Some real estate agents and brokers prefer to write a contract for each offer, while others use a letter of intent to express interest in a property and work out the details before writing a full contract to buy real estate. Many bank-owned properties (also known as REO properties) explicitly tell agents not to submit letters of intent in their listings, but with private sellers, a letter of intent can be a good way to present your creative offering to a seller. without a big commitment. amount of time invested by your real estate agent.

If you are dealing directly with sellers to purchase property, you will rarely need to use a letter of intent. Instead, you will meet with them in person to sit down and discuss options for purchasing your property.

However, if you’re working through a real estate agent (or two real estate agents if you’re not dealing directly with the real estate agent), letters of intent can help you best succinctly express your offer, especially when you don’t know if the agent who will present your creative offer will understand all the benefits of it.

For example, I usually buy houses directly from sellers, but last week I started doing some creative offers of owner financing for some houses through realtors. Once I was able to speak with the agents representing me, they immediately saw the benefits of my offer for some sellers. Unfortunately, the agents I spoke to would present my offer to another agent representing the seller. Therefore, I trust my agent to express the benefits of my offer to the seller’s agent, who in turn will present the benefits of my offer to the seller. With a concise letter of intent, I hope to give my offers a better chance of being accepted by the seller despite all the moving parts and unknowns.

So if you’re working with a real estate agent, talk to them about whether using a letter of intent would be better with the offers you’re making or if they want to continue writing full contracts for each offer.