With today’s hot real estate market, buyers will try anything to get their offer accepted. A practice that has been around forever, but has become very popular, is writing an emotional letter to the home seller. The letter is meant to gain a connection and favor with the seller in the hopes their offer will be accepted.
But sellers should be mindful that the letters from home buyers can lead them to violate fair housing laws.
Transcription:
Today we’re going to talk about whether a home seller should read a homebuyers love letter.
A homebuyers love letter is a letter that a home buyer will write to a home seller on a home that’s listed for sale.
In that letter, a home buyer tries to make a connection with the home seller.
They’ll write a heartfelt letter saying who they are and why the house might be perfect for their family.
The problem with the homebuyers love letter is it will often reveal who the buyer is, and that in itself is not a problem, except for the fact that Massachusetts has 14 protected classes when it comes to fair housing, and that includes age, marital status, children so on and so forth.
The letter can include information that reveals the protected class of the homebuyer buying the home and a seller could inadvertently discriminate based upon whom the buyer is or who the buyers are.
If there are multiple offers on your home, this in itself could create a liability.
If you have two offers that are very similar and you choose one offer over another based upon whom the buyer is or are.
So the best practice is telling your listing agent you don’t want any love letters from your home buyers and choose an offer based upon its terms and conditions and the ability for the home buyer to pay for the home and to close in a timely manner.
Other than that, leave who the buyer is out of the equation.
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