We have a house currently worth around £500k and have had a letter from an estate agent saying someone has specifically targeted our street wanting a house and have a £900k budget. It does go on to say they are prepared to pay substantially less for a 3/4 bed house then extend (which would work on ours as we have a reasonably-sized garden).

The thing is, we’ve only been in two years and have spent that time modernising it (we have literally just completed a new kitchen).

If I bite will I forever be bothered by these people? Or am I missing an opportunity to make a decent profit?

Pop in and ask them. Sound them out and see if you can figure out if their buyer is real. Don’t tell them which house is yours, and state that under no circumstances would you agree to your house going on websites or shop windows.

Do you want to live in your house or did you buy it as a stop gap?

“If it sounds too good to be true…”

Do you want to live in your house or did you buy it as a stop gap?

We bought it as it was the most suitable within our budget but it was never a forever home.

Do you want to live in your house or did you buy it as a stop gap?

^This

And also – what if you want/need a bigger house in the future? If yours can be extended and you like living there then stay put.

The offer would need to substantially higher than market value for me to consider.

Always thought these letters have no basis in fact. Generic letters with a picture of your street maybe stuck on it. Or a recent sale photo and then a load of balls about someone looking for similar property and will pay a certain amount. They just want your business that’s all.

Or am I missing an opportunity to make a decent profit?

Unlikely. If there really is one person prepared to pay that much, there will be another, and another. Prices are still going up.

Bite an estate agent? God knows what you might catch, I’m out.

And also – what if you want/need a bigger house in the future? If yours can be extended and you like living there then stay put.

We are content being here but it was never a perfect home – we wanted a bigger house than we had but to get our perfect home (period property with a big garden and views was way out of our budget at the time). But *if* we got more than market value then we could get what we always wanted.

The thing is with our street is that houses very rarely come up for sale and the good ones sell straight away and I am assuming there is someone wanting to short-circuit the normal route and get somewhere quickly.

And I normally do ignore these sort of letters but the way this particular one is written just seems more believable.

I do like the idea ^^^^ of popping in to the office and speaking to someone though – I might just do that.

The thing is with our street is that houses very rarely come up for sale

I would get an independent valuation done beforehand so you know what market price is before you have to talk to the EA.

I have just looked – only seven properties have sold in the last 11 years, the last one being in November 2014.

Our street previously looked over fields which have had a new estate built on them in the last couple of years. Which also lead to every garden/driveway having a house built on it too so it’s now completely different which seems to have lead to a stream of similar letters.

If they were true they’d have bought it when we did 6 months ago (for a lot less than the new houses and with a big garden).

But there hasn’t been a house go up for sale in over a year and perhaps they weren’t looking then?

A friends parents had a house on a desirable estate, they had been there 5 years when the estate agent they had used contacted them with similar potential client. They managed to get a better than predicted price and used it to fund a smaller retirement house back home in scotland, and cover rent of a flat locally for a year till they retired.

So depends what you want to move too and if the situation is right for you, but if you can see an opportunity there is no harm opening a relationship with an agent, even if that sale doesnt work then you can let them know what your potential plans are. Obviously if they are useless then you can easily just cut communication, but either way it depends on you being prepared to potentially waste some time finding out.

The thing is with our street is that houses very rarely come up for sale and the good ones sell straight away and I am assuming there is someone wanting to short-circuit the normal route and get somewhere quickly.

When we sold our last house I just went into the local estate agent and discussed a sale. He said it’d be no problem selling.

I signed the papers and on my way home (10 mins walk) he rang to ask when he could bring someone around.

He had a list of folk who wanted to live on our street, and two who wanted to live in our house 😯

Had a verbal offer within the hour from two buyers, and the ones we sold to drove up (100 miles) the following morning to view as I said I wasn’t happy selling to someone who hadn’t viewed it.

They were there first thing, offered full price (had cash in the bank). We agreed to move within the month.

Their grandchildren lived less than 100yds away.

Standard Agent Phishing Mail.

They have to do this to gain interest. In the main they do have Buyers waiting for properties and with specific interests too, so it’s not unusual to receive mail like this if thats what the potential buyer is looking for.

It does depend on whether you want to sell or not doesn’t it, after all you are under no obligation either way.

FWIW I had a number of Agents come round my place in Town to value it and get an idea on call for properties like ours. This has lead to a number of phishing letters being received, which is fine because at least I know theres interest in what we have and the current value.

If you are interested in their proposal, call them up, ask them. They don’t bite, you may not like working with them but they are only selling homes and not eating your Children.

Even if it’s all true – they have a buyer who’s prepared to pay (a little) over market value because they *really* want to live on that street is that premium going to be enough?

if you buy/sell somewhere for 600k

– 20k stamp duty
– 2%? estate agents fees (they’re not going to haggle much if they’ve got a buyer) 12k
– 2k removal costs
-???k for new furniture/curtains/carpets other work that needs doing on the house you move into
– your time to find another house you’re just as happy to move to (that you need to find under time pressure as you’ve got a buyer).

they need to be paying well over 50k premium.

^ The whole buy & sell process is so much hassle. That’s why I’m reluctant to move despite my house being way too small.

£2k removal costs? !! 😮

I’ve not done a house move in a very long time and didn’t have much to move at the time. Was more like a couple of hundred back then. Wasn’t a huge removal lorry load though.

£2k removal costs? !!

that figure might be junk – don’t know where it came from – but I’d not use a cheap removal co again. The one we used this time took real care in packing, loading and storing and protecting floors. Katie does a lot of work for a cheap removal co whose guys regularly drag polished furniture over a dirty lorry floor…

Mainly depends how far you’re moving. Our last move clocked in at over £4K in removals, because we basically had to pay for two days of them driving the stuff in the truck.

DO you want to move?

If not, it is an irrelevance. Live in the place and home you want.

We get similar, several a month from spring to autumn. On our street most people only leave in a box, only five of the houses in our postcode have changed hands in the last twenty years. Also leads to Zoopla not being very close on valuations as nearly every house is different, and some have been fully modernised, some not touched for decades. It’s just business, nowt wrong with trying to drum up a sale, and puts their name in your head in case you decide to go for it, but even when you do, you’d be daft not to get several independent valuations, and I’m not convinced a full-service estate agent is value for money with the cheaper options available now.

DO you want to move?

We would if it meant we could get what we wanted in the first place and if this ‘buyer’ is prepared to pay a premium then yes we would.

How much extra would you need for the house you want? Wish-figure, or ‘yep, they might go for that’ figure?

Any offer would have to be :

Market value of current house + stamp duty on buying new house + legal fee on new house + bank / morgauge fees for new house + removal costs + some payment for hassel

just bbe even….

@bikebuoy

From what you have described, why would you suggest that it’s a phishing scam. Do you know what “phishing” means? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing

@OP

Ignore bikebuoy’s assertion that this is phishing. He appears to not know what he’s talking about.

They’re just fishing.

But try this for fun, if you feel like it – contact the agent and explain that you are interested, but seeing as they are acting on behalf of the buyer, you expect the buyer to pay the agent’s fees. Insist it’s the only way you’ll do it.

And see how much they wriggle 🙂

@edlong – maybe not “phishing” in terms of an outright scam, but from experience (I’ve had these conversations with agents more than once), the buyer does not exist. They just want to start a dialogue with you and persuade you to put your house on the general market when the totally fictional buyer decides they don’t want to buy your house after all.

Had 3 of these this morning. There must be something in the air…

I get one every fortnight, they even use very realistic ‘handwritten’ notes. “Hi homeowner, just dropping you a note to say we have buyers ready to move looking specifically in your street”.

I know property sells quickly in our area because I see it from the speed sold boards go up. This is just marketing to make sure they’re the agent that gets the deal.

We are content being here but it was never a perfect home – we wanted a bigger house than we had but to get our perfect home (period property with a big garden and views was way out of our budget at the time). But *if* we got more than market value then we could get what we always wanted.

Even if not fishing, there is a chance the dream house has also gone up by a similarly large amount. In fact they seem to jump even more – if you’ll pay 1 million it appears 1.2 is no issue. Plus your costs to move.

It’d need to be a huge sweetner.

Well yes I agree Brassneck – it would certainly depend on how much they would be prepared to pay over the valuation in order to get it. We live near the best (non-faith) schools (both primary and secondary) in the area and right across the road from a private school too (so if they are wanting to place kids there they won’t even have to get in their car). So I wonder if these people (if they exist) have identified the area as perfect for their needs.

@sundayjumper – I have no problem in believing that, and I suspect from the context of his post that that is also what bikebuoy had in mind.

However, “phishing” means something completely different.

If you want to make a good profit on moving, you move somewhere cheaper where your money buys you far more. If you buy in the same area all prices will have gone up roughly equally so it’s no real gain. Except when you die and the house is sold. Though the tax man takes a big chunk of that.

Been here recently. Buyer waiting? Finders fee? It’s all BS.

Isn’t this basically what recruitment consultants do. We have a job here that meets your skillset Mr bgoode that pays 30% more than the market rate for the right candidate – just send us a copy of your CV so we know what your skillset actually is.

You then find out there was no such job and just get endlessly hounded by agents who cannot grasp the simple concept that as an underwriter I have no interest or the necessary skills to be an agile web developer…

I see it from the speed sold boards go up

the agencies who both sell and let regularly stick “sold” signs outside properties they’re renting out to generate interest and visibility. Lived next door to a long-term tenant and this happened several times there.

And we also get letters like this on a weekly basis.