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Property/DIY

Anyone fancy appraising my letter to try and buy a dream house?

13 replies

lovemakespeace · 24/12/2014 07:36

Merry Christmas all! We just missed out on having our offer accepted on a house. It really seems to fit thebill of everything we are looking for. There are abut 6 other houses in the road that appear very similar. I have decided I have nothing to lose by dropping a short letter through their doors seeing if they would like to sell.

Firstly, I will definitely hand write the envelope but do you think type or hand write the letter itself?

The letter currently reads as follows:

Dear Owners of Number XX

We are looking to buy a home for our young family. As you may be aware number XX XX Road was recently for sale. We really liked both the property, the garden and the road. We put our house on the market in order to make an offer. Unfortunately we received an offer on our house just two days after an offer was accepted on number XX. We believe our offer was higher than that accepted but came just too late!

Before we recommence our search in the New Year we thought it would be worth writing to the few properties on the road that appear to be very similar to number XX. We were wondering whether you are thinking of moving in 2015 and might be interested in selling to us?

In terms of our financial position we have a property to sell but it is already on the market and we have received an offer. We would not need to obtain a mortgage. We would be happy to buy privately to save you agency fees, or through an agent if you prefer.

If you might be interested, we would love to hear from you and can be contacted on [phone] or at [email]. Please accept our apologies for the intrusion if you are not looking to sell.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Yours

XX and XX XX

Thanks for any tips!

OP posts:

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Bowlersarm · 24/12/2014 07:42

I think it's fine. I think printed would be better, easier to read.

My only negative is that it is long, but I don't think that really matters. People who see the intent and are interested in selling will read to the end. Those that aren't will bin it without getting to the end but that doesn't matter because they aren't your target.

Good luck.

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wowfudge · 24/12/2014 08:27

I have two comments: don't tell them your offer was higher than that accepted - tell them it was a strong one or something similar; and use 'however' instead of 'but' when stating your house is on the market as it is more positive.

I don't think it is too long at all. Type it so it is easier to read.

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lovemakespeace · 24/12/2014 09:00

Thank you both - very helpful! I am excited to try this :)

Think we will type them - if we do that then we could include a small photo of our family at the top or bottom. What do you think about that?

Many thanks again.

OP posts:

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Bowlersarm · 24/12/2014 09:27

You could do a sad daily mail photo , gutted that you've lost out!

Hmmm. No I wouldn't. The letter is quite personal anyway. I'm not sure a photo of random strangers would do anything extra.

If the dc are at the local school you could include that detail to appeal to vendors who would like to sell to a young family using local facilities.

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BaffledSomeMore · 24/12/2014 09:33

I agree that the first para is too much. I think you could say that you just missed out on the house because you hadn't gone under offer on your property.

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Amethyst24 · 24/12/2014 09:36

"Both the property, the garden and the road" is grammatically incorrect - sorry, pedant here!

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lovemakespeace · 24/12/2014 13:14

Haha my kids do quite a good Daily Mail photo face!! Thanks all tips being noted :) Will defo revise the first paragraph.

Ah yes I wrote "both the house and road" originally then added in the garden bit. I am not a pedant but am married to one so wouldn't want to unnecessarily annoy anyone ;)

Thanks again :)

OP posts:

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emeline · 24/12/2014 13:27

Dear Owners of Number XX

Would you like to sell your house? We are interested in buying it!

number XX XX, in your Road was recently for sale. We tried to purchase the property. We put our house on the market pronto, in order to make an offer! Unfortunately The offer on our house arrived just two days after number XX has agreed a sale. We believe our offer was higher than that accepted but came just a tiny bit too late!

It was our ideal home, for us and our young family.

And so we are writing to the few properties on the road that appear to be very similar to number XX. We were hoping that you are thinking of moving in 2015 and you will be interested in selling to us.

we have a property to sell, already we have received an offer for it in place. We would not need to obtain a mortgage. We would be happy to buy privately to save you agency fees, or through an agent if you prefer.

If you are interested, we would love to hear from you and can be contacted on [phone] or at [email]. Please accept our apologies for the intrusion if you are not looking to sell.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy NeW Year

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Slippersandacuppa · 24/12/2014 13:28

We bought our house like that!

We used to walk past it and really liked the look of it. I wrote a really long letter describing our situation and apologising for intruding.

DH suggested it was far too long and that people don't need all of that info. Either they are interested in selling or they aren't. We ended up with a very short, polite (hand written) note asking them to contact us if they were ever interested in selling. They were and they did!

I don't think it matter too much what you do - if they want to sell, they'll contact you. It is very stressful though. Good luck!

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Somethingtodo · 24/12/2014 14:13

Would put the apology for intrusion bit up front - before you do intrude - rather than at the end

....would also try to open as many communications as possible - so ask them if they have any questions to get in touch rather than if they want to sell -- they might not have made the decision to sell yet but might make this decision after talking with you....

....would also say it would be confidential and discreet - people dont want others know they are thinking of moving...

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PrimalLass · 28/12/2014 11:28

I would take out the exclamation marks. They are too Daily Fail.

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passmethechocolatechocolate · 28/12/2014 11:50

Personally I wouldn't put in the bit about not needing a mortgage. A certain type of person may think that it meant you are loaded and put the price up.

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lovemakespeace · 29/12/2014 16:31

This is my (I think!) final version based on your helpful feedback:

Dear Owners of Number XX

We are looking to buy a home for our young family. As you may be aware number XX XX Road was recently for sale. We really liked the property, the garden and the road. We just missed out on the house because we hadn’t gone under offer on our property. We were informed that we put forward a strong offer but it came just too late.

Before we recommence our search in the New Year we thought it would be worth writing to the few properties on the road that appear to be very similar to number XX. We were wondering whether you are thinking of moving in 2015 and might be interested in selling to us?

In terms of our financial position we have a property to sell however it is already on the market and we have received an offer. We would be happy to buy privately to save you agency fees, or through an agent if you prefer.

If you might be interested, or would like to ask us any questions about this, then we would love to hear from you. We can be contacted on XX and XX or at XX. Apologies for the intrusion if you are not looking to sell.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Yours Faithfully,

Many thanks for all your help - I will let you know how we get on!