Is this and unreasonable thing to do if you really want to move to a certain area?

[Chichiboo]

There is a certain area where me and my husband would like to move to but houses very rarely come up for sale there ...in fact one came up yesterday, we asked to view it but they’ve already had an offer for the asking price. I’m really gutted as it would’ve been a really great house for us in the perfect location but I guess it wasn’t meant to be.

I heard recently of someone who put a flyer through somebody’s door saying that they were looking to move into the area and if they ever thought of selling them to contact them as that’s an area that they would like to live in. It worked out for the best because they have now moved into the house and the seller obviously didn’t need to pay estate agency fees.

I’m really tempted to do this (put a flyer in each house of the street we want to live in ) but my husband thinks it’s a bit out of order and could rub people up the wrong way. What are peoples thoughts on this please?

We did that. We'd been looking for a certain type of property, and DH put a polite letter through the door of around 6 houses expressing interest, should they be considering selling.

We had a call that afternoon from an agent, who said she'd just put one of the houses on the market.

It has been our home for the last 25 years!

Sure I think it's done quite a bit now. Explain your position clearly and honestly.

We get those flyers a lot. You just ignore them if you aren't interested, it's not a major annoyance.

I think it's a perfectly normal thing to do, how could even the most sensitive person be offended by that?

We get them a lot too. If I was looking to sell I would contact someone who'd done it but as I'm not I don't care and am unoffended. So it's worth a go I reckon.

Why would it rub people up the wrong way? We live on quite a sought after street (not because it's very posh, far from it, it's a street of small terraces which are usually more affordable than the bigger houses on neighbouring streets) and we get one of these leaflets/letters through our door at least a few times a year. We have no intention of selling up but it doesn't in any way offend us, like you say if we did want to sell it would be great because we could avoid the whole hassle and expenses of estate agents and viewings etc. - my parents actually sold their house to a lady that went door-to-door knocking up their street saying she was looking and it was a good arrangement all round - obviously they took advice as to a fair asking price and appointed good solicitors who before they did any work checked the lady was legit and had funds etc available in case it was some kind of bizarre scam!

The only letter that made me go a bit was one that had a kind of begging/guilt trippy tone all about how they had kids in local schools, were in a temporary rental and were 'desperate to give them a permanent home' - I did sympathise of course (like I say ours are small/affordable houses in a pricey area) and I fully get how hard it is for young families to get out of the rental trap, but I didn't really appreciate them making it my problem to solve. On the other hand my dear departed grandmother many years ago knocked a substantial amount off the price when a nice young couple bought her house because the husband reminded her of her (sadly deceased) son, so some people clearly do respond well to a personal touch! So if you do send the letter, while a few personal details wouldn't go amiss, I'd mainly focus on you being excellent buyers, procedeable, can provide proof of funds etc etc.

Good luck!

I think if you catch someone planning to move soon, they might see an opportunity to save EA fees but don't think anyone's going to save your details just in case.

I don't think anyone be be offended though.

Make it fairly factual. You are looking in that area - ask them to keep your details - interested but not desperate.

I think it's fine to do. If there's a local Facebook page you could post there also. I used to live in a 1 bed flat at the not so nice end of a great street. We hoped to be able to stay in the street but find a house further up and posted on the Facebook page and had a few responses. Nothing that worked for us in the end but no one seemed offended.

We live somewhere where this type of thing is fairly common.

A polite note letting residents know that there is an interested party if they were thinking of selling, or to hang on to their details just in case, is fine.

Anything more, details on personal circumstances or having kids in school, or being a lifelong devotee of the local church, or whatever is too much.

But also bear in mind some people will want to use an agent anyway. We sold our last house to someone we knew. They were annoyed about the agent, wanted the house for less (annoyed we were paying agents fees etc), but the truth is it would always have gone with an agent to avoid having to deal with them directly. But oh gosh did they try and they were a pain about it!

I used to get these from agents quite a lot. I'm sure it works in some instances.

I've had these from a couple of people last year but wasn't looking to sell at that time.

Can't say it bothered me or offended me in the slightest, and not sure why it would. If people aren't interested they just bin it like junk mail. On the flipside they might be tempted and you might get lucky!

Agree with @Springchickpea though don't make it too flowery, just factual. I'm not interested in your life history and don't care about your circumstances, but if I was looking to sell I'd probably remember that you had shown interest.

You have nothing to lose, so try it!
My DM used to say that you can ask people pretty much anything as long as you do it in a polite manner so make sure of that.

Also make sure you are registered with all the local agents as they can contact you before the house comes to the market - but you would need to be in a good position i.e. already sold, cash buyers or similar.

We are going to try this ourselves. I've never received a letter like this myself, but maybe my current home isn't desirable enough! 😂 I definitely wouldn't mind if I did get a letter, as surely it would be nice to know that your property is in demand! I'd be pleased anyway.

It’s definitely worth a try! We did this earlier this year - sent letters to around 40 houses on streets we love. We had four responses - two very polite declines by email, a phone call from someone who was clearly just digging to see if any of his neighbours had replied, and a phone call from someone who was thinking of selling. Ultimately, nothing came of it as the last person decided to stay put, but we didn’t receive any negative feedback from anyone.

I would put the flyer straight into the bin without thinking twice as we are not planning to sell atm. Otherwise I might contact them, it would save you time and money with EAs.

I vote go for it. My mum gets a fair few of these through her door. She doesn’t want to move but is flattered by the approach

Yes do it! My friend sold his flat this way!

Hello OP. We did this just last week. We are looking for a particular area and there is nothing on the market at the moment. We put a printed note through about 70 doors. I did my my mobile number on. I also checked out Zoopla beforehand as some are deceptively big and would be out of budget and some are split into flats. I did use envelopes with handwritten Street number, street name.

• 1 response not selling but wishing us luck
• 1 response that they are interested. Ended up being out of our budget
• 2 responses saying they're looking to move in the next couple months and will keep our details
• 1 response saying we could come and view in 2 weeks after she is back from holiday
• 1 response from an agent where the owner had literally instructed the property that day and he got our note. We were first in the door for viewing and made an offer. Waiting to hear the outcome now.

Wrt the note, we were polite and factual. I.e a young family who are looking for a house in the area. We put our position and contact details.

We used to get these in our old house, we have just moved and found our current house by asking on social media if anyone was thinking of selling. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t it’s pot luck but worth a try!

We live in a fairly desirable area and would say on average we get 1 EA card or marketing leaflet wanting to market our property per week plus about 1-2 handwritten letters per year. Has been more this past year as folk have 'discovered' the area on walks.

My friend has land that goes behind her house and between 2 houses further along, the nearer property and hers both get loads of cards and notes 'we'd like to build our own house, and would like to know if your building plot is for sale'. It's not a building plot, has no planning and the local council would not agree anyway.

My FIL got his last house this way. He particularly wanted to live next door to SIL.I suppose it was slightly different inasmuch as she followed up his note verbally

I completely agree that it's fine and worth the chance to put a polite note through the door.

Who could be offended?

Except when this question was asked before, there was actually one poster who said "the cheek of it, even if I was selling I'd never sell to them if they asked" 🤣🤣🤣

Now I'm all upset, never had a flyer put through my door.
It's a nice house, and I'm lovely !