What are peoples feelings/experiences with 'cold call' letters for buying a house?

[R-Audi]

To clarify.. I have been watching a few neighborhoods in which houses dont come up for sale all that often and when they do they go quickly. Has anyone ever 'cold called' houses that you find appealing leaving a personalized letter stating your interest? Has it ever worked out?
In my mind its a bit more personal from a potential buyer rather than a realtor, as Im sure most people are used to the generic "I have a buyer looking for something in your area' handoutsin their mailbox.

I have already done a title search on one house that sold a few years ago and ended up finding the owners email.. while they seemed impressed I went though all that work, they sadly weren't interested in selling.

Worth noting.. this isnt neccessarily to do a transaction without a realtor.. and not wanting to get in that discussion.

[Feruk]

Goes straight into recycling.

[G-ZUS]

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Goes straight into recycling.

+1

[ercchry]

I’d probably knock on the door vs letter... start by asking about the area as a potential new neighbour

[R-Audi]

Its a tricky thing, as Im sure most people would trash the letter, even if it was hand written. It wouldnt be a blanket delivery, but to specific houses that have the size/plan we like. From talking to a few people in the area, many houses have been selling by word of mouth prior to being listed. Fun times.
Really kicking myself that a house came up that we loved right at the start of the downturn... salary was cut, no bonus and total portfolio took a hit so we couldnt jump on it.

[gwill]

knock on some doors if the area you like is that specific. I've had family turn away people once or twice a year from people knocking on their doors.

They've never had an issue telling people no. Theyve never been bothered by the interest shown in their homes as its not been a realtor trying to earn a commission..

If you don't have the time to knock on doors hire a realtor to do that for you. Let them earn your business. My guess is youll have better luck doing so yourself.

[botox]

Got one knock once in Panorama. Guy said he was a realtor looking for some clients. Not pushy at all and I politely said we weren't selling and mentioned to him a few neighbors that talked about upgrading that might be in the market to sell. Much more respect for a door knocker than a cheesy letter, those get filed in the blue bin.

[RealJimmyJames]

If you do send a letter be sure to use lots of exclamation marks to show you are serious.

[Paul]

I’ve had realtors, with clients in the back seat, pull up and ask me about selling my house while I was doing yard work outside. What I found creepy was the realtor had a bunch of info on my house already, so I’m not too sure how “ramdom” the encounter was. Homes in our area don’t seem to come up for sale too often, I’d entertain hearing someone’s offer, but this realtor was way too pushy / bad vibe.
Note: area, Mountain Park SE (currently zero listings)

[s_havinga]

I can't see any harm, if someone knocked on my door with a fair offer, I would consider it.

[botox]

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If you do send a letter be sure to use lots of exclamation marks to show you are serious.

And it needs to be all caps. CASH DEAL!! CALL RIGHT NOW!! THIS IS SERIOUS!!

[Hallowed_point]

If it has the fake sticky note I'm all in baby! SOLD

[R-Audi]

What I am looking to avoid is the pushy realtor thing looking for clients.. that if you hand wrote a letter personalized to the address (or owners name if I did a title search) you would at least have the letter read. There are many older owners in the area and it was suggested to include things like 'looking for a long term house for my family etc' it can go a long way.
The one owner that I emailed was quite receptive and said they would keep my information on hand, but their significant other would kill them if they entertained an offer.

Area is Chinook Park... only a few listings, and the good ones are usually gone within a week. We have a few friends in the area and even they mentioned they knew of quite a few that were sold before hitting the open market. We have looked at two houses so far via the owner but neither were what we were looking for.

[flipstah]

Like what people mentioned, just start knocking and ask about the neighbourhood then drop casually, if you're willing to sell, please give me a call. Then hand out your contact information.

And bring one of these,

[Xtrema]

10% over market and go up from there for this approach.

I used to had an Indian RE agent that seems to want my house really bad. But I said no because it took me 2 years to find it and only been in it for 1 at that point.

From what I gather from EI friends, some will actually pay a good premium for family to be near by. Unfortunately, I wasn't even remotely interested.

[gwill]

you seem hesitant to knock on doors. You have a problem before you and you have 2 options. Send a letter or go say hello in person...

Seems super simple and easy. What's holding you back?

[R-Audi]

Didnt say anything about not knocking on doors.. it would likely be part of handing out some of the letters. Im against a realtor doing it for me as Ive blown off Realtors at my door looking for clients.

[Buster]

If entertain an offer on anything I in for the right price. For my house though? It would take a lot more than a 10 percent premium.

[89coupe]

I sold one of my listings that way, we had a private buyer mail a letter to my sellers asking if they could do a deal. Ended up working out great. My clients were super happy.

[R-Audi]

Also the option of discussing an offer without a realtor... thats another ~$30k in someones pocket. Ideally you could show calculations of your offer vs. what they would get with realtor at various sales prices so both benefit