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Put your offer and conditions in writing on an off-market home. Build your residential purchase letter of intent in minutes with Document Genius's step-by-step questionnaire.
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A residential purchase letter of intent records the terms on which a buyer expects to purchase a home, ahead of the formal contract. It names the property, the price, the deposit, and the contingencies the buyer wants.
Most home purchases never use one, because a listed property normally moves straight to a standard offer or contract prepared by an agent. The letter is for situations where no such process exists.
Off-market approaches are the common case. Writing to an owner who has not listed, buying from family, or agreeing a private sale all lack the framework a listing provides, and this document supplies it.
It is not an offer contract and does not commit either side to complete. What it does is get price, timing, and conditions written down before anyone instructs a lawyer.
Send a residential purchase letter of intent where the usual sale process is absent or does not fit. Typical situations include:
For a listed property, use the offer process the agent runs. A separate letter usually duplicates it and can slow a competitive purchase down.
A residential purchase letter of intent should fit on one page and be specific about price, timing, and conditions.
Name buyer and seller, and give the full address and any title or parcel reference.
State the offer, any deposit, when it is payable, and who will hold it.
Say whether you are paying cash or borrowing, and note any pre-approval you already hold.
Give a defined window for a home inspection and any specialist reports you intend to commission.
List what the purchase depends on: satisfactory inspection, appraisal, clear title, and financing.
Say what you expect to remain with the property and what you assume the seller will take.
Give a date or a window and note what would move it.
Add an expiry date and signature lines for both parties.
More residential disagreements come from what was left behind than from the price, and this is the cheapest moment to settle it.
Write down anything you are assuming. Appliances, window coverings, light fittings, garden equipment, sheds, and mounted televisions are the recurring flashpoints, and each side usually assumes the opposite.
Be specific rather than categorical. Saying the kitchen appliances remain is clearer than referring to fixtures, a word that means different things to different people and occasionally to the law.
Deal separately with anything being sold apart from the house. Furniture or equipment the seller is happy to leave for a payment should be listed and priced rather than folded vaguely into the purchase.
Tip: Walk the property with a list and agree it item by item before you send the letter. Ten minutes at this stage prevents the argument that otherwise surfaces on completion day.
A seller weighing a private approach has no agent vetting you, so the letter has to do that work.
Say where the money is coming from. Naming a lender, confirming a pre-approval, or offering proof of funds costs nothing and materially changes how an offer reads.
Be realistic about timing. Mortgage approval, survey, and conveyancing all take time, and a completion date that ignores them invites a renegotiation later.
Keep the contingency list honest. Every condition protects you and lowers the seller’s certainty, so include the ones you actually need and drop the ones you do not.
Offer flexibility where it costs you little. A seller who needs to stay on for a few weeks after completion, or who wants a longer runway to find somewhere, will often value that more than a slightly higher price.
If you are buying from family, treat the paperwork more carefully rather than less. Informal arrangements between relatives are exactly the ones that cause difficulty later, and a clear written starting point protects the relationship as much as the purchase.
A residential purchase letter of intent takes about half an hour. Document Genius walks you through each section with simple questions.
Open with the date, both names, and the full address.
Give the offer, any deposit, and how you are funding it.
Say how long you need and what you intend to inspect.
Inspection, appraisal, title, and financing.
Write down what stays and what goes.
Date it, sign it, and pass it to your conveyancer or attorney. Start yours now and have it ready today.
How a preliminary document is treated in a home sale varies considerably, and the letter should be explicit about its own status.
Say plainly that it is not a contract and that a formal agreement will govern. Property transactions attract particular scrutiny, and a letter that reads as an agreement can create expectations or obligations neither side intended.
Mark any clause you do want to bind, such as confidentiality or a short period during which the seller will not market the property elsewhere.
Afterwards, expect a proper contract, the inspection and survey work, then completion. The letter sets the terms your conveyancer or attorney drafts from.
Whether such a document binds anyone, what a seller must disclose, and how a private sale should be handled all depend on where the property is. Take advice from a local property lawyer or conveyancer before signing, particularly on a private or family sale.
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