Contacting landlord to purchase rental property?

[salt]

Hi all, I'm after a little advice on how I should go about offering to purchase the current property I'm renting.

It's not on the market, I've been renting for two years now and would love to purchase this property, otherwise we will be looking to buy something else in the area.

What would be the best way to go about contacting the owner to put in an offer?

Ages ago we told the property manager to ask the owner if he'd be interested in selling, but we never heard back.

I was thinking that if I contacted him personally he could avoid the RE commission and we could potentially get a lower price. Plus I feel that the property manager isn't interested in letting the owner know that we'd like to buy.

Would it be bad form to email him? I've never contacted him before.
What do you guys think?

 

[wylie]

If you have his email address, then go ahead and email him.

 

[triss]

Hi Salt,

I tried doing the same a few months ago. Unfortunately they weren't interested in selling but all you can do is ask the question and see what they say...

I posted a letter to the landlord (rather than through the agent) and basically asked if they were interested in selling and if so what their terms would be. I had done some research and included what I thought was a fair price. I also pointed out the benefits to them such as saving on agent commission and flexible settlement timing etc.

Regarding the sales commission, if you split the saving 50/50 then you'd be looking at around $5k on a $400k property which isn't much in the scheme of things. Better to work out what the landlord wants and focus on that.

Also try not to come across as too attached to the property as that may work against you down the track. Maybe let them know you're looking at other properties and give them plenty of time to think about it.

Good luck!

 

[Daniel121]

What had happened to me was, when I was ready to buy my PPOR, I've notified my landlord that I'll not renew the contract as I'm going to buy my own place. Then, she offered me to buy it in a reasonable price, however, it wasn't the kind of property I like so I kindly rejected.

I would say let the agent/landlord know you're ready to purchase your own place and interested to buy the one you're living IF the price is right, otherwise, you'll move out.

At the end of the day as other poster mentioned, don't be too attached to the property. Except location, most of the things in a house can be changed with money.

 

[womble66]

he could avoid the RE commission and we could potentially get a lower price?

I also pointed out the benefits to them such as saving on agent commission

Not always possible as many agents have in there MAA with there landlords that if property is sold to past or current tenants then they are eligible to claim sales commission as they introduced the prospective buyer.

 

[salt]

Thanks for your input everyone. I was mainly concerned with annoying the landlord and/or the re manager as that can make life a little difficult when renting.
I'm not overly attached to the house as such. It's just got a lot of potential. I've been looking in the area for one to buy, there are a couple of options but at the end of the day this one that we are renting seems to have the most potential.

 

[Hosko]

Maybe put in a few repair requests to get the landlord thinking that its not worth the hassle holding the house. It was pure coincidence when this happened with the rental that we ended up purchasing but I do feel that it made the decision just that little bit easier for the landlord to encode to sell.