Nextdoor neighbor is offering to buy our house

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Diamond Jamboree

New member
So I have a unique situation here --

Neighbor sent us a letter in the mail stating they would like to purchase our SFH home at FMV so that their immediate family member can move in next door. However, we were not thinking about moving at this time due to the pandemic and housing shortage.

How do we respond nicely in a way where we can maintain courtesy that we're not interested in selling right now but then if you're trying to evict us, you need to come in stronger than FMV? Everybody's got a price but we want to word it nicely where we say, no thank you but perhaps you could offer FMV plus a 25% premium or something?

Next, in a situation like this, should we just find a single realtor to handle this transaction? And can we ask for 1% commission total? What we do know for a fact is that they have cash money to spend so this would be a quick close and we would push for no contingencies and sold as-is so the realtor literally has to do nothing. No showing, no staging, no advertising, no MLS.

thanks a bunch

 
Just want to confirm that this in an actual neighbor (that you preferably know) that you know where they live and have their contact info... because there are some people that send out these type of letters to get leads.
 
That?s an affirmative sir! The letter came handwritten with their address as the return sender and our address as the destination. It is also personally signed with a pen at the end of the sincerely. As far as I can tell, they are not realtors..

We?ve known them for about a decade and occasionally say Hi but not like we are invited to dinner parties.
 
Simply put is just tell them that selling is not in your immediate plans but we are willing to entertain offers.
 
Just say you like where you live and hope to stay for a while.

When one of the neighbors in my cul-de sac was selling, 2 of the neighbors made competing private offers on condition that the owners can stay and just pay rent equal to current mortgage.  One neighbor (buyer #1) offered to partner with the other neighbor (buyer #2) and was rejected.  Things were a bit awkward and the seller decided to just sell it on the open market and move to the in-law's house.

I honestly did not know they were that loaded, but like they say America is land of hidden millionaires.
 
Diamond Jamboree said:
So I have a unique situation here --

Neighbor sent us a letter in the mail stating they would like to purchase our SFH home at FMV so that their immediate family member can move in next door. However, we were not thinking about moving at this time due to the pandemic and housing shortage.

How do we respond nicely in a way where we can maintain courtesy that we're not interested in selling right now but then if you're trying to evict us, you need to come in stronger than FMV? Everybody's got a price but we want to word it nicely where we say, no thank you but perhaps you could offer FMV plus a 25% premium or something?

Next, in a situation like this, should we just find a single realtor to handle this transaction? And can we ask for 1% commission total? What we do know for a fact is that they have cash money to spend so this would be a quick close and we would push for no contingencies and sold as-is so the realtor literally has to do nothing. No showing, no staging, no advertising, no MLS.

thanks a bunch
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Wait...I'm confused.  Are you interested in selling or no?  If not, just say no.  If yes, then either find an agent or attorney to help with negotiations and documents.
 
Sorry if I?m confusing but to reiterate we have no plans to sell or move at the moment. It would be a little disruptive and not to mention the headache of having to go find another house.

However, my spouse has asked me to word it in a way where we say we?re not interested but we?d be willing to think about it if the offer was substantial enough to make us really consider. Everybody has a price right?

The problem is we don?t want to be put in an awkward situation where they start behaving like bad neighbors or something if the deal falls thru. Secondly, we feel that they should be offering a premium for being the only bidder as well as trying to make us move. We don?t understand what is the point of them offering FMV when we can just list it on MLS and get multiple FMV offers? We suspect they have a lot more room to play with...
 
Diamond Jamboree said:
Sorry if I?m confusing but to reiterate we have no plans to sell or move at the moment. It would be a little disruptive and not to mention the headache of having to go find another house.

However, my spouse has asked me to word it in a way where we say we?re not interested but we?d be willing to think about it if the offer was substantial enough to make us really consider. Everybody has a price right?

The problem is we don?t want to be put in an awkward situation where they start behaving like bad neighbors or something if the deal falls thru. Secondly, we feel that they should be offering a premium for being the only bidder as well as trying to make us move. We don?t understand what is the point of them offering FMV when we can just list it on MLS and get multiple FMV offers? We suspect they have a lot more room to play with...
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I think it's worse to lead them to believe you might sell when you won't. Even if they did have the cash to go well above the value of your home they would probably not see that as a smart financial move and would resent you more for putting them in that position of getting their hopes up than if you had just said no thank you, we're not moving right now.
 
Diamond Jamboree said:
Sorry if I?m confusing but to reiterate we have no plans to sell or move at the moment. It would be a little disruptive and not to mention the headache of having to go find another house.

However, my spouse has asked me to word it in a way where we say we?re not interested but we?d be willing to think about it if the offer was substantial enough to make us really consider. Everybody has a price right?

The problem is we don?t want to be put in an awkward situation where they start behaving like bad neighbors or something if the deal falls thru. Secondly, we feel that they should be offering a premium for being the only bidder as well as trying to make us move. We don?t understand what is the point of them offering FMV when we can just list it on MLS and get multiple FMV offers? We suspect they have a lot more room to play with...
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Well..I think that if you don't want to move just politely say no.  I mean I don't think it was wrong or problematic that they ask and no one starts at the top of their offer.

I personally don't see any ill intent or negative vibe from your neighbor but I don't know anything about them other than what you stated.

I mean...there are a lot of services these days that offer you FMV or a little less than FMV for a seller to avoid having to show your house repeatedly, deal with bids/offers, or pay commission and fees.  I don't really see any difference between what your neighbor is doing and that.
 
Just say there is a risk involved on my end that selling this home at FMV and get into a bidding war for buying my dream home somewhere else. I can be motivated if my risks are mitigated and you have a creative solution in mind.
 
Cornflakes said:
Just say there is a risk involved on my end that selling this home at FMV and get into a bidding war for buying my dream home somewhere else. I can be motivated if my risks are mitigated and you have a creative solution in mind.
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Yeah...I don't know how one sells a home without a plan to go elsewhere...unless you think the market is about to collapse 2008 style.
 
hurijo said:
Just want to confirm that this in an actual neighbor (that you preferably know) that you know where they live and have their contact info... because there are some people that send out these type of letters to get leads.
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I totally agree. This is what they teach in some courses. Like avoid buying homes that go to market. Try to buy homes below market or at market. Blah blah

 
This is why it's best to engage a competent Realtor. Family/Co-worker/Neighbor sales are akin to dancing with reckless abandon through a minefield. Eventually something is going to go catastrophically go wrong, and to what extent the damage ends up being is a true wildcard. A Realtor will cost X in this case, but that X comes with guidance, experience, access to sales contracts, access to known professional services (inspectors, etc), and keeps you from having any "splash-back" if and when this spins out of control.

A polite "Thanks for the ask. No at this time. Should we revisit this at a later time, we would want to engage a Realtor" or something to that effect is how I'd handle this. Your neighbor will understand as I'm sure they would want the same sort of protections when making a purchase of significance like this.

My .02c 
 
Irvinecommuter said:
Cornflakes said:
Just say there is a risk involved on my end that selling this home at FMV and get into a bidding war for buying my dream home somewhere else. I can be motivated if my risks are mitigated and you have a creative solution in mind.
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Yeah...I don't know how one sells a home without a plan to go elsewhere...unless you think the market is about to collapse 2008 style.
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OP is willing to bite at 25% premium so I guess he/she has a plan in place?

Offer me 25% premium on my million dolla rhome and I will hand you keys next week. I can camp out at Ritz carlton by Crystal cove for a couple of months until I land a deal. I will take that inconvenience to make it easy for ya...:)
 
Soylent Green Is People said:
This is why it's best to engage a competent Realtor. Family/Co-worker/Neighbor sales are akin to dancing with reckless abandon through a minefield. Eventually something is going to go catastrophically go wrong, and to what extent the damage ends up being is a true wildcard. A Realtor will cost X in this case, but that X comes with guidance, experience, access to sales contracts, access to known professional services (inspectors, etc), and keeps you from having any "splash-back" if and when this spins out of control.

A polite "Thanks for the ask. No at this time. Should we revisit this at a later time, we would want to engage a Realtor" or something to that effect is how I'd handle this. Your neighbor will understand as I'm sure they would want the same sort of protections when making a purchase of significance like this.

My .02c
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Well...if the parties agree on a price...a lawyer will do just fine.  Many will probably charge a flat fee to deal with the paperwork.

Of course, you are looking for a bidding war...you will need an agent but redfin also works.
 
Mety said:
eyephone said:
I would not sell.
It may be a strategy or tactic to get you to sell.
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But what if the market is at its peak?
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I had a previous coworker that did something like this. She could of got a lot more. They let her and her family stay after the sale. But the agent rushed them out after the first month, even though they had a contract for two months.


 
I don't get the fear of awkwardness.  You're not turning down a promposal.  If it's awkward, then they made it awkward by making an unsolicited offer.  And an unsolicited offer at FMV only has 1 likely outcome, so no surprises here.  Of course you didn't want to sell...or else your house would have been listed.

I saw a house in my 'hood sell unsolicited.  It sold for over double FMV at the time.  Whoever bought it is putting the most expensive house in this zip code on top of it and I still can't figure out why.  It's ridiculous.
 
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