Love Letters. Real Estate

[Jstpssng]

May not be "their" slice of heaven... money does funny things to people.

Yep. The place my mother is on has been in the family for about 175 years. It was a farm when my father grew up there, and is still considered agricultural. It's part of a 350 acre block of undeveloped land, surrounded by residential homes. The city has it zoned "accelerated development" or some such thing. It's also <1 mile from the nearest malls, SuperWalmart, Lowes, HD, and various other big box stores; all on what was a dairy farm 45 years ago when I was growing up. None of us are interested in the house, so no doubt it will become 1 acre lots when she's done with it. The only reason she can afford the taxes is because it's still considered "agricultural".

If the city leaders had any foresight they would recognize the value of that 350 acres and try to buy up the land for FMV as it went on the market. Green spaces do have some value when it comes to attracting new businesses, and there are people willing to pay for such a project. It will never happen though, the city leaders are too short sighted.

 

[fried1765]

May not be "their" slice of heaven... money does funny things to people.

Well,.... two of them have Summer homes nearby,.... so I kinda think it is!
If they sell, the town has the legal right of first refusal for open space, and the town has been buying up a lot of property lately.
That would be OK with me.

 

[fried1765]

Yep. The place my mother is on has been in the family for about 175 years. It was a farm when my father grew up there, and is still considered agricultural. It's part of a 350 acre block of undeveloped land, surrounded by residential homes. The city has it zoned "accelerated development" or some such thing. It's also <1 mile from the nearest malls, SuperWalmart, Lowes, HD, and various other big box stores; all on what was a dairy farm 45 years ago when I was growing up. None of us are interested in the house, so no doubt it will become 1 acre lots when she's done with it. The only reason she can afford the taxes is because it's still considered "agricultural".

If the city leaders had any foresight they would recognize the value of that 350 acres and try to buy up the land for FMV as it went on the market. Green spaces do have some value when it comes to attracting new businesses, and there are people willing to pay for such a project. It will never happen though, the city leaders are too short sighted.

Bangor?
Portland?

 

[Jstpssng]

Bangor?
Portland?

Auburn

 

[Pixguy]

True, how many kids took over the parents business but just wanted the rewards and none of the love or work that it takes?

We've all seen that

 

[grsthegreat]

My neighbor had someone come up to his door with a written offer for 1.7 million for his property. Problem is he isnt interested in selling. Not listed. Never was. He built the house. Told him to get off of his property.

i get weekly offers to buy the 10 acres i own accross the road from my house for ridiculously low price. There offering about 1/4 of its value. Similar letters from different people in different states. Weird.

 

[tomplum]

When we sold our last house, we had gotten 2 letters out of ~ a dozen offers. The place had a real special yard on the edge of an urban area. It had a lot of sweat equity making it what it was. It was important to the wife that all her hard work was appreciated by the buyer. The one realtor we had previously used thought he dodged a bullet by us listing it with someone else. The day of the open house, it looked like a party. People came and didn't want to leave. A real testament to what was created there. All buyers being equal, the right letter could have swayed which buyer to go with- but they weren't. In the end, the right person got the house and stays in touch with the misses to this day. She kept colors when she repainted the house, asked about plants. Gave us the grapes for wine the next year. So yes, if a seller had a defined vision and I really wanted the house and shared the vison, I would write a letter. Things are just so competitive. Write a letter just to make someone feel sorry for my situation or misrepresent myself- absolutely not.

 

[RjCorazza]

With the current market I think Realtors are encouraging personal type letters to accompany the offer. The low ball mail offers on building lots or even occupied properties have always been around, and are from real dirt bags imho.
I get sub 30k mail offers on my 3.5 acre building lot all the time. 1 acre lots go for around 160k in my area, so I believe mine would sell quick for 200k.
If these pillars of society were placing offers in my mailbox I would definitely ask the postal inspector to look into it.

 

[Whidbey]

May not be "their" slice of heaven... money does funny things to people.

My grandmother received a 40 acre piece of land iin Maine, ncluding a cabin, for her inheritance.A small piece fronted the pond . The cabin had a dock and a nice water view. She loved that property and upgraded it over the years. Our family spent a lot of summers there. My grandmother offered it to my father contingent on him paying the taxes and letting her use the property until her death. My dad, being extremely frugal said no. It went to his younger brother. He eventually divided up the property and.. Sold it all. That pisses me off to this day.

 

[BoylermanCT]

Just read that Oregon is passing a law to make these letters illegal. Apparently people include a picture of themselves, kids, pets etc, and that trigger the racism in the seller.

Oregon bans home buyer 'love letters'

The letters could reveal personal information about the buyers that could lead to discrimination, or even the perception of it.

www.kgw.com

Wish I could live in Oregon where the politicians try to control freedom of speech!

 

[quicksandfarmer]

When I met Mrs. Quicksand she was living in a house she owned with her sister. When we got married she sold her share to her sister but wanted to stay in the same neighborhood. So we wrote letters to the owners of houses that we knew were being rented, figuring that many people who rent might be interested in selling. We didn't get any responses to the letters, but we did have a neighbor connect us with the owner of a house on the same street who was renting and was in fact interested in selling. We bought that house and lived in it for years. So it kind-of worked.

 

[Yogi05]

I don't think the letter offer to buy property or a house is a bad thing, as long as they are talking fair value and not harassing.
I said earlier. the guy who dropped a letter in my mother's mail was showing, or even raising interest to buy.
He got it in the end because a friend of his in the neighborhood called him when the for sale sign went up.

Really, it's not much different than seeing an unused tractor, classic car, or whatever in someone's barnyard and popping in to
see if they'd be willing to sell it. And to keep you in mind if they ever do want to sell it.

I did that in my teens with a customer's 73 'cuda. He remembered when the time came and called looking for me.

 

[Sigarms]

With the current market I think Realtors are encouraging personal type letters to accompany the offer.

I believe you are incorrect, and and this point, realators are trying to get away from "love letters" in the real estate market.

The way the housing market should work is whoever wants to buy, has the best bid and conditions of closing should get buy.

The issue with love letters is that technically, those letters can actually by breaking the law (fair housing act) by swaying the seller for the wrong reason why they picked someone to buy the house, particularly if the house went for a lower sell price than other higher bids.

Love Letters or Liability Letters?

REALTORS® advertise their services every day, and in a variety of different mediums. Read NAR's advice to make sure your advertising does not violate the Fair Housing Act.

www.nar.realtor

I don't believe this issue relates to people just sending off letters lowballing on unlisted homes or properties with lowball offers, but to protect the market when the home / property is for sale.

 

[Frankenkubota]

I get the cards and letters all the time!
Only from shyster realtors, or developers though.
I have a 291 year old house on 11.7 acres of ocean view property.
They see the potential for 10 one acre house lots at $400K+ each, (that is the going rate) and just drool on themselves.
It is in trust for my kids, so perhaps it may eventually be sold, but I kinda doubt it.

farmers don't sell farms

farmers children sell farms

 

[Hay Dude]

farmers don't sell farms

farmers children sell farms

Man ain’t that the truth.
See it all the time.
Lived in the same area, except for college, all my life.
There were 100’s of family farms. Now we have maybe a dozen.
The farms were not all developed. Many were purchased by out of the area wealthy. They turned them into “estates”. Some have vineyards, helipads, or herds of organic raised beef.
The kids of the farm owners got their millions.

 

[Sigarms]

farmers don't sell farms

farmers children sell farms

Guy across the street was an old farmer.

He passed away unexpectedly in his 70's

He left his homes and farm land (over 300 acres) to an old farm hand of his, unrelated to him, that had his own small farm over on the other side of town.

A realtive of his (farmer who passed) is near me, and the farmer has more family just up the road, I know this neighbor pretty well, we both agree that the old farmer knew what he was doing not leaving the land to his family.

The guy he left the property has worked it hard and has made numerous improvments.

 

[MoKelly]

My farmer neighbor has 300 acres he farms plus 100 acres he raises cattle. He took over from his Dad.

Told me yesterday he’s retiring - he’s 68 years old. He is tired.

His son is 45 and has been helping since a kid. So, he sees a very smooth transition.

As we know, it’s hard and stressful work. I don’t know the son as well but he works hard and appears to enjoy the life. Time will tell.

MoKelly

 

[TheMan419]

farmers don't sell farms

farmers children sell farms

And what is wrong with that? Nothing says the kid has to be in the same profession as the father.

 

[Jstpssng]

My father took over the family greenhouse from his father... would have preferred to do something else but he felt obligated.
He made it clear that none of his kids were going to have that option.

 

[Sigarms]

And what is wrong with that? Nothing says the kid has to be in the same profession as the father.

But why does the father feel obligated have to leave his possessions to his children?

Dad works his arse off doing something that he loved, made some money doing it if he was lucky. Then dad leaves the land to the kids and they sell it because it could be worth a fortune.

One of my boys even asked if he could have some land of ours. We both told him when we retire or getting close to that age, everything is going to be sold becuase we're leaving.

God forbid kids actually work for what they buy themselves.