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I always have my clients write letters. I have seen them make the difference in a multiple offer situation where the financial terms were identical or similar. I have heard stories where they made the difference when the winning offer was significantly lower, dollar-wise, than others. Some sellers respond to letters. Some don't as you can see reflected in the earlier comments. But if you are a buyer trying to buy a house in a multiple offer situation and your realtor doesn't advise you to write a letter, then you are at a competitive disadvantage because chances are, the others are submitting letters with their offers. Ultimately, buying and selling is an emotional decision for a substantial segment of the population.
when we sold my parents house in an estate sale one sister was attached to house and wanted to make sure it went to a good person. The rest of us did not really care that much. But we agreed we would take up to $5,000 less for house for right person. So letters, stuff would have made a big difference. At one point sister has a person at 20K off she almost sold too, but could not get financing quickly. later we moved that number to 5k.
Split four ways not that big a deal.
Turns out right person wanted it for like 30K less so we sold it to a flipper. Had two flippers interested. The one who bought it usually just does a renovation of everything and then sells it so figured it had a shot of being around much longer.
My Mom was a second owner of a 1923 hours she bought in 1973 all original. Lack of money and having two handy sons and only enough money for supplies on must job it made it till 2003 in original condition but in nears perfect shape. Original brass fixtures, original wood doors, original craftsman front porch with original shutters. Would had to see someone knock it down.
I went to open house after flipped renovated it, new kitchen, baths, finished the basement, new driveway. But he was smart not to touch the outside or remove historical things. My sister was happy as it looked like 150K renovation and he bought it for $550,000 so no way it would every be town down.
But that was a historical house. An original Craftsman style house. You dont see them too much.
Still going to take the best offer in a multiple offer situation. I've seen the shenanigans people pull--tenants, buyers, sellers, agents, salespeople, panhandlers. Don't let a letter cost you money. That is all.
Maybe things are different now, but each time we looked at houses to buy, the owners were present. We liked that because then we could ask questions about maintenance and about the area or schools. I think the sellers could tell we were nice people with a young family, friendly & decent. I didn't feel compelled to show more about us than that, certainly not tales of baking cookies for my kiddies in their kitchen.
Maybe things are different now, but each time we looked at houses to buy, the owners were present. We liked that because then we could ask questions about maintenance and about the area or schools. I think the sellers could tell we were nice people with a young family, friendly & decent. I didn't feel compelled to show more about us than that, certainly not tales of baking cookies for my kiddies in their kitchen.
I just want to congratulate you on starting a great thread.
My friend is selling her house and was telling me how moved she was by a letter a prospective buyer sent her. The letter mentioned things about how the buyer loved the house's decor, how she looks forward to making pancakes for her kids in the kitchen, and the neighbors that she met were so very nice. My friend was downright weepy over this "lovely" letter.
This strikes me as blatant tugging the seller's heart strings and would turn me off the buyer. But perusing the web, I guess real estate "love letters" are the going thing now. Comments?
The first home we bought was a model home, many happy years there - including bringing home my baby girl.
We moved out of the area and hired property manager who moved in tenants who just trashed the house (like TV's Hoarders show bad). It was so bad that the best/cheapest way to fix it was for us to move back in and restore it ourselves. Plus I was then living in county so I could sue ...
Anyway - the damage they did to our home was heartbreaking and the work we had to do was backbreaking. When we sold - I chose a family over a offer for a few thousand more from a guy who bought rental properties.....
In 2001 we wrote a letter to the sellers when we put in an offer - and it won is the house after a bidding war erupted. The other buyer was a single guy. We were a couple wanting to start a family. We knew the sellers had three kids, and were very family-oriented, so we wrote a letter about how much we loved the house and hoped to raise our kids there for many years.
The single guy had the exact same $$ offer as we did and he was pre-approved just like us, and his single salary was similar to our joint salaries - the only difference was the letter. The seller's realtor told our realtor that this was what tipped us in their favor.
Loved that house, LOVED our neighbors. We lived there five years before relocating out of state (with much sadness because our neighbors were a 2nd family for us).
My friend is selling her house and was telling me how moved she was by a letter a prospective buyer sent her. The letter mentioned things about how the buyer loved the house's decor, how she looks forward to making pancakes for her kids in the kitchen, and the neighbors that she met were so very nice. My friend was downright weepy over this "lovely" letter.
This strikes me as blatant tugging the seller's heart strings and would turn me off the buyer. But perusing the web, I guess real estate "love letters" are the going thing now. Comments?
I would not take this type of letter into consideration when evaluating an offer in a business transaction.
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