Has anyone had success leafleting an area to find a place to buy?

[IlanaK]

We are struggling finding somewhere as there is so little coming on the market. We know quite specifically the area we want to live. Is it worth leafleting? Has anyone had success with this?

Hmm... the deafening silence is telling me that maybe this won't work.

Yes, my friend did. She put in an offer on a house and got outbid, so she put a leaflet round the other houses in the street and a couple who were thinking of selling got in touch.

It turned out they knew people in common, so they agreed a private sale and they all lived happily every after.

Hmmm.....it may be worth us doing. We would need a heck of a lot of leaflets though as it is an area of long roads with most houses converted into flats. Probably a lot of renters too.

It can't do any harm. We have done it twice since last summer. We've had a few call backs, including someone who rang to tell me how great his house was but he wasn't selling. It hasn't resulted in a purchase for us but I don't see how it can do any harm. Just be ready for a hard-slog. I never realised what hard work it is leafletting, although it was either baking hot or raining when I went.

You might want to use a cheap pay&go phone for contact, so you're not sending your personal number round lots of strangers.

Or e-mail

You'd think I'd be with it by now

Yes - we did. We got a couple of responses, but they were looking to sell on a longer timeline that we wanted to buy, so didn't buy from them in the end. We did buy privately though (long story) and it was great. What have you got to lose?

Its got to be worth a shot - we didnt leaflet but our house went off the market after we viewed it then when we sold our old house we could not find anyhting we liked as much so we sent the guy a nice letter and he rang us to say yes they still wanted to sell too as sadly they now gettign a divorce - we did a private sale and all lived happily ever after, they even got back together just before we moved in and they now also live happily ever after (i think).

If I was thinking of selling up I'd definitely respond to a leaflet as it has the potential to save a lot of time (having viewings) and possibly money (no EA fees).

yes, we got our current house leafleting-just sent a really nice sorry to bother you letter-had 3 replies out of about 70 letters..but this was 3 years ago. good luck !

Hi

Yes we did it - wanted to move to a village where very few properties came up last year so leafletted 100 houses there one weekend! had two calls and bought one of the houses. Some good points and some bad not having an EA involved - think we did maybe pay over the odds but so be it! Good luck!

Mins

Ok everyone, you have convinced me!

How does this sound?

Are you thinking of selling your home?

We are a London family who would really like to live on this street. We have sold our home and are actively seeking a lovely new home to live in with our children. If you have 3 or more bedrooms and a private garden, your home could be just what we are looking for!
By contacting us directly, you could avoid costly agent?s fees and sell quickly as we have no chain.

If you are interested, please call .....

bump

That sounds good - maybe add something about timescales ?

We're flexible on timescales, but keen for it to be this year (2010), however don't let that put you off.

maybe ? just a thought?

I would definitely respond to a note if I was a potential seller

good luck

Thanks. If I put something in about timescales it would read: we need to exchange asap as we are living with my mother and may end up killing each other. So perhaps better left out!!

Ok having leafleted 200 homes over the weekend, the only response we have had is a message on my dh mobile (that was the number we put on the leaflet) from a lady calling us despicable as we were obviously an agency using someone else's mobile number and she was sick of people like us . So now I am panicking that everyone thinks we are a scam!