Writing a letter to sellers?

[stretchad]

We are getting ready to put in an offer on a house in a neighborhood that is pretty competitive. The last two houses that we looked at had 4-6 offers above asking. Our realtor suggested that we write a letter to the sellers to strengthen our offer (among other things).

Anyone have an example of one they've written? Or any suggestions of how to word this and how long it should be?

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[Deleted]

Ours was pretty short. It was just about how much we loved the house and would love living there and raising our family. Really cheesy.

Honestly, I think the $10k earnest money check helped more.

[marshmallowmars]

We wrote a letter - it was just a small paragraph saying why we loved the house, wanting to raise our kids there, etc. Multiple offers aren't usually common in our area but our house had 2 other offers so I think the letter surprised them and won them over. It could have been the money though, who knows. 

[Deleted]

We went with the seller that wrote the letter. It was nice and talked about how much she liked the house. The other offer was a major low ball and all the buyer talked about was all the things that were wrong with the place. I would say if you write a letter don't put anything negative in it. Seems obvious to say but I was shocked how negative the other potential buyer was.

[mollybrown]

Apr 5, 2013 12:20:04 GMT -5 monsterz said:

We went with the seller that wrote the letter. It was nice and talked about how much she liked the house. The other offer was a major low ball and all the buyer talked about was all the things that were wrong with the place. I would say if you write a letter don't put anything negative in it. Seems obvious to say but I was shocked how negative the other potential buyer was.

So my question is which offer would you have taken if the lowball offer had come with a sweet letter?

A letter would only gave swayed us if there were 2 identical offers. A letter would not have gotten me to take a lower offer. It can't hurt to write one, though.

[vanillacourage]

A letter would only influence me if the other offer(s) were the exact same.  But, you can't know what the other people are offering (maybe their offers ARE the same, if you're in the same ballpark re: market value) so it can't hurt.

[Deleted]

Apr 5, 2013 12:29:04 GMT -5 mollybrown said:

Apr 5, 2013 12:20:04 GMT -5 monsterz said:

We went with the seller that wrote the letter. It was nice and talked about how much she liked the house. The other offer was a major low ball and all the buyer talked about was all the things that were wrong with the place. I would say if you write a letter don't put anything negative in it. Seems obvious to say but I was shocked how negative the other potential buyer was.

So my question is which offer would you have taken if the lowball offer had come with a sweet letter?

A letter would only gave swayed us if there were 2 identical offers. A letter would not have gotten me to take a lower offer. It can't hurt to write one, though.

I likely would have approached the buyer and said there is another offer on the table and countered to see if they could match the better offer.   

[my4girls]

we wrote a letter- it was 3 or 4 paragraphs about how much we loved the house, what plans we envisioned with our kids etc. We were buying from the 80 year old original owner who raised her kids there. Her realtor told us we got it because of the letter and our kids (we met her breifly when we got there to see the house the first time, she was just leaving). She had two offers- we don't know what the other one was but she only came back to us to negotiate

[kaylie]

We wrote one promising not to be annoying with post-inspection negotiations but in the end, they went with the people who offered full asking with 75% down. We had offered 10K above asking but were only putting 10% down.

[Susie]

We wrote several when we were involved in multiple offer contests, and none of them worked.  Unfortunately it was > 4 years ago and I didn't keep them.  They were generally kept to one page, and talked about features of the house that we particularly liked, the neighbors/hood, etc.

I don't think it'll hurt you to write one, but I don't think they work unless you're selling to a REALLY sentimental seller, and/or the numbers are very, very close. 

[changedname]

When I sold my house last year I had 6 offers, all within $10K of each other. The only ones I went back to were the ones I "liked" through their letter and what their realtor told me about them. It was then up to them to offer more $$/conditions etc but the letters is what made me shortlist.

[7costanza]

Our seller actually asked for letters, she had lived in the house for 30+ years and raised her family there. I think I still have it at home so can PM it to you later, but it was similar to what others said, how much we love the house and want to raise a family there. We also had a very strong offer, but not the highest, so I do think it helped. We included a wedding picture too.

My H actually ran into the former owner the other day at work and was able to tell her we are expecting, which I hope made her feel good since I know family was important to her.

[hbomdiggity]

Apr 5, 2013 12:52:02 GMT -5 monsterz said:

Apr 5, 2013 12:29:04 GMT -5 mollybrown said:

So my question is which offer would you have taken if the lowball offer had come with a sweet letter?

A letter would only gave swayed us if there were 2 identical offers. A letter would not have gotten me to take a lower offer. It can't hurt to write one, though.

I likely would have approached the buyer and said there is another offer on the table and countered to see if they could match the better offer.   

Not sure if it varies by state, but here the seller would have countered to both with a single counter (there is a box to check is it goes to more than one party). It really helps the seller because the buyer knows its in competition but no clue on what the other offer is.

We were the lowball offer - while we got a second chance, the other buyer freaked and took the counter, which was still way more than it was worth.

[stephm0188]

It can't hurt. A friend recently had multiple offers the first day their house was on the market, and they ultimately went with the couple who sent a letter.

[donnamartingraduat]

We didn't write a letter, but we included a picture of our dogs. They had pictures of their dogs all over their house, so they knew we were fellow dog lovers. The realtor said the offers were close and it tipped the balance in our favor!

[stretchad]

Apr 5, 2013 11:39:46 GMT -5 jenny1980 said:

Is this the west Seattle view house?

Nope, with baby on the way an not wanting to do a lot of work to the house we decided to go with a place we saw the next day out in Issaquah. Move in ready. They are reviewing offers on Monday. We are doing a pre inspection today to make the offer more competitive (along with a nice price tag, quick closing and sizable earnest $$)

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[Deleted]

Apr 6, 2013 9:22:21 GMT -5 stretchad said:

Apr 5, 2013 11:39:46 GMT -5 jenny1980 said:

Is this the west Seattle view house?

Nope, with baby on the way an not wanting to do a lot of work to the house we decided to go with a place we saw the next day out in Issaquah. Move in ready. They are reviewing offers on Monday. We are doing a pre inspection today to make the offer more competitive (along with a nice price tag, quick closing and sizable earnest $$)

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Good luck!

[camelblossom]

We hand wrote an extremely cheesy letter about being a young family with big dreams. We are in escrow now, and I can safely say it wasn't the offer that did it. We don't have much to offer!


sent from my galaxy s3. suck it, isheep.

[treedimensional]

If I were selling my house, I would be very swayed by a buyer I had something in common with. Someone who noticed, and complimented, the garden I'd spent so much time and money on. Someone who shared my political views, etc.
I would very much like it if I knew the buyer wouldn't rip out all the rare trees and shrubs I'd planted.

[Deleted]

Apr 5, 2013 11:30:24 GMT -5 stretchad said:

We are getting ready to put in an offer on a house in a neighborhood that is pretty competitive. The last two houses that we looked at had 4-6 offers above asking. Our realtor suggested that we write a letter to the sellers to strengthen our offer (among other things).

Anyone have an example of one they've written? Or any suggestions of how to word this and how long it should be?

Sent from my SCH-I535 using proboards

We wrote one for our first house.

The owner was moving to a retirement community and had lived in the house 40+ years and we knew her late husband had worked at the local elementary school. She had pictures of JFK and the pope all over the house so we wrote about how we really wanted to stay in the 'hood, how SD had just made her first communion at the local parish and attended the elementary school and how I was born in said town (we left out that my parents moved to burbs when I was 4). SD signed the letter too which apparently she loved.