My New Outside Blog: The Power of the Written Word

I wrote an offer for my buyers last week; the purchase price offered was $65,000 less than the asking price but based on the comparisons for the area, it was a fair offer.  The big issue was, the seller was 83 years old and lived out of state and he didn't care about the comps and had already turned down similar offers for more, so he countered back at $775,000.  I decided to do something old-fashioned that worked back in the day of making an offer stand out amongst multiple offers: I asked my buyer to write a personal letter  to the seller, explaining that he understood where the seller was coming from, and that he (my buyer) had been in the same situation of having to adjust his expectations by coming down $70,000 on the sale of his own house because of the current market conditions.  My buyer also said that he realized it was a necessary step if he wanted to move on with his life and he assured the seller that the escrow would be smooth and worry free and the letter was sent together with a counter for $750,000.  I had the support of the listing agent and the seller's family weighed in on the decision as well.  After about five days of nail-biting, I got the good news: the letter had been the clincher and the seller signed off on the counter.  In these days of high speed technology, texting, e-mail, twittering etc, our business can become impersonal, but occasionally, a personal letter from one party to the other can make all the difference and humanize the transaction.   Keep this in mind next time you are in a similar situation!