Love Letters, To Be or Not to Be?
A short while ago, I asked a question in the Q & A section of ActiveRain: An agent wants to include a home buyer family bio, including photos, when submitting an offer to purchase to garner an emotional response. Do you include it, yes or no?
The following is what I discovered after calling the Utah Legal Hotline. Love letters are to be presented with the REPC by buyers looking to capture an emotional response putting their offer in a more favorable light.
Despite how you may feel personally, it is the seller's decision whether to accept the letter as part of the contract. As a precaution, you may have a discussion prior to signing paperwork when taking the listing.
If you fail to submit, it may be considered a violation of fair housing laws. Most 'love letters' are written in a brisk market to set buyers apart in order to garner an emotional response or offset a lowball offer.
As a listing agent, your responsibility is to protect the seller at all costs. If a buyer does not get an accepted offer, then they may cry foul, citing reasons why the seller refused their offer. A darned if you do or don't scenario.
As a solution, as many have stated, it would make sense to ban all 'love letters' completely to avoid the pitfalls of it being taken to court for supposedly violating real estate law. This can be a tedious subject to discuss.
From this point on, I will encourage every seller to avoid 'love letters' when offers come in for their home once listed for sale. After all, the laws are all about staying within the four corners of the Real Estate Purchase Contract.
This has been an interesting subject and garnered a lot of responses in the Q&A. Thank you all for your participation, it has furthered opened my eyes, which is always a great thing when broadening the knowledge base.
*This is an entry to MARCH MAGIC MARKETING CHALLENGE - BY SALLY K. & DAVID L. HANSON.
Happy sales all!
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Questions about land or homes in the southern Utah area or any Washington County, Utah homes for sale, please contact me at 435.632.9374 or email to: wanda@buynsellutah.com. Glad to help because Wanda Can!
