A love letter also known as a real estate offer letter is an emotional note that tugs at the heartstrings of sellers where you paint a picture of why you love their home. The letter is then submitted along with the offer contract and the pre-approval letter from the lender. This approach is particularly necessary in situations, where there are multiple bids for a home and you want to stand out from the crowd. It is an effective technique because most sellers want to know that their home will be loved and cared for in the future.Agents often hear from sellers that they would hate their house to be sold to an investor, for example, to be unemotionally flipped, rented, or torn down. The sellers may have lived in the home for some time, maybe raised their children there and added many loving touches to various parts of it. If sellers had a choice, they would prefer their family home to go to someone who demonstrates an emotional attachment to it.
How to Write an Offer Love Letter
To write a successful letter you will want to convey to the seller’s the reasons that you love the home. The length should be 2-3 short paragraphs and include some genuine emotions that come from the heart. If you truly love a home, there must be something special about it that appealed to you. Some of the same reasons you loved the home are probably some of the same things that the current owners love about the home. Sometimes emotions can even win over a few thousand dollars in a competitive bidding situation.
The letter should feel personal, so include information about yourself and situation. It is helpful to include pictures of your family, so that the sellers can more easily relate and put a face to a name. Also, if you notice that the homeowners had an abundance of rock climbing memorabilia, you might put a picture of yourself rock climbing so that they can more easily identify with you. In the real estate offer letter you can also take the time to explain your offer especially if it is on the lower side. Leave out any plans about remodeling as sellers are inherently protective of their home and don’t want to hear about you changing items that they have an emotional attachment to. Below are a few examples of emotions that you can include in your love letter.
Sample Letter to Home Seller
“I have hopelessly fallen for the beautiful home you have so lovingly created at 123 ABC Way.”
“We absolutely love your home! From the moment we walked in we could envision ourselves living there — cooking dinner in the beautiful kitchen, spending family time together in the living room, and hosting BBQ’s on the back deck while the children play outside. Most importantly, we can picture raising our family there.”
“As I walked through each room, I was taken with the precision of your design choices. From the contrasting contemporary touch of exposed brick in the living room, to each and every little niche and alcove waiting to display special art pieces.”
“When I saw your baby grand piano in the living room, I immediately imagined my young daughter sitting at it practicing her scales, it felt like home.”
This is the home of our dreams! I love kayaking and being steps away from the lake will let me do just that. The wraparound porch is perfect for relaxing and watching the sunset. The lower level suite is ideal, which will give my young adult daughter both space and privacy. We felt instantly at home when we walked in.”
Our twins love the adjacent rooms with the shared jack-and-jill bathroom. We love the fact that the master bedroom suite with its sitting room is upstairs, away from the kids. This home is perfect for us, we love it!”
If you really love a home, put in a competitively priced offer and to solidify your bid, write a love letter to send with your offer. The only time an offer letter probably wouldn’t work is for rentals or fix-and-flips. If the seller has not lived in the home, they wouldn’t have memories to ponder and they are only focused on the bottom line. Read more about other home buyer tips.
