"I am interested in buying your house" leaflets / flyers

[Adam]

Has anyone ever tried this tactic and does it work?

The reason I ask is that I have decided on the area I want to buy and have narrowed it down to a handful of roads on 2 different estates. The justification is mainly due to the transport links and type of house I am looking for. These houses rarely come to the market and tend to be wildly overpriced by the estate agent, sit on rightmove for months and are then either removed or the asking price dropped.

I was thinking of writing a letter or creating a flyer and dropping them through the suitable houses. I'll explain that their house seems suitable and I'd be interested in buying it should they consider to sell in the near future, along with my contact details.

I expect 99% of them to go in the bin, but it might yield some results. In theory it could work well for both sides with me getting first refusal on a house before it comes to the market and them saving their estate agent fees and the hassle of viewings etc. My only concern is they could think it was some kind of scam so I'd need to be careful how I went about this.

Any thoughts?

 

[Adam]

I don't think you'll get too much luck, but if you don't ask you will never know right?

I've no experience of this before, I don't know a single person who has bought their house this way. So unsure of the legalities (doubt there are any) or anything like that! But if your heart is set, then why not?

This is my thinking, it's perhaps worth a try.

I don't think there are any legalities. The purpose of an agent is to market, handle the negotiation and facilitate the buying and selling which is then passed to the solicitors. I see no reason why the agent can't be cut out of the process.

Waste of time.

You already have the opinion that whatever comes to the market is overpriced and anyone thinking of selling will just look at what the neighbouring properties are being advertised for.

You won't find any common ground.

A fair point, but over the past year there have been perhaps 2 houses for sale which have been suitable. There is very little to compare them to. I walk past the houses I like every day on the way to the station and know which ones I like from the outside at least.

If they do get back to me and are asking for too much then I can simply walk away. There is no obligation, outlay or risk for anyone involved. If someone had considered selling but was putting it off or hadn't got around to it then it may be worth a phone call. I have time on my side so I'm able to wait for them to find something if necessary.