‘Love Letters’ Can Be Dangerous When it Comes to Real Estate

By Bill Primavera

In real estate, love letters have an entirely different meaning and purpose.  Rather than seeking to win hearts, love letters in this case are drafted and sent from prospective buyers to sellers to try and win preference over other buyer candidates.  While it is not illegal, it can be a dangerous practice.

As a realtor, I always advise my clients against the practice. To entice a seller to choose their offer, buyers sometimes write “love letters” to describe the many reasons why the seller should select them.

Buyer love letters are a tactic used by some buyers in an attempt to stand out to a seller, especially in hot markets with low inventory and bidding wars. Seemingly harmless, these letters actually raise fair housing concerns, and could open real estate professionals and their clients to violations.

The letters often contain personal information and reveal characteristics of the buyer, such as race, religion or familial status, which could then be used, knowingly or through unconscious bias, as an unlawful basis for a seller’s decision to accept or reject an offer.

Consider where a potential buyer writes to the seller, detailing how their children will be running down the stairs on Christmas morning for years to come in the house. This statement reveals the potential buyer’s familial status and that they are Christian, both of which are protected characteristics under fair housing laws. Using protected characteristics as a basis to accept or reject an offer, as opposed to price and terms, would violate the Fair Housing Act.

Realtors are advised to protect themselves and their clients from fair housing liability by educating their clients about the fair housing laws and the pitfalls of buyer love letters, as well as informing their clients that they will not deliver buyer love letters.

A realtor’s clients should be advised that their decision to accept or reject an offer should be based on objective criteria only. And, if a client insists on drafting a buyer love letter, the realtor is advised not to help their client draft or deliver it.  Further, the realtor is advised to not even read any love letter drafted or received by their client. They must document all offers received and the seller’s objective reason for accepting an offer.

Personally, I ran into this kind of situation only twice, and the particulars in both cases proved curious, if not embarrassing (to me).

In the first case, my seller clients were two men who received an offer from two women who stated that it was obvious they shared some preferences, from their “Mini-Cooper cars to their lifestyles.” My clients were offended that this assumption would have been made without their own disclosure.

In the second case, where again I represented the seller, a letter was received from a prospective buyer who claimed that he had a brain tumor and had not long to live, but wanted to be assured that his widow was left in such a “beautiful and comforting” home. 

My seller client was so moved that she accepted his offer, which was lower than two other offers on the table! I must confess that I too was moved, but still managed to advise my client to think about letting sentiment sway her. However, she persisted.  

That situation occurred more than 20 years ago, and occasionally when I pass that house on my way home, I witness that successful buyer, healthy as an ox, mowing his lawn. I guess the only way I can accept this situation, which was decidedly deceptive, is to write about it here and to hope the buyer reads it.

Bill Primavera is a residential and commercial realtor associated with William Raveis Realty, as well as a publicist and journalist writing regularly as The Home Guru. For questions about home maintenance or to buy or sell a home, he can be e-mailed at williamjprimavera@gmail.com or called directly at 914-522-2076.

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