Buying a property not on the market

My wife and I recently inspected a property we fell in love with which was to go to auction in two weeks time. Unfortunately, the vendor signed an unconditional contract of sale one week before the auction was scheduled.

I was wondering if it is possible to still buy a property on the same street even if they are not up "for sale"? Has anyone ever tried it? Is it something that is commonly done?

DonG said:

My wife and I recently inspected a property we fell in love with which was to go to auction in two weeks time. Unfortunately, the vendor signed an unconditional contract of sale one week before the auction was scheduled.

I was wondering if it is possible to still buy a property on the same street even if they are not up "for sale"? Has anyone ever tried it? Is it something that is commonly done?

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Sort of, I was looking for PPOR for nearly 12 months in my area. Eventually I just made an offer on the place I was renting in the same area - directly to the owner. Too easy.

Jazza said:

Sort of, I was looking for PPOR for nearly 12 months in my area. Eventually I just made an offer on the place I was renting in the same area - directly to the owner. Too easy.

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How did you initially make the offer? In writing or by approaching the owner in person? Did you quote a price?

DonG said:

I was wondering if it is possible to still buy a property on the same street even if they are not up "for sale"? Has anyone ever tried it? Is it something that is commonly done?

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If you think about it, real estate agents do this all the time. They letter box drop a street or an area to see if anyone wants to sell "even if they are not up for sale" (or in the case of an agent - especially if they are not "up for sale")

As Buyers Agents we do the same thing if a client wants to buy into a particular street.

DonG said:

How did you initially make the offer? In writing or by approaching the owner in person? Did you quote a price?

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I think you are making it harder than it really is. Just talk to the owner and see if they are interested in selling and if so, how much would they want.

Good Q.

I knew the market prices in the area after looking for 10+ months.
I knew the longer I rented the more $$ I wasted on rent.
I knew the longer I waited the more the market was likely to move up.
I knew that moving costs/fees were redundant staying put.
I knew the estimated reno cost and work required.
I knew he'd want more than anything I offered.
I knew other places would come up soon eventually.

I phoned directly and explained my position and made clear my knowledge of all of the above items and was very specific that I wouldn't haggle at all (since I offered market value, to move costs from my landlords pocket to mine asap [i.e. rent>equity]) and I also gave a two week offer expiry date so he had time to consult with his accountant and do the sums and felt a time limit or he'd 'miss out' (rather than sit and wait indefinitely for me to up my offer).

When he tried to haggle I refused and hung up. A month later I called back about something else, he asked if I was still interest and we agreed that I would arrange and pay the legal of both his and my sides. He saw a saving and nil hassle, I got him to accept easier. Win-Win.

'course I did this after my hot water unit blew up and was replaced with a brand new one.

Anyone else had any luck simply door knocking an area with a good plan or a clever offer?

Will be trying this for sure when I figure out an angle.

Propertunity said:

If you think about it, real estate agents do this all the time. They letter box drop a street or an area to see if anyone wants to sell "even if they are not up for sale" (or in the case of an agent - especially if they are not "up for sale")

As Buyers Agents we do the same thing if a client wants to buy into a particular street.

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Do you think it is better to letter box drop an area or door knock an area?

DonG said:

Do you think it is better to letter box drop an area or door knock an area?

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Probably depends if you have the 'gift of the gab' or are better at doing professional letters.

For once dressing down would be the smart move if door knocking.

Its not difficult to buy anything, approach the owner and canvas them..throw some open ended questions at them...keep it jovial and courteous............you will be suprised what may eventuate..........some people actually want to "sell' but dont have a clue either so you never know what asking a few simple questions can do...it works for me and often.

money talks as the saying goes.

yeah, done letter box drops a couple of years back when I started looking for my first property. Very simple, cheap and worked a treat. Extremely effective in leveraging your time - I did every house in I think 5 different suburbs. percentage wise I got a good response ~5% willing to sell.

CashflowPlus said:

yeah, done letter box drops a couple of years back when I started looking for my first property. Very simple, cheap and worked a treat. Extremely effective in leveraging your time - I did every house in I think 5 different suburbs. percentage wise I got a good response ~5% willing to sell.

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I've done it before in Canada Bay (inner western sydney) - out of 100 letters I got 3 bites and even 1 job offer (as they thought I must have had alot of initiative)

I'm planning on doing it when our subdivision is through and we are free to sell this house.

Just going to letterbox all the houses I like in the town, there's only about a dozen and I'll be doing handwritten notes, not printed ones. Even the one I want the most that allegedly has an owner who 'won't sell' may be interested, at some stage being an old bachelor rattling around in a huge house has to wear thin, especially when someone dangles money in front of them.

I have done it once. Only with one particular house I was interested in (PPOR). The owners were so thrilled and thanked me for the letter when they called the next day. I didn't end up buying the property as they wanted more $$ than I was prepared to pay. The market revved up and they sold for top $.


Sunshine

Croc Dundee said:

I've done it before in Canada Bay (inner western sydney) - out of 100 letters I got 3 bites and even 1 job offer (as they thought I must have had alot of initiative)

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Did anything eventuate from those 3 bites?

garbage said:

Did anything eventuate from those 3 bites?

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1 was priced way too high and I never heard from them
1 came back to me 6 months later after I had allready snapped up...

the 1 which was in the worst condition - the little old lady living their (and her son) wanted to sell for a long time were too embarassed to have any REAs thru the house (the son had too much back pain to tidy it up that much) they were very grateful to me (I paid market price during the Sydney 2000 boom) I was happy and they were happy (i.e. I wasn't going to lowball them as places seened to be going up $40K every 6mths back then)

Croc Dundee said:

1 was priced way too high and I never heard from them
1 came back to me 6 months later after I had allready snapped up...

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funny how things turn out hey. Out of the blue I had an owner call me about my letter box drop looking to sell. They wanted to know if I was still interested in buying. Unfortunately they were over a year too late.