Hey friends of Our House Property Group! Thanks for taking the time to open this given all the turmoil in our world right now. Today’s topic is a little lighter – it’s about love letters.
You’ve heard of them, right? When there are multiple offers on a house sometimes you (the buyer) need a little something to put your offer at the top of the pack, to become the winning offe. Until recently that’s meant sending a little letter with your offer, called by the media a love letter. Sometimes it’s a note that says how much you love and will take care of the garden, or that it’s a home where you want to raise a family and create lasting memories. It can be a detail like the wonderful light in the living room, or BBQ area on the deck that you can’t wait to use. Maybe you love the koi pond, or new granite counters in the kitchen. Most sellers want to know that their home will be cared for and will sometimes even be swayed to take a lower offer if they feel that their home and their history will be honored. Sounds straight forward, right?
Camille and I have been going back and forth about the ethics of writing these letters as it might unfairly prejudice the sellers into making a terrible mistake. Don’t get us wrong, we’ve been doing this for our clients for years with great success. If we tour a home with our buyers and we see a picture of their family on vacation in Italy, or with their adorable chocolate lab…. or a set of golf clubs in the garage, a Fender Strat in the corner or a fabulous end table then we’ll take note of those things for when we write up (the winning!) offer. If what we see in the home resonates with our buyers in a genuine way, then we might include those details in our love letter.
But this also leaves the potential for discrimination. What if you include a picture of your family and the sellers don’t like the color or composition of your loved ones? What if the language you use in the letter shows that you might not be US born, or have a different level of education? What if you include a picture of a gas guzzling car, your buddies on a hunting trip, your pet chickens or any other thing that the sellers might not like?
With this additional information from the love letter, it’s no longer about just dollars and cents, but about lifestyle decisions which could either help or hurt. Then there is the flip side. What if a seller chooses a lower offer because they like the closing date, the fact this buyer has removed the inspection contingency or will make up an appraisal gap? The answer is that it can leave them exposed legally if one of the other buyers can claim discrimination, whether real or imagined, whether intentional or inadvertent.
Oregon banned these love letters on January 1st, 2022 and it’s filtered up to higher courts. What happened this week in federal court is they issued a preliminary injunction, which means the court has not made a final ruling, although they believe a strong enough case has been made by the plaintiff to warrant ceasing enforcement of the law. The law had restricted a listing broker from forwarding a buyer love letter to the seller along with an offer. This injunction means that right now, realtors and their clients cannot be found in violation.
Does this mean a buyer’s agent should start sending love letters again and listing agents should be providing all love letters to sellers? Camille and I are still conflicted, but if our buyer says this is their forever home, or that they intend to raise a family there, or they love the garden, or that they can’t wait to set up a recording studio in the basement then yes we will probably communicate this to the sellers if we feel it will strengthen our hand. What we would never include would be any detail about protected classes of discrimination such as race, sexual orientation, religion, etc.
What is your opinion of love letters? Good, bad, or somewhere in between? We’d love your feedback and would love to help answer any questions you might have about today’s real estate market. Thinking of buying, selling, or investing in real estate? Call your Portland property partners
— Camille & Brad
Camille Bernal, Principal Broker
503-887-1155 Direct
License # 201207596
Bradley Boynton, Broker
503-799-0898 Direct
License # 201220732