To put notes through letterboxes of these houses?

[makeupforever]

My DM has finally decided she wants to move, I am overjoyed as her area has been deteriorating for a while and I just want her to be able to enjoy life somewhere nicer. She owns her house outright but she is limited as to what she will be able to buy as her house isn't worth tons.

We have found a quiet street of small houses that are absolutely perfect for her, they appear to be mostly owned by older people. And they historically are within her budget. We've just missed one up for sale as an offer has been accepted, I asked the estate agent and he said they get snapped up quickly.

She's got her heart set on living there which means a lot to me. I'm well aware that you can't have everything you want and there is a huge chance it won't work out and she won't be able to live there. But I'm willing to do everything in my power to try and help her as she has not had an easy ride and I just want her to enjoy her life now in nice surroundings.

I was thinking of putting notes through the doors of the remaining houses with my name, contact info and some context, and asking if anyone had plans to put their house on the market soon. On some nice note cards? Just on the off chance someone was putting theirs up for sale so it would give us a head start to get everything lined up.

WIBU to do this? Or has anyone ever done this before?

If anyone wanted to buy a house over which I have control without using an estate agent and going to a best and final offer position would need to be willing to pay an extravagant amount over the asking price. You will only know the real value of a house if you go to best and final offers.

I was approached along similar lines. I have never said that I would sell the house. It was not the proposed purchaser but another neighbour who has bought several houses from people who died or went into long term care. I noticed that every move in the street is watched. The locals have their tongues hanging out if an old person gets older and more ill or they go into long term care or dies. It is disgusting. As far as I am aware I am not about to die or move to elderly care nor am I losing my marbles. I am very short on temper with these people.

I wont be selling the house any time soon and I would not sell to please neighbours who do not have the manners or ability to watch discretely if that is what they have to do.

I think this method is very grabby and I am concerned that some older people would feel they have to sell or should sell and sell at a very low price to a chancer

I think you have little to lose...

I know of several people who have successfully done this.

I remember one my parents had (they weren't selling!) with an offer of a finders fee if my parents/whoever could put them in touch with someone who would eventually sell to them

I agree that there is nothing to lose. I have received similar notes myself, although l have not actioned them.

I would suggest though that you keep the note short and sweet and give as little personal information as possible. So, don’t mention cash buyer and don’t use your actual name in the email address.

Is she really a cash buyer or does she need to sell her house first? If she’s got the cash already then worth mentioning, if not then don’t!

I thought a cash buyer was someone who didn’t need a mortgage? If she has enough equity in her current house to buy the new one outright then she would be a cash buyer I think. She’s just a cash buyer who is not yet in a position to proceed.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll I agree completely with your post. I have an irrational fear of home invasion and a notion that someone has been keeping an eye on my home to the point that they have put something through my letterbox really freaks me out.

Before anyone starts, I am NOT suggesting that these people would invade my home/do anything sinister. These are just my own issues.

I thought a cash buyer was someone who didn’t need a mortgage?

Cash buyer means someone who has the cash to buy the property. Not someone who needs to sell first.

Not someone who is chain free or any other combination.

It's completely irrelevant to the seller if you need a mortgage or not when you will end up in a chain anyway, unless you are selling a property unmortgageable.

If nothing else, someone who needs a mortgage is more committed because they have to pay fees and valuation, but being in a chain means it can collapse at any time. Worst possible combination.

I can’t see it being much of a problem personally unless say it’s on a street of mainly older people in bungalows.

That’s more to do with the fact that where I live whenever a bungalow goes up for sale it’s instantly snapped up by much younger couples wanting to totally change it into a normal 2 story house and completely ruining an area.
I personally know of a few older couples in bungalows worried that that will happen where they live and think these people are just waiting for them to die so they can try and get their house for a bargain price and ruin it.

I agree that there is nothing to lose. I have received similar notes myself, although l have not actioned them.

Just nothing to lose for the potential buyer, though, or in terms of the peace of mind of somebody who might feel that somebody wants them out of their own home - and wants it for a steal by deliberately circumventing estate agents and the normal process of marketing and asking for best offers from all interested parties?

I would suggest though that you keep the note short and sweet and give as little personal information as possible. So, don’t mention cash buyer and don’t use your actual name in the email address.

That actually makes it worse and even creepier, imho. So you obviously know where your hoped seller lives and have gone to put a note through their letter box, but you need/deserve to protect yourself by not giving them your own details? You're hoping to broker a transaction on friendly, informal terms, but have decided that this person whom YOU have approached entirely unsolicited has no business in knowing anything at all about the person who has approached them (even invaded, as they may see it)?

We've had a few notes like this and binned them. Our elderly neighbour with dementia became extremely distressed and thought she was being evicted

I can’t see it being much of a problem personally unless say it’s on a street of mainly older people in bungalows.

But younger people can live in bungalows and older people often don't. And people of any age can have MH problems or be otherwise vulnerable. Why does it make any difference if you inadvertently upset an elderly householder who is the only person over 30 on one street as opposed to an elderly householder in another street where everybody is elderly?

Our elderly neighbour with dementia became extremely distressed and thought she was being evicted

As well as dementia sufferers, you only have to read the Relationships board on here to see how common gaslighting is. If your mental state or other circumstances are already fragile, after being worn down by controlling behaviour, imagine if you had a massively controlling husband who kept telling you that he was going to put the house on the market and turf you and the kids out - and then you get a couple of these notes through the door out of the blue. How do you know if they're just interested strangers enquiring on the off-chance or if they could be deliberate devices used by him to panic and control you?

This is exactly how I bought my house! I had set my heart on a particular cul-de-sac for various reasons, and leafleted all the houses with some text that I googled for this specific purpose - I've probably still got it somewhere if you want it. I had two phone calls from people saying that they were about to go on the market, so I viewed both, offered on one and bought it! And no estate agent fees - win win!! I used my actual details (didn't think not to), and the lady who I bought off checked me out on Facebook, noticed mutual friends and gave me a call!

As I said upthread, I am going to do this myself. I don't want to get the place cheap and would make an offer based on what I know similar properties have sold for in the same streets.
I just want a chance to view a place before they go under offer as they are going extremely quickly and I'm worried I won't even get a chance to view in my desired streets.
I will also sign up with estate agents but I don't believe they'll do anything to enable me to find out about desirable properties that I won't also get by signing up for alerts on right move.
I'm certainly not looking to get 20k below market value or anything like that.

As to why a seller might agree to an approach, some people would take the option to have an easier life and bypass the hassle of getting a place ready for marketing and taking viewings etc. As well as saving estate agents fees.
Not everyone can be bothered to test the market and see what the very best price they can get for their property is.

@Hillbillyhotel

I am on the fence here. I think on the one hand that it's a not a bad idea, but also, as some posters have illustrated, it could unnerve some people. So it may be a better idea to have a generic one for the whole street IYSWIM.

We have had quite a lot over the past 10-11 years we've lived here (pre-covid maybe 5 or 6 a year,) but mostly from estate agents. We live in a highly revered area that is very popular with people who want to move to a more peaceful and rural way of life, and it's a really beautiful part of the country. The houses are snapped up like hot cakes around this area, and they often sell before the sign goes up in the garden!

It's never bothered me, (having leaflets pushed through the door with people/estate agents asking if we want to sell our house,) but as has been said, I do know a few elderly and vulnerable people who have been spooked and unnerved by it, as they think they're being watched... So as I said, I am on the fence.

@isthisareverse

I thought a cash buyer was someone who didn’t need a mortgage?

Cash buyer means someone who has the cash to buy the property. Not someone who needs to sell first.

Not someone who is chain free or any other combination.

It's completely irrelevant to the seller if you need a mortgage or not when you will end up in a chain anyway, unless you are selling a property unmortgageable.

If nothing else, someone who needs a mortgage is more committed because they have to pay fees and valuation, but being in a chain means it can collapse at any time. Worst possible combination.

This cash buyer definition is correct. Your mother has to sell hers first so isn't a cash buyer. There is a chain which there isn't with a real cash buyer, hence the benefit of it.

As I said upthread, I am going to do this myself. I don't want to get the place cheap and would make an offer based on what I know similar properties have sold for in the same streets.
I just want a chance to view a place before they go under offer as they are going extremely quickly and I'm worried I won't even get a chance to view in my desired streets.
I will also sign up with estate agents but I don't believe they'll do anything to enable me to find out about desirable properties that I won't also get by signing up for alerts on right move.
I'm certainly not looking to get 20k below market value or anything like that.

If the EAs know that you're a serious and capable buyer, why would they not contact you when something suitable comes up with them? The more they get (either from you offering more or just your interest forcing others to offer more), the more commission they obviously make.

When we recently put out family member's house on the market, we were told that the EA staff have a fun 'sweepstake' (obviously not with actual money) to see how soon after putting a house on the market they get the first phone call from a prospective buyer. They told us their record was three minutes!

We had a lot of interest and gave it a week before accepting our preferred offer - that seemed a reasonable time to give everybody serious enough chance to view and consider it. The first viewer made us an offer and asked for us to take it off the market, but why ever would we have wanted to limit ourselves by doing that?

What's wrong with signing up for Rightmove alerts, though? If your only motivation is to have a chance to get the house you really love at a fair market price, call the EA as soon as you get the alert and then make the best offer. Keep in touch with the EA and make it subtly known that you are very interested, serious and might go higher if need be, to stay in with a chance. I can't think why you wouldn't be happy to do this, unless you were hoping to cut in there quickly and score yourself a hefty discount on the market value, at the expense of the vendor.

Oh, and don't have a long list of 'previous' well-known dubious behaviours and timewasting/dishonest/gazundering/sneaky/bribing tactics to make them caution their vendor against going with you, regardless of how high your offer, like one of our offerers did

Partial bold fail.

This cash buyer definition is correct. Your mother has to sell hers first so isn't a cash buyer.

Yes, the problem is that 'cash buyer' has become recognised as a positive situation to be able to offer, to the extent that people will claim it, even when it isn't true and you can't rely on the phrase much any more. I think a lot of people aren't deliberately lying, but they rationalise the 'buyer' part in their heads - of course they're a potential buyer - and then think 'cash' - "well, that means money and obviously we'll be using money to buy it with - we're not asking to part-exchange another property or pay them in cheese - so we are cash buyers."

I think it's now largely just become a phrase that comes out of people's mouths without ever being filtered through their brains.

What's wrong with signing up for Rightmove alerts, though? If your only motivation is to have a chance to get the house you really love at a fair market price, call the EA as soon as you get the alert and then make the best offer. Keep in touch with the EA and make it subtly known that you are very interested, serious and might go higher if need be, to stay in with a chance. I can't think why you wouldn't be happy to do this, unless you were hoping to cut in there quickly and score yourself a hefty discount on the market value, at the expense of the vendor.

I'm going to do that as well, should have said.

This cash buyer definition is correct. Your mother has to sell hers first so isn't a cash buyer

She is a 'hot buyer' though, I'd use that term.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

This cash buyer definition is correct. Your mother has to sell hers first so isn't a cash buyer.

Yes, the problem is that 'cash buyer' has become recognised as a positive situation to be able to offer, to the extent that people will claim it, even when it isn't true and you can't rely on the phrase much any more. I think a lot of people aren't deliberately lying, but they rationalise the 'buyer' part in their heads - of course they're a potential buyer - and then think 'cash' - "well, that means money and obviously we'll be using money to buy it with - we're not asking to part-exchange another property or pay them in cheese - so we are cash buyers."

I think it's now largely just become a phrase that comes out of people's mouths without ever being filtered through their brains.

My mother has recently had on an offer to purchase accepted on the condition that she proved within 24 hours that she had the money in the bank, so I do think people are wising up to this.

OP go for it, nothing to lose.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll
Absolutely. Here the market is mad at the moment with houses going way over asking price. Even when accounting for saving on estate agency fees. I’d hate to think of someone vulnerable not getting what the house is actually worth.

We were planning to put our house up for sale and had had it valued but we're waiting a couple of weeks as we needed something doing to it before putting it on the market.

Got a note through the door. Rang them up. They came round. Liked it. Bought it. No estate agent fees. Lovely jubbly.