Door Knocking? Letter Drops?

So... a friend wants to buy her ppor on a particular street, where there are about 10 properties that match her interests. She was talking about hiring a buyer's agent to target these properties. She's willing to pay a bit (50-100k) over market value.

Are there actually buyers' agents who do this? I've received letters (ie "I'd like to buy your property") in the past, which I ignored; I'm assuming buyers' agents would just do something similar? Curious because the husband and I might be looking to get a new ppor down the line... do letter drops work? If so, do you provide your email, and phone number, and just cross your fingers?

 

Hi,
Your friend should be able to do this by herself. No need to pay a buyers agent to put some flyers in the mail. Alternatively do you know or have a relationship with a good REA? I often do selective prospecting using buyers details (with their consent) and target properties that meet their select criteria. Not always successful but has produced some good results.
Mick.

 

This is something you, or a BA, or an REA could do. Perhaps a BA would be the way to go if you get a response from the mailers / letterbox drops and you are not an experienced negotiator or do not know prices well. BAs will also have a draft letter that they have crafted and refined over the years through trial & error - so you can leverage off that.

Response rates are usually 1-3% at best. So 100 mailers might only yield 1 response.

 

Thanks for the replies @Mick Butterfield and @Propertunity
The projected response rates are about what I'd expected. I'll see how my friend goes and report back if there's anything to report...
Personally, the hubs and I aren't as fussed as my friend is so hopefully we'll find something acceptable when the time comes ...

 

I toss out these flyers that clutter up my letter box. Even those purporting to come from individuals are dismissed as a probable agent ruse.

If there are only 10 houses or so that your friend is targeting, he/she may be better to write up a brief description of themselves, what they are looking for, and contact details. Then knock on the door and hand deliver them. A personal approach and a smile may, at the very least, ensure the flyer is read.
Marg

 

Problem with this strategy is when people know your interested in their property they suddenly think its worth much more than what the market is dictating. I have never had any luck with this one.

 

I don't think letterbox-door-knocking would work in the inner Brisbane market,not if someone had a simple sign on the locked front gate saying --no door to door sales people no entry--
most as i had three in the po-box last week,most are just dressed up nonsense from agents
saying we have someone interested in a property,but every now and again you get a letter from someone who has taken the time through a Solicitor to draft a letter in a way that makes one think,the rest go in the campervan to start the campfire..

 

As @Propertunity and @Mick Butterfield have suggested, targeted canvassing specific to buyer details usually works best. Response rates can be low, but we've had some success over the years as there are sellers who don't want to go through selling agents to sell. If they do, however, we ask to be kept informed and have often been the first party through prior to advertising.

The hard part, however, isn't getting the interested parties responding- it's the negotiating that follows. As is human nature, when someone knows they have something you highly desire, price expectations usually proceed upwards....

 

We have done it, personalised note in the letterbox, they rang within a few days.

 

in this case I'd recommend writing 10 letters to each of the 10 houses.. So 1:100 should be a winner

 

We did this - 60 letters, 4 responses so far. It seems to be a trickle, so I'll no doubt hear from more of them as time goes on. But we filtered fairly heavily to remove clear long term owner occ recently renovated properties, dev sites, rental properties etc. Actually went into the council and got the rental properties ownership details to direct mail the landlords addresses - one of the respondents was one of these.

Just DIY - it's easy as it gets.

 

I have been getting these handwritten notes (written once and photocopied) in my letter box lately.
It did grab my attention when i first received one, but then realised if they were serious enough, they would personalised it like @Marg4000 said. I still wonder what they have to offer though.

 

We've bought a property via doing a mail out . One of my team mates in an over 35 football team ( a few years ago ) was complaining he couldn't find a house where he wanted as none were for sale and I suggested he do a mail out .

He wrote a nice letter saying who he was , married , with three kids , grew up in the area and was looking for a house as his kids were going to be going to the local school etc , blah blah

Someone saw it and mentioned it to the little old lady next door who they knew was interested in selling and was delighted to be able to sell her family home to a delightful family and didn't have to deal with agents ( who she didn't trust ) . No disrespect to the BA's on this thread , but I would do it myself , including full names , contact details etc and saying why you want that particular street .

You have nothing to loose . Don't mention price , or saying you're prepared to pay over value .

Cliff

 

As others have said ,I usually suggest write a personal letter sharing who you are and yr family and how you are looking for a house in the area and would be greatful if they were interested to sell to call you

 

Looks like Magrit Schulz to me judging by the name + mobile number - a real estate agent.

 

Yep Magrit from Vogue. Have seen her listing come off of REA and there was mention of retirement last time I saw her so perhaps she's doing her own thing now?

 

Googled her name and yes that is her number.
The note from Magrit was in my letter box mid last year. In the last 6 months i've had a few more from others but threw them away

 

I had one of these recently, the nice prospective purchaser mentioned he had engaged a local agent, loved the area coz it had great schools and ideally wanted a block pretty well exactly the same size as ours! Didn't mention anything about the recent rezoning! I did sms the agent, as the letter asked, he smsed me saying he was away and would contact me in a day or two, never heard another thing.

 

Haha yes thats Magrit... I have bought off her before

 

I use both blanket and targeted letter drops.

Over the years I have had some amazing results.

You only need like 2-3 great results from it in your lifetime for it to make a major impact.