The house buying offer tactic that's saving some NZ buyers thousands

Single mum Hayley Hall thinks her cover letter made all the difference in securing her house. Photo / Warren Buckland

In Hawke's Bay's tight housing market, more buyers are opting to put a personal letter in with their offer for houses in order to "woo" vendors.

Tremain Real Estate regional manager Stuart Christensen said the practice had been going on for a number of years, but has definitely increased over the last five months with the housing market amping up.

"People are doing everything they can to try and put their best foot forward... just because there's so many buyers out there," he said, adding the main reason is for sellers to create a picture for the vendor of their home's new potential owner.

"Especially when you've got a young couple trying to get into the housing market, or you've got a family," Christensen said.

"Unfortunately, clauses and numbers on a page don't reflect the type of person that's buying it."

Writing a letter worked for Hayley Hall, a single mother who took over her new house in Flaxmere, Hastings in December.

Hall had been struggling to find a place when a friend said she had heard other people had been successful after putting a cover letter in with their offer.

Tremains regional manager Stuart Christensen said a personal letter could make a difference, but at the end of the day money talks. Photo / Warren Buckland

"I questioned this with the agent at the time and he said it was definitely worthwhile as when there was very little difference in either price or conditions this may be the one thing that helps get you over the line," she said.

After two missed opportunities, she put a letter in with an offer for a third house, but said since the vendor was a developer they appeared to only care about selling to the highest possible bidder.

Hall said she won the fourth house she went for over what she thought were similar offers from three other viewers.

"I asked the agent did my cover letter make the difference he said he believed so," she said.

"My cover letter just explained my circumstances; single income earner and mum, what I did for employment, my situation and how long I had been looking. I highlighted the aspects I loved about the home and ended with almost begging asking the vendors to please consider my offer."

Christensen said most sellers received the letters really kindly, and it could certainly make a difference depending on each individual case.

He said a buyer could be looking to woo a vendor that was sentimental about their home and who they passed it on to, or against the idea of it becoming a rental property.

"They might have built the home, or brought their family up in the home, and it's important that it's going to a family that they believe will do the same, and live in it the same," Christensen said.

"At the end of the day though, money talks."

Some home sellers are taking slightly lower offers to make sure their house goes to a first-home buyer or family. Photo / Warren Buckland

Jessica Mahony, her husband and their dog moved into their house in Marewa, Napier in October after writing a letter to the vendor to help secure the sale.

She said they made notice of the house's doggy door at an open home viewing.

"We wrote a letter and just said the doggy door just sold the house for us, it seemed to be perfect," Mahony said.

"We said that we were a married couple, and we were looking for our forever home."

She said the brief, but personal letter also wished the vendors all the best with the process of selling their home.

"We put it in at 3 o'clock and by half past 3 they'd rung and said we'd won the property," Mahony said, adding the seller told her she got quite emotional reading it.

"She actually wrote a note back saying that she that they had been here for 23 years, that they too have dogs and they wished to celebrate with us soon."

Since buying her home, Mahony said she has suggested writing a letter to many other prospective buyers.

"I had a girlfriend selling her property about two weeks after we'd secured ours, and she was really reluctant to sell to someone that was like an investor, she really wanted it to go to a family," she said, noting they eventually sold for $5000 cheaper for that reason alone.

Christensen said he has also seen people take slightly lower offers to ensure their house goes to someone after receiving a letter from them.

Owen Vaughan, editor of NZME-owned property site OneRoof, said people are opting to write letters because the pressure is on buyers to do all they can.

"Buyers are finding that they're not only competing against like-minded buyers in the same price bracket, but they've also got investors to contend with," he said, adding they are having to think about what gives them a competitive edge over a wide pool of buyers.

"In a heated market, desperate buyers will resort to desperate measures."

Vaughan said they have to be realistic with how much a letter might move the needle though, and assume vendors will be trying to maximise profit on their biggest asset.

"Do what you can, but be aware that price will probably be the deciding factor," he said.

"More than likely vendors will go with the highest offer on the table to make them financially secure for their next step."