Should I put a note through the door of the house I want to buy?

[Fourthmusketeer]

Is this a weird thing to do?

Our house isn't actually on the market yet, as we don't want to do that until we find another house we like. They so rarely come up - I've been looking for a year now and just nothing is quite suitable. But, there's a house I've loved for years. I just love everything about it. It's the perfect location, great size, perfect layout for us (DH is quite particular). It's a beautiful house. Once I'd looked it up on Rightmove I fell in love with it even more.

The current owners bought the house in 2021, so it's probably unlikely they'd be looking to sell. But, you never know?

Is it weird to put a note through their door to find out? Do I keep it fairly simple? So...don't let on how much I love their house and how I've admired it for years? 🤣😬

There is of course a chance they contact us off the back of the note, allow us to view their property, and then once we actually see it we decide it's not what we thought. That feels really awkward...having contacted them to begin with 🫣

I'm not sure how much it would be worth now. It was close to the top of our price range back in 2021, but I'm not sure whether COVID skewed values somewhat?

Thanks!

You're approaching this backwards, you need to have your house sold or be at least proceedable before you can make an offer. Nobody is going to wait for you to sell your house after accepting an offer from you. Mainly becuase it could take a while to sell your house and the house they want to buy might get sold before they can make an offer on it.

It took me 6 months to sell my house because the market is very slow in my area. I wasn't allowed to see any properties by agents because I hadn't sold mine & wasn't in a proceedable position. At least get yours on the market now and book some viewings in.

We have had this a few times (we live in an adorable money pit). Mostly estate agents but also a personal one.

Always no! But all we feel is 'ooooo isn't our little house special?'.

I did this a few years ago. Wrote and dropped about 40 letters and got about 10 replies, 5 saying maybe and 5 saying no. I would go for it. If they don't reply or say no, that is still useful info as you know it isn't likely to be on the market any time soon.

@Itsallgonesideways thanks for your input! I think I'm just really nervous to put it on the market, when knowing how particular my DH is. There are so few houses that we like and agree on, we'd end up losing our buyer before finding anything. I think it's because I feel fairly confident ours would sell quickly, but appreciate agents may feel differently!

I think putting notes through doors in a specific area or street is ok, but one specific house is quite weird.

My parents put a note through. They have lived there 38 years now.

Oh this is sweet!

Unfortunately I would be utterly freaked out if someone did this to me. But then there is not much special or adorable about my house, so I would instantly assume whoever approached me was mad or a stalker or something 🤣

LOL @VoltaireMittyDream my old flat I would have assumed a serial killer

The home owner won't know OP is only targeting them.

OP I would definitely put a note through asking if there is potential. Nothing ventured etc.

I think you need to have your house on the market first. If the dream homeowners get your note and their interest is piqued, they'll be more convinced you are genuine buyers if you are actually in the process of selling yours.

Have you even had yours valued yet?

I got these at least twice a year until recently when the market has stagnated. I don't think it's weird at all. I do live in an area for excellent schools and there are always families wanting to be in the catchment area.

People have done this to me. I always find it quite upsetting/creepy to know someone has been eyeing up and wants my house, that I'm happy and settled in. If I wanted to sell, my house would be on the market.

I was especially freaked out when a child I taught approached me after a parents' evening and said "my Mummy and Daddy wanted to buy your house when I was in her tummy and you wouldn't let them have it and you made her cry because it was her dream house!"

All I'd done was ignore a couple of letters about 8 years before!

I think it's especially cheeky if you don't have a buyer for yours, sorry.

It could be sugggested that putting your house on the market, before knowing if there was any chance the one you wanted might be available, is a bit backwards.

No harmin putting a note through the door. Most likely they have no plans to sell and will file it in the bin. Small chance they might be thinking about selling anyway, and will contact the OP to save estate agent fees. Either way nothing lost.

Wow that child’s mother was a psychopath!

It’s not weird at all, of course you can. But as said, you need to have sold your house first. And be prepared to overpay because they know you’re keen. So I suppose in your letter don’t say their house is perfect, make it look like your posting letters in the area. Maybe do a few neighbours house too.

We get this regularly (maybe six to seven times a year) in the "development" I live in. The notes tend to be put into about twelve houses. Over the past three years two houses were sold directly via notes rather than the owners advertising with an estate agents.

I would say though that both buyers seem to be wealthy. They paid way over market rate and have since sunk a huge amount of money into their properties.

She was odd.

I jokingly mentioned it afterwards and she seriously responded, "well, we're over it now but it was very upsetting at the time as we'd had our hearts set on it."

I honestly didn't know how to respond.

Do you know the people that live there? Someone did this to an elderly relative of mine and she found it very disconcerting and upsetting. Especially as she saw the couple who posted the letter through regularly walking past her house (small town). I'd previously always subscribed to the "no harm done" perspective but after seeing how it affected my relative, I wouldn't do it now unless the house was actually on the market and I wanted to appeal to the current owner directly.

I'd bin a note from anyone who wasn't actually on the market or under offer @Fourthmusketeer

My BIL did this.... he now lives in the house.

They had literally just moved into property A but he liked the house behind their garden. So he put a note through saying if they were ever going to sell to call him.
They called a few years later as the owner had passed away and the family wanted to sell.

Do it!

You've got nothing to lose. And I don't think it's backwards. If you're sure you want to be so specific, there's no point in putting yours on the market already.

If they're amenable, you can put yours on at the same time as they start looking for something.

Whoa, that is nuts!

I think logically the only way this even has a chance of working is if you are prepared to pay over market value. Let’s say they are thinking of selling when your note comes through the door, why would they sell it to you unless they thought they definitely couldn’t get more if they advertised it? They would save the EA fees but why wouldn’t they let other people have a chance to offer too? It doesn’t sound like you’re in a position to blow them away with a high offer so I wouldn’t expect it to work, unfortunately. I think notes through doors are fine though, FWIW.

I have posted about this before.
Happened to my parents house.

A young couple lived just up the road from my parents but to the best of my knowledge they did not know my parents at all.
They put a (very polite) letter through the door asking to buy the house as they had always loved the huge garden with uninterrupted views across the countryside (something their otherwise very similar house did not have).
The trouble is they did this just after the death of my parents when the house became unoccupied, whether they did this by (bad) luck or design I do not know.
Needless to say it felt too much like circling vultures at a very raw time so when the house was eventually sold, their B&F offer did not succeed (despite being the highest).

Tread carefully.

I’d have absolutely no problem if someone did that with our house.