A letter to a homeowner?

Brandon9

Hi,
Looking for advice if possible please. Our house has sold and the agent dealing with our house has told us that he went to value our dream home. However, upon valuing the house on Wednesday, the homeowner stated that he might sell to a contact of his, but not definitely. Our agent has tried to contact the homeowner without success. The house in question was rented and currently empty now but he does go back to the property for security reasons. I guess my question is, would anyone write a letter to the homeowner and state why you want the house (i.e forever family home, we waited years for this house etx) or is that a little strange? Also, I don't want to go against the agent, I want to work alongside them. Just thinking of ways because this house would be perfect for us. 

kazwookie

No harm in sending a letter.

The 'contact' may or may not want to go ahead / able to proceed etc, so get your name out there, also express to the EA you would like to view / put an offer in on the house, I would be very proactive at the current time, the EA at the end of the day will get a commission from someone, EA won't be bothered who that is, so IMO you have nothing to loose.

Falafels

I'd say there was no harm in writing the letter either.

In fact, one of the things that prompted me to put my house on the market last year was a circular letter from a local estate agent saying that they had a client looking for a property like mine. (I'd been going to do so sooner or later; this just made it sooner). I didn't take the content of the letter seriously... but then it went Under Offer within two days, and I did wonder if they'd been telling the truth all along!

AdrianC

Of course you can write the letter.

Will it make the slightest difference? Probably not. But it might.

eddddy

I guess different people will be swayed by different things.

FWIW, if I was the seller, I wouldn't be swayed by comments about "forever family home", "waited for years" etc. In fact, I'd be suspicious about your motives. (i.e. are you trying to justify a potential low offer?)

I'd be more swayed by comments like "I'm proceedable", "I have a mortgage AIP", "I need a low LTV mortgage", "I'm happy to work to your timescales - I'm ready to move quickly if you want, but equally happy to wait while you find your next home" etc.

But even then, unless your offer was clearly very good, I'd be very tempted to put the house on the open market for a couple of weeks anyway. to try for higher competitive offers.

But different sellers can have very different mindsets.

lookstraightahead

How would you word it if you haven't seen inside it? Genuine question - how do you know it's your dream home?

lookstraightahead

Sorry, another thing is agent tells you it might get sold, tells vendor there's interest, vendor put on market for higher price, you accept. And there never was a 'contact'. You're potentially pushing up the price by showing your cards too soon. Cynical me 😂

pinkteapot

If he's got an offer from his contact, where he wouldn't have to pay the EA fee, you'll need to offer sufficiently more to cover the EA fee for him to sell to you (assuming he believes his contact is serious and proceedable). 

Agree completely with eddddy - the emotional angle might work if it's a family/older couple selling (a lovely couple my brother had done some work for really wanted him to buy their house because they love his kids, but he couldn't afford it). This is a landlord though - it's 100% business. 

oystercatcher

My parents were in a similar situation many years back, agent was just processing a new to the market bungalow which was perfect for them , They offered asking price and lady withdrew from market only to remarket shortly afterwards at a much higher price. Mum still lives there and has been very happy but still hasn't forgiven the lady for asking for more ! (that says a lot about my mum!)

macman

If someone told me that my house was their 'dream home', then I'd be upping the asking price accordingly...it indicates a sentimental attraction to what is a business transaction.

NameUnavailable

A few thoughts.

The vendor may put the house on the market via another agent, so it's definitely worth popping a note through the door (or find the owners address from the land regsitry).

Don't overdo it though, if I had a letter from someone gushing over the place I'd jus think great, I'll add 20% onto whatever price I was expecting! Just state that agent X advised you about the house as it seems to match what you're looking for and you would be very interested in having first refusal if he decides to sell (there is an issue over including the agent in this but that's for the vendor and you to work out).