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Original poster

If this plopped through your door would you run a mile?

62 replies

narmada · 05/05/2011 21:59

DP and I have been looking for ages for a house to buy. We're quite picky and have to consider school catchments as two small pre-school children. There is very little on the market in our chosen areas and and in our price bracket (we're in south west london/ Surrey) and having been gazumped a couple of times (yes, really) I am trying to think of alternative ways to find us what we need.

I wondered about doing a mail drop to houses in our chosen streets that might be within our price range if they were to come on the market. Just a printed sheet through the door with our details, our position (no chain, financially sorted) and encouragement to contact us if interested in selling.

If you got something like this through your door would you just bin it immediately?

Has anyone ever tried anything like this?

OP posts:
SpringHeeledJack · 06/05/2011 08:49

I'd go for it, if I got one. Benefits enormous.

think the only reason for binning it is if you find negotiating with vendor directly a bit hard to do, instead of through an intermediary (estate agent)

to my mind, that's the reason we still have EAs. We're too delicate for a bit of face to face/telephone haggling in this country Grin

Original poster
narmada · 06/05/2011 08:50

Oooh, thanks everyone. That's an overwhelming yes. I'm going posting today - wish me luck!

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Original poster
narmada · 06/05/2011 15:37

Update:

Went out for an hour or two of pounding the pavements this lunchtime with DS in the sling. Within 10 minutes of dropping the first leaflet, I had a call and someone saying did I want to come and look around then and there. Dragged a friend along. God, it was lovely: my dream home in completely the dream location. Sadly, they'd done loads of improvements so it will probably be out of our price range by about 70 grand :(. The owner was about to have it valued in 2 days time. I couldn't believe it.

About half an hour later I was busy leafleting another one of our chosen roads, went for a wander around, came back and just as I was getting DS into his car seat, I was approached again. This time by a lovely couple, the wife of whose father had just died and who were clearing out his house as they were hoping to put it on the market ASAP. This was a doer-upper but would be perfect for us. They've agreed to let us know after they've had it valued but before entering into a contract with an agent.

I can't believe it. That'll probably be the only two bites but I am feeling dead chuffed.

OP posts:
Mirage · 06/05/2011 16:11

Wow! That is what I call a result.Well done and please let us know how it goes!

hester · 06/05/2011 16:36

That is fantastic! All fingers crossed you get your house...

mollymole · 06/05/2011 16:39

if i was thinking of selling i would certainly contact you

Original poster
narmada · 06/05/2011 20:06

Thanks everyone - will post an update if anything happens. I would be so chuffed to avoid the agents. I loathe them, they do so little for the money and have treated us like crap for the most part. Not that I'm bitter or anything Hmm

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maggiethecat · 06/05/2011 21:05

Great news, very happy for you!

GarnishWithALemonTwist · 07/05/2011 12:28

Sorry to hijack this thread but I am in a similar situation to OP and find this very interesting. I never realised this could be an option. Can I just ask though, how would you word the letter so that the owners of the house you're interested in don't think you're dodgy? Thanks

maggiethecat · 07/05/2011 12:45

I would think a fairly sunny note saying that you like the area and are quite keen to get a house there. Give your contact details and it's down to them to contact you.

If when they contact you you sound dodgy to them, then you have a problem Grin

Original poster
narmada · 08/05/2011 11:22

In the letter I said we liked the area, wanted a house, and were having limited success through the estate agent route. I also included some basic information about us as a family (e.g., that we have two small children) and some information on our position (in rented, finance sorted, e.g., proceedable).

I suppose some people might be a bit uncomfortable including so much personal info but I wanted to get the point across that we were serious and we weren't estate agents or property developers.

OP posts:
ChippingIn · 08/05/2011 13:18

Narmada - that's a great response. Any more action over the weekend?

Original poster
narmada · 08/05/2011 13:35

Ach, no, sadly, no more action over the weekend.

Nevertheless, I think the second house I saw is probably worth waiting for - the people I met seemed very straight and explained that it would take a few weeks for them to get the place valued and that they couldn't legally enter into a contract of sale until probate was granted anyway. We are going to keep looking in the meantime but I am hoping that we get somewhere with that one. A big bonus is that we'd not have to move again in 7 years time in order to be near enough to a secondary school for our kids.

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ChippingIn · 08/05/2011 15:47

Have you and DH been able to look around the house?

tyler80 · 08/05/2011 15:53

I think you might have inspired me to do something similar

There are two houses opposite that have stood empty for years. I keep thinking maybe I should put a note through the door/try and contact the owners and then I think if they wanted to sell they would have done so already so do nothing.

Time to get writing I think, location is perfect for us and the houses themselves are identical to the one we're currently renting so we know the space works for us.

Original poster
narmada · 08/05/2011 20:14

tyler ooh yes, do investigate those. You can look up who owns them by paying the land registry £4 for the deeds, and then using trusty old google to track them down. You might have better luck tracing the owner that way if they're not in residence at the properties themselves.

chippingin DH hasn't seen either of the houses, but I've seen them both. Couldn't see any major probs with either, well, apart from the fact that house 1 was way too expensive for us!

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Original poster
narmada · 08/05/2011 20:18

Actually, I take that back. House number 2 (built in the 40s) did have something that looked like it might be a possible subsidence-related crack (it was diagonal) on one of the bedroom walls. Obv, a full structural survey would be needed.

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Original poster
narmada · 04/06/2011 20:02

Oooh, saw one of the letter-drop houses again today and we both really love it. The owners are planning to put it on the open market with an agent this week and I was very gently trying to sell her the advantages of doing it privately while trying not to come across as a crazed desperate loon. Hope they come round because I have a big suspicion that if it goes on the open market it will go to a developer paying cash - it's that kind of house and that kind of location :(. We need a mortgage for it, got one agreed in principle but still....we're going to make them a really good offer, not trying to fleece them at all, I just hope that came across.

Owner is going to consult with her brothers (it's an executors sale) and get back to me in next few days. We've been looking on and off for nearly a year and a half (we're quite, erm, particular, but unfortunately don't have the money to go with it!). My nerves are shot, I need Wine.

OP posts:
angel1976 · 04/06/2011 20:42

narmada Fingers (and toes) crossed! :)

Original poster
narmada · 04/06/2011 22:59

Thanks angel. DP and I have just gone through our finances and we were rather peeved to learn they are about £10,000 less rosy than we thought. Oh dear. Off to the mortgage brokers again on monday, still hoping things will work out - we only need about 50% Loan to value FFS!

OP posts:
angel1976 · 04/06/2011 23:41

narmada It's so hard isn't it? We started looking for 3-bedroom houses in a particular area, then realised that honestly with 2 boys (and lots of overseas family), we really need 4 bedrooms if we want to stay put for a while (really not liking this moving lark AT ALL!) so we then had to stretch our budget to look at 4-bedroom houses. Thankfully, my parents are giving us a no-interest loan. And the house we just bought is right at the top of our budget. It's hard and we literally will have less than £10k by the time we pay for everything but really hoping this is the last time we move for a LONG time. Ideally, I would have liked more as a buffer but the bloody sale/purchase has dragged on so long that thankfully DH is due his bonus soon but we will probably put that towards paying off our mortgage!

JumpJockey · 05/06/2011 06:48

I did this, leafleted over 100 houses on three streets we like where houses never seem to make it to the open market. No bites at all, alas, but at least we tried!

Original poster
narmada · 06/06/2011 20:55

Angel glad you got your house! Was it worth the wait and wrangling and eating gruel??!

Well, we have spoken to our intended vendors and said we will be putting an offer in no matter how they sell (via agent or private sale) as we think it's the right house for us. Offered to provide evidence of finances which are as sound as they can be in this day and age. We really didn't want to put the pressure on them to do it privately because they have previously had a bad experience with a private buyer being a timewaster and holding them up for months (different property, but once bitten and all that....).

Alas....they still intend to market it through an agent :( :( :( :(. If a cash buyer comes along we are dead in the water. Cash buyers in our area are ten a penny unfortunately and houses in good positions are in very short supply. Can't blame them for doing what they are doing but oh how my heart sank when they told me they were going with an agent.

At least I am on said agent's books as a potential buyer but it's going to be a difficult conversation to have with them: "hello, I understand you have a house coming on the market in XX, we know the sellers, --we tried to buy the house privately from them and therefore deny you your commission-". Hmmmmm.

OP posts:
angel1976 · 06/06/2011 21:08

narmada Uh... I couldn't tell you yet as we only exchanged and will complete in a couple of weeks! LOL! It's a bummer though that they couldn't trust you though I don't really see how going through an agent will help... House sales fall through all the time, agent or not. I won't tell you my long saga (on another thread) but we actually put a note through the door of the house we are buying as basically, we were getting nowhere negotiating with the agent. And we managed to do something the agent couldn't, which was to agree on a price! Honestly, I don't think the agent will care if you have been in touch with the owners before privately. All they will care about is that whoever they sell to, they will get their commission. Fingers crossed for you that it works out though. Hopefully, because you have been in touch with them and the vendors know you are keen, they might choose you over other parties when it comes down to it...

SamsGoldilocks · 06/06/2011 21:12

some friends of mine did this in exeter and got 6 responses over a 6 month period. I think soemone did actually mull it over and decide to contact them but because it was so long after they'd done it, my friends had already put on offer in on a house.

I also heard tell today of a friend who lives in the same area as you who found a 2 bed house, put in a cheeky offer, then got lots of her friends to go round and put in even cheekier offers so hers was the best offer on the table and was accepted.