Aibu to write to the house seller?

The letter would really piss me off.

It's entirely the prerogative to decide whether they are willing to sell for a certain price or not.

Even if you do genuinely know for a fact that the price is unrealistically high, all you can do is wait for them to eventually come around to accepting that fact (assuming that nobody else with less ides of the realistic value/loads of money actually pays it, or closer to it, in the meantime) and then maybe get it for the more realistic price.

Unfortunately, there are so many people out there who will try to put pressure on sellers of anything (Facebook marketing is common for this) by saying "You'll never get that much, as it's worth much less - so you should sell it to me for a much lower price now, without even waiting to see if anybody else will pay more". Whether honestly meant or not, the pressure is always unwelcome and usually unsuccessful in grabbing the deal.

A - You may just annoy the seller by direct contact and trying to tell them their property is worth less than they think.
B - They may need/want the certain amount of money they are asking for -whatever the reason.
C - They are not bothered whether they sell or not - they may just be testing the market.

You’ve now insinuated a couple of times that these people are greedy and just after more money. Well yes, a vendor isn’t a charity and they’re trying to sell their most valuable asset at the best price they can get. If they’re genuinely being “greedy” in vastly overpricing their house, then they won’t get any reasonable offers and they will then have to accept it or take it off the market. I don’t see how a letter from you would change the situation. Would you be being greedy if you were selling your car for 5k and someone knocked on your door and offered you £500 for it, because they needed it to get their children to school but you said no?

When we sold our last house, which was not overpriced, we had a couple try this with us. They offered 150k less than asking price. We declined via the agent. We then received a polite letter saying they loved the house, their friends had bought an identical one round the corner (incidentally for the same price we were asking and ours was extended), they worked hard and were good people and could we please reconsider because they ‘deserved’ our house. But at 150k less than asking, no we couldn’t reconsider. We declined again via agent. We then received a letter calling us evil, greedy cunts, that people like us deserved what was coming to us when we prevented good, hardworking people from getting what they wanted. So I guess it really depends what your ‘friendly’ letter says!! And yes, we sold for asking price and no not to those people 😂

Like you, I’m a big advocate for direct communication in certain situations and it’s sped up a lot of my sales. I have put a letter through people’s doors for a couple of reasons - they weren’t on the market but I popped a lovely ‘if you were ever to consider selling, we are SSTC and interested etc’, I popped a note through a property that I was interested in that had been up for sale and then removed (we ended up buying this property) and I did once do it because I was trying for days to get the estate agent to come back to me for a viewing and I was getting nowhere so I popped a note to say I really want to view but the estate agent is coming back to me. Turns out their estate agent was awful and we did end up buying that one too.

However, in your situation, I wouldn’t contact them. You’re telling them by letter what they already know. That you would like to negotiate. As it stands, they don’t. That might change if you leave the offer on the table but actually a letter saying please negotiate with us is actually playing to them anyway and they will think you are so interested that you have the upper hand. I would maybe put another letter to the agent with your final offer and perhaps comparitives of solds in the area and your reasons why you’ve reached that figure (not just ‘we can’t afford more’). Ultimately, the agent wants to sell the property as well and legally they have to pass on any offers. So the vendor may be saying the don’t want to negotiate and that may well be true and you’ll be shot down but you can still put in a strong case with your best and final.

But you've made a deal with your buyer already: you aren't this person's buyer, you are a total stranger planning to open communication uninvited despite having already been told no. It's intrusive and weird.

I actually disagree... depends if you trust the agent to pass on your offers. We offered asking price on our current house and had it refused. We didn't understand so dropped a letter through the door. Turned out the agent had never even passed on our offer as they had a lower offer from someone whose house they were also selling. Personally I think you have nothing to lose.

I’m not surprised that you were considering the possibility of this letter as on these threads there is always a few people who advice you to do exactly this and even claiming that they did it and it worked. And it might be true but I suspect that the letter was not the only thing that swayed the seller.
If it’s any consolation for you we were house hunting we put a lower offer several times and then EA came back to us, we were interested any more but it might happen.

It's odd that after saying you understood, you wrote this.

They already told you via the agent not to negotiate, so you are doing the opposite of what they asked. Writing a letter to strangers to say they're wrong about their house value is rude, not friendly. It's like the bloke in the pub offering you a drink but you say no, he isn't "friendly" by persisting in offering you drinks is he?

But you are not these peoples’ buyer. You have attempted to make a deal with them and they have said a clear no. It’s a totally different situation. It would be incredibly pushy and annoying and like many others on this thread, I would be certain never to agree a deal with you after you had done this, whatever you offered.

Years ago, I was telling the house I owned with my ex. No offers near the price we wanted so in the end, we took it off the market and rented it.

You can't persuade someone to take many thousands less than they want, even if they're being unrealistic.

You never should have offered 18% under asking @ButterMelonCauliflower if you could afford 15% under asking which was already a huge discount off the asking price.

People will say you can offer what you want which is true but 18% under is really taking the piss and unlikely to achieve anything apart from irritating the owner to the point where they will not welcome any further negotiations from you.

The house does sound overpriced so they probably will end up negotiating on the price with someone, but not you.

You could ask the agent to pass on an email saying something like: we are really keen on your house but can’t make the asking price. Is there an offer you will accept, given we are ready to proceed.

at least you will open a conversation and maybe get their lowest acceptable price

Do not tell them how much you love it, that will make them want their asking price.

Personally I think you are showing your hand by writing to them. Shows you REALLY want it. What do you think the letter will do? Show you’re a nice person? They’re not going to say ‘Oh that’s a lovely letter from Sarah and Pete, let’s give them the equivalent of 80 grand! I know we need the 80k for our next house darling, but Sarah has gone to the the trouble of writing this lovely letter!

Hold your nerve, they may come back with a counter offer.

Hell no. You’ve had a response. You don’t like it,so are being a chancer . You cannot afford what you want, get over it. Realistically look at what you can afford
Ignore all the jaunty Go For it! Advice it’s stupid and ill advised. This is not eBay or Vinted were you submit a cheeky bid and hope they’ll acquiesce. You’ve had an answer. You cannot berate or cajole a sale at a price you want

Agree, the sellers aren’t going to say upon receipt of your letter, “ oh, well they reallylove the house so we will let them have it” are they!! Looks like you are being a massive CF.

Beggars are now choosers?

I wouldn't see it as an act of aggression, I'd just think "What do I care about their circumstances or what they they think of the house? I think I can get more than they want to pay, and that's it."
It wouldn't prejudice me against you, if you managed to come up with more, or came back in six months when I had realised I was wrong, but there's no way it would make me sell for less than I wanted.

It really is both rude and entitled. If the vendor wanted to communicate with you directly, they would have asked their estate agent to invite a counter-offer, or to open a discussion.
They have simply refused your offers, and you need to respect that.

You could ask the estate agent to ask them (on your behalf) if there is any wiggle room on price, as you love the house, but simply can’t afford it at the current price.
Contacting them directly is an over-step of a boundary, and should not be attempted. It’s more likely to put you in a much weaker position than a stronger one.

Ok - you didn't actually offer anyway. You just asked if they were likely to accept X, and he said no. That's different.