Do you get unsolicited offers to buy your home?

[haapai]

Do they creep you out too?

I got a postcard this week with a picture of my home on the back (plus an overhead shot) and the following text

IS THIS YOUR HOUSE?  I WANT TO BUY IT

(house address)

(The photographs that I mentioned come next.  The captions indicated that Google earth generated them.  These photographs may have been ripped from the website maintained by the registrar of deeds in my county.  Interestingly, the photographs appear to have been taken at different times of year and possibly in different years.)

To Receive a Fair Cash Offer

Text SELL to (local phone number)

for our offer or call (the same local number)

I have no interest in selling my home and am completely squicked by being on the radar of an outfit that wants it and probably wants it cheap. 

I think that I got targeted by this outfit because my house is run-down, is owned by a single (female) person, and there is a significant difference between the property's assessed value and taxable value which usually indicates that the owner has owned the property for a long time and is likely elderly. 

Have any of the rest of you gotten similar solicitations?  Were they recent?  Did they unsettle you too? 

[pulmonarymd]

I have gotten notes from realtors saying they have a client who wants to buy my home., I have gotten other unsolicited inquiries. They are ignored and thrown in the trash. also gotten some from those we buy homes people. Everything is on line and not private anymore. I just ignore it.

[busymom]

We get LOTS of those offers in the mail.  Folks are just hoping to buy your place on the cheap.  Just throw them away, and don't think about it.

[wvugurl26]

DH gets them. He bought the house pre marriage. The weird ones were the ones my brother and I got after our grandma's death about her house. We weren't on the deed and we didn't inherit. House went to my dad and uncle.

DH's aunt gets people offering 7 figures in cash regularly. She lives in Queens though so the market is a bit different. When she's finally ready to leave, it will be a big bid war.

[tallguy]

Feb 21, 2024 16:04:58 GMT -5 haapai said:

Do they creep you out too?

I got a postcard this week with a picture of my home on the back (plus an overhead shot) and the following text

IS THIS YOUR HOUSE?  I WANT TO BUY IT

(house address)

(The photographs that I mentioned come next.  The captions indicated that Google earth generated them.  These photographs may have been ripped from the website maintained by the registrar of deeds in my county.  Interestingly, the photographs appear to have been taken at different times of year and possibly in different years.)

To Receive a Fair Cash Offer

Text SELL to (local phone number)

for our offer or call (the same local number)

I have no interest in selling my home and am completely squicked by being on the radar of an outfit that wants it and probably wants it cheap. 

I think that I got targeted by this outfit because my house is run-down, is owned by a single (female) person, and there is a significant difference between the property's assessed value and taxable value which usually indicates that the owner has owned the property for a long time and is likely elderly. 

Have any of the rest of you gotten similar solicitations?  Were they recent?  Did they unsettle you too? 

I have gotten a number of those types of things in the past.  No, they don't bother me, but one in particular was memorable.  I received a letter in the mail years ago from a woman who lived a few blocks away.  Said she had always wanted to live in my neighborhood and wanted to buy my house.  Said she was willing to pay $950,000.  I did not respond because even double or triple that would not have persuaded me to move.  The next day, an agent shows up at my door with a fully filled out and signed purchase offer from the woman...for $900,000.  I explained that no, I wasn't planning on ever selling but regardless, an offer significantly below what the client had already communicated was unlikely to be persuasive.        

[resolution]

I get them all the time for my property in another state, and rarely for our current home. I went through a phase for a few years where people at call centers kept calling my landline asking me to sell my house. It was incredibly annoying and didn't stop until I moved and changed my phone number.

[raeoflyte]

I get them and ignore them. It's a #'s game for investors, not nearly as targeted as you're thinking.

When it's really a sellers market we'll get agents going door to door asking if we've ever considered selling and they're legit looking for homes for clients.

[minnesotapaintlady]

Many.  Mostly for my adjacent raw land.  No, they don't bother me.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

All the time.  I think the last time I got this question, I told them we’d sell for $23 million, not a penny less.  TD thinks it’s hysterical.

[haapai]

I feel so much better hearing that other people get these offers.  Thanks guys!

I have absolutely no intention of responding to the offer in any way.  That's not to say that I am not curious regarding just how bad the offer is.  I just have the good sense not to respond in any way.  That will only lead to high-pressure sales tactics. 

I'm only 55 but the snail mail that I've started getting recently is kinda disturbing.  A whole lot of folks seem to want to buy me a free dinner too.  Given that I live in a cheap house in a cheap neighborhood, what they are pitching is probably pretty extractive. 

[Pink Cashmere]

I get calls and texts. Between calls about that, and when I got endless calls about Medicare stuff after I contacted a certain place after my Mom moved into my house, I do not answer calls from unfamiliar phone number anymore.

Some of the texts have been a little weird, like a couple of times, people texted me again, indignant that I didn’t respond to their first text. That REALLY irritated me. Another time, somebody text me saying they were prepared to make a great offer to buy my house. I must have felt like playing that day, because I responded and asked, how much. They said, well, first tell me more about the house. Ummm, no. You should already know everything you need to know about it, if you’re prepared to make a “great” offer lol.

When/if I do ever decide to sell my house, I will do my best to try to be sure I am selling it to somebody that is looking for a home to live in, and not any of the (often out of state) investors that have taken advantage of what use to be affordable housing in the area. I feel strongly about that, because it has messed up the local housing market, and made even renting unaffordable for a lot of people. And worst of all, made it more difficult for every day people to buy homes, because they can’t compete with the cash offers, often above asking price. I personally know 2 people that sold their houses to investors instead of “regular” people, because they couldn’t resist the simplicity of a cash offer, and both offers were more than what they thought was a fair price to list it for. Maybe I’m just naive, but I believe in the value of owning your home, and would rather sell to someone that is trying to do that, than a business buying another investment property, even if I make less money off of the sale.

My apologies for going off on a tangent.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Feb 21, 2024 16:35:22 GMT -5 haapai said:

I feel so much better hearing that other people get these offers.  Thanks guys!

I have absolutely no intention of responding to the offer in any way.  That's not to say that I am not curious regarding just how bad the offer is.  I just have the good sense not to respond in any way.  That will only lead to high-pressure sales tactics. 

I'm only 55 but the snail mail that I've started getting recently is kinda disturbing.  A whole lot of folks seem to want to buy me a free dinner too.  Given that I live in a cheap house in a cheap neighborhood, what they are pitching is probably pretty extractive. 

I pretty much guarantee you that the offer will be a fraction of what the property is worth. 

The piece of property we have next door is assessed for tax purposes at $300k.  There are a few acres there, probably enough for 6-8 houses?  A piece of property for a house in this development would probably cost about $250k, so the true value of this property in the right hands would be somewhere around $1.5 million.  

TD got an offer letter for $15k.  

[Pink Cashmere]

Feb 21, 2024 16:35:22 GMT -5 haapai said:

I feel so much better hearing that other people get these offers.  Thanks guys!

I have absolutely no intention of responding to the offer in any way.  That's not to say that I am not curious regarding just how bad the offer is.  I just have the good sense not to respond in any way.  That will only lead to high-pressure sales tactics. 

I'm only 55 but the snail mail that I've started getting recently is kinda disturbing.  A whole lot of folks seem to want to buy me a free dinner too.  Given that I live in a cheap house in a cheap neighborhood, what they are pitching is probably pretty extractive. 

In my mind, if they want my house so bad, I want a million dollars for it. So regardless of what they say if I choose to entertain them, I wouldn’t feel pressured unless they offered me a million dollars.

My house is not worth anything even close to a million dollars. Or even half a million.

And if somebody offered an outrageous amount of money for it, I’d try to find out what they must know that I don’t. 

For me, it’s not just about the house itself, it is also about legacy and being vested in the future of our communities. There is an activist working in several ways, to improve things in the part of town my house is located in. That part of town has some historical significance for people like me. This guy regularly pleads with people to not sell “Grandma’s” house. I know why he is saying that, there is a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes, and opposing forces being interested in the area.

Another tangent. I will hush now.

[haapai]

Feb 21, 2024 17:04:43 GMT -5 Pink Cashmere said:

I get calls and texts. Between calls about that, and when I got endless calls about Medicare stuff after I contacted a certain place after my Mom moved into my house, I do not answer calls from unfamiliar phone number anymore.

Some of the texts have been a little weird, like a couple of times, people texted me again, indignant that I didn’t respond to their first text. That REALLY irritated me. Another time, somebody text me saying they were prepared to make a great offer to buy my house. I must have felt like playing that day, because I responded and asked, how much. They said, well, first tell me more about the house. Ummm, no. You should already know everything you need to know about it, if you’re prepared to make a “great” offer lol.

When/if I do ever decide to sell my house, I will do my best to try to be sure I am selling it to somebody that is looking for a home to live in, and not any of the (often out of state) investors that have taken advantage of what use to be affordable housing in the area. I feel strongly about that, because it has messed up the local housing market, and made even renting unaffordable for a lot of people. And worst of all, made it more difficult for every day people to buy homes, because they can’t compete with the cash offers, often above asking price. I personally know 2 people that sold their houses to investors instead of “regular” people, because they couldn’t resist the simplicity of a cash offer, and both offers were more than what they thought was a fair price to list it for. Maybe I’m just naive, but I believe in the value of owning your home, and would rather sell to someone that is trying to do that, than a business buying another investment property, even if I make less money off of the sale.

My apologies for going off on a tangent.

Do not apologize.  You are not off on a tangent.  Thank you for warning me about the folks who are indignant about not getting a response.  They'll be on my "dead to me/do not respond" list thanks to you. 

[haapai]

Feb 21, 2024 17:19:47 GMT -5 Pink Cashmere said:

Feb 21, 2024 16:35:22 GMT -5 haapai said:

I feel so much better hearing that other people get these offers.  Thanks guys!

I have absolutely no intention of responding to the offer in any way.  That's not to say that I am not curious regarding just how bad the offer is.  I just have the good sense not to respond in any way.  That will only lead to high-pressure sales tactics. 

I'm only 55 but the snail mail that I've started getting recently is kinda disturbing.  A whole lot of folks seem to want to buy me a free dinner too.  Given that I live in a cheap house in a cheap neighborhood, what they are pitching is probably pretty extractive. 

In my mind, if they want my house so bad, I want a million dollars for it. So regardless of what they say if I choose to entertain them, I wouldn’t feel pressured unless they offered me a million dollars.

My house is not worth anything even close to a million dollars. Or even half a million.

And if somebody offered an outrageous amount of money for it, I’d try to find out what they must know that I don’t. 

For me, it’s not just about the house itself, it is also about legacy and being vested in the future of our communities. There is an activist working in several ways, to improve things in the part of town my house is located in. That part of town has some historical significance for people like me. This guy regularly pleads with people to not sell “Grandma’s” house. I know why he is saying that, there is a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes, and opposing forces being interested in the area.

Another tangent. I will hush now.

Again, you are not off on a tangent.  You do not need to hush. 

I've got a pretty sweet deal on this little wreck of a house.  The mortgage is cheap (3.75%) and low (the note is about $225 a month).  The property taxes on this place are also unusually cheap because I bought low and have benefited from state law that limits the amount that property taxes can increase and I am currently paying about two thirds of what I think that I probably should be paying in property taxes.  Then there are transfer costs. 

I haven't done all of the math but right now I think that someone would have to offer me twice what the house is worth on the open market to even make me think about selling it. 

[soupandstew]

We get these frequently because, in part, public records show we are seniors, many of whom are interested in selling.  In fact, we got  a postcard yesterday with a photo that was obviously from Google Street View.  These solicitations don't bother me, but I don't respond to them.  In time, if we choose to move to an apartment, I will list with a reputable local realtor.  

[TheOtherMe]

I receive them a lot and have for years.  

Yes, the ones to get me a free dinner make me laugh.

I received an email yesterday and I don't know how a local insurance brokerage got my email address.  They offered me a dinner that includes wine.

I wonder if they will stop because I had my house blurred on Google Street View.

[CCL]

We get them in the mail frequently. The other day I got one saying they'll buy my house and then they'll rent it back to me. A win-win. Well, except it would probably rent for about $2400 a month which is about 4x my payment lol.

[soupandstew]

Feb 21, 2024 18:19:26 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

I receive them a lot and have for years.  

Yes, the ones to get me a free dinner make me laugh.

I received an email yesterday and I don't know how a local insurance brokerage got my email address.  They offered me a dinner that includes wine.

I wonder if they will stop because I had my house blurred on Google Street View.

If I answered every free dinner solicitation I get, we would have multiple financial advisors, life insurance plans, prepaid burial plans and much more.  My current favorite snail mail and email solicitation is from the Hartford through AARP which cancelled our home and car coverages back in 2022 when we placed our home in our trust.  Now they deluge us with pleas to come back.  Uh no, you put us through hell back then and guess what, we found better, cheaper coverage elsewhere.  

[soupandstew]

Feb 21, 2024 18:23:43 GMT -5 CCL said:

We get them in the mail frequently. The other day I got one saying they'll buy my house and then they'll rent it back to me. A win-win. Well, except it would probably rent for about $2400 a month which is about 4x my payment lol.

Oh, that's a good one I hadn't heard of.  My house payment is zero and current rents here are $2,000 + so I'm going to pass on that

[jerseygirl]

The other me, how did you get your house view blurred on google?
Ours doesn’t need blurring cause from street just view of trees but I’ll curious

[Tennesseer]

I get about eight calls a week to see if I'm interested in selling my home.  I tell them they are in violation of the Federal Trade Commission's Do Not Call registry and I plan on reporting them.  They usually apologize and then hang up (and call someone else to bother!).

[mollyanna58]

Feb 21, 2024 18:19:26 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

I receive them a lot and have for years.  

Yes, the ones to get me a free dinner make me laugh.

I received an email yesterday and I don't know how a local insurance brokerage got my email address.  They offered me a dinner that includes wine.

I wonder if they will stop because I had my house blurred on Google Street View.

Nope.  My house has been blurred for years, and I still get these kinds of mail, emails, and texts.

[Pink Cashmere]

Feb 21, 2024 17:48:13 GMT -5 haapai said:

Feb 21, 2024 17:19:47 GMT -5 Pink Cashmere said:

In my mind, if they want my house so bad, I want a million dollars for it. So regardless of what they say if I choose to entertain them, I wouldn’t feel pressured unless they offered me a million dollars.

My house is not worth anything even close to a million dollars. Or even half a million.

And if somebody offered an outrageous amount of money for it, I’d try to find out what they must know that I don’t. 

For me, it’s not just about the house itself, it is also about legacy and being vested in the future of our communities. There is an activist working in several ways, to improve things in the part of town my house is located in. That part of town has some historical significance for people like me. This guy regularly pleads with people to not sell “Grandma’s” house. I know why he is saying that, there is a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes, and opposing forces being interested in the area.

Another tangent. I will hush now.

Again, you are not off on a tangent.  You do not need to hush. 

I've got a pretty sweet deal on this little wreck of a house.  The mortgage is cheap (3.75%) and low (the note is about $225 a month).  The property taxes on this place are also unusually cheap because I bought low and have benefited from state law that limits the amount that property taxes can increase and I am currently paying about two thirds of what I think that I probably should be paying in property taxes.  Then there are transfer costs. 

I haven't done all of the math but right now I think that someone would have to offer me twice what the house is worth on the open market to even make me think about selling it. 

You call your house a “wreck”, but I think the most important thing, even if it’s not in great shape at the moment or whatever, is that it is YOURS.

I bought my house when I was 29yo, and a single parent to 2 children whose Dad wouldn’t even pay his court ordered child support right. I did it all by myself, with the Grace of God, the generosity of my Grandmother, who didn’t charge me rent for living in the house she owned, which made it easier for me to get my money together, and my willingness to work OT to stack my money so I could make it happen. I have always been proud of myself for that, buying a house to raise my children in, where they had their own private spaces aka bedrooms, in a safe neighborhood, where they could go outside and play and just be kids, was a very big deal to me, and I did it. 

People that have read any of my posts here over the years, where I wrote about my Grandmother and her houses, might understand why homeownership is such a big deal to me. She kept her first house, that she bought brand new, as a way to try to provide for her descendants, so that her children and the grandchildren she didn’t even have yet, would always have a place to lay their head if they ever needed it. In the meantime, she rented it out to other people. In my mind, if my Grandmother, who only had a 4th grade education, could do that, why couldn’t I do the same when I moved here with Mister?

Where my house is, was a suburb of the city at first, way back before I was even born. That area is called Whitehaven. Living where I live, I am inclined to believe that that area got its name way back when, not just randomly. Things changed over the decades, and by the time I bought my house, it was the wealthiest “Black” neighborhood in the state. Even though it’s not just a neighborhood, it is what I don’t know the word for other than an “area” or part of the city, that has its own zip code. 

It has everything from neighborhoods with fairly large houses, to neighborhoods with more modest houses like mine is. FWIW, Graceland, Elvis Presleys’s house that has become and is still a tourist attraction, is in Whitehaven. 

It was a lively, thriving area, with shopping, restaurants and all kinds of businesses, for decades, even after the demographics changed. But within the last decade or so, maybe even before that, big retailers started closing shop. The oldest mall in the city is in Whitehaven and after Goldsmith’s became Macy’s they ended up closing their store in the mall several years ago, then Sears went through what they went through, and closed their store in the mall, and because they were the big anchor stores for the mall, the mall became a ghost town. 

Even before I moved, there were signs that the area had become an area of interest again, for certain people. Where my house is, is a good location as far as close access to the interstate, which is how most of us travel to get to different parts of the area, and you can either hop on the Interstate and drive further into or across the city, or drive to northern Mississippi and shop and/or dine there. I’m lazy, and even I can walk from my house, into Mississippi, if I was so inclined. I’ve never been inclined to do that though lol.

So there is a very real possibility that whichever of the opposing interests ends up winning, my house could end up being even more valuable at some point. But I’m not holding on to it because that’s what I’m hoping for. I have other reasons.

And if I ever do sell it instead of leaving it for my children to inherit, I’d rather a regular person like me, benefit from all of that if it does happen, vs a business.

[steph08]

We get them for some acreage (less than 10) that we own. They are for less than we paid 15 years ago. It isn't going to happen.

We have never received one for any house we've lived in at the time, though we live in a very rural area. I might sell for the right price though, like four times what I paid. 🙂

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I get them all the time and throw them away.

It's mass marketing. Odds are good if they flood the neighborhood with flyers they will hit on a potential client. Now their names are in your head when you go to sell and chances are higher you'll pick a "familiar" name.

Marketing 101.

It's not remotely targeted and nothing to be creeped out about.

It's no different than all the car dealers lately trying to convince people to sell their used cars.

[TheOtherMe]

Feb 21, 2024 18:43:30 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

The other me, how did you get your house view blurred on google?
Ours doesn’t need blurring cause from street just view of trees but I’ll curious

I had tried several years ago and was told my house didn't qualify.

I read an article somewhere this winter that said that anybody can truly get there home blurred on Street View.  I don't remember what I did.  Google it and do what they ask.  It didn't take a week for it to be blurred.  

I only have an ornamental tree that will never block the view.

[finnime]

I used to get solicitations all the time, at least one a week, when I lived in Maryland. My house there was in a very desireable neighborhood. Here, none. I am pleased to be without them. I do get the Medicare/insurance/financial advisor pitches by snail mail. I also have no landline and my cell phone still has the Maryland area code, so there's that.

[wvugurl26]

It may also be a delay in the records catching up after a sale that leads to no annoying offers. Grandma's house was titled to pass to her sons on her death. When we took her will to open probate, they checked the title and said they'd retitle to my dad and uncle. They got paperwork a few months later that it was done and that it'd be 12-18 months before it was recorded.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Feb 21, 2024 17:04:43 GMT -5 Pink Cashmere said:

I get calls and texts. Between calls about that, and when I got endless calls about Medicare stuff after I contacted a certain place after my Mom moved into my house, I do not answer calls from unfamiliar phone number anymore.

We have put up a white list on the house phone.  Only calls from the approved numbers can get through.  This has eliminated so much that it’s been incredible.  Now the only calls that come though are those we want, and everything else goes automatically to voicemail.  

Highly recommend it.