After your fourth or fifth rejected offer, house hunting can feel like an unwinnable situation, especially in a competitive, seller’s market. One way to stand out in the crowd, besides a strong financial offer, is a personal touch.
Enter the offer letter: a heartfelt message to sellers that may give your bid the edge it needs to seal the deal. Offer letters are not a guarantee or a mandatory step when buying a home, but a well-written personal note could separate your offer from the others. If crafting one sounds intimidating, don’t worry – this guide will walk you through how to write an offer letter for a house.
Key Takeaways:
- Writing an offer letter to a seller may help your bid to buy a home in a competitive market, but they are not a mandatory step when purchasing a home.
- Always write from the heart, share details about what you love about the home and explain why you want to live there.
- Don’t discuss anything that might violate the Fair Housing Act, and don’t mention anything about your finances.
Tips For Writing An Offer Letter For a House
Writing an offer letter means composing a concise, compelling message persuading the seller to choose you. Here’s how to create the best letter to help you land your dream home.
1. Confirm You Can Submit A Letter
Not every seller welcomes or accepts letters, so the first step is double-checking that a letter is a good idea. Ask your real estate agent to communicate with the seller’s agent about their offer letter preferences. Sending a letter without checking could work against you, as an unwanted note could come across as inconsiderate.
2. Address The Seller(s) By Name And Introduce Yourself
Once you’ve confirmed that an offer letter is acceptable, you can begin writing it. Start with a warm greeting, addressing the seller by name, if you know it. You’ll also want to introduce yourself without revealing too many personal details. Doing so strikes a personal tone and helps the seller remember that the home sale is more than a transaction; it’s about their house becoming your new home.
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3. Highlight What You Like Best About The House
Generic praise won’t cut it. Instead of “beautiful home,” mention the restored hardwood floors, the reading nook in the bay window or the mature oak tree in the backyard that would be perfect for building a tree fort for your kids. You want to acknowledge, truthfully, what makes their home so special to you. Maybe it’s the large vegetable garden in the backyard or the sage green wall color in the kitchen, which you’ve always loved. Your intention here should be to strike a chord with the seller about how you’ll enjoy the home and promise to continue caring for it.
4. Keep It Short
Droning on and on won’t convince the seller to choose you. Instead, make your point and conclude the letter with your well wishes. This strategy will show you value the seller’s time and can deliver the message without being overblown or obnoxious.
Also, beware of oversharing. Make sure the letter doesn’t provide information about things like your race or sexual orientation. It isn’t lawful under the Fair Housing Act for sellers to consider these characteristics when selling their home. Instead, stick to basic, positive information or your intention to put down your roots in the community.
5. Avoid Talking About Planned Changes To The House
While your planned changes may be completely valid and increase the home’s value, they might also touch a nerve or tread on a part of the home that the seller loves. For instance, the seller could see installing a swimming pool as destroying a lawn they tended for decades. Rather than discuss all the changes you are planning to make, recognize the love and effort they’ve invested in creating a home, not just a house.
Point out thoughtful touches you’ve noticed, like a manicured lawn, custom shelving in the kitchen or carefully appointed lighting. By doing so, you’re acknowledging their years of care and demonstrating that you understand the emotional significance of what they’re leaving behind. Emotional attachments to specific parts of the home can mean that an improvement or renovation is unwelcome from the seller’s point of view. Therefore, abstain from mentioning your remodeling plans during negotiations, as they’ll likely work against you.
6. Don’t Talk About Financials
By the time the seller reads your offer letter, they know the price you’re offering. Mentioning it in the letter is redundant and can ruin your warm, personal tone. Usually, it’s best to avoid talking about financials. However, it’s OK to mention how you’ll pay for the home – whether in cash or with a mortgage. It can be helpful to include your preapproval letter, too.
7. End With A Thank-You
Finish by thanking the seller for looking at your offer and allowing you to see their home. Expressing gratitude ends the letter on a high note and can help the seller feel good about reading it.
8. Proofread Your Letter
Proofreading the letter is the essential last step in the process. It can feel monotonous, but it’s better than delivering a letter with missing commas or an incorrect spelling of the seller’s name. One strategy is to read the letter aloud; this will help you catch mistakes you would otherwise miss by reading it silently.
Remember, you don’t need to cover every single detail of the house that you appreciate or elaborate on your background. Instead, communicate in a positive way and modify it as you see fit. For instance, it might make more sense to thank the seller at the beginning of the letter if you met them in person. Overall, the order of the letter’s elements should help it flow naturally and feel authentic.
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Why Write An Offer Letter For A House?
You might wonder why writing an offer letter is worth the bother. After all, house hunting is already time-consuming, and it might seem like the seller is mainly concerned with the highest and best offer. However, in a seller’s market, buyers look for an edge to outpace the competition. An offer letter isn’t a requirement, but it can help you stand out from other offers. Sellers have to wade through numbers, and a personal note can be refreshing. It can even help break a stalemate between two comparable offers.
That said, the offer letter shouldn’t contain the vital details of your offer or the terms of your mortgage. Price, contingencies, move-in date and concessions will determine whether the seller accepts your offer.
This type of correspondence is about sharing what you love about a house and why you want to buy it. If you are trying to land a home amidst dozens of other offers, acknowledging the seller’s home in a positive light may help you stand out a little more.
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The Bottom Line
In a competitive market, a well-crafted offer letter emphasizing what you love about the home can help you stand out. Though optional in the house-hunting process, an authentic and thoughtful letter that genuinely connects with the seller could be the deciding factor when they’re choosing among multiple offers on a beloved home.
Maya Dollarhide
Maya Dollarhide is a freelance writer with over a decade of experience covering personal finance topics. Her writing credits include AARP, Bankrate, Investopedia, CNN.com, Yahoo Finance and Lending Tree. She enjoys writing articles and producing multimedia content that helps individuals and families make informed decisions about their money, from mortgages and home loans to reducing credit card debt and saving for retirement. She has also created educational materials for use in schools to teach young people about personal finance, from opening up a bank account to saving for college and beyond.
