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I got that once. Along with pics. I appreciated the effort, and that they were so interested as to do that, but I thought it was odd, to be frank. I don't really care who the people are or why they want my house. I figured their agent told them to do that.
It's all about the money and such, isn't it?
Nope... consider you have two offers that are equal - one is someone you know isn't going to live in the house and contribute to the community (investor, llc, flipper, that sort)
-the other is something that writes a well crafted letter telling you how much they love the home, neighborhood and intend to live in the house
Offer number 2 is the winner no question. Unless of course you loathe your neighbors and want your home transformed into a rental, generic flip, or some lame mcmansion...
I could have come up with some doozies for love letters with my clients (buyers)
" We were so impressed by the comforting aroma of chocolate chip cookies, til we went to the basement and saw 8 mounds of dog-sh*t and damn near gagged .. what do you own,,,a bear??
and while we do appreciate artwork,,,the admiration for your full frontal nude (wife's) portrait was a real treat. while walking in the bedroom..
For me, if the letter is compelling, and I mean movie of the week level of compelling with hardship and drama, I might be moved, with a full price offer, to consider that above an overbid from someone else. However, the sappy letters that people "see" themselves in my property, one even wanting to purchase it furnished, not going to happen with a rental because I don't own the tenant's furniture, when also seeking a price reduction are not going to endear them to me, especially if the property is priced fairly and there's interest at or above list price. However, if said purchase is a cash purchaser, with no contingencies, and a 30-day settlement, I will tolerate their emotional plea, but it's really the terms that would get the house, not any perceived benefit from the letter.
__________________
All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
~William Shakespeare (As You Like It Act II, Scene VII)
Location: Subconscious Syncope, USA (Northeastern US)
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Sometimes people have wonderful memories of the time they spent in their home. Sometimes people have a genealogic attachment to property that has been in their families name for a very long time. Back in the day, this type of home was referred to as the "Home place". It was the place that the several generations that followed stemmed from and visited throughout their lives. Kind of like a bird returning to the same tree year after year to nest.
Sometimes that large family and its many generations suddenly boils down to just an elderly couple, or a single heir who has already established a new home and life elsewhere; and they realize that they can't care for the property, or that care has become too much work for them, they will put the house on the market. Since their motive for selling has nothing to do with profit, and they have strong historical and emotional ties to the property, they are really not busting to sell, and might even fear that a new buyer will destroy that which they love so dearly and/or means much more to them than just an asset.
Lacking a quick-sell motivation based on money alone, they can hold out for top dollar; and just like a buyer may be looking for certain things in a home, they might be looking for certain things in the person they will sell to. There is nothing wrong with that, but it is something that someone who has moved quite a bit in their life, or descends from a long line of apartment dwellers may have little to no respect for. Not that they necessarily disrespect it, but it just hasn't been a part of their life.
This type of seller can be moved to sell to someone who they can envision raising children, horses, whatever - just like they did - in their beloved family home. They can even be swayed to lower their price point for someone projecting a similar love and respect for the land that they have.
The show "Love it or list it" displays this type of sentimentality all the time. The family loves the home they have always known, but have out-grown. The designer tries to rework the house so the family can stay, and the real estate agent tries to show the family how much more they could have if they move. I'm not sure if the statistics bear out to prove what I am about to say, but it seems to me, more often than not, the families end up staying.
"All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be..." - Pink Floyd.
Funny how few people in this thread do counter offers.
Here we often negotiate between buyers and sellers until a mutual agreeable position is attained.
Maybe it's different in NC?
What are you talking about? The "love letter" is a sales tactic that realtors are taught to deploy when they are trying to get their client a house. Offers should NOT include sappy letters or long winded telephone conversations. If the buyer puts in their "signed offer" that they will pay for the 6% realtor commission then, heck yeah, now they're talking! What would work just as well is if instead of the buyer's agent telling his/her client to write a letter, they will instead tell the seller that both agents will take a reduce commission. Oh, that's right, its NOT about the money!
Of course people do counter offers if the initial offer wasn't very good! If buyers would just put in a strong offer in the first place then none of the games that try to start up are played.
Money, money, its how the world goes around.... Otherwise people would work for free.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bpollen
I got that once. Along with pics. I appreciated the effort, and that they were so interested as to do that, but I thought it was odd, to be frank. I don't really care who the people are or why they want my house. I figured their agent told them to do that.
It's all about the money and such, isn't it?
Amen to that!
Of course its about the money! If people were so sentimental about their homes, then why not just give your home to some sap on the street who dreams about owning a home? All you would have to do is put a flyer out in your yard and say "Give me your best story...and I'll give you my house!".
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rothwells mum
Nope... consider you have two offers that are equal - one is someone you know isn't going to live in the house and contribute to the community (investor, llc, flipper, that sort)
-the other is something that writes a well crafted letter telling you how much they love the home, neighborhood and intend to live in the house
Offer number 2 is the winner no question. Unless of course you loathe your neighbors and want your home transformed into a rental, generic flip, or some lame mcmansion...
I do not agree with you on that one. Those people who wrote the love letter may have lied to you and then they'll turn it into a brothel or flop house. Are you really going to go back to the house and see that there is wonderful family living in it? If there isn't, are you going to knock on the door and say "Hey! I picked you because you said you wanted to raise your family here. You need to get out!"
Its all a game that real estate agents play.
If you do have 2 equal bids(who have the same financing, terms and down payment) on your home, then you should ALWAYS go with "Firsties"(the person who gave it to you first). If the financing, terms or down payment is not the same, then you go with the best one.
What are you talking about? The "love letter" is a sales tactic that realtors are taught to deploy when they are trying to get their client a house. Offers should NOT include sappy letters or long winded telephone conversations. If the buyer puts in their "signed offer" that they will pay for the 6% realtor commission then, heck yeah, now they're talking! What would work just as well is if instead of the buyer's agent telling his/her client to write a letter, they will instead tell the seller that both agents will take a reduce commission. Oh, that's right, its NOT about the money!
Of course people do counter offers if the initial offer wasn't very good! If buyers would just put in a strong offer in the first place then none of the games that try to start up are played.
Money, money, its how the world goes around.... Otherwise people would work for free.
Amen to that!
Of course its about the money! If people were so sentimental about their homes, then why not just give your home to some sap on the street who dreams about owning a home? All you would have to do is put a flyer out in your yard and say "Give me your best story...and I'll give you my house!".
I do not agree with you on that one. Those people who wrote the love letter may have lied to you and then they'll turn it into a brothel or flop house. Are you really going to go back to the house and see that there is wonderful family living in it? If there isn't, are you going to knock on the door and say "Hey! I picked you because you said you wanted to raise your family here. You need to get out!"
Its all a game that real estate agents play.
If you do have 2 equal bids(who have the same financing, terms and down payment) on your home, then you should ALWAYS go with "Firsties"(the person who gave it to you first). If the financing, terms or down payment is not the same, then you go with the best one.
Your emotions will betray you, and you bring far too much emotion to the topic.
If it is truly "business," you should strive to keep it business-like, which would include using all the tools presented to you.
Many cover letters provide leverage clues to a smart and unemotional seller. We just don't have very many unemotional sellers posting in this thread, from what I see.
It is interesting how people equate a letter with a low price. The two are completely separate items.
People positing as sellers might consider how emotional their posts seem.
It is unfortunate when sellers would bring so much emotion to a business transaction that they would behave childishly because a nice person wrote them a complimentary cover letter.
Old timers here will say, "Tell me about your people." To some degree, that is intrusive, as the listing agent wants to garner confidential information, or even dance around the fringe of Fair Housing reg violations with unnecessary demographic information. I accept it as an opportunity to sell my buyers to the agent. I give the "letter" response, tailored to my perceptions of the sellers: "These are fine professional people whom I would be proud to call neighbors and friends." "This is a delightful family, and they can see how much the sellers enjoyed raising their family here."
For all the "businesspeople" here who indicate that they would have a strong emotional reaction to a harmless letter: You need to up your "business" game. Smart business says you take every shred of information that the other party offers, so you can examine it for a negotiating advantage. EVERY shred. If you are unemotional, be unemotional. Read the letter and look for clues. And, you also might meet some nice people, if you aren't too emotional to do so.
Thinking the same. People who put in "low ball offers" tend to critisi
How does a seller know the "love letter" is genuine? Simply because I tell you I love the home, see my family growing in the neighborhood, and so on does not mean I will not move in there with a pack of loud dogs, allow my kids to terrorize all the neighbors' kids, let weeds grow 3 feet tall in the yard, or rent it out to the first tweakers with a roll of hundreds.
If you've lived more than a minute in this world, you know that ambitious people without character or morals will use every advantage and angle to beat you soundly, or just enough. Sorry, but every person on the other side of a capital transaction is instinctively working in the opposite direction. Not only buyers and their agents.
Like the 90+ DOM listing I made a full price offer on without contingency and pre-approval. Magically, 2 hours later, the listing agent had a better offer. Not a decent showing history or a serious offer for months, then suddenly, without a price change or any mod to the listing, I am in a bidding situation? Please. I withdrew and moved on. That house stayed on the market for 2 more months.
Your emotions will betray you, and you bring far too much emotion to the topic.
If it is truly "business," you should strive to keep it business-like, which would include using all the tools presented to you.
Many cover letters provide leverage clues to a smart and unemotional seller. We just don't have very many unemotional sellers posting in this thread, from what I see.
Emotions... Of COURSE there are emotions involved...we're not Vulcans....AND I'm a chick by the way so once again, of course, emotions are involved. Who said they weren't?
"Love Letters" are just that "L-O-V-E". Once again, I have to say, if the buyer brings a strong offer to the table in the first place, then they wouldn't need to feel they have to write a letter.
Many cover letters could be lies...how is a seller suppose to know if they are telling the truth? They are strangers dealing with strangers. Are they going to do a background check on all potential buyers who write letters?
So what leverage clues are you talking about?
So lets say a buyer writes the seller a letter stating how they want to raise their 3 kids in the neighborhood and they love the area. Can the seller say "Well, I need a kid to do chores around my house so how about you give me one of your kids since you have 2 other ones and we'll go ahead with the sale?"
Once again, if you are the buyer's agent then you need to tell your buyers to give the strongest offer they can afford if they really want the house. No drama involved...no B/S.
Emotions... Of COURSE there are emotions involved...we're not Vulcans....AND I'm a chick by the way so once again, of course, emotions are involved. Who said they weren't?
"Love Letters" are just that "L-O-V-E". Once again, I have to say, if the buyer brings a strong offer to the table in the first place, then they wouldn't need to feel they have to write a letter.
Many cover letters could be lies...how is a seller suppose to know if they are telling the truth? They are strangers dealing with strangers. Are they going to do a background check on all potential buyers who write letters?
So what leverage clues are you talking about?
So lets say a buyer writes the seller a letter stating how they want to raise their 3 kids in the neighborhood and they love the area. Can the seller say "Well, I need a kid to do chores around my house so how about you give me one of your kids since you have 2 other ones and we'll go ahead with the sale?"
Once again, if you are the buyer's agent then you need to tell your buyers to give the strongest offer they can afford if they really want the house. No drama involved...no B/S.
As I said, your emotions betray you.
One reason I post repetitively is because people with emotional responses don't read threads before responding from an emotional bias.
Read the last paragraph below. One of the examples is real, and cost the buyers money. A seller working from a business-like perspective may note that the two quotes may reveal additional urgency and possibly a willingness to go a bit higher or to compromise on other terms. So with two offers of $300,000, and a "business-like" buyer who has drawn a line vs. a buyer who shows some attachment, countering for higher offer may well pay off, if a seller can control jerking the knee and sweeping the money off the table out of "business-like" pique:
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeJaquish
...
My point however, was about faux "business" people who disregard the playing cards in a letter because they are emotional about emotions.
"Emotion" is just "instinctive or intuitive feeling as distinguished from reasoning or knowledge" according to the Oxford English Dictionary. That is exactly the basis of action from "business" people who don't take care of business.
"Making pancakes for my daughter," maybe before she walks to school? And, enrollment ends in 5 weeks sop she may have to take the bus to the next school?
"Love the first floor master suite, because the stairs are too much trouble?" And maybe there aren't very many first floor masters like the subject house?
Emotion: instinctively throwing away letters with that information, eschewing reason and knowledge to do business. "WoooHooo! I'm strictly business, no matter how much it costs me!"
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Of COURSE there are emotions involved...we're not Vulcans....AND I'm a chick by the way so once again, of course, emotions are involved. Who said they weren't?
