Aibu to write to the house seller?

Bypassing the agent, when you've had two offers rejected already, would make me not sell to you regardless of price.

It shows a complete lack of respect for their clear instruction - no negotiation - and writing to them to tell them their house is over priced is just arrogant.

They've priced their house for what they're willing to sell it for. Either buy it for that or walk away and find something you can afford.

There is a house near me that originally went on the market a year ago. Since then it has dropped 20% in price and still not takers. (It's unusual so not many comparative properties).

I suspect the owners would accept a much lower offer now than a year ago. I would hold off and see whether they changed their minds in a few months . Keep looking for something else though.

I would say if you want the house so much pay what it is worth

You can’t afford this house. You can’t tell the sellers what price you think they should sell at, they probably need a certain amount to move to their dream home.

It's pointless. They don't want to lower their asking price to what you are offering and won't care how much you love the house. They might be interested if you offered some clear benefits as a buyer, eg being a cash buyer who can be flexible about completion dates, but the agent can pass that on for you; no need to write direct.

Our house is in the market but we are not desperate to sell or move. We're probably only going to consider offers 5% under asking. If someone sent me a letter I'd just find it weird and ignore it.

They’ve made their position quite clear. This would piss me off and make me not want to deal with you if you kept badgering! Either as an EA or a vendor!

You might as well letter drop other houses in the area you like to see if you can get a bite that way

DH was selling a rare sports car a few years back and we had several begging (and quite rude) messages from a guy wanting to pay thousands less because he said it was overpriced (it wasn't) and that he would be the best owner for the car and would love it the most etc. We totally ignored him and sold it above the asking price to someone else. Why does it matter to us how much you love something or if you think it's overpriced?!! It's fine to make an offer, but an accompanying sob story isn't necessary. It also comes across as being the start of a pain in the arse sale -someone who will whinge and moan and cause issues and try to renegotiate mid sale.
Best of luck with your search. You never know; leaving the offer open and stepping away might be worth it in the long run.

Don’t write to them, you would put them off even more!

Do you think if you said “but I really want it,” they would see the light and drop the price 15%?

No. They would think you were an intrusive CF who thinks she can bypass the agent.

Writing a letter telling them you are not taking the piss is the equivalent of them writing a letter to you saying you are taking the piss.

Trying to educate someone that you know better than them is rarely successful when they hold all the cards

Don’t contact them. It will backfire. And make you look desperate. You’ve been told that they won’t accept your offer.
If the house is really overpriced then it won’t sell and the vendors will bring the price down in a month or two. That’s what’s happening to loads of overpriced houses near me.
You can then go back in with your offer.
If it’s not overpriced then it’ll sell to someone who’s willing to pay more.

They've said no to you twice.
I'm not sure a letter will change their minds.

I'd agree with this. They've made it clear they won't negotiate and you can't afford the asking price. They have appointed an agent to deal with potential buyers and it is intrusive to walk all over that by making direct contact. Bit like when it specifically says not to approach the owner or the property without arranging a viewing and you get people just turning up gawping through the windows and trying to get through side gates etc. just because it's over priced for you doesn't mean it will be out of other people's price range. They may well drop the price in light of the development nearby, but it won't be because they got a letter asking them to do so.

OP does know. Seller has already told them they aren't willing to budge on price.

Go for it. If you don't ask, you'll never know. Good luck!

You sound massively entitled, you may think you understand the local housing market but you clearly don’t understand why the owners may be sticking to what price they are prepared to sell it for. Either make another offer or walk away but writing a letter seems pointless and may entrench their views of you as a chancer.

They've already told you they aren't willing to budge on price and so presumably aren't particually desperate to sell.

Writing directly to them rather than doing it formally is just going to piss them off, and label you as a pain in the arse.

You aren't owed anything by these people. If you can't afford what they are asking for, you don't get.

Good idea to leave the offer on the table. We recently rejected two offers from a lovely young couple, FTB, who clearly loved our house. We were insulted by the first offer. They increased by 10K and said that was their max budget.

We are downsizing but hadn’t found anything that didn’t need lots of money to renovate so we weren’t in a rush.

We recently viewed our dream house and it is in walk in condition, everything immaculate including the outdoor space. Asked our Estate Agent to go back to them and see if they were still interested.
So far everything is proceeding fingers crossed!

You're just telling them you really want the house. That would make me as a seller dig my heels in

Leave the offer on the table. If they’re keen to sell and they’re not getting viewings or offers, they might change their minds later on, if you can play a long game.

If you need to move quickly, look elsewhere.

I had someone make a low offer on a house I was selling because they wanted to be mortgage free.

Also would not inspire confidence of you as a buyer. You sound the kind who would offer less 3/4 of the way through a sale. As a seller I would be very wary of you.

We had a “we love your house but don’t want to pay for it” family- entertained it a bit with an offer on the table as leverage for other negotiations but the damage was done by the note through the door and general persistence. I guess it might work for some but I’m really switched off by people who don’t respect other people’s reasonable requests/boundaries.

YABU. If they were willing to negotiate they would have made a counter offer. Writing to them won’t do anything.