Bill in Rhode Island Looking to Ban "Love Letters" to Sellers

In this real estate market, buyers are looking for anything they can do to get a leg up and win an offer. One such strategy is through a personal letter, or “love letter,” as some jokingly call it. This entails writing a personal, heartfelt letter to the seller of the property explaining their current situation and why they would greatly appreciate the deal to go their way. Most agents we have spoken to in the Miami-Dade area said that they stopped this practice as it raises fair housing concerns. However, in Rhode Island, it is getting to the point where state rep Terri Cortvriend has proposed a bill to ban them.Cortvriend says that the practice could sway home prices as well as a bias towards a certain buyer that is based on factors nobody else can control.

Rhode Island realtor Michael Harrison had some thoughts on the matter. “We did receive a couple of letters for one listing, and there was one that I couldn’t share with my seller, [the] reason being, they attached a photo to their letter. There are some fair housing guidelines that we have to abide by.” Another realtor Paul Zarella said that he doesn’t think that the ban is necessary. “I don't find them very useful, but if someone does want to use that, I think as long as a buyer or a seller aren't making decisions based on race or gender or identity, things of that nature, I don't see a problem with sharing some information,” stated Zarella."There are different things that you can do to make your offer stand out that are more important to a seller than, you know, if your dog Sparky is going to play in the yard," said Zarrella. "They might tell a seller, although we have a right to inspect your property and back out for any reason, we're going to give up that right unless we find a problem greater than $5,000 or something like that."