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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask strangers if they want to sell their houses?!

78 replies

thatverynightinmaxsroom · 01/05/2017 21:57

We live in a rented house that backs onto a small common. Our landlord now wants the house back. The common is beautiful and very special to me and I would dearly love to buy one of the other houses on it, but none are for sale.

So... WIBU and very rude to put letters through the doors asking if anyone is contemplating selling in the near future? Would it bother you to get such a letter?

OP posts:
Decaffstilltastesweird · 14/08/2017 11:04

I get these at least once a month from estate agents. It's fine. Go for it!

shoofly · 14/08/2017 11:10

We sold our last house to a neighbour who was renting down the street. Another neighbour mentioned that he was interested and would we mind having a chat? Sold for more than we'd thought, no estate agents to worry about 😀

Bluntness100 · 14/08/2017 11:11

I've had a few of these and I'm always quite flattered. If I was considering selling I would follow it up. Go for it. Anyone considering selling would be daft to ignore it , I doubt anyone would, and anyone who isn't looking to sell, with all due respect, isn't really relevant. You can't really lose.

TealStar · 14/08/2017 11:15

It's happened to us; once through a letter, the other a face to face encounter by a random passer-by who said she fell in love with our house.

I was flattered both times!

delilahbucket · 14/08/2017 11:15

It annoys me when estate agents do this. We started getting them within a month of buying our house and get them regularly. I guess the area is desirable.
I would have no objection to a personal letter though as it isn't from someone trying to make money.

crumpet · 14/08/2017 11:18

It worked for friends of mine, who put a note through every door of the street they wanted to live on. A polite request to let you know if the owners might be thinking of selling is not offensive at all.

XiCi · 14/08/2017 11:20

Is there a chance your landlord might want to sell OP?

AztecHero · 14/08/2017 11:30

That's how we bought this house. DH walked past the house every day and admired it greatly. Finally he shoved a note through the door, and as it happened the owner was looking to downsize but was holding off and was indecisive. The note came at the right time, and we had bought it and moved in within 2 months. The former owner then bought a little flat a few streets away and we became good friends!

SapphireStrange · 14/08/2017 11:31

I get these from EAs and always write a Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells email to them telling me not to contact me any more.

I don't know if I'd feel differently if it were a note from a Real Person like a neighbour. I might.

HiJenny35 · 14/08/2017 11:32

why on earth would it 'get your back up' and make you 'determined' not to sell???? What an aggressive way to live. I've had several through as the local very good school has a tiny catchment area and we are directly opposite. If I was considering moving I'd be very pleased and def contact the person.
A nice note which explains that your currently live at number X but will sadly be moving due to x&y so that they know that you are really honest and interested and you contact details. Go for it.

Maelstrop · 14/08/2017 11:36

No harm in trying. They'll either bin or respond with a positive. Would the ll not sell to you?

montenana · 14/08/2017 11:39

go for it. if i was thinking of selling / about to put my house on the market i'd definitely respond.
however i would expect full asking price, no haggling etc so you may end up over paying a little

Yura · 14/08/2017 11:44

We get them at least once a week, mainly from estate agents but also from private persons. No bi d al.

ineedwine99 · 14/08/2017 11:45

Wouldn't bother me to get a letter like this, go for it

Hygge · 14/08/2017 11:47

Estate agents do this all the time.

They put a letter through the door saying they have clients looking to buy on a certain street and if you are thinking of selling you could contact them for a valuation.

It does get results, so it's worth it to them. I don't see why you putting a letter through would be any different.

I know someone who bought her house this way. She had always liked a particular house, so when she was in a position to buy one she went and knocked on the door. She said if they were ever thinking of selling would they ring her first and they said she must be meant to buy it because they had only just decided to sell it a couple of days before, but hadn't had an agent out yet.

She's lived in that house for years now, she loves it just as much as she thought she would, and she stayed in touch with the people who sold it to her.

eddielizzard · 14/08/2017 11:47

i have got a couple like this. make it personal - we love your house blah blah if you ever think of selling please let me know.

eddielizzard · 14/08/2017 11:48

oh and say you rent on the common and would love nothing more than to buy there.

Bluntness100 · 14/08/2017 11:50

why on earth would it 'get your back up' and make you 'determined' not to sell?

I don't understand this either. You want to sell, but because someone asks to buy you won't? Or you will get angry someone is looking at the area and wants to buy a house there and politely enquired if yours was for sale? Or write angry emails to estate agents?

All seems a bit over the top. If you're not interested just bin it. Why the big deal?

Ishouldbedoingsomething · 14/08/2017 11:50

I have done this before - both handwritten letter from me and another time getting an estate agent to send out saying they have a family looking

We got letters / calls back from half of the people we wrote too and I think 0.5% return on the estate agents letters

Still haven't found a house though 😭

sobeyondthehills · 14/08/2017 11:54

Not sure if 3 months is a Zombie

c3pu · 14/08/2017 11:57

I get flyers from estate agents wanting buy my shit house pretty much every week.

I want to continue living there so I just put them straight in the recycling, but I don't find them rude!

EssentialHummus · 14/08/2017 11:57

Worth a try - others have suggested good wording. Be open about your circumstances and being able to work at vendor's speed.

I was on the edge of doing this when we finally bought, as I'm married to the fussiest man in England and the housing stock wasn't coming onto the open market fast enough.

thekillers · 14/08/2017 12:00

We get loads of requests to buy our house. The most moving was an A4 handwritten letter plus a typed letter from their house search agent.

My sister bought her house by posting through the door of every house in the road. It was a death and the letter was forwarded to the solicitor who contacted her.

SquedgieBeckenheim · 14/08/2017 12:06

It annoys me when estate agents do this, but if I received a letter from the person wanting to buy I'd be more receptive. wish someone would offer to buy my house to save me putting it on the market

Puzzledandpissedoff · 14/08/2017 12:07

Another one here who constantly gets estate agents' flyers claiming to have loads of buyers ready and waiting ... the difference here is that at least you're a real buyer Wink

I agree about supplying info around finance in place, no house to sell, etc, and my only real caution would be to check as far as you can whether someone's definitely keen to sell. Obviously anyone can change their minds, but all the hassle of agents and paperwork tends to weed out at least a few of the uncommitted ... a note through the door perhaps less so

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