The following content is written, almost verbatim, from an article written by National Association of REALTORS® on October 23, 2020. Some editing, deletions/additions, have been made for the article to apply to you, the general public, home buyers and sellers.
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 fair housing violations. The bottom line is, they should be avoided.
To entice a seller to choose your offer, you, as the buyer, may feel inclined to write a
“love letter” to describe the many reasons why the seller should “pick you.” While this may seem harmless, these letters can actually pose fair housing risks because they often contain personal information and reveal characteristics of you and your family, 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 your offer.
Consider where a potential buyer writes to the seller that they can picture their children running down the stairs on Christmas morning for years to come in the house. This statement not only reveals the potential buyer’s familial status, but also their religion, 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.
Before you are inclined to write such a love letter, consider these best practices to protect all parties involved from fair housing liability:
- Consider how they may violate fair housing laws and the pitfalls of sending buyer love letters.
- Please be advised that, in order to protect you, your agent, and the sellers and their agent, may refuse to send your love letter with your offer. Many listing agents are now putting into the agent notes in MLS, that letters of this kind will not be accepted with the offer. Potentially, your offer may not be accepted at all if it contains a personal letter.
- If you are the sellers, please know that you should only accept or reject an offer based on objective criteria only.
- If you determine to draft a buyer love letter, please know that your agent will likely refuse to send it in order to protect you and themselves.
- If you are a seller, please know that your agent should responsibly document your reasons for accepting or rejecting all buyer offers.
NOTE from John Magyar, Owner and Principal Broker of Meritant Real Estate:
I felt it necessary to repeat this article for all future clients I will work with. It's a very easy way for me to send you a link and a quick way to help you, as my buyers, understand the pitfalls of the letters.
As always, my goal is to always be current in law, as it pertains to real estate, and to safe guard you, as my clients, to the best of my ability, in the successful transaction of real estate.
Meritant Real Estate serves all of Middle Tennessee but our forte is Williamson County. We work hard to earn our name, Meritant, which simply means, worthy.
John Magyar, Principal Broker, REALTOR®, RENE, SRS, MRP, SRES
Meritant Real Estate
5115 Maryland Way, Suite 195
Brentwood, TN 37027
(615) 333-8999 Office
(615) 482-8999 Personal Mobile
john@meritant.com
