Letter to potential homeowner sellers

nekro

I am looking to contact homeowners directly with a letter of interest in their property.
Does anyone have any comments about the content of the letter I've drafted below?


Dear Homeowner,

I am very keen to buy a 2 bedroom flat in xxxxxx for myself. I am a private buyer, not an estate agent and have been living in xxxxxx for the past 7 years. Despite being registered with several estate agents in the area I have not yet been able to purchase a property.

As I have contacted you directly you would avoid paying estate agent’s fees.

If you are considering selling your house then please contact me either by phone or e-mail. Feel free to send as little or as much detail as you like and if your flat is right for me I will be in contact ASAP to discuss it further.

I have my finances in place, have no existing property to sell and could therefore proceed with buying a property immediately.

Best regards,

AnnieO1234

I will be very honest and say that if this came through my door I would think con, con, con.

If however you target the letter to each property, along the lines of I've been in your block, or even your flat at some point in the past have looked at agents etc and if you are looking to sell in the future I would be love for you to contact me.

I also wouldn't put anything about estate agents fees because again this makes you sound more like these house buying companies.

Xx

dimbo61

Worth a try and make sure you give a mobile or email address so they can contact you

nekro

Agreed, I can understand why some people might think it was some sort of scam after re-reding it.

How can I make it sound more honest? Should I include more personal detail?

movilogo

EA fee is paid by seller and not buyer. So I don't see any point to approach sellers directly (unless you know them personally).

Compared to price of house, EA fee is small (not saying they deserve their fee though).

If the seller is willing to save on EA fee, then s/he should use online EA or similar.

cattie

I once leafleted houses when I was looking after having found a buyer for my house.

I wrote my letter using a font which looked like handwriting & used a blue ink. I did it like this as I believed that there was more chance of it being read if people thought it were a handwritten note rather than just the normal stuff destined for the rubbish bin completely unread.

Make sure you put a landline down & not just a mobile, as a lot of people are put off by seeing only a mobile no. for contact.

Although nobody contacted me directly after putting my notes through selected doors, one couple who were in the process of listing their house with an ea, passed the note onto the ea for them to contact me. I did buy the house, so the couple could have saved on ea's fees,but as this was an older couple they were far more comfortable doing things in the tried & tested way of using an ea rather than dealing direct with me.

patricia..xx

AnnieO1234 wrote: »

I've been in your block, or even your flat at some point in the past

Xx

Now THAT would freak me out!

OP - I am considering doing the same thing. If we do it I am going to make it clear that we are only putting letters through certain doors, ones with original features still intact, and we are only looking at 3 roads in the area. Just makes it a bit more personal and flatters them a little. Plus it would be true

I also plan to say that if they are more comfortable going through an agent that is fine, they or the agent can contact us direct to discuss.

ognum

Thoughts from the other side!

We get about one letter a month through our door from potential buyers as well as the EA ones that come on a weekly basis. I always read them but as we are happy here have never responded.

I think we and our neighbours understand we live in a great part of our city and can understand why others would want to live here.

House prices in our area and many others are rising due to lack of supply. We are all aware that when house infrequently go on the market they sell for more than the asking price and usually for sealed bids.

So, why would a seller accept an offer without exposing their property to the market. I wish you well though and hope it works.

thequant

personally I think this sounds desperate and I don't think I could embarass myself doing this.

Have you though about checking if any of your target properties have a "tempt me" price on zoopla ?

nekro

yep, with the state of the current housing market in London and tactics used by estate agents I have become a bit desperate.
Of course I've tried zoopla already.

ging84

Are you prepared to pay well over the odds for a property?
if not stick to looking for ones which are for sale

also the bit about not paying estate agent fees makes me think scam as well