Letter to owner

[letiha]

I've found a few houses that I really like that are not on the market and have been owned by the same owner for 20+ years. We are thinking of writing to them to basically say that we are interested in buying in their street etc.

Has anyone got any sample letter that they have used or other ways they would suggest approaching owners.

 

[Simon]

Has anyone actually done this and found it to have worked?

 

[wylie]

We have tried it but the house owners we targeted were not interested in selling. This week we are going with our son and partner to inspect a house whose owner they approached by letter, so it can and does work.

 

[Terry_w]

One of my clients did this a few weeks ago. He received a phone call from the owner saying they were just about to list the property with an agent. It sort of caught him off guard as he didn't expect a response and didn't know what to say initially.

It turned out they wanted more than he wanted to pay.

 

[belvoir]

This method does have some success if you are willing to pay top dollar and you want to work at it.

I do this on occasion to locate sites for childcare centres. However, I have a buyers agent approach the owner. Their approach is to send a letter first, if there is no reply they send a second. If there has not been any contact they then give the owner a call. If that fails they do a door knock. Dropping a letter and then calling is a better approach that way the owners don't think you are a cold caller and have some familiarity with you when you call them.

I have fed through 10 properties over 4 months to the buyers agent and unfortunately we haven't had any success. There has been a mixed response from people where some want $2,000,000 for their property when it is clearly worth $1,500,000 or I have offered 100% more than the properties worth and the owner won't budge. In this particular situation these properties are unique so they do deserve a premium but I am in no rush and eventually it will work.

Note: The buyers agent gets 1% of purchase price if there is a successful exchange.

It really is a 1 in 100 exercise so it will take time unless you get lucky.

 

[Propertunity]

It really is a 1 in 100 exercise so it will take time unless you get lucky.

This seems to be about the right stats. We recently mailed 104 property owners looking for a specific acreage for a client. We had 1 positive response who wanted to sell.

 

[marg4000]

We have lived in our house for 35 years but don't bother, we aren't selling!!
Unless you want to offer over $1m, in which case.....
Marg

 

[Prop_Perspectiv]

I did this recently with a block I wanted to buy. I did a lot of digging and found the owners phone number. I gave her a call and after the initial shock of being cold called, she responded positively. She didn't sell me the block though - turns out she is a developer and we have struck up a friendship. I will probably project manage the development in the future. It was a really positive experience!

 

[depreciator]

I sold a property (block of six flats in Tassie) when a bloke wrote me a letter. He must have found my address through the council or my name throughout he agent and then tracked me down.

 

[Jacque]

We've done this for a no. of clients over the years and generally the hit rate is low, but it has turned up some interesting responses and properties
Always worth having a go- they can only say no!

 

[jerrybee]

http://somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96144

 

[letiha]

So we ended up sending 12 letters on Monday, 1 response so far to say thanks but no thanks and wishing us luck in finding something.

Interesting to see if we get another responses.

 

[jerrybee]

So we ended up sending 12 letters on Monday, 1 response so far to say thanks but no thanks and wishing us luck in finding something.

Interesting to see if we get another responses.

Was that using my template?

 

[impala67]

Was that using my template?

Deja vu - you beat me to adding your thread's link yesterday by seconds jerrybee

 

[letiha]

Jerrybee, your letter helped... I actually found that thread after I posted my post.

My letter went like this:


Hello

We are a local couple with 4 children who have just signed a contract to sell our home in Nudgee as we need something bigger and are looking at building. We really like the street that your home is on as its quiet, and we really want to stay in the area as our kids love their school. We are interested in making you an offer for your house. I'm not an agent and we are willing to pay a reasonable price and are flexible with settlement dates.

If you are interested in discussing this please feel free to call me on 04******** or email us at *******@hotmail.com, and of course I would be more than happy to come and meet you in person.

Kind regards,

 

[wylie]

We have tried it but the house owners we targeted were not interested in selling. This week we are going with our son and partner to inspect a house whose owner they approached by letter, so it can and does work.

Inspected the letterbox drop house this morning. Looks like it might just come off. Will update once we know for sure.

 

[zimby]

I Hope you didn't address them to "The Homeowner"
These ones usually go straight in the bin.
Hand written ones generally get opened, for curiosity's sake

 

[wylie]

Inspected the letterbox drop house this morning. Looks like it might just come off. Will update once we know for sure.

Yeay!!! This letterbox drop looks like coming together. Verbal agreement only so far, but contracts are being drawn by solicitor and this looks like "a goer".

So... yes, this letterbox tactic can work.

 

[impala67]

Great result. You read about people that it does work for, but no one knows anyone that it worked for. At least SS now has a example to refer to.