Today we received a letter that was short and to the point - “We are looking to buy a house and came across yours. Please call us.” They gave their name and phone number. The return address is across town (40 minutes away).
This letter really baffled us:
Our house is not listed for sale
Our house has little curb appeal (but is in a desirable neighborhood)
Their name is completely unfamiliar to us
My first inclination was to ignore the letter, since we like where we live. Then I got to thinking, what harm could there be to call and give a ridiculously high price? Say, 1.5 times market value?
Well that’s a little forward on their part, I’d call and ask what their motivation is for coldcalling you.
But, I was thinking of doing the same thing! There is a small wooded vacant lot that was listed last year but it didn’t sell. I looked up the property tax records and it is behind in tax paymnets, I was thinking of contacting the owner and asking if he still wanted to sell.
I got one a while back, it was handwritten on a kitten notecard, so I am assuming it is not a real estate agent (but maybe).
My mother told me this was once a more common strategy to find a house. If a person wanted to live in a particular neighborhood - maybe for work, or to get into a particular school district, they would go pull the addresses off the public tax rolls (now there’s probably a way of doing it on the internet) and send out a large mailing of form letters. The chief hope is that one of the recipients is already considering putting the house on the market, and then the letter-sender will be able to get a jump on the process. I suppose it could be a benefit for the seller as well, if a fair price is accepted, they don’t need to bother with listing and showing the house.
I think this is it. I’m looking to buy a house and my father keeps telling me to do just that, go make a bunch of letters and leave them on the doors. I always thought he was strange, but I guess it was more common then I thought.
I would agree. I get something similar to this occasionally for a piece of property I own and occasionally for my house. It ‘might’ be a person looking to buy your home, but I doubt it.
Short answer: Ask them what they will give you for it, then go into a real estate office and see what houses in your neighborhood have sold for lately.
Sometimes people try to flip houses: Buy low and sell high in a very short period of time. NEVER accept an offer without getting comps.
When I bought my first house, I’d been looking for a long time for a small starter house. Finally, as my realtor and I were driving around, I saw one that seemed perfect. Last house on a dead end street, big pasture beside it (I was hoping to rent for my horse), almost an acre lot. My realtor got out and knocked on th edoor and asked the people if they were interested in selling. They asked for 1/2 hour to tidy up and let me look at it, named a fair price, and I bought it. If you see what you want, it never hurts to ask.
We received an offer from a developer years ago. There are four properties on our corner that the wanted to incorporate into the golf course and/or subdivision they wanted to build next door. We would have taken it if they would have offered a decent figure, but they didn’t. Then we got with the tree people and had the forest designated as forest preserve. I think that will help our property value in the long run.
I can vouch that it’s not necessarily a scam. I found a neighborhood in my town that I was really interested in but no homes were for sale, so my real estate agent did just that: Made up post cards that said “I have a client looking to buy in your neighborhood; would you be interested in selling?” I had heard of this before and I suggested it; she said she had no problem doing so but in her experience it rarely worked.
Well, she was right. We never got any response from anyone and I am in the process of buying a house in a different neighborhood. I really like the house I’m buying so I think it worked out for the best for me. But I know these things aren’t necessarily scams because I just did it myself.
It can also be from someone who considers your house a tear-down and really wants to buy it for the lot/location, then they’ll build to suit. Could be a developer or an individual.
I’m floored that people’s first reaction would be “scam or real estate agent”. I know several people who found their home this way. It is quite common here in Atlanta.
We got a similar hand-written note, but in our case, asking to rent an apartment starting in June or July. I think anyone in our neighborhood who had two doorbells on their house (therefore, two separate units) got the same note.
We live in a very desirable neighborhood in a suburb of Boston. We were about to resort to this approach when we sold our last house and couldn’t find anything we liked and nothing on this neighborhood was for sale. Luckily something came on the market at just the right time.
One of our neighbors has a beautiful, old Victorian. She has a steady stream of people ringing her doorbell making offers on her house. She has turned them all down, even though some of the offers were outrageously high. When she finally sells, there will be a hell of a bidding war.
I suppose the letter is probably legitimate, since several of you have had similar experiences.
When the time comes to look for a new house, maybe I’ll try this tactic!
My over-active imagination came up with more sinister possibilities for the inquiry - dead body buried in the backyard by the previous renters, money hidden under the floorboards, that kind of thing.
And as a totally off-the-wall thought, I also recall reading a sci-fi story where travellers from the future insist on renting a specific house because of the terrific view it would have of the imminent nuclear explosion…
This sounds like the scene in Enough - “My wife likes your house so I’d like to buy it.” “It’s not for sale.” “Here’s my price” - slips discreet note with unimaginable number on it. “Let me just call the moving truck and I’ll be out of your way.”
