Your letter sounds fine. Send it just the way it is. It seems sincere and logical. Real estate brokers send letters out asking if people want to sell all the time. I'm surprised you havent seen one before. We just throw them out as we are not interested. YOur letter would at least get a reading. Somebody who may have considered selling may contact you. After you send the first two, try another two in a different direction. You will hit pay dirt eventually.

Do it, it's a nice letter, and you might catch a fish.

I think it's a nice, sincere sounding letter as well. You might want to add that you need/want a home with bath on the first floor if that is a requisite, and that you want a basement. Even if those people don't want to sell at this time, folks "talk" and the chances are pretty good they might know somebody who does.

I'd definitely add in what you're looking for in a house - it's just human nature to try to think of a house that fits a set of requirements. It would also be nice to mention something nice about their house -- the setting, garden, curb appeal -- whatever prompted you to write.

Take this for what it's worth.. my opinion. I've said this before & will say it again...

You should have something about price. You are asking them to possibly consider selling their house and had I gotten a letter like that I would know my house is better then the others for sale and would want top dollar. I live in an area with crawl spaces & slabs, while ours is listed with a crawl it is not. There is no option for what we have. It is 7 ft high and accessed from a ladder in the hall closet. It is about 20 feet wide and 40 or so feet long. The furnace, water heater & softener are all down there. When something goes, it is nice to not have to go outside in the rain or have to dig out snow in order to look or fix it. I can tell you that after buyers have crawled in actual crawl spaces looking at houses, what we have is very appealing.

I've mentioned how a painter wasted months of mine & my dad's time while he was going through a fresh cancer diagnosis. He held us up from the time my dad was in the hospital needing a blood transfusion in June until some time in October when he was about to be diagnosed as not in remission any more.

You never know what is going on in someone's life and to waste someone's time will really sour them if they do need to sell in 6 months. If you want to pay a fair price for the house, as per appraisals or a certain amount over that, say so.

Good luck. The letter is good otherwise. Hopefully you'll have a bite and can find a new place to live. I know how hard it is after looking for 7 months myself. I will be very glad when we close on this house the end of May and we can move on.

I have sent out a couple of letters like this. I made them personal, saying what interested me about their property. I have had only very polite replies even though the answer was "no".

The letter sounds a little negative to me. Specifically where you say "chances are you are not interested in moving" - I would remove that and let them decide rather than planting that seed.

How about this:

Mr. and Mrs. X:

I am a relative newcomer to the X area. I relocated here because of my government employment, and I've been looking for a home in the country for some time. While looking at homes, I noticed yours as one I would be interested in purchasing. If you consider a move in the near future, or are considering a move now, please let me know.

FYI, I am not a house flipper or investor - I plan to live in the home I purchase and enjoy the country air!

Sincerely,

Betty Buyer

* sweeby-"It would also be nice to mention something nice about their house -- the setting, garden, curb appeal -- whatever prompted you to write."

I like sweeby's idea as well as colleencc's draft.

I might add something along the lines of "if you know someone in the area who has a house with similar attributes (and who might be thinking of selling), could you please share this letter with them?

I agree that the letter sounded negative. Twice it plants the idea that you're being a burden and that they probably don't want to sell.

I agree with the revisions.

I agree with Colleen's version of the letter.

But..... I would also add whether you are already a pre-qualified buyer......This would indicate that you are a more serious buyer than just a "tire kicker".

While in Hawaii a couple of years ago we were staying with friends in a subdivision and went walking each morning. There was a FSBO that we were interested in but it was already sold. Since we liked that street and there were a couple of other empty lots we asked our friend's Realtor to contact the owner of the lot to see if they were interested in selling. They were, and we started negotiations but then along came Hurrican Katrina, but to make a long story short our friends bought the lot because they loved it too!

Some things to consider:

if you are new to the area, do you know what is customary for Buyers/Sellers to pay for closing, etc.

do you know contract law for that state, what contract is used for that area and how to write it?

We are Realtors but when we also found a townhouse in TN that was FSBO we didn't know TN laws, etc. so we had someone act on our behalf as buyers' agent to get the process done and properly represent us. Most agents will do that for a nominal fee, much less than what it would cost you if you got taken advantage of or ended up in litigation. IMHO

I once left a letter at a wonderful unique house I admired, saying just that, and that if they ever were to consider selling to please call me. I did get a call from them some five years later - but by then was committed to my current digs. We had a nice chat. I still like that house very very much.

Can't hurt to try. Keep it simple. No need to apologize for inquiring, as it really is a compliment.

Please indulge me in my response. I know you are sincere about living in the house, but I just wanted to share a similar story about not so sincere people:

In 1998 a man came to my father's house (I was living there with him at the time). He said he 'heard' my father was interested selling the house because his wife was pregnant and they needed a larger home. Now, I have no idea how he heard this. My mother had recently died, and we (my brothers) talked about buying it and letting my father live with us, etc.

He offered my father what sounded like a generous amount, which pretty much became the money my father can life off of. My father took the offer. Within 6 months fixed it up - a little - and sold it for about 1 1/2 times the amount. While I am bothered by this at times, my father did what he thought he had to do, and the money was enough for him. Could we have helped him make more? Yes. Was he scammed? I think so, but all worked out.

Anyway, I think people who are interested in homes will write and mail letters, and they will walk up to a house and discuss the purchase. I think you are right to send the letter. If nothing else you have tried and paid a big compliment to a home owner.

Not stupid at all!

We've done it & it didn't produce any results but no harm trying. We found a street we loved & sent a nice, friendly letter complimenting the neighborhood & expressing our desire to become a part of it to several homes on the street to see if they were thinking about selling in the near future. We included a self addressed, stamped card (each personalized so we'd know who the returns where from) with boxes to check: "Yes, please call me" or "No, I am not interested". We got all but 2 back - all no's, but they did respond.

Turns out we got a better house elsewhere on acreage - with less restrictions - that allowed DH to build his dream shop - something he could not have done on that street & I had no idea how happy it would make him!! So in retrospect I'm thankful no one said yes.

I like Coleen's revisions and caulk_king's inclusion of SASEs. Makes me think they'd be more likely to reply.

Nothing wrong with sending the letter. It gives the seller's an edge, though. They may think their house is worth more because you like it. It's a psychological thing.

I actually looked up properties in the TOWN HALL & called owners to see if they were selling. That way, I got a feel on the phone...
We were looking for a single story, so it was difficult to find in our area. One owner said she wasn't selling. Based on that last resort, we built & moved. A few months later, right at the time we moved into our new house, they put their house on the market & it sat for 6 months...I'll bet she wished she said yes to me.

In fact, after we moved, several properties came on the market that would have suited our needs. Timing, sheesh, timing.