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I'd probably disregard it. When I decide I want to sell my home, it will be on my own without external influence. The fact that someone approached me to buy my house when it wasn't on the market wouldn't sway my decision at all.
Which is as it should be. But for every 100 people who are perfectly happy in their home and have no intention of moving, there's one person who is contemplating a downsize/upsize, just had a baby and needs a bigger house, has just been notified that they are being transferred or fired. I wouldn't expect such a letter to persuade you to move if you didn't wish to. But if you were already leaning in that direction . . .
So, you'd rather trash an agent who has gone to the trouble of actually studying your neighborhood, knows the values, and knows recent sales and go with someone who has to look you up on a map? Ok. Granted, the approach has to be handled delicately. Telling someone you know everything about them -- even if it's public record and homeless vagrants could look it up on the public library's computers -- is usually not an approach that inspires confidence. In fact, it tends to scare 'em off. :-)
I can see your point that knowing the community trumps other concerns. I tend to be more sympathetic to that particular poster's POV because Where I live there are at least 8-10 realtors living within a mile of my house. I can have the luxury of choosing someone who knows my community AND who works in a way that I think is effective. But you're absolutely right that if you have to make a choice, knowing the community is most important.
I was direct messaged on FB a couple months back. She said they were looking in our neighborhood and didn't want to use a realtor. She and I had mutual friends (still cant figure out who) and wondered if we would be selling. I told her maybe within the next year or so. She then asked the size of our home and when I told her she said she wasn't looking for anything that large. The whole thing was strange. Funny thing is we are getting ready to list our home as we just purchased a new one!
We get asked all the time if we want to sell. A home sells in the neighborhood and the realtors walk around telling everyone that they can sell their home as well. Too bad we love our home and plan on staying there. We also get calls and mail from realtors wanting to know if we want to sell.
I do know a family that had a beautiful 9,000 square foot home on a 1 acre lot that was approached from a buyer or real estate agent informing them that they had a buyer for their home. The family had 8 kids and most of the kids were grown. I think all of them were out of the house by that time. This particular family own a business with locations in three states. They had talked about moving to Utah where part of their business is based. Although they had not thought of selling then they took the realtor up on the offer and sold the home. They moved in with another couple that were also empty nesters for a year until could get the business arranged so they could leave the area.
We were looking for a vacation home in a fairly small geographic area in a hot market. A place came on the market and we were outbid... 13 bidders and place sold for $75k over asking. After that, I did a little research on similar units in the same complex and sent letters to the owners(all out of the area). I did get one response back, but they strung us along for a while and ultimately did not want to sell.
We ended up finding a for sale by owner in a neighboring community. In the 1st 3 months of ownership, we've received about 5 letters asking us if we want to sell!
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