How to Write a Home Buyer Offer Letter
To stand out in today's competitive market, you are often told to write a personal letter alongside your offer. This is especially true if you have a smaller down payment and you’re competing with all-cash buyers. That’s when it helps to appeal to the seller as a person instead of just a contract, particularly when the seller decided to list FSBO.
How do you write that letter? Here are a few tips for producing the home buyer letter and taking advantage of your greatest attributes when it’s time to buy a house:
1. Flattery
It’s all about emotion. Your job is to convince the seller to ignore the numbers and sell a house to you anyway. That only happens if they like you. Be sincere in telling them what you love about their home and what great taste they have.
2. Be Concise
Get to the point. A long, rambling letter could end up doing more harm than good, so pick a few of the most important points and give them as reasons why you’re the right buyer for the home. If you make these reasons quick and memorable, then you’ll stand out to the seller.
3. Be Respectful of the Setup of the House for Sale
Do you have alterations or upgrades in mind for the house you’re considering? For the most part, you should keep those ideas to yourself. The seller probably had the house configured the way they wanted it to be, so telling them all of the ways you’d change the house isn’t going to endear them to you. They don’t want to knowingly sell it to someone who’s going to undo everything they did in their home.
4. Demonstrate Your Home Buyer Stability
One of the most important traits of any buyer is financial stability. Do your best to present yourself as a buyer with stability who can easily close the purchase on the real estate for sale. To that end, explain anything about your credit, employment, and financial status that could make you seem like a risk.
5. Be Humble
Even if you think the seller is desperate, nobody wants to feel like they were strong-armed into making a decision. Be humble and request the seller’s blessing for your offer. At the same time, whining and complaining about how bad you’ve had it and how you somehow deserve or are entitled to the seller’s home is a quick way to get your offer thrown out.
6. Show Gratitude
In the signature line of your letter, make it clear that you appreciate the fact that the seller took time to read and consider your letter. Try something like: “"Thank you for the opportunity” or “Thank you so much for your time.”
7. Make It Correct
Another way your letter can do more harm than good is if it’s full of punctuation, grammar, and spelling mistakes. Some homeowners will evaluate your reliability by how you wrote the letter. If you’re not a great writer, find someone to help.
When it comes to tactics that help you stand out from the crowd, personalized might be the best way to get someone to sell a house to you over other buyers. Not every seller will read them, but personalized letters remain an effective buyer strategy in many cases available. If you do a good job with it and write what you feel, that simple letter could help get you into the home of your dreams.
