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Original poster

Has anyone approached a house that's not for sale?

53 replies

insertimaginativeusername · 21/02/2018 19:21

There's a house I pass regularly, it's lovely and in a perfect location for school and work. We are looking to move but there is nothing in the area that we like and we want to stay within school catchment for DC2, so I thought about asking if the owner would consider selling or consider contacting us if he planned to sell in the near future.

Is this ok to do? Has anyone done it and got their dream home? I would hate to offend or upset him. I've wanted to say something casually as I've passed but I never see him and wouldn't want to knock the door.

OP posts:

WatchingFromTheWings · 22/02/2018 00:07

Years ago I used to live in the same street as a fire station. Had cards put through the door a few times from fire fighters wanting to buy houses in the street. Think a new rule had come in about how far they could live from the station. Had no intention of moving at the time so binned them.

bettytaghetti · 22/02/2018 00:10

Lots of houses where I live change hands this way. We're not allowed to put up estate agent signs and many houses are sold without ever knowing that they were on the market in the first place. Go for it OP! I would be flattered if someone thought so highly of my house!

GlitterBurps · 22/02/2018 00:23

Go for it OP, I would. Just make sure the note is super polite. Nothing ventured nothing gained.

Flowerfae · 22/02/2018 00:26

No but there's a house near where I live that will be mine once I win the lottery... the owners will have to find somewhere else to live (joking....sort of)

lucylouuu · 22/02/2018 00:29

my mum had a note through her door saying something along the lines of " we're a couple from X who want to start a family and live in this area and really love this road, if you'd be interested in selling contact me on X "

Spartasprout · 22/02/2018 00:33

We've had notes in the past quite a few times but weren't ready to sell. Now we are, so we're waiting for the next in line to get in touch. We always politely declined, rather than ignoring notes. I think it's lovely that people admire our house so much they ask if they can buy it and it certainly is a massive saving on agency fees if they ask at the right time for you. Go for it!

Ariela · 22/02/2018 02:14

We get notes, and one annoying doorstepper who insisted we'd really like to sell our field so he could build a house there. He kept on for hours, despite me saying on repeat no a) you'd never get planning b) it's too wet to build on and c) we want to keep it as a field.

Earlyup · 22/02/2018 09:15

I don't see what's wrong with a note through the door - if I wasn't interested I'd just ignore it. I'd be irritated and feel awkward if someone actually knocked on the door, mind.

viques · 22/02/2018 09:23

flowerfae me too! I do hope it's not the same house. I saw it on rightmove some years ago so I know the internal layout and room sizes ( I can still find the details and look sometimes) I have my approach strategy and opening price worked out and have redecorated the bedrooms and ripped up the decking............

mummyhaschangedhername · 22/02/2018 09:24

I did, albeit under different circumstances, but I'm living here now.

It was a property that we had heard on the grapevine that the occupants had died. My Dad put a note in saying if they were thinking of selling to let us know, they called, we went discussed price, agreed and was all done in 48 hours.

I certainly don't see the harm in asking.

MaggieMay23 · 22/02/2018 23:54

Fours times and twice we ended up buying the house. Two were elderly who'd recently passed away and the other two one was a direct approach and the other one was through leafleting a very specific area.
My attitude is if you don't ask you don't get. What's the worst that can happen - they say no or ignore

Bowerbird5 · 23/02/2018 06:50

No, but our neighbour asked us. He was moving due to buying his business premises and said he loved our house because we have a better view on the front ( we have three neighbours, he was at the bottom left of our garden) and if ever we were going to sell could he have first refusal. I agreed but I don't think we will be moving. They have a lovely bungalow now.

ArcticMumkey · 23/02/2018 07:06

Yes we did, it was To Let. Turns out they can't sell (complicated legal covenants) but got back to us really quickly. I see no harm in a polite letter, they can either respond or not!

wheresmyphone · 23/02/2018 07:22

Yes. Had a lovely few weeks of knowing loads more than the local estate agents. We had seen about 5 houses before they came on the market. It was a very popular seaside place and market had gone mad but definitely worth doing! We did sbout 200 houses and 10% of people got back to us and 5 viewings!!!!!

Rainboho · 23/02/2018 07:31

Yes, I would welcome this. I live in a sought after close and although there is no for sale sign outside my house, I will definitely be selling in six months time. If a note popped through the door I would let them know this.

ConstantStruggler · 23/02/2018 07:33

If you have neat handwriting perhaps write rather than print the note? I think personally I'd be more likely to have a look if it doesn't look "mass produced"

MargaretCavendish · 23/02/2018 07:37

I'm glad it worked out for you, but this is the only circumstance described on this thread where I think it is a bit off, because you could really upset someone - I think I'd be a bit offended if my relative died and someone tried to make sure they got there first with the house like that, it feels disrespectful.

Situp · 23/02/2018 07:39

We haven't approached anyone but have been approached about our house. We did seriously consider the offer but decided it was not the right time for us.

OVienna · 23/02/2018 08:33

I think I want a tattoo that says: "Shy Bairns Get Nowt."

Yes we have done it. Unfortunately I am not living in the house. We didn't get a response. But I don't regret trying.

OVienna · 23/02/2018 08:34

Plus @Grandadwasthatyou that is a fab user name

Scentofwater · 23/02/2018 08:44

We want to sell our house as soon as we can but have to wait a few months to make it look a bit nicer. If someone put a note through the door they’d probably get a phone call before they left our drive!

Grandadwasthatyou · 23/02/2018 09:36

@OVienna ...we don't own a dog to blame if you get my drift!

OVienna · 23/02/2018 12:02

I wasn't sure whether it was a woo thing. Both tickle me.

scrabbler3 · 23/02/2018 12:08

My parents sold their little cottage in 1980 to a first-time buyer who had put a note in their letterbox. They'd been talking about upsizing to a new-build in the village so the timing was ideal and the chain was tiny. They sold that new-build in 1986 in a similar way - mum mentioned to a neighbour that they were thinking of moving into the nearby town where my school was, and a few hours later the neighbour's best friend was on the phone making an offer, which was accepted after a few days' consideration. So it can work! My parents were 80 before they had to use an estate agent (their final move in 2015, having been home owners since 1967).

mrsfuzzyboots · 23/02/2018 12:09

My parents sold their house this way in the late 90s. They were considering moving but not seriously enough to actually put the house on the market. The opportunity to save of estate agent’s fees was enough to convince my dad to go for it!

You have nothing to lose, worse case scenario is that you won’t here back.

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