Boston condos for sale and personal letters
Sellers are having it put in writing that they do not want to receive “love letters” from buyers. Boston condo for sale sellers do not have to accept the letters and it might be best if they don’t.
Boston Condo Buyers
We have had a few listings that have gotten multiple offers. Some of the Boston condo buyers making an offer send ‘love letters” along with the offer. The letters say how much the buyers loved the home. Some Boston condo buyers include pictures of themselves.
They also include information about the buyer’s marital and familial status. Sometimes the letter will mention a local church or community organization they plan to join
Boston Condo Sellers
Presently, There aren’t any rule against buyers writing letters to the Boston condo seller but I always advise sellers to ignore the letter until after they have chosen an offer or to consult their attorney. It is against the law to favor one offer over another based on the race, religion, or familial status of the offerer. It is best to choose the offer that has the best terms and is the most likely to close.
Boston Condo Fair Housing Laws
If the seller accepts the offer because they like the buyers the best and it wasn’t the best offer that could lead to a fair housing complaint. Sometimes the offers are similar but one offer has a letter with it that includes pictures. It is tempting to use the letter as a tiebreaker but a coin flip is a better way to go.
Sometimes homeowners believe that they have an obligation to sell their condominium to someone the neighbors might like. Neighbors come and go and it is illegal for the homeowner or the neighbors to help “choose” a buyer based upon Race, age, family status, disability, religion, ethnicity, etc.
Selling Your Home is a Business Deal
It is important to look at selling a home as a business transaction and to look at the terms in the offers and what kind of financing the Boston condo buyers are using.
Boston Condos for Sale and the Bottom Line
It is also possible to write a letter that is about the condo and maybe about interests in common with the owners without including demographic information.
I have seen instances where love letters have backfired in that the sellers disliked the buyers based on the letter.
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Boston Condos for Sale
Boston condos for sale and personal letters
“Love letters” belong in the hands of a significant other, not a home seller, a growing number of realtors say.
Ohio Realtors president Seth Task is the latest to come out against the letters, a tactic traditionally used by potential home buyers as a means of forming a personal connection with sellers and gaining an edge on rival bidders.
Task told News 5 Cleveland that he no longer welcomes love letters and encourages fellow realtors to reject them as well.
In Northeast Ohio, approximately 25 percent of sellers’ agents have stopped accepting the letters amid growing concerns that they could enable discrimination.
In October, the National Association of Realtors began warning real estate agents that the letters were a “potential liability.”
The Fair Housing Act explicitly prohibits sellers from accepting or rejecting offers on the basis of protected characteristics such as race, religion or familial status. Because love letters can often reveal such personal information about buyers, NAR cautioned, accepting them could expose agents and their clients to fair housing violations.
While the use of love letters is falling out of favor in Ohio, there is no legislation banning them at this point. The same can’t be said for Oregon, which recently became the first state to outlaw the letters.
Boston Condos for Sale
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In a tight inventory market (Downtown Boston condo market is loosening up and like our Boston weather cooling down, but many areas still have tight inventory) buyers often try the personal-appeal strategy: Writing a letter to sellers to go along with their Boston condo offer. The idea is to make an emotional case for their offer to be selected, even if it’s not, say an all-cash offer for 10% over the asking price.
Do they work? There’s no hard data I’m aware of, and often times sellers will not disclose whether or not they even read the letter. Still, when they’ve found their dream Beacon Hill home, most buyers want to do anything they can to be the winning bidder. Here are our real estate agent tips on doing the letter right.
Letters and Fair Housing
Unfortunately, not all Boston condo buyers and sellers are aware that selecting a home buyer based on a letter could open them up to legal problems. That’s because these letters often include information that can lead to a violation of Massachusetts fair housing rules.
The fair housing laws that apply in Boston seek to level the playing field for home buyers, preventing discrimination — whether intentional or not — and preferential treatment of buyers based on things that should be irrelevant.
At least three levels of fair housing rules apply to Boston real estate transactions: Federal, State, housing laws. In a nutshell, these laws prohibit discrimination based on any of the following:
- Race or national origin
- Religion
- Gender
- Disability
- Familial status (for example, saying you’re going to house an elderly parent, or that you have or will have children). Oregon rules also extend this to marital status.
- Sexual orientation (Boston city ordinance)
- Source of income (Boston city ordinance)
- Age (Boston city ordinance)
Does this mean you can’t include pictures of the family with your letter? Fair housing law experts and good real estate agents advise against it. Ditto for mentioning a new job as the reason you’re moving to the area, or the fact that you’d like to retire into the home (implying your age range).
It sounds harsh, but these rules do make sense. Boston Downtown condo neighborhoods should be inclusive and welcoming of people of all backgrounds; generally, the less a seller knows about a buyer, the easier this is to achieve.
So, What Can You Say?
After understanding fair housing rules, it may feel impossible to write a letter attempting to convince a seller to select your offer, but there’s no reason not to try. The idea is simply to help your offer stand out from the rest, and sellers are within their legal right to make the decision based factors that are relevant to the Boston Beacon Hill condo sale, such as a buyer’s ability to secure financing. Good areas to focus on in your letter to Beacon Hill condo sellers would be:
- The simple fact that you’re not a developer. Most homeowners don’t want to see their charming old Beacon Hill home torn down for an apartment complex, and with high pressure for infill in Boston demolitions are on the rise.
- What you love about the Beacon Hill house. To follow up on the fact that you’re not going to tear it down, start listing your favorite features of the home. For most sellers, it’s easier to think of parting with their home if they know someone’s going to enjoy it and take good care of it.
- Financial soundness. If you are pre-approved for the mortgage (and feel free to go into the specifics only while consulting your mortgage lender and real estate agent), let sellers know in your letter. Most sellers would prefer a hassle-free closing process, and since many home offers that don’t go through have a financing issue, it’s worth mentioning.
- Determination to buy. Sellers and listing agents hate it when the buyer makes an offer only walk away a day or two later due to “cold feet”. It is easy contractually (typically) for a buyer to walk away from the transaction early on in the process, so it can help the seller if they know you’re really sold on this particular Beacon Hill home (and why).
Putting Ideas Into Words
Stuck on writing a great letter to the owners of your dream Boston condo for sale? It may be tempting to search Google for a “buyers’ letter to the seller” and then do some copy and pasting. It’s fine to read these as examples, but when you sit down to write the letter, start with a blank page. As awkward as it may end up, using your own words is far more genuine — and sellers will know the difference. Here are some tips to avoid writers’ block:
- Do it in the morning. Most of us are freshest before noon, and will have an easier time putting our thoughts together.
- Write on paper. It’s less intimidating than staring at a blank screen. Plus, you can doodle to get your hand moving. Just type the letter for the final draft so that it’s clearly legible and easy to read.
- To get started, imagine you’re gushing about the house to a friend, your spouse, your parent — anyone you would normally tell about how excited you are. Getting over the hurdle of writing to a stranger is often the hardest part, and you can always edit later to make the tone more professional.
- Run it by your real estate agent. They’ll be able to tell if your letter will be effective, and whether there is any information that could be a fair housing area. If it’s in doubt, take it out.
Letters From the Seller?
Some Boston luxury condo sellers are now taking the buyers-letter-to-the-seller idea and turning it on their head. In one example their neighbors a letter to let them know their home was coming on the market.
The sellers’ main motivation for writing the letter was to say goodbye after living in the home for 30 years. But letting their neighbors know that their home was for sale was also a smart marketing move. Rather than simply relying on traditional real estate advertising, they leveraged word of mouth to build interest in their listing. The letter touched on the home’s desirable features, but was not a sales letter — its main goal was to be heartfelt and genuine. Now it isn’t that likely that your neighbors are sitting there waiting to buy your home, but it can’t hurt, it is very polite, and your neighbors may know someone who wants to move in the area. The seller’s letter will be a lot more effective than a postcard from a real estate agent, no matter how good that postcard is.
If you’re thinking of selling your Boston Midtown condo, the first step is to get it listed by a top real estate agent on the regional MLS system. That’s the place where most offers will come from. We hope you will consider us, where we charge a max. of 4% commission but pay more to market your home online so it sells faster and for more.\
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