Aibu to write to the house seller?

[ButterMelonCauliflower]

Long story short… we have sold our house but nowhere to buy. We want to stay local and understand the local housing market.
There’s a house we like but it’s out of our price range. We think it’s over-valued (massive development planned next door to the property - probably why owners are selling). The agent it’s on with has a reputation for overvaluing and the vendors are asking way more than local average increase in the 10 years that they’ve owned it. They tried to sell 2 years ago but failed. Since then the asking price has gone up for no obvious reason.
Two weeks ago we offered 18% below asking price and were rejected.
Yesterday we offered 15% below but agent says they are not willing to negotiate.

AIBU unreasonable to contact them, explaining that we love the house, are not trying to take the piss and are hoping they might reconsider?

YES you are BU. It’s their house and they can ask what they like

NO you are not BU. A letter can’t hurt as long as it’s not too bossy/pushy

Any thoughts?

If you wrote me a letter, I’d make sure not to sell to you.

As I added in a subsequent post, the seller will have told them not to pass on offers under a certain point, so they are just acting under instruction.

No estate agent would be so stupid as to openly say they were not passing on offers under any other circumstance. They could be fined thousands of pounds and left open to legal action from the seller.

As the seller I’d be annoyed you had contacted me. The seller has made their position clear via the agent. That’s what agents are for I would y want a buyer to bypass the agent and speak to me directly.

You can't afford it, look elsewhere.
The agent doesnt get paid unless they sell the house, so they will be trying to talk the vendor into accepting your offer. What makes you think that you're better at negotiating than the agent?
Just move on.

Noted. Ditto

You can't afford it and they have made clear they don't want to negotiate...you don't know why they have listed at that price maybe a relationship breakdown and 1 party not really wanting to sell they are obviously not in a rush either way. I wouldn't send the letter another property could go on with same agent and they won't be rushing to deal with you

Well, I wouldn’t write to you so,…
I’m not that rude or entitled.

He didn’t as he didn’t think I was being serious and they had just listed it. I doubt he had a formal instruction but maybe he did. I hadn’t seen the property in person. I phoned up to ask to say, look we’ve sold our place, the most we could stretch to is £xxxx amount. We really like the look of it and would like to see it, would they entertain bids of about that much? He just scoffed and went, no they wouldn’t and that was that. Wouldn’t let us go see it. I didn’t pursue any further as the other property came up and they were very eager to have us buy it due to seller having found their property and didn’t want to lose it.

Thanks for your response and I understand that most people think it is a bad idea - and I’m grateful for their opinion.
I still don’t understand the people who see me posting on here - or considering writing a note - as an act of aggression. Perhaps I’m just a bit friendlier than some

I personally wouldn't bother. Move on and find another property.

I have tried to explain - I don’t think opening direct communication is rude or entitled, and that’s all I’m trying to do. I am talking directly with my buyer

When we were buying our house we were in a bidding war with two other potential buyers. I wrote a letter to the sellers explaining who we were, and how much we wanted their house to raise our family in. They went with us in the end even though we weren’t the highest bidder but they knew we wouldn’t mess them around and genuinely wanted to buy. Our letter swayed them. We were also below asking.

So letters do work, but our circumstances were different as we were one of 3 offers made in a weekend and it was just a question of who has the best offer. In your situation, they’ve made it clear they have no interest in negotiating. You risk annoying them and them deciding there’s no way they’d consider you. I’d let this one go. There will be other houses.

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

Thanks, this makes good sense. I’m pleased you found a vendor who wasn’t just after more money

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.

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.

Thank you, this makes sense

Beggars are now choosers?

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.