Do people really put notes through doors of houses they like?

[Fallulah]

We live in a little terraced house that is realistically a bit smaller for us. With the increase in value since we moved in and the fact we’ve paid off a chunk of mortgage, we’re in an OK position to go to a three bed, although it would have to be in a different area to the nice one where we are, or so we thought!

Like many others we have been taking a lot more walks and discovering new things right on our doorsteps. In a cul de sac across from where we live is a 3 bed house that always has the curtains closed, front door paint peeling, never a car on the drive etc. It looks empty although there are lights on in the evening but we have decided these are on timer. We saw the neighbour cutting their grass last week when we walked past.

Would you put a note through the door asking if they were interested in selling and could we have a viewing? Or would that translate as ‘we think your house looks so shit there can’t possibly be anyone living there’? 😂

I read about people putting notes through doors and getting the house of their dreams but I don’t know if it happens in real life!

I sent notes round to houses I liked when I'd first sold my house and nothing suitable was coming on to the market earlier this year.

I only sent 5 notes to houses I really liked as I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up by leafleting every house randomly. I didn't hear back from them, so I suppose they weren't ready to sell just yet.

My current purchase is going veeeeeeeeery slowly, so if one of the owners of those houses got in touch with me now, I'd be happy to look round and offer at the right price and if they were keen to move quickly.

I'd do it again if I wasn't able to find anything suitable to buy.

How long did it take for you to get a response?

If someone did it here I think we might bite. We've been so laissez-faire about moving because of the hassle, stress and facing 30 years of stuff to sort or move.

But we do sort of want to but because we don't currently need to, and will move out of Cornwall and not sure where exactly I think the only way we will do it is if we get to having to or someone gave us a kick up the arse!

So, go for it.

You basically just described our house and we very much do live here.

We did offer to buy a house via a letter for far greater than its value (as we really wanted it). In the end we got messed about (seller called us and agreed to sell but then kept changing their mind/dragging their feet) and lost 6 months and the sale fell through.

We've had it once. They did the whole street. Nobody sold so far as I am aware.

I started this thread in July 2021… we’ve been in our ‘new’ house since 2023!

I did put a note through that door but nobody ever responded. When we reached the point where our house had sold but we couldn’t find anything, the estate agent leafleted whole roads for us! It came to nothing though and we’ve ended up in our dream house that we offered on and missed out on, then that fell through and they came to us.

I posted some letters yesterday day but no response so far… am unsure if that means that there will be none at all. Surely they would’ve responded right away? It is an annoying time to look with all the bank holidays not much is going on the market

Depends if they are away for the weekend!

Further to my previous post, I currently live in one of the houses I sent a letter to!

Following my first attempt at sending 5 letters and getting no response, the house that I was supposed to be buying through an estate agent fell through after 7 months of slow progress.

I then sent roughly another 15 letters to targeted houses. 1 replied saying thanks but not interested, 1 said not yet (and came back to me about 4 months later asking for a crazy price), then the last 1 invited me to view a couple of days after getting my letter. 6 months later I completed the purchase (there were 3 of us in the chain, as they needed to find somewhere to buy while I had already sold my house).

From memory, my eventual vendors responded to my letter within a couple of days of receiving it.

When I next decide to move house, I would take the same approach again in a heartbeat.

@Starseeking

Can I ask what you wrote on the note?

There is a property near to me that I'm interested in, someone lives there as there is a car that comes and goes.

It's certainly unloved and messy. For years there's been brown broken vertical blinds, both upstairs and downstairs, overgrown outside etc.

Just wondering what I should write? I'm in Scotland and houses in my area are going for 12-15% over the home report value, we can't afford that, so hoping a private sale might work in our favour.

Thanks

I’ve just gone down memory lane and pulled out the template text for the letter which secured my house:

Dear Mr & Mrs Name (details from Land Registry)

I hope you do not mind my approaching you in this direct way.

I have recently had a property purchase in this area collapse, as the vendor decided not to move. I am still looking for a family home in this area, and I wondered if you may be thinking of selling.

In terms of my financial position, I sold my house in June 2021, and am living with family while I purchase a new property, so am reasonably flexible on timing. The purchase funds are also in place, as I hold a current mortgage offer from Santander.

If you are thinking of selling your home, and would prefer to do this privately thus saving on incurring estate agents fees, please contact me on the number/email below if you are interested in discussing further:

Mobile: [Starseeking phone number]
Email: [Starseeking email address]

I have also added my solicitors’ details above, in case you already have a solicitor. If you are not thinking of selling at this time, I am sorry to have disturbed you, and wish you all the best.

Yours Sincerely,

Starseeking

@TeaCupTornado

If the area you are looking in is desirable and in demand, I doubt the vendor would sell the property off cheaply. I paid market price for my house (the vendors had just had it valued, and I knew the price they wanted was about right), the key thing for me was to secure a house in a particular location.

Good luck, I hope it goes well!

@Starseeking Thank you for your letter template.

I might put a letter through their door. I spoke to another estate agent yesterday and she said people are paying 20% above home report value.

Ideally I'd like to pay the home report value on a property or maybe 5 or 10% more at most. We can't afford 15-20% unfortunately.

I suppose ultimately we would need to be lucky and put a letter through to someone who would just want an easy straightforward sale, which is what we could offer.

Thank you

No harm in trying . We used to get them in London. If you do, be sure to add your full names, postal address and phone number. Anyone just putting a first name and mobile no would have been ignored as too dodgy.

No worries.

As I mentioned, overall I sent about 20 letters, though I had initially targeted about 50 houses.

I reduced the long list with data from Rightmove, Zoopla and Land Registry, using publically available information.

I removed these properties:
-any property sold within the last 3 years
-any property with a charge other than mortgage

I specifically also sent letters to properties which had been marketed previously, but not sold.

The house I bought had been put on the market during Covid, but withdrawn due to owners being clinically vulnerable and deciding not to move then. When they received my letter, they were just about ready to move, and had had their house valued the day before!

I do think it helped that I didn’t send a generic letter to all the houses, but tailored it for each, and chose only houses that I liked the look of from outside, so I was confident I’d be able to progress if owners responded.

Yes I've had several notes through the door over the years. I'm in an extremely popular area for outstanding local schools and it's always been this way. I've just sold, and was offered asking price in an hour.