To put a note through the door

[Desperatelyseek]

I'm looking to buy a property in the North West as we have outgrown our current one. We have an Aip and deposit but there's a lot of cash buyers here at the minute.
There was a property in a particular area that has sold before we could even view it.
My question is would it be OK for me to out a note through the door of other houses in the area to see if they are willing to sell considering itd a sellers market right now? And would it put you off considering to sell to us? What would I even write I dont actually know but I'm desperate at the moment.

Yes, this is quite common

I think it's really cheeky. I wouldn't sell to somebody who did this. But up to you.

Yes of course, it's really common ,in fact,that's how my dad bought his house. We have lots of notes through the door too.

I would absolutely sell to someone who did this. Would save me a fortune in estate agency fees.

That said, please don't tell me reams about your family - all I would be interested in would be your ability to move quickly.

This is really common and I know people who have bought houses this way!

The only decent house of my childhood, warm, underslung and close to other kids. Some woman put a note through and we were back in a shithole doer upper in a month. I never forgave her, I used to plot her demise in my 7 year old head. Beware the children of the house 😀

This is really common, we get them quite a lot. We’re not interested in selling, so I don’t give them any thought. They do absolutely no harm though. It’s worth a try.

Glad to hear it! I thought it may be too cheeky.
So I should just put that we're interested I buying in the area and have no chain etc..?

I think it is fine, as long as the note is polite and not pushy.

Yes! By all means say you're a family of four and you're really keen to get into the catchment of St Angeline's or whatever. But I had one particularly cringey one from a family who had done little drawings of themselves and said how much they wanted to live in our street and gave a link to their website. I wouldn't have sold to them even if I'd been interested in moving

How ridiculous of you. Talk about cutting of your nose to spite your face!

Your parents were to blame here, they didn’t need to accept the offer.

It's a great idea. If somebody is thinking about selling a note like this might be the prompt they need.

With the added bonus of saving Estate Agency fees.

I think it's fine. No harm in asking. They can just bin the note if they're not interested in selling.

I did this. Have been living in the house I asked about for 17 years. If someone put a note through I would not mind. I would probably sell.

My friend sold his late mothers house this way. He was down at weekends doing it up to sell and found a note through the door, Bingo. We are looking to sell in the next year and would definitely act on something like this.

I've had notes through the door. I have been tempted. nothing right now though or else I would bite their hand off to move without the usual circus. I have also been the person who posted a note through the door of a house which had already been shown to me by their student daughter. Ignored, unfortunately.

Hehe, I had someone come up to me as I sat on my porch and ask if the house was on the market. I said no, I have no intention of selling. Well, I want to speak to the owner she sais. You are, I say. No, I mean "the real owner" (not a young wipper snapper of 27 who obviously can´t affor this). Didn´t go down well.

My parents and 2 of my friends bought houses this way, my parents also sold one this way. Not unusual or cheeky.

Put your position and a few details about you and contact details. I'd definitely put "we are a family of 4 looking for our next family home" or such to make it clear you are a direct buyer because we have local EAs do this from time to time.

It might have worked in the past. But why would someone sell to you in a sellers' market? You'd have to offer them a lot to make it worth their while not advertising.

I think its very cringey and cheeky and would block anyone on principle who tried this. Others disagree though.

Give it 6 months and the market will be flooded with desperate people trying to sell before the crash. Can see it happening already in my area.

It's a fairly low risk, low cost approach for the person trying, though, isn't it? With potentially significant benefits.

We have no way to know in advance anything about the situation of the potential sellers. They may indeed not be interested in selling and scrap the note. Or be so affronted (why ?) as to refuse to engage.

It only takes one house where the situation is suitable to make it, IMO, worth a go.

It doesn't change anything else about the process, the price still needs to be negotiated and the potential buyer's situation discovered and evaluated.

I'd encourage anyone to give it a go. I accept that I am biased by living in a village where properties often change hands in this way. At least some of these end up in the hands of estate agents anyway as part of the negotiate.

The benefit is that it gives the potential buyer a jump on the competition. And potentially a contact within the village which can be helpful, too, to provide an in to other community related matters.

Give it a try and good luck

I think is ok but don’t put loads about yourself.

I think that many people are still under the mistaken impression that those morally upright pillars of society aka estate agents need to sprinkle some magic fairy dust to help along the transaction (without which it could never go ahead).

Why not? Estate agents offer free valuations and with valuation in hand, you can agree a price with the buyer and cut out the EA fee. If you're selling a house for £274k (average U.K. house price) fees are going to be around £4k. So assuming you'd get £280k for best and final, you can take £275k and not have to deal with the hassle of multiple showing, dressing the house, etc etc.

You only have to read the property threads here to know what a colossal pain in the arse all that is, especially if you have pets or children or both.

My neighbours just missed out on getting a house in the area. They leafletted all the houses in 5 or 6 roads, and were contacted by the adult children of the old lady who'd lived across the road, saying they were going to sell.

They got the house for a decent price, the vendors save estate agent fees and everybody was happy.

I'd do it.