to close the deal on a property we'd been looking at to do up), and all went through without a hitch. And we saved around £3K of estate agent fees in the bargain.

steve1980

bobthedambuilder wrote: »

We sold our last house to a buyer who just knocked on the door. He had been looking at a house down the road which was up for sale, but that had already been sold. Our neighbours knew that we were thinking of selling, but hadn't yet put the house on the market, so suggested the guy come along and see for himself what the position was.

We fairly quickly agreed on a price (which was pretty well the asking price of the house along the street which he'd missed), agreed on a completion date (which allowed us to close the deal on a property we'd been looking at to do up), and all went through without a hitch. And we saved around £3K of estate agent fees in the bargain.

But isn't this just luck of the draw? Your neighbour introduced them to your property, they didn't just turn up and knock on your door did they?

botchjob

MrRee wrote: »

If you can target a house where the ex-owner is now deceased, the 'family' may take you up and investigate the suggestion ..... don't they have to prove 'Best Price' of som,ething?

Well, I’ve heard of ambulance chasing but this approach takes it one (very grimy) stage further. Hearse chasing! It does remind me though of something I read saying that ‘some’ developers and speculators keep their eyes on Death Notices in local papers and, through info gleaned as well as their contacts, will track down home addresses in order to make a direct approach at a time of opportunity (not to mention vunerability).

Shooting’s too good for them!