Persuading a sweet old lady to sell her house?

trooperdog

Hi,

I would be grateful for some advice. In a nutshell there is a house in poor condition in an area I'd love to live in (currently can't afford).

However the house is owned by an old lady who owns and lives next door aswell. She hasn't sold for years as she is scared of somebody developing the property into flats which is common in this area.
The house has been empty for years.

I wish to buy the house genuinely as a family home.

What would be the best way to approach this as I probably will only get on chance to make a good impression.

Any advice would be appreciated,

(before I get any negative comments I'm not into swindling old ladys, its just an opportunity to get a potentially beautiful property in a desirable area for my family).

Thanks,

TD

G_M

Legally it would be very simple to put a restictive covenant on the property so as to prohibit the new owner (you) converting/developing/etc the property either indefinately, or for a set number of years, or for some other quantifiable preiod.

How you approach the old lady and convince her of this is trickier!

Loopgames

Can you send a general enquiry through the letter box in the area? She might be suspicious if you only target hers.

Or alternatively can you throw an indirect qn to her about suitable family friendly homes available. Not sure if you know her or of her so more details please.

DVardysShadow

Loopgames wrote: »

Can you send a general enquiry through the letter box in the area? She might be suspicious if you only target hers.

A general enquiry distributed across the neighbourhood is probably more likely to raise her guard about developers

Loopgames

DVardysShadow wrote: »

A general enquiry distributed across the neighbourhood is probably more likely to raise her guard about developers

Doesn't it depend on the wording. If it is written from a family looking to move to the area with personal mobile why would it be seen as a developer?

If that is the case then a general enquiry face to face is best rather than a letter.

paddedjohn

Knock on her door an explain what you would like to do, and also explain the safeguards that she can build into the sale via a covenant stopping the property being turned into flats for say 30 or so.

seriousDFW

I would also have a lovely hand-written letter in case she won't talk to you or you want to give her what you say in writing for her to mull over or show friends/family. That way you can put in the best words what you would like, emphasising that you want to maintain the property as a family home.

vivatifosi

I'm not an old lady and I'm certainly not sweet, but just wanted to say that I sold my old house to someone who put a letter through my door. I'd been looking to sell, they wanted to buy and it meant no agency fees and no hassle of people traipsing round all the time. It has a lot of benefits and putting it in writing enables the would be seller to show the letter to her family and ask their opinion.

trooperdog

Thanks for the posts guys,

I'm inclined to just go and knock on her door. I don't know her have never approached her before and what I do know is from my wifes family who live in the area.

I also like the idea of the letter she can show her family, great idea

Thanks again everyone, I'll let you know how I get on!

Tigsteroonie

If you're going to knock on her door, perhaps have your family stood at the gate egging you on?

Mickygg

If someone knocked on my nans door asking about buying the property I would be annoyed. She is old and this would stress her out not understanding really what's going on.I would do a letter if you have to, face to face would be unfair to put someone in that position. My nana would probably say yes to sell just to get you off the front porch.