Desperate buyers find a new tactic to secure their dream home Business

A couple had just made a successful bid for a six-bed house in a Warwickshire village promising to be active members of the community, she said, beating five other bidders.

In a letter, the couple assured the seller that their two children would also attend the local school.

“It was a very strong argument in their favor and it went over very well with the seller,” Ms Joerin added. “It’s a bit like submitting a CV. Or how sometimes in New York people who want to buy apartments in certain blocks have to sit down for interviews.

Homebuyers at the higher end of the market often use buying agents, with real estate agents in many cases acting as “matchmakers” to connect their clients with sellers, she added. .

Jeremy Leaf, a North London estate agent, said buyers in the capital were using similar tactics, including letters containing pictures of their children and pets.

“People are trying to add a human story to their offering,” he said.

“It’s a very competitive market and the hope is that it will set them apart from the crowd.”

However, he warned that sellers should be wary of seemingly heartbreaking stories.

“The basics still apply, and sellers should make conscious decisions,” he added.

“I recently heard of someone who wrote similar letters to sellers saying ‘I wish I had this house for myself and my family’.

“But he was actually an investor and he would flip those properties and sell them for another £20,000 a few months later. So take it with a pinch of salt.

A recent survey by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors found that the number of buyers entering the market while the number of estate agent listings remained “stable” at 38 on average.

This is compared with 42 at the start of 2021. Tarrant Parsons, an economist at the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, said there appeared to be “limited supply available in the market, coupled with steady growth in demand”.

Some analysts have speculated that this is due to a lack of new homes on the market, coupled with sellers’ reluctance to get stung by large stamp duties.