"Dear Seller" letter - what to say?

[sianihedgehog]

Hi all, my partner and I are still continuing our desperate quest to buy a house in a wildly overheated market, and are now including cover letters with our offers. We've seen a house that we absolutely love and will be making an offer, but I thought I'd ask for some advice on what to include in our cover letter. I've had a good look online, but everything I can find is awfully American.

What could I put in my letter that might make you, as a seller, choose my offer?

[Oliversmumsarmy]

A letter would put me off completely, equally the fact that, I presume, you are first time buyers.

I have never managed to sell to a first time buyer yet. When an EA describes an offer is from someone who is in a great position as they have nothing to sell they are first time buyers my heart sinks as I know they will mess me around for 4 months then pull out. But I have probably bought and sold more properties than most so am more cynical than most.

[DicteSvendsen]

Really, wonder why that happens?! do they feel that they're in such a good position they can just pull out the moment they see something they wish theyd spotted four months ago? Has that happened to you more than once Oliversmumsarmy?

[newstart15]

I think its the EA that needs to be influenced not the vendor.We saw a house with an elderly lady who was downsizing and she was very complimentary about us and we offered full asking.We had large deposit and no chain.The house eventually went to buyers who were selling through the agent, for 5k less than our offer, as they got both deals and were sure of the chain.

We were stalled by the agents who clearly did not want our bid to succeed (only learnt that later) so in my experience if you are in a competitive market no amount of vendor sentiment counts as the EAs advise the vendor on the best offer.

My sister also got the opportunity to bid on a house without competition on the condition she listed with the agent.I fear its common practice in an overheated market.

[Pipbin]

Really? Is this a thing? I sold my house 2 years ago and I sold it to whoever offered the money. I gave not a shit who they were or why they were going to buy it.

That said the people we bought from sold us the house for below asking price because they liked us, in fact we are still friends!

[Woozlebear]

Amazed by the numbers of people saying it's all about the money, letter irrelevant etc.

We have been forced by the top of a chain we were in into accepting the third highest offer on our house - a loss of 25k to us - because those bidders were in the best position for the needs of the rest of the chain (speed).

The people we are hopefully buying off at the moment were the highest bidders on their onward purchase but weren't originally accepted because they weren't in the best position.

'Proceedability' - that dread word- is often king, not money IME.

My experience is London and SE - different, I wonder?

[bishboschone]

I sold my mums old house last year , I tried my hardest to sell it to a nice family .. I grew up there and mum and dad owned it for 40 years so it meant a lot to all of us ... In the end some entitled dicks bought it but I really did try not to sell it to them .. If I had a choice I would have sold it to the nicest people and a heartfelt letter would have helped .

[Oliversmumsarmy]

The top 2 reasons a FTB has pulled out, sometimes on the day of exchange, are they are scared of the commitment or the fact they think they can afford something better if they save a little more. Most lose thousands in mortgage arrangement fees surveyors and solicitors fees.

Oh and I did get one couple who on the day of exchange decided to reduce their offer to £25000, £125000 less for our 3 bed detached house because someone had told them that anyone selling a house was going bankrupt so would be grateful of the offer. Later we found out they had been banned from whole towns of EA as they had been viewing million pound country estates and offering £25000.

[Moreisnnogedag]

£25,000? Surely that's a typo. Nobody could honestly think anyone would sell at that price anywhere.

OP you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by writing a letter. I think that being able to proceed at sellers pace is the biggest plus actually. Who wants to accept a higher bid but have it dragged out costing more in the end?

[sianihedgehog]

Thanks very much everyone for your comments and suggestions. The letter is written and signed and in our offer to be handed over today.
I've put all the stuff about how flexible and prepared we are at the very start, and a single sentence about how much we liked the house and the things we liked at the end, and I've included a copy of our decision in principle. The EA has an offer from which doesn't include some of the information (like being in rented and flexible about closing dates) that I think makes us appealing so I think it's really worth including the letter, but I've tried to make it friendly but businesslike so as to avoid anyone being put off by too much American style gushing!

[fleurdelacourt]

OP I wouldn't send it. Buying and selling houses is a financial transaction. They only need the details of what you are offering and what your current position is. Being a young family is of no relevance to this at all.

I'm with those who have said that a letter like this might even put me off. I have no desire to strike up a personal relationship with buyers.

[Oliversmumsarmy]

No not a typo. They did bid £25K for a £1000000+ estate. It was during the recession in the early 90s. We were moving because dp commute was 2 hours each way. Apparently some bright spark had told them that anyone who had a property up for sale was about to be repossessed.

[Apatite1]

We sold our flat to a lovely couple who had been desperate to stay in the area, and moved into rented earlier than expected. We accepted £2k less than the highest offer from a BTL landlord. They sent a letter and I'm a soft touch so it worked.

[museumum]

We sold to a couple instead of a developer as we are staying in the area and there are already too many shared student flats around here.

[museumum]

I'm actually shocked how many other posters don't care at all about their communities or their ex-communities and just want as much personal cash as possible ??

[DicteSvendsen]

Well, if you can afford to lose a few thousand here or there, that's nice, but most people can't move on to the next stage if they relinquish a few grand along the way to nice people.

[Pipbin]

I'm actually shocked how many other posters don't care at all about their communities or their ex-communities and just want as much personal cash as possible

My house sold to the first firm offer in 6 months for the minimum that we could afford to sell it for. One of the reasons we were moving was because of problems with our neighbours both directly to both sides and over the road.
So I didn't sell for as much cash as I could and I doubt the drug dealers really cared much.

[Mintyy]

I would always be swayed by a buyer who promised to keep the front garden (including beautiful tree) intact and not concrete it over for parking, despite parking being a bit patchy on our street.