‘Love letters’ help home buyers woo sellers

Fairfield and New Haven County homeowners are getting charming love letters from people they typically have never met.

These letters use the word “love” frequently. They describe deep emotions, painful experiences, and old happy memories.

But they are not expressing romance. These letters are potential home buyers from New York and the surrounding area trying to woo homesellers in Connecticut. Please sell your home to me, the letters plead.

It’s a sellers’ market, as has been widely publicized. Simply bidding on a property, many seem to feel, is no longer enough — especially if the buyer has his or her hopes on moving to the home of their dreams. Today buyers are looking for any additional steps to win over sellers amid fierce competition for the right abode. The love letters are becoming increasingly common.

Here’s an excerpt from one letter a young couple recently sent to a seller:

“When we started looking for homes, our real estate agent told us, ‘When you pull up to a potential house, if you feel like you’re pulling into your home, that’s when you know.’

“Today, as my fiancé and I pulled up to your charming home, I finally felt what she meant ... many things are uncertain but there’s one thing we know, we felt a connection to your home, felt at ease as we walked around, and saw the potential for our future and our family …”

In the past, a letter to a potential seller might include a list of repairs the buyer required of the seller. Until this latest boom in the housing market, buyers were requesting even the smallest of repairs. We would often negotiate a range of repair items, including minor issues under $200 to major issues, like mold or radon remediation, which are customarily health and safety repairs. Today, buyers are regularly willing to overlook perceived flaws in homes. The reasoning: If they do not buy the home now, “as is” or close to “as is,” someone else will.

Buyers are even sending sentimental follow-up letters, thanking the seller for accepting their offer and sharing personal medical information as they giddily explain how happy and safe their family will feel in their new home.

Here is another “love letter:”

“I have fallen in love with your home ... I was given the gift of living in my childhood home from birth until after college. The stability and safety that gives you is undeniable. That is what I am praying for every day in these turbulent times. Our safe haven. A place for my husband and I to grow old in. A place for our sons to drag their laundry home to while on breaks from college.”

With New York initially being hit badly by COVID-19, there has been unprecedented interest here, which is seen as an appealing place to live because it is safer and less expensive than New York. Low mortgage rates are also feeding the frenzy.

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices New England Properties indicates a 13-percent increase in home sales statewide in July from a year earlier. More than 5,500 houses, condominiums and townhouses sold in that month, 625 more than one year ago in Connecticut.

For buyers contemplating writing a “love letter,” consider:

1. Write a draft so it’s on hand when you find a home you want. Customize it later, but have the basics written in advance.

2. Avoid discussing remodeling. You may think your plans for constructing a screened-in porch will impress the seller, but they may have been happy with the porch

‘Many things are uncertain but there’s one thing we know, we felt a connection to your home, felt at ease as we walked around, and saw the potential for our future and our family …’

the way it is.

3. Find common ground. If you come from a family of ski lovers and you noticed the seller had photos of family ski trips, mention that your family are ski aficionados.

4. Show it to your real estate agent. He or she will have a sense of whether the letter will work. You might unwittingly say something negative, or perhaps the letter may need to be a bit more descriptive. Your real estate agent can put you on the right path.

These letters do have an impact on even the savviest Connecticut seller. Words can have an impact, and the right ones can give buyers that essential edge.

Susan Kohn of Westport is a real estate attorney with more than 20 years of experience. She can be reached at her office at 203-452-8895. https://www.susankohnlaw.net/