Hello and welcome. This is Nolan Formalarie with DiscoverNChomes and Nolan’s News. Today I wanted to talk about a new commentary, something that we need to initial off on in the listing agreement that the North Carolina Real Estate Commission has implemented.
It is basically what I call “a warning against love letters from the buyer to the seller.” If you don’t mind, I’m just going to read it to you real quick. This is in every listing agreement that we get signed:
“Warning! Buyers letter to seller – to entice the seller to choose their offer, some buyers write personal letters to sellers expressing why they wish to purchase the seller’s property. Such letters often contain personal information and reveal characteristics of the buyer, which could be used knowingly or through unconscious bias, a bias for the seller’s decision to accept or reject an offer that may violate state and federal fair housing laws or use to form the basis for a claim that the seller and possibly the seller’s agent have violated fair housing laws. In order to avoid potential liability for unlawful discrimination as well of appearance of impropriety information, sellers should discuss with firm how such letters that may be submitted will be handled.
So, long story short, their basis is on fair housing, but we can also say it really plays on someone’s emotions. As an example, we’ve had plenty of homes where I have the seller and the buyer, and the buyer’s agent forwards me an email, or a note is sent, saying: “Susie Smith – we’ll use as the buyer’s name – absolutely loved this house, and they could see their family being raised here and it’s everything that they’ve wanted.”
This is a warning that we’re initialing now in our listing agreement saying: “don’t accept those letters!” Or if you do accept those letters, be very careful how you use them.
And again, buying and selling a home is a very emotional, wonderful thing, but it is also a business transaction. As a seller’s agent, we’re here to try and get you the most money despite what a buyer has to say about your home. As a buyer’s agent, we want to get the best price, if you will, that we can for the home.
So it’s something that I would say, get rid of if it’s there in the transaction! It’s not needed, it may play on emotions, and then it may come up later on as: “Well, these people weren’t what they said they were, or who they said they were in this wonderful letter.”
So I would say, as a buyer, possibly don’t write these letters, as a seller, don’t don’t accept them or maybe read them, but don’t let it play into how your business decision, the way you negotiate, is affected.
Again, it’s an emotional, wonderful thing, but at the end of the day, sellers want the most money for their home, buyers want to buy the house at the best value or deal that they can. And sometimes these letters can be misconstrued and so much so that the Real Estate Commission has actually said: “Hey, let’s not use these anymore.”
If you have any further questions, please let me know and we’ll see you soon.
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About Nolan Formalarie
Nolan Formalarie has been in the North Carolina Real Estate Industry for over 8 years and enjoys every minute of it. He is involved in every aspect of the industry including selling and purchasing residential property, home watch services, property management, association management and construction.
