The Home Ownership Thread

[PhilKenSebben]

It is. We did this though it was us and one other bidder. We stalked the seller to tug at the heart strings and he accepted our asking price offer.

My negotiations professor was a big fan of them. It won't trump big changes in money, but it could tie-break close offers and make a seller more willing to accept a "riskier" offer with more contingencies. Could also play a big role in in how sellers respond to inspection issues and concessions (at least in more normal markets). Numbers people (like me) tend to way underestimate the effect of these emotional factors on people's decisionmaking. Some might ignore it, but very rarely would anyone reject based on it.

I mentioned writing one to my realtor and she immediately called them "liar letters" and dismissed them unless the seller specifically requests them...

That said, I think they have potential value for us. This area doesn't like outsiders, hates the boom of Californians, and there's some visible peer pressure to "sell to a local". Fortunately my wife is moving to the area to take a job as a mental health professional that specializes in grief work...in an area that's currently feeling a big shortage in therapy services and happens to have unfortunately high levels of suicide and other deaths of despair. If the seller is a local (rather than an investor/vacationer), we could write a pretty compelling letter without lying.

edit: and speaking of stalking the seller...the seller of this house is a landlord, but they are a long term local who was widowed a few years ago when her mountain climbing anesthesiologist husband passed away in a solo adventure in central Asia...perhaps the town needs more grief services...

ugh , the notion of informal gatekeeping, appeals to prejudices, etc in terms of community building makes my skin crawl

I think we discussed this a few months back in like October/November.

our conclusion was to include gratuitous dick pics in all offers to really seal the deal

 

[sftiger]

It takes ~15 minutes to write a heartfelt letter giving a bit of background on yourself, why this is the home of your dreams, what you like about the community, etc. etc. If you have something in your arsenal other than just paying more, I see no reason why any sane person wouldn't use it.

It's not illegal for buyers to send these letters, so I don't see much downside.

 

[Texasmade]

It's not illegal for buyers to send these letters, so I don't see much downside.

Unless you're black trying to move to a predominantly white neighborhood

 

[Texasmade]

Baller.

Make more tendies and eventually we'll be on that level of baller status.

 

[sftiger]

Unless you're black trying to move to a predominantly white neighborhood

It's not like we're sending family photos or anything. I believe the sellers will typically see the full names of the bidders anyway so I guess they could look you up on LinkedIn if they really wanted to?

 

[Van Veen]

My negotiations professor was a big fan of them. It won't trump big changes in money, but it could tie-break close offers and make a seller more willing to accept a "riskier" offer with more contingencies. Could also play a big role in in how sellers respond to inspection issues and concessions (at least in more normal markets). Numbers people (like me) tend to way underestimate the effect of these emotional factors on people's decisionmaking. Some might ignore it, but very rarely would anyone reject based on it.

I mentioned writing one to my realtor and she immediately called them "liar letters" and dismissed them unless the seller specifically requests them...

That said, I think they have potential value for us. This area doesn't like outsiders, hates the boom of Californians, and there's some visible peer pressure to "sell to a local". Fortunately my wife is moving to the area to take a job as a mental health professional that specializes in grief work...in an area that's currently feeling a big shortage in therapy services and happens to have unfortunately high levels of suicide and other deaths of despair. If the seller is a local (rather than an investor/vacationer), we could write a pretty compelling letter without lying.

edit: and speaking of stalking the seller...the seller of this house is a landlord, but they are a long term local who was widowed a few years ago when her mountain climbing anesthesiologist husband passed away in a solo adventure in central Asia...perhaps the town needs more grief services...

We wrote one. It seemed to have worked, but we were also the only offer. If I was selling and had a multiple offer situation, I would tell my agent to throw them out. "We can imagine our children opening presents in front of the fireplace on Christmas morning." Religion and family status are both protected under the FHA. You've now opened yourself up to a lawsuit by a losing bidder.

 

[beargonefishing]

All of this talk about buying used houses is very unballer.

 

[brokencycle]

My negotiations professor was a big fan of them. It won't trump big changes in money, but it could tie-break close offers and make a seller more willing to accept a "riskier" offer with more contingencies. Could also play a big role in in how sellers respond to inspection issues and concessions (at least in more normal markets). Numbers people (like me) tend to way underestimate the effect of these emotional factors on people's decisionmaking. Some might ignore it, but very rarely would anyone reject based on it.

I mentioned writing one to my realtor and she immediately called them "liar letters" and dismissed them unless the seller specifically requests them...

That said, I think they have potential value for us. This area doesn't like outsiders, hates the boom of Californians, and there's some visible peer pressure to "sell to a local". Fortunately my wife is moving to the area to take a job as a mental health professional that specializes in grief work...in an area that's currently feeling a big shortage in therapy services and happens to have unfortunately high levels of suicide and other deaths of despair. If the seller is a local (rather than an investor/vacationer), we could write a pretty compelling letter without lying.

edit: and speaking of stalking the seller...the seller of this house is a landlord, but they are a long term local who was widowed a few years ago when her mountain climbing anesthesiologist husband passed away in a solo adventure in central Asia...perhaps the town needs more grief services...

It worked for us as we bouggt an old lady's house who was moving to a retirement home, and we talked about the dodge was perfect to raise a family and have extended family come visit for extended periods of time. Agent said it was responsible for us winning over another bidder.

Worked on my neighbor when they sold. They thought they would be neighbors. I told them they should have taken the most money they could (the difference was a couple thousand), and it turns out the new neighbors suck.

 

[NorCal]

It's not illegal for buyers to send these letters, so I don't see much downside.

It might be now. Fair housing laws and all.

 

[sftiger]

It might be now. Fair housing laws and all.

Interesting. We bought our place a few years ago and it was strongly recommended that we do this. Maybe things have changed since then.

 

[Fueco]

All of this talk about buying used houses is very unballer.

We’ve got the biggest balls of them all…

 

[Piobaire]

We wrote one. It seemed to have worked, but we were also the only offer. If I was selling and had a multiple offer situation, I would tell my agent to throw them out. "We can imagine our children opening presents in front of the fireplace on Christmas morning." Religion and family status are both protected under the FHA. You've now opened yourself up to a lawsuit by a losing bidder.

If you had just written one of those to your land leech...

 

[Van Veen]

If you had just written one of those to your land leech...

Flip that around and you can see why letters are a bad idea. She seemed like a very nice person when we she showed us the house. Really easy to lie out your ass in those letters.

 

[Van Veen]

I just got back from Lowe's, then Home Depot, then Lowe's again.* HD's Romex prices are now $126 for 14/2 and $160 for 12/2. 23% and 15% increases in one shot. ******* insane. I immediately went back to Lowe's and bought a roll of each. I imagine they won't be far behind on price.

(* then the grocery store, for those that follow the covid thread)

 

[Fueco]

Looking up how to defrost my Liebherr freezer, I came across this nugget. Yeah, I have a No Frost freezer…

[
Never defrost again with Liebherr NoFrost Technology
Now that you’ve read through the above advice about defrosting, you’re well prepared to deal with freezer ice. But, if you prefer not to go through this laborious process at all, we recommend that you choose a Liebherr freezer with NoFrost technology. With Liebherr NoFrost technology defrosting is a hassle of the past. Chilled circulating air freezes the food and moisture is expelled so that the freezer remains ice-free at all times and stored food never frosts over. For more information about ‘never defrosting again’, read our NoFrost blog post.
/QUOTE]