I personally would not like a person just knocking on my door, but if I received a letter and wanted to sell, that might be a safer way. That way, if the person was really interested he/she can contact you if not, toss the letter and less feelings get hurt. Especially where there is a older person, or families. People today must be careful opening doors, giving out information and/or asking people to come in.

A letter is good. Write a short, one-page note expressing your love of the neighborhood and interest in finding a home there. We did this when we were looking for a condo in a certain complex on Maui -- and ended up buying from one of the four people who responded. (Another owner had just bought and was a treasure of information about the place.)

When we bought the house that became a teardown and new build, we used a realtor friend as intermediary. We'd failed to reach a deal with one homeowner two years earlier and knew her to be a difficult person. Thought she and some others on the street would prefer to speak with an intermediary. We gave our friend names and addresses of properties we could be interested in (gleaned from the assessor's office) and he wrote to about ten owners. Of course when our deal went through, we paid him a small commission (Think it was $7K) for being our "point man". (Our attorney handled all the paperwork.)

I vote letter--maybe even a mass mailing, unless you see one house you really want to focus on first.

"if you're interested in selling, or if you know of someone who might be, would you contact us...."

Then they can all gossip about it, and encourage one another.

We found out about the home we had a contract on bcs we spoke w/ a neighbor who said, "I think this person is going to buy.

Also, in the next few years, attend any neighborhood events, make the neighborhood your "exercise walk" route, or dog-walking route, and chat up folks out raking leaves, or whatever (if anybody does that anymore).

NEVER miss a garage sale in that neighborhood!

I always think of the movie War of the Roses with Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas wrt doing this. Didn't she accidentally stumble into a wake?

I have a friend who has received postcards in the mail similar to what you are talking about. It intrigued her enough to mention it.

We received a letter like that once, but the writer said specifically it was our house they liked. I always wondered how many of those letters went out, and if we got one because they thought our house looked 'affordable'. (We were mid-renovation on the exterior -- can't imagine it looked especially appealing.)

Well, I mailed 42 letters tonight. I generally said we were interested in the neighborhood, that their house appeared to have some of the features we were looking for (specific floorplan model, pool, and north/south exposure), hence the letter to them and some of their neighbors. We'll see what happens!

Please keep us posted, this is a very interesting approach. I would love to know how you do.

I might have mentioned the young family aspect, makes you seem less investory

Did your house sell?

We sold a condo four years ago because someone picked up the phone and called. It wasn't our home, just a rental, but we didn't have it for sale at the time. You have nothing to lose, IMHO.

Gloria

Yeah, we mentioned that we were looking for a home to raise our family in and weren't investors looking for a "fix & flip."

And nope, haven't sold the house. But we'll be switching to the new (lower commission) realtor in the next day or two and lowering the price again. Shouldn't be long now. Just hope we can still afford in that neighborhood when everything's said and done!!