I get these too. I agree that they neither know nor care enough to be making any judgments about my personal circumstances. What offends me about these letters is the appeal to every possible societal norm, in the depiction of the (real or fictional) prospective buyers. There’s a very strong undercurrent of, “Don’t you want to sell your home to The Right Kind Of People…? Look how white and straight and slim and fertile and conventionally attractive these buyers are! Doesn’t it make you want to remodel your office as a nursery, just for them?” 
I don’t know if they have the info everywhere, but out here in CA you can find that out for many properties (except for the owner name) just by using Redfin, Zillow, Trulia, etc.
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@aunt_bea I also live in San Diego and receive letters like this several times a month. I just throw them away.
We ARE in that situation. Planning to put our house on the market in the next few months and are already in process of purchasing a house in another city.
The real estate market here is red hot and very competitive and we live on a street where the houses sell quickly even in slower times. (note: we have received these kind of letters in the past). In addition it is VERY common for people here to sell and move after their youngest child leaves home (half of our friends have already done that).
So, no I would not be insulted, creeped out, annoyed or anything like that. In fact at this point if someone offered us a certain amount we would be inclined to sell the house to them. H and I have actually discussed that scenario. It would certainly make it easier for us! They would just have to offer the price we want.
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I’ll put a different spin on the letter. Almost 30 years ago, we fell in love with the neighborhood where we are currently living. There are only about 60+ houses in a cul de sac with sidewalks, behind an elementary school We retained a realtor who was listing another house, and unknown to us, he wrote a letter saying there was a couple with a young child looking for a home here. It was not a hot-selling market like right now, another realtor who knew the owners of our current home contacted our realtor and we bought it as is.
I never saw the letter, I hope it was not predatory! but it all worked out. I have a certain tender feeling when one of those letters came into our mailbox. But then I threw it out. At the right time when we are ready to move on, maybe…
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I have mentioned that we have (in the past received letters like this). They realtors who sent them provided no information other than that they were “qualified buyers”. No idea about the race, orientation, weight, fertility, attractiveness, etc.
Are you perhaps thinking of the letters written by potential buyers when they are in a bidding war? The “pick me” letters? That’s a different thing.
We are interested in selling to a party who will pay us what we hope to get for the house. Other than that, we don’t care.
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This is awful! But I sort of got that gist from that letter.
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We sold our SoCal house in May. We received several “pick me” letters which came with the offers. The letters did not sway us in which offer we accepted. We made sure that the bidders were financial stable and could pay what they offered.
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Thirty years ago we stopped at a garage sale in an neighborhood we loved. There owners were a retired couple, and I asked if they were moving. They said no, or maybe “not yet”. I mentioned that we walked the street a lot and really liked it… pulled an address sticker from my wallet and told them to contact us if they ever considered selling. Sure enough, a few months later they looked us up and called. We viewed it but decided not quite big enough to “move up” into.
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No, I’m thinking of cold-contact letters I have gotten from realtors within the past decade. I haven’t been in a transaction as a seller since 1997.
We get letters, calls and texts. For the calls, my standard answer is “not a price you are willing to pay.” This usually prompts them to ask for a number. My current number is roughly 2.5X the going rate of houses like ours in our neighborhood. That usually ends the call.
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Why would anyone get angry at receiving a potted plant on your doorstep?
Or a letter?
I don’t get being upset by this. Frequent calls, yes, more intrusive. But post cards?
Recycle bin and it’s out of mind within minutes.
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Not upset, more annoyed than anything.
We get daily postcards, flyers, and they go immediately into the blue bin. No time to think about them.
Calls are on call recognition.
Visiting realtors are on camera.
Drones appear once in a while.
A hand addressed letter, with actual photos, made me pause. I didn’t know who it was from (I have a very large family, cross country,with people constantly sending wedding invites, etc.), and with the photos inside, didn’t know what to think.
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We did the same! I stopped at a “moving sale” bought a couple items and ended up talking to the owner. It was a moving sale but they weren’t moving yet. He took my number - as apparently he did many other people (their home, now ours was a coveted home in the neighborhood). He called a couple months later, we lucked out by getting an early showing and very out of character for us, we put in an offer at the end of our showing at their dining room table. I heard later that many neighbors who were interested were ticked off at us!
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I honestly believe that there is a reason for things happening the way that they do.
You got the house because those owners WANTED you to get the house.
They could have waffled, waited or rejected your offer, then and there, and wait for offers to come in. But the couple chose you, and they must have wanted you to take care of their home. So it was your house from the beginning.
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Friends of mine were “those people” many years ago. They figured out what area they really wanted to live in, and then put a letter in the mailbox of maybe 100 homes in that area. One person called them, and they purchased her house, with no realtor involved.
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While I strongly dislike texts and calls about buying my house or car, I have no problem with postcards and letters. In fact, I sent one about two years ago when looking for a house to remodel near our grandchild. The owners had recently bought another property in the area and I hoped they might be ready to sell, but it turned out they understandably wanted to wait until their new house was remodeled.
We get postcards with a photo of our “house” which is actually a Google street view of the empty lot on which our temporary house was built a couple of years ago. I keep the names of those real estate agents on a “who not to hire” list since they clearly don’t know our neighborhood. We’ll be selling this house next year and I just hope the local market is still as strong as it is now.
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The difference between @abasket’s experience and the OP’s letter is the home owners got to meet the prospective buyers in person before they even became prospective buyers. Who knows who is behind that letter… could be a big RE holding co trying to buy up the neighborhood on the cheap.
I read thru this thread, perhaps I should call/ write back that I would sell for $1M.
Today I got a letter from Subaru saying I could start a new lease, only $40/month more, if I have them back my 2 yo car.
This brings to mind a more “ legit” letter I’m aware of. A friend of my daughters who is blind originally lived one town over but went to her school because it was a LICA (low incidence [of specific special needs] cooperative association) for the blind. When he was in 5 th grade they announced they were moving the LICA to a different school district. As a very social kid with relatively minimal need for support ( he was an ace Braille reader and an excellent in his head mathematician) he wanted to stay at the same school. But his family needed to move to our town. And they couldn’t afford most houses. The kid wrote his own heartfelt letter to the owners of the more modest homes and one bit. They bought the house and he graduated from high school with his friends!
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