Personalising your home offer for maximum impact

When you are looking for a family home it can prove hard to compete against the cashed up offers of investors. However, depending on the circumstances, some buyers are much more comfortable selling to a property buyer that is not looking to demolishing a much-loved family home but instead wants to live in it. Here are some ways that your can make your offer stand out. 

Write a personal letter to the sellers

While the real estate agent is obliged to present all offers, that doesn't stop you contacting the owner separately. Even if the owner is not living in the home they are likely to be checking mail so anything you send to the address will end up with them personally. You can send them a letter knowing what you like about the house and telling them a little bit about your family. In the event that the buyer is looking for another family to occupy the property, this could help your offer to inch above the deeper pockets of a property investor who plans to demolish a much-loved family home to build a multi-unit development. 

Make sales conditions that work for you 

If there is not a reasonable place to leave a note to the buyer, you can also use the offer to make clear that you love the house. You can make the offer conditional to certain element being left undisturbed, such as requiring a treehouse to remain in place or asking for pet doors to be left in situ. This makes it clear that you want to keep using the home as a family home and appreciate all of the elements of the home, not just the street frontage or overall block size. 

You can also make an offer free of other condition such as requiring the building to meet modern energy efficiency standard or pass building inspections. Many old family homes had jerry-built extensions and it is always worth comparing the value of ignoring, repairing or reversing these renovations against the additional money you are likely to need to pay to get a competitive offer in for an older family home. 

If you are unsure of how to enter a competitive offer for a family home, you should talk to a real estate buyers agent. They can help you to structure a competitive offer that doesn't just rely on overall sales price, but that also offers a competitive overall sales picture to the seller.