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!

How is it ridiculous?

When my Grandad died, a few different neighbours approached my fil (who also lived by my Gdad) that very week, to say they had friends who would want to purchase my Grandad's house, and to basically fish for info off me and let them know what my Mum and Uncle were doing, so they could get in there before they could put it on the market, or any of the other neighbours friends could approach them!

No.
In this case, face to face.

I would go for it, I can't see anything wrong with doing that.

However, a few years ago I had an aggressive agent trying to convince me to sell my flat (which was being rented out) and this agent was calling me every few weeks asking me if I'm willing to sell it and WHY I didn't want to. It got to a point where I had to complain to the company to put a stop to it.

You've nothing to lose, go for it.

If you don’t ask you will never get or never know. What’s the harm in trying, worst case scenario they bin the note. Best case you get a house you love.

Whilst I agree that it's not harassment to put one note through the door (so long as it stays at one), I disagree with your use of the word "nice."

Nice is subjective, no? Some people may receive the letter and be flattered that someone thought their house was so desirable that they just had to write to them to let them know that they wanted to buy it.

Other people may regard such a note as overstepping unspoken boundaries, borderline creepy and weird. It may make them feel uncomfortable and like their home is being scoped out by unknown people who have designs on it.

Yes, the second option may seem a bit much and a lot of people may not be bothered about receiving such a letter. The point is, you have zero idea how a person may receive such a note which is why people should tread carefully.

Believe it or not, "I want to buy your house-sell it to me" (which is the message, no matter how nicely and politely you dress it up) may not be all that nice a message to receive through your letterbox.

I just love how so many of the chancers on here who are all "if you don't ask, you don't get," "you've got nothing to lose, everything to gain," can't possibly think for one second how the recipient of such a letter may feel. It's all about the sender and what they want.

So, again, nice is not the word I'd use for such a note.

You need to have your own property on the market. No Seller is going to accept an offer from a Buyer, who doesn't even have their own property on the market, let alone a Buyer. Most estate agents won't even be interested in allowing you to view any properties unless you have yours on the market either. Seek several valuations with different estate agents, and choose one to put yours on the market with. Then you'll be in a better position. My parents used to receive notes through their door from people wanting to buy their bungalow - they weren't looking to sell, so the notes would be shredded!

So what's the hope for how would it even work if the homeowner received your letter and decided that they were interested in selling?

Assuming that neither of you are qualified valuers - and even if you were, you'd hardly be neutral and trusted to value it yourself - would one of you pay for an independent valuer to come along and give a fair price? Obviously, it would be unethical to ask for a free valuation from an EA if there was 0% intention of using them to sell it afterwards.

Even then, once they've got your paid-for valuation, that's only one person's considered belief and nobody knows for a fact exactly how much somebody might be willing to pay for it on the open market. By 'closing the shop' with you as their only considered customer, they could be doing themselves out of tens, even hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Otherwise, maybe they could ask an EA for a valuation in genuine circumstances and then go ahead to ask them to market it, to make sure that the most accurate best price can be established.

So what would you have actively achieved, if you're effectively in the quite standard position of putting your offer in for a house that's on with an EA, along with all other interested parties? You could have just watched the market and then pounced as soon as you saw your desired property come up for offers - so how is it really different?

Gosh your estate agents are all good…out of 8 viewings before ours sold only one (our buyer) had sold and one couple were first time buyers, the rest weren’t even on the market.

I used to lived on a popular road, we used to get notes through the door often. We pinned them all to the notice board and kept them.

Most said ‘We are looking to move soon and your property is exactly what we’re looking for. If you were to ever put it on the market, we would be very keen to buy. Thanks

They left contact details.

In the 15 years we lived there, we probably got about 15-20 notes. We were never offended, it’s a compliment.

But prices will have 100 percent gone up since 2021.

I’d get three valuations from three separate EA. It’s not remotely unethical to do this, even if you don’t intend to use any of them. I’ve had my house valued after getting a big extension, I wanted to know out of curiosity. My parents don’t intend to move but had their house valued recently because it hadn’t been valued in 20 years. People get valuations all the time without intending to sell.

Every time I sell a house I get three valuations. Every time 2 EA will lose out on my business, that’s life. It’s not unethical.

I don't think there's any harm in putting a note through the door so long as it is very respectful and also clear that you are not some kind of scammer. Something like 'Dear neighbour, I live in x road, I'm looking to move soon, and absolutely love the look of your house. This is just to let you know that if you should think of putting it on the market, I'd be very interested. My phone and email details are below. Sorry if this note is rather intrusive; I won't contact you again unless I hear from you. Best wishes.' Then your full name(s).
It doesn't commit to you anything; you might not like the house when you see inside and that's fine.

It’s not wierd we’ve done it many a times my husband has even knocked on the door and spoke to the owner of run down properties. We’ve not been successful but you never now/ my son was successful but that was an empty house that hadn’t gone on the market yet. Do the note but don’t expect an answer

Worst case scenario is that they are vulnerable, maybe unwell, and feel that somebody is wanting to take their home from them, which upsets them for a long time afterwards.

I'm not elderly or especially vulnerable, but when people have put notes through the door asking to buy my car in the past, it has crossed my mind that, if they're particularly keen on it - when there are any number of cars out there that are advertised as for sale - might they be thinking of trying to steal it, should I not agree to selling it to them at a knock-down bargain price?

Obviously, you can't 'steal' a house in the same way as you could a car; but once you know that somebody is interested in something that you own, which you haven't advertised or expressed any desire to sell, you don't know how determined they may be or what they may potentially try, in order to get it. There are an awful lot of crazy, bad people out there; and you have no way of knowing if the people who approach you are nice or not so nice.

This is how i bought my house- the owner had a lot of notes through the door over the years but mine arrived at the right time, I offered more than they were expecting (moving from London to completely rural location so bigger budget) and they were thrilled. We've had people knock on the door to ask if we'd sell and we've said no- but if the time was right I'd love to do a more private sale like that.

You've nothing to lose. Go for it. If they're not interested they can ignore you or text you a no.

Why did you keep them all?

I’m surprised people find this weird, and especially creepy! I’m assuming this is a particularly attractive or one-of-a-kind house, not something on an estate with hundreds of others the same. You never know if they’re considering moving anyway so it’s worth a shot IMO. I know someone who sold their house (with spectacular views) this way but you’d have to be in a position to offer over market value to make it tempting, otherwise they’d just move at their own pace and see what they get.

Maybe our views on that differ, but I do think it's unethical to waste somebody's time and resources when there's absolutely no hope of any benefit to them.

I don't think there's anything wrong at all with your scenario of getting three valuations, IF you are going to choose one of them to get the business afterwards.

@Fourthmusketeer If you have a first time buyers house than you may sell quickly but the market is super slow at the moment. I've sold and am buying at the moment (have been for over 2 years), I've had 4 purchases and 1 sale fall through so just be aware things aren't quite as smooth sailing as they were a few years ago.

I think a “please let us know if you ever decide to sell” note is reasonable ie you are staying put for now but would consider moving if that property was up for sale in the future.

I think a “please let us know if you want to sell now” is less so ie you want to move now and will choose an alternative property if they don’t want to sell.

The person you replied to says the notes said "if you ever sell it", I think that explains why? They kept the notes so they could offer the house to the interested people.

This all feels like a bit of a stretch. Expressing a polite interest in purchasing a house, if the current owner was keen to sell, is not akin to trying to steal the house 🤨
OP, there are estate agents that actually specialise in approaching off-market houses if you’re serious and have the cash to back it up.

I think anyone on this thread who feels insulted or offended on behalf of the house owners OP is talking about sending a letter are maybe just upset they never get people wanting to buy their house. I can't see any other logical reason why anyone would be so upset about it.