Home › Forums › West Seattle Rants & Raves › creepy real estate letter
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August 19, 2008 at 10:40 pm #587814
SaraMemberMy husband and I received an obviously bogus letter from someone claiming to be a married couple with a daughter (an airline pilot, real estate agent, and 5 year old named Natasha) who say they want to buy our house for “Natasha’s grandparents.” Uh, yeah, right. They know our names. We think it’s really, really creepy. Wonder if anyone else has received one of these – ? We feel like someone is spying on our house.
August 19, 2008 at 10:46 pm #634659
KatherineLParticipantI got one too. I wondered if I was the only one.
August 19, 2008 at 11:00 pm #634660
beachdrivegirlParticipanti doubt that they are spying on your house they probably have just bought a list with your information on it and are not sending mass letters out. i would start to get worried if htey mentioned more personal facts.
August 19, 2008 at 11:45 pm #634661
austinMemberI get all kinds of junk mail with my name on it because I bought shoes off the internet once. Lot of catalogs and I recently had to ask bed bath & beyond to stop sending me 20%-off coupons daily. I don’t buy that many duvet covers, really. The mailman should know better than to leave me that crap.
August 19, 2008 at 11:47 pm #634662
BayouMemberWe got one of those a few months back and it creeped me out too.
August 20, 2008 at 12:22 am #634663
GenHillOneParticipantThey don’t have to buy a list – your name, address, home appraisal, purchase price, and even satellite photo are all easily available on the web. I’m not sure what they think they’ll accomplish though…the Craigslist Nigerian bank scam maybe? You agree to sell your house to us (whom you’ve never met), we send you a fake deposit check that we somehow convince you needs all or some portion returned to us? Right…
August 20, 2008 at 2:02 am #634664
jbdParticipantIt wasn’t me BUT… I have sent cards to people saying that I have always loved their house and if they are ever interested in selling to give us a call. I found their names on the King County website. I never thought it might creep the homeowners out though so I will give that serious thought if I ever do it again.
August 20, 2008 at 2:15 am #634665
shihtzuParticipantYour names and all kinds of information is available on King County’s website (and zillow). My grandad gets these letters all the time. He lives in a unique neighborhood and people rarely sell.
I’d guess it’s someone who really likes your neighborhood.
August 20, 2008 at 2:38 am #634666
GinaParticipantI get mailings from local real estate offices, from California investment firms and area developers. They all love my house, and usually offer me 275,000, paid out in small increments over the next 10 years.
I kept my parents’ phone number when I moved into their house, so I think the reverse directory information shows that retirees live here, and the mailings are a scheme to get houses cheap to flip.
The local developers want the house and the backyard to build townhouses in.
August 20, 2008 at 3:06 am #634667
BonnieParticipantMy neighbors kitty corner to us sold their house that way. Someone didn’t send it in the mail though, they taped it to their door. LOL! They sold their house and moved!
August 20, 2008 at 3:06 am #634668
JanSParticipantGina…275,000? don’t sell it ever…it’s a great house :)
August 20, 2008 at 4:51 am #634669
SaraMemberWe just found out one of our neighbors got the same exact letter. What’s creepy about it is the sharing of way too much of their personal information, including a family photograph, and a story about how the house would be for their child’s grandparents, who were living overseas. Especially disturbing, the return address was a post office box, and they said, “It is our sincere desire to make an offer relevant to your dreams, goals and desires….Whether or not we purchase your home it is our goal that your experience with us will be pleasant and positive….” It freaked us out, but we feel better knowing others have received this letter so it isn’t personally invasive – just generally invasive.
August 20, 2008 at 4:53 am #634670
PDieterParticipantdid they mention that they would never trim the trees that are a part of your family?
sorry… ;)
August 20, 2008 at 5:30 am #634671
SaraMemberExactly what we thought. Thanks! Also weird is the fact that as others have pointed out elsewhere – there are many, many homes for sale in West Seattle. Lots of them. So it sounds like these people are looking for distressed home buyers who might accept very low offers. They are clearly on a fishing expedition.
August 20, 2008 at 7:35 am #634672
mellaw6565MemberInteresting that I got two similar emails with photos several months ago – but it wasn’t about my house. It was about a foster dog we had up for adoption. Both posters (different names) said that their daughter’s dog had died and that our foster dog “looked just liked theirs” and they wanted us to ship the dog right away! They promised good homes – one said that they had a ranch in Wyoming and the other said they had a ranch in Texas.
Of course we don’t adopt out to non-local folks for many reasons, so obviously we didn’t take them up on their offer. But it was really weird that they were so personal about their family story, etc…… They were very detailed emails.
One friend told me that often they are testing labs or unscrupulous people who sell dogs to labs.
August 20, 2008 at 1:12 pm #634673
MunchkinMemberWe got the letter yesterday. Inside it gave an address of the sender as in the 5000 block of 41st SW. I was tempted to swing by and see if they’re real.
August 20, 2008 at 3:20 pm #634674
GinaParticipantUse the King County Parcel viewer to check the address and owner.
The California real estate fishing expedition could be quite deceiving to unaware people. They send a real estate purchase agreement, with the three layers of carbon paper, set up to only need a signture. I can’t figure out how they get around the need for a notarized signature.
I take the papers straight to the shredder.
August 20, 2008 at 3:53 pm #634675
WSratsinacageMemberI get letters from someone locally (maybe the 41st Ave address?) who wants to buy my house. The letter comes in a purple-ish envelope with the promise of a free dvd player is I sell in the next 30 days or something like that. The form letter sounds a little like they are trying to help people who are in a financial pinch. I find it quite insulting. I know these are just blasted out but my house is not condemned and I am not, thankfully, in a financial pinch. They could not afford my house if they really wanted to buy it.
August 20, 2008 at 6:28 pm #634676
marianneParticipantI received the exact same letter (airline pilot, real estate agent, Natasha)recently. Over the years I’ve received similiar ones. I just throw them away. It’s usually some personal story about how someone is looking for a home in the neighborhood. I figure it’s somebody surfing the King County records for homes listed in a certain value range. What I found really creepy is when I bought my house over decade ago, was getting calls from Singles matchmaking organizations who comb the county records looking at Deeds which include the marital status of the parties. I don’t now if these companies even exist anymore due to the advent of internet dating sites, but they were really persistent and annoying. They finally stopped calling after I started having my deep voiced boyfriend answer the phone and say he was me.
August 20, 2008 at 6:31 pm #634677
WSratsinacageMemberlol marianne
August 20, 2008 at 8:27 pm #634678
KenParticipantThe Natasha Letter:
A couple of my neighbors have recieved this one in the past month and it really is creepy.
One does not own a computer so I am sure it is not “Net” related in their case.
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