Do Seller Love Letters Work?

Hello Hampton Roads,

Creative buyers wanting to explore any option that may give their offer an edge often ask, "Do seller love letters work?" These are letters that add a personal dimension to the offer where home buyers introduce themselves, what they love best about the house and how much living there would mean to them.  It's a nice touch that helps add a memorable face to an otherwise faceless offer.

But how effective are they? 

Sometimes they work but it depends on the seller and of course, the strength of the offer. For example if the seller is corporate entity, bank, REO or government entity (GSE), these letters will fall on deaf ears. In fact, since they usually require their own contract, they will not accept anything else. They look strictly at the numbers and their net. 

However if the seller is a real person your letter will have a good chance of being read.  Whether the letter is effective still depends on how strong the offer is especially if there are already competing offfers. If you are trying to entice the seller to accept your offer, it still has to be as competitive or more so than what they currently have. If the offer is thousands of dollars less than other offers, the letter won't be that compelling.   In a competitive market with multiple offers, price is the first screen that every offer has to pass. 

If you really want to use the letter, here are my recommendations:

1. Submit a strong offer.
2. Try to get your offer in first--the first offer has a huge advantage becuase the seller doesn't yet have anything to compare it to.  If the offer you submit is low, the seller will most likely hold off and wait for other offers.
3. Here's the pro tip: Use a time deadline on the offer and prepare to walk if you don't hear back. You've put in your best offer and you are the first offer in,  but what you don't want to happen is to allow your offer to be shopped to garner a higher price. This straegy also saves you time and allows you to move quickly on other properties you like should your offer not be accepted. 

I hope that was helpful! Let me know if you have any questions. If you're thinking about buying a home in Hampton Roads, let's talk about your home buyng plans. 

Thanks for Reading,

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