Writing to a Dutch homeowner: a letter template that gets kept, not binned

I am Jiri, an estate agent in Maastricht. When I sit at a kitchen table with people who have just decided to sell, the drawer often comes open, and out come the letters that buyers once put through their door. One kind is typed, comes from a company that wants to buy quickly, and was kept only to show me how bad it has become. The other kind is from a couple two streets away, and it is read aloud in a different voice. This guide is about writing the second kind, as an expat, in English and in Dutch.

What a Dutch owner expects, and what makes them bin a letter

The Dutch are direct and allergic to sales talk, and that shapes the whole letter. An owner wants to know within a few lines who you are, why you are writing to them of all people, and what you want. Flattery about their "beautiful property" reads as a template, and a long story about your life reads as a burden. One page is the limit, and shorter is better.

They have also learnt to be suspicious. In many streets investors and quick-buy companies have written to whole neighbourhoods, often with a price under market value and sometimes with an invented family who "would love to live here". So an owner checks whether there is a real name under your letter, whether it is about their house or about "homes in your area", and whether there is a figure in it. A figure in a first letter is the mark of someone who trades. Keep the price out, keep the deadline out, and let the first paragraph show a person.

Finally, address it properly. "Aan de bewoner(s) van" plus the street and house number is correct Dutch, polite, and visibly not bulk mail. You do not need the owner's name; it is in the Kadaster, the public land registry, for a few euros, but for a first letter it adds nothing, and if the house is rented the tenant will usually pass the letter on. In the Dutch version write "u", the formal you, because this is a letter to a stranger, in their home.

The template in English

Replace everything between square brackets with your own details. Leave the rest as bare as it is; the restraint is part of the message.

Dear resident(s) of [Brusselsestraat 41],

My name is [Sanne], I am [34], and I live with my partner [Daan] [three streets from you, on the Tongersestraat]. We moved to the Netherlands [four years ago] for work and we are staying. For the past two years we have cycled past your house almost every day, and every time one of us says the same thing: this is the one.

We have been searching in this neighbourhood all that time and have been outbid [four] times, which is why we are writing to you directly. We are not investors and not estate agents. We simply want to live here, for a long time.

If you ever consider selling, now or in a few years, we would be very glad to be the first to hear. No hurry, and no obligation on your side. A cup of coffee would be enough to see whether it fits.

You can reach us through the code in this letter at doorletter.nl/inbox. That can be done anonymously; you do not have to share anything about yourself.

Kind regards, [Sanne and Daan]

The same letter in Dutch

Print this on the back of the English page, or send it on its own if you expect an older reader. It follows the English line by line, so you know exactly what you are saying.

Beste bewoner(s) van de [Brusselsestraat 41],

Mijn naam is [Sanne], ik ben [34] en ik woon met mijn vriend [Daan] [drie straten verderop, aan de Tongersestraat]. We zijn [vier jaar geleden] voor ons werk naar Nederland gekomen en we blijven hier. Al twee jaar fietsen we bijna elke dag langs uw huis, en elke keer zegt een van ons hetzelfde: dit is het.

We zoeken al die tijd in deze buurt en zijn inmiddels [vier] keer overboden. Daarom schrijven we u rechtstreeks. We zijn geen belegger en geen makelaar. We willen hier gewoon wonen, voor lang.

Als u ooit, nu of over een paar jaar, zou overwegen om te verkopen, dan horen we dat heel graag als eersten. Zonder haast en zonder enige verplichting. Een kop koffie is genoeg om te kijken of het past.

U kunt ons bereiken via de code in deze brief op doorletter.nl/inbox. Dat kan anoniem; u hoeft niets van uzelf te delen.

Hartelijke groet, [Sanne en Daan]

Why each line is there

The greeting names the address, which is the first signal that this is not bulk mail: a mailing to a whole district cannot mention the house number. In Dutch, "mijn vriend" is a boyfriend and "mijn vriendin" a girlfriend; a husband is "mijn man" and a wife "mijn vrouw".

The second sentence says who you are: name, age, who you live with, and where you live now. For an expat there is one extra line, how long you have been here and that you are staying, because it answers the question an owner silently asks when he sees a foreign name: will these people be gone in two years? A letter from "a young international couple" is from nobody.

The detail about cycling past decides whether the letter is kept or thrown away. It has to be something that is only true of this house: the route you take, the bay window, the garden facing south. If you do not know the house but love the street, say that instead; invented affection is noticed.

"Not investors and not estate agents" is written literally, in both languages, because that is precisely the doubt you have to remove. Do not soften it into "we are genuine buyers", which is what the investors write too.

The request is for a conversation and nothing more, and "now or in a few years" matters. An owner who does not want to move today puts this letter in the drawer; an owner who feels pushed throws it away. A letter like this is not an offer and binds you to nothing: in the Netherlands a private buyer is bound only once the koopovereenkomst, the written purchase agreement, has been signed by both parties, and even then has three days of bedenktijd, a cooling-off period, to withdraw. What happens between the first coffee and that signature is in the guide on buying an off-market house in the Netherlands.

The line with the code is the way back, and without a way back a kept letter is worthless. That is what I built DoorLetter for: the letter is printed and delivered by PostNL, the first letter is free, and the owner can use the code to read it and reply anonymously, also a year from now. If you adapt the Dutch text and your Dutch is not strong, the writing aid on the site can check it with you. If you post the letter yourself, replace that line with your telephone number and email address, and accept that both may have changed by the time the owner reaches for the letter.

"Hartelijke groet" is warm without being familiar, the right register for a stranger you hope to drink coffee with; "Met vriendelijke groet" is the neutral business version and also fine. Whichever you choose, sign by hand.

Following up, and what not to do

No reply is the normal outcome, so count on it. Most owners are not moving right now, and many keep the letter anyway; from the selling side I have seen it come out of the drawer a year later, with the owner asking me whether "the people from the note" should get the first chance. After three to six months you may write once more, short, with something new: your mortgage is now arranged, or you have moved around the corner. After that, let it rest. Two letters is interest; three is pressure.

A few things undo all the care above. Do not ring the doorbell to follow up; it forces an answer on the spot, and the polite answer at the door is always no. Do not mention a price, not even "to give an idea", because an owner reads a figure as an offer and you as a trader. Do not send a photo of yourselves with a first letter. If you write to several houses in one street, say so, because neighbours talk, and a letter that claimed to be about one house loses all credibility when the same text turns up next door. A "nee/nee" sticker on the letterbox concerns unaddressed printed matter, so your addressed letter may go in, but anyone who says they want no more post is someone you do not write to again.

When you are ready, choose the address and write your first letter in your own words. The template above is a skeleton; the parts that work are the parts only you can fill in.

If you would rather not retype it: the same letter, in English and in Dutch, with one click into the send form, is in the letter templates, together with a letter to a whole street and the personal letter that goes with a bid.