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They work surprisingly well. After a few months of having no luck and 4 failed offers. My wife and I started writing these love letters. Instantly sellers are chasing us to buy their homes. One home we walked away from due to unexpected issues in the home inspection and just not wanting to deal with it, and the sellers were calling our agent saying they would do anything to be able to sell us the home.
Our old TH we sold to a single lady who wrote a long letter about the neighborhood and amenities but it came with a lowball offer so the letter didn't help her at all.
another home we sold to buyers who included a letter and it wasn't overly fawning but included some relevant information such as husband's employer, solid financing, which was corroborated with strong offer. Competing with them was this other family ready to pay all cash but trying to lowball us and just being a pain in the rear about it, so the letter that came with the good offer made us feel more comfortable ditching the all-cash deal and selling to the buyers taking on a mortgage.
I'm an ice queen. Selling and buying a house is a business transaction. Show me the money!! And keep your sappy letter.....If I'd bother to rad it, I'd probably laugh and throw it away. It would not make me lower the price. Total ice queen. Show me the money!!!!!!!
I think it is fine...I know that my mom sold her house to someone that included a letter about how they were expecting their 3rd child and felt this home was the perfect fit for their growing family. She had multiple offers, but accepted their offer because she knew someone who would love her home as much as she did was being selected. It really helped my mom as leaving her home was difficult once dad had passed away.
What is the difference between that and someone following up an interview for a job with a thank you email or note???
They definitely help in some situations, but definitely hurtin others. I've had list agents tell me that the sellers responded very positively to the letters, and others have not. As an agent I can usually tell when it wouldn't hurt to include one, but I've had buyer clients that insist on including them even if I don't think it's a good idea.
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In multiple offer situations, and price and terms being equal, they may help the offer be chosen. Sometimes, some grace and appreciation can go a long way with a seller who loves their home.
Exactly. They don't typically take the place of a higher offer, but all other things equal they could possibly tip the scale if the seller is leaving a loved home.
When I bought my house I wanted as little contact as possible with the sellers and gave as little personal information as possible about myself. Here is an example how it worked in reverse. Their agent tried to contact the sellers about a question we had. She came back and told us he was unavailable...."attending the U.S. Open". When it came time to ask for repairs I held my ground when he balked at some minor things. My thinking was, if he can afford to go see the U.S Open then he can afford to fix what I asked for if he wants to sell the place.
This is yet another example of why sellers should never give personal information to their agent. Here, the seller's agent improperly disclosed personal information to the buyer/buyer's agent without carefully considering how the disclosure of that personal information might affect their client. The seller should have simply told their agent that they were unavailable.
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 think they're stupid. It's a business transaction, not a marriage proposal.
I agree. I did not write a letter to the seller to convince him to sell me the house I ended up buying. If my offer had been rejected, I just would've kept looking. Honestly, I probably offered too much so there was definitely no need to kiss his butt on top of that! lol
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