Speculative letters from prospective buyers

propertyhunter

Hi everyone, 

Just wanted to know whether anyone had ever posted letters to the owners of houses they are interested in buying, and what the success rate was in terms of them selling their house to you? 

As a home owner, have you received such a letter, and followed through to sell to that buyer, and in doing so, saved yourself from EA fees? 

If so, can you share your experiences please?

What should a letter include? I'm thinking just a few lines about our circumstances (couple looking for family home, no chain) and my contact number/email address - and of course the benefits of avoiding EA fees. I wouldn't disclose my budget in that letter. 

Is there nothing to lose, or have I lost my mind? Your (kind) thoughts are appreciated.




 

RS2OOO

We actually received a hand written note through the door whilst listed for sale with a local EA.

I wanted to call the number but wife said it can't be genuine as all they had to do was look in EA window or go online.

Wife could not understand why anyone would leave a note when they could just look online and on the basis it must be some sort of scam she binned it.

Me on the other hand, I was tempted to ring the number.

[Deleted User]

I did this when purchasing our home last year. It was late Spring / early Summer and the market was crazy. We couldn't identify anything on the market we liked enough. I saw two properties that had been marketed in the last 12 months but removed from the market (you can see this through Rightmove) that fitted the bill. The one I contacted directly by letter and explained we had just sold STC etc and our position and if they were still considering selling then please get in touch. The other property I contacted through the previous selling agent as it was the same one we had sold through. 

The first property the guy did contact me and said he was in two minds still whether to extend or sell so he'd get in touch shortly but wasn't a no. In the meantime the owners of the other property were taking a while to come back so we thought it was a no go but suddenly said yes they would still consider selling. We viewed and loved it. They moved in to rented to wait for their dream house and everything was completed in just over 10 weeks. 

It worked brilliantly because we also secured at the marketing price from 6-8 months previous even though the market had increased. The vendors were willing to sell for a hassle free sale at a good price without having endless viewings etc etc so it was a win win.

Definitely worth a punt. I don't think anyone thinks negatively of letters like that. They will either be potentially interested or chuck it in the bin!

A lot of people are interesting in selling but don't like the 'up for sale' bit / having the house constantly viewing ready. I know in our area that a huge amount of houses were sold 'off market' during the last couple of years. Suppose it's a bit like jobs - not all jobs are advertised, some are by word of mouth or direct enquiries.

daivid

A family member had success and bought an uninhabited rural property after a speculative letter, though they knew the background of the property to some extent (previous owner had passed). Friends had success buying in a city - they had narrowed down to a few streets where they wanted to buy and used a generic letter to find someone wanting to sell. I think all you would lose is time and the cost of materials and travel. I would avoid leafleting any properties already for sale though - check RM etc first!

Slinky

We've had 3 such letters through our door in the last couple of months. All looked genuine.

Years ago a friend sold her cottage to somebody who approached her in this way. It worked out well for all concerned as she wanted to sell after getting married, and the purchaser was happy to wait in order to get what he wanted.

AFF8879

RS2OOO said:

We actually received a hand written note through the door whilst listed for sale with a local EA.

I wanted to call the number but wife said it can't be genuine as all they had to do was look in EA window or go online.

Wife could not understand why anyone would leave a note when they could just look online and on the basis it must be some sort of scam she binned it.

Me on the other hand, I was tempted to ring the number.

If your house had a for sale sign up then I’d agree with your wife, plus the EA could actually still claim their fees as they would argue it was their for sale sign that prompted the person to put a note through the door. If there was no sign, then I’d be tempted to contact them provided their note was convincing enough 

Jude57

A friend and her husband did this many years ago. They wanted to move to a particular area which was very popular, with not much coming up for sale. They identified two streets they liked best (the husband had grown up in the area so knew which were the 'best' streets) and they put a letter through every door. They explained they were a couple who loved the area and especially the houses on that street. They a mortgage offer in place and as they were first time buyers, could move quickly to complete on the right house. They gave their first names and phone numbers.

My friends were lucky in that of the three responses they got, one was the son of a recently deceased lady who wanted a quick sale. The house needed a lot of work but the husband was a plumber and gas engineer with lots of tradesmen mates so that didn't put them off. They lived there for almost 25 years and still say they would do the same thing to find the right house.

RS2OOO

AFF8879 said:

RS2OOO said:

We actually received a hand written note through the door whilst listed for sale with a local EA.

I wanted to call the number but wife said it can't be genuine as all they had to do was look in EA window or go online.

Wife could not understand why anyone would leave a note when they could just look online and on the basis it must be some sort of scam she binned it.

Me on the other hand, I was tempted to ring the number.

If your house had a for sale sign up then I’d agree with your wife, plus the EA could actually still claim their fees as they would argue it was their for sale sign that prompted the person to put a note through the door. If there was no sign, then I’d be tempted to contact them provided their note was convincing enough 

There was no for sale sign.

The person who dropped the note through did so at other semi detached houses on the street but not the terraced houses.

Regardless, wife didn't like it and binned it. I wish she didn't as 6 months on we are still here and our buyer via EA seems to be having troubles with his lender.

propertyhunter

Ok, thanks all for your contributions. So it's not a ridiculous idea after all (phew). 

We know which specific houses we want to target - none of them currently listed and we're on the priority list of all EAs already. There's <20 on 4-5 streets so we might as well give it a shot. I know from selling myself that we can't approach houses already listed, as the EA would just say we found the house through them and the fee is payable. Plus I know the market well enough and don't like what's on. I do know that the seller can tell the EA about us before they sign on the dotted line, and if we buy no fee is due provided the EA has our names/details - but this has to happen proactively. 

What makes a note convincing/appear genuine? All we would say (to paraphrase) is that "we are looking for a family home, and are particularly interested in viewing your property if you are already thinking about selling. We have no chain and by corresponding with us directly you can avoid estate agent fees. If you are interested, please feel free to call XXX or email XXX..."

Apricota

Hi, we had one put through the door today. It was very basic essentially saying their sale had fallen through and they wished to still move. Could have done with some personal aspects, ie we are a family of x and in x position but this didn’t. Anyway we were not affected but too soon for us to move.

p00hsticks

We've had a few that on first glance appeared genuine (looked handwritten at first glance (but weren't), 'signed' as if from a couple ) but on further investigation appeared to come from one of the 'we buy any house' type organisations.