Pleading with sellers (by sending them a video of your poor children)

Graham_Devon

Sound bizzare? Yer - I thought so too.

But apparently, buyers are proactively encouraged to write letters and even send videos of their children pleading with the seller to allow them to buy their house. The idea is to pull on the heartstrings of the homeowner who shall then dictate your childs faith!

This, of course, is in the US!

The competitive housing market has left buyers frustrated, even resorting to writing letters to sellers or sending them videos featuring their children in order to plead their case.

Most estate agents or real estate brokers in Denver actively encourage buyers to do this, to make their offer stand out and pull at sellers' heartstrings.

Much has been made of the recent signs of recovery in the US housing market, with prices rising and housing-starts at a five-year high.

Can you imagine some of the faces on this forum if, as a seller, they could have their buyers kneel in front of them and plead their case

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22863415

wotsthat

Graham_Devon wrote: »

This, of course, is in the US!

Can you imagine some of the faces on this forum if, as a seller, they could have their buyers kneel in front of them and plead their case

How can this be?

I thought houses were as cheap as chips there because they don't have all the 'props' - surely it's the sellers doing the begging?

Oh hang on...

The S&P/Case-Shiller home price index was up 12.1% in April, compared to a year ago, in the 20 top real estate markets across the nation. That was the biggest annual jump in prices in seven years. Prices climbed 2.5% from March, posting the biggest one-month rise in the 12-year history of the index.

New homes sold at an annual pace of 476,000 in May, according to a separate government report. That's the best reading since July 2008, just before the global financial meltdown slashed homebuyers' access to credit. The pace of sales was up 2.1% from April, and up 29% from a year ago.

I thought we'd all live happily ever after if only house prices would fall.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/25/news/economy/housing-recovery/index.html?iid=HP_LN

Carl31

surely that would have the opposite affect? knowing people are desperate means you can increase the price as they will have to pay it

Or is that the idea? EA's stealth manouvere to increase their comission

the_flying_pig

i had something like this once, as a buyer.

it was a probate house, being sold by the deceased occupant's daughter, who said that she wanted the house to go to someone local, definitely not a developer, flipper, landlord, etc.

i sent her a letter [no video diaries required, thankfully] stating how much we were willing to pay & then fairly honestly saying that we had a young family, had lived in the area for a long time, would continue to do so, would send our kids to the school that was just across the road, & so on.

the feedback that came back from the EA was that the seller liked us very much but only enough to sell to us if we upped our offer by about another £30k or something. they didn't hear back from us.

paddyrg

How un-British! I could see that going down awfully poorly here, no matter what the state of the market.

Mr._Pricklepants

If a female buyer sends me a saucy video, I'd consider it. But I'm not interested in pleading kids, sorry.

Graham_Devon

Mr._Pricklepants wrote: »

If a female buyer sends me a saucy video, I'd consider it. But I'm not interested in pleading kids, sorry.

You'd just better hope your house was desirable not just to the older downsizer generations

Could be quite disturbing....

Percy1983

Our neighbour told us the previous owner came to visit and mentioned he wanted the house back, we told him if he mentions it again he can have it back for £200k :rotfl:

GhIFA

Whilst not to going to the lengths demonstrated in the original story, I think it occurs over here to a certain degree.

I know when we bought our present house, one of the reasons the EA gave us as to why the vendor had accepted our offer (which was quite a way below the asking price, which itself had already been reduced somewhat) was because they had seen our daughter (then about 2) playing in the garden when we were viewing and liked the thought of selling to a young family that would grow up in it.

Added to that, a family member recently put their house on the market - they had 5 viewings on the first night and all 5 made offers at the asking price - they also went for a young family because having brought their family up in the house they liked the idea of another family doing the same.

Now whilst I accept that's all anecdotal, does show that there can be some "heartstring tugging" that goes on here in the UK as well!

wotsthat

I know someone that refused a low offer on their house in favour of an even lower offer because they didn't like the attitude of the first potential buyer.

I made an offer on a holiday place in Cornwall way below asking and somewhat under market value. The offer was so low that I apologised for making it, explained I really liked the place and could see us being very happy there but couldn't go any higher. The offer was (politely) refused so I explained again that we were serious buyers and if the vendor had a change of heart to let us know. Six weeks later we got the call to see if we were still interested.

I'd love to have seen the neighbour's faces when they found out what I paid.

Doesn't hurt to be nice as a buyer or seller but most people are like that anyway I find.