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

[narmada]

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?

I do hope so. I think they are decent people and sense they would be happier it going to a family rather than someone out to make a quick buck. Perhaps they want to test the market - who knows? Or maybe they are so uncomfortable talking about money that they'd rather pay someone £8 grand to do that for them (seems bonkers to me but there you go!). Anyway, they are fully within their rights and as I said they have apparently had trouble with a private sale before (just our luck, eh???!!). Let's hope it all comes out in the wash.

Sounds like your sale was a bit protracted and traumatic. You did well to see it through. Surely in cases like that the buyers could withold commission or claim breach of contract if they were in effect thwarting a sale?? But I bet the sellers and you just want it all t o be over!

I am a bit more than I would otherwise be as I have an acquaintance who works for a local agent.We had a very interesting chat who said that around here the best properties often never make it on to rightmove or even to the photos and floorplans stage - they are sold direct to developers by agents who have an 'a' list of ready and waiting cash buyers. Yes, even in this day and age. Nuts!

That should have read 'we had a very interesting chat where she said that.... Oh dear, early night needed....

sams cheeky! But I guess there were no other offers forthcoming that were higher than your friend's cheeky and I bet in the end everyone felt they got a good deal out of it so no harm done.

If you get one of these through the door it will be someone hoping to get your house cheap.

Just as if you were selling a car, or if you were an old lady with valuable antiques or jewelry, putting it on the open market and getting the widest interest and the most offers is likely to get you the best price.

What I'm doing (I have a house that will be sold soon) is putting these letters aside and once it goes on sale, I will ask them to contact the estate agent.

piglet sorry, but you're wrong in our case. We intend to make the same offer through an agent that we would have made as private vendors. It will be a generous offer given the nature of the property and the condition it's in, because that's what it's worth to us. We are extremely picky about area and a number of features (e.g., size of garden) and that is why we have leafletted some likely houses. We also wanted to move quickly because we want to get a nursery place for our daughter in September.

Providing they accept our offer (which will be not far short of the asking price) the vendors will be approximately £8,000 worse off than had they sold to us privately taking into account commission. Not everyone is on the make, you know. The owners would have to get an offer of £2 grand under full asking price to equal what they'd have got from us privately - not likely given it's on for the same price as the one next door sold for in 2009, and that one's modernised and extended.

Oh, and I know how much commission they will pay because they told me! They are nice, genuine people.

We got our current house this way. We dropped a hand written note through the letter box so it was clear that it was not a mass mail-shot.

ooh well done Goosey!

We couldn't find what we wanted when we first got married, eventually I put an ad in the local paper "Wanted " columns. We got a wonderful 4 bedroomed Georgian house as a result, and strangely enough we knew the people who owned it. We sold it on when we moved a couple of years later to our nex door neighbours who wanted more space - avoiding the dreaded estate agents a second time.

Just had our offer accepted on a house in our dream location, one of the ones I leafletted on the first day and one of the first I saw. In the end they went through an agent but it seems only to have someone else do the negotiating.

Hopefully the survey will all be OK and we can finally, finally have our own home!

Fingers crossed for you

Thanks samsgoldilocks!