Inquiring about a house not on the market?

[LondonManc]

Someone I know went and posted a number of cards through the doors of houses she liked in the area she wanted to move into asking the owner if they would consider selling.

One of them did. She bought it and has been living there for a few years now.

I'd imagine that some people simply need a prod in the right direction - knowing that they can save the hassle of viewers, etc apart from the one lot who almost definitely want it anyway and won't haggle about the price, they'd be more tempted to part with it.

It's obviously not as relevant for a substantial row of houses but for one-off properties or a short row of cottages, etc., it's not a daft tactic at all.

[MarillionFan]

A friend did this, they wanted to move to a specific area of town so decided to drop a letter through the door of every house they liked. They were contacted by a few who were looking to move next year. They did the whole we are looking for our forever home, here's a picture of us with our kids, save yourself estate agent fee's etc, etc. Defiantly worth a go especially if you are prepared to wait.

[tomtomagain]

Someone I know went and posted a number of cards through the doors of houses she liked in the area she wanted to move into asking the owner if they would consider selling.

One of them did. She bought it and has been living there for a few years now.

[BlueSharp]

A friend did this, they wanted to move to a specific area of town so decided to drop a letter through the door of every house they liked. They were contacted by a few who were looking to move next year. They did the whole we are looking for our forever home, here's a picture of us with our kids, save yourself estate agent fee's etc, etc. Defiantly worth a go especially if you are prepared to wait.

[d000hg]

I could imagine in the country where every house is unique, it would be more common than a town where you just wait for a nice place to come up.

[MrMarkyMark]

Has anyone ever done this - seen the (potentially) perfect house while driving by and then contacted the owners to ask if they'd consider selling?

We've quite a specific area we're interested in moving to and there are very few properties which appear to meet our needs. One is for sale, we discovered a couple of others but they are pretty secluded which is one of the things we're looking for but means all we can tell is there is a property there, not how big or nice it is.

Is there an etiquette beyond knocking on the door or writing a letter "if you had an interest in selling could we take a look?" Would you typically approach a local agent to get a valuation? I don't know if this is something that happens very often though I half-recall my parents might have done this or had it done to them.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
When we lived in an attractive property that used to be a very old Sussex pub / coaching house, we had a few people knock on the door and ask.

I believe it is more common than you think.

[d000hg]

Has anyone ever done this - seen the (potentially) perfect house while driving by and then contacted the owners to ask if they'd consider selling?

We've quite a specific area we're interested in moving to and there are very few properties which appear to meet our needs. One is for sale, we discovered a couple of others but they are pretty secluded which is one of the things we're looking for but means all we can tell is there is a property there, not how big or nice it is.

Is there an etiquette beyond knocking on the door or writing a letter "if you had an interest in selling could we take a look?" Would you typically approach a local agent to get a valuation? I don't know if this is something that happens very often though I half-recall my parents might have done this or had it done to them.