A
female
age
41-50,
anonymous
writes:My husband and I are a little upset with our neighbors and no idea why what happened, happened… We have been living in our house for 6 years. One of our neighbors who lives in our cul de sac has a beautiful bigger house. We’ve always admired it and told them so. Around 15 months ago our neighbor mentioned he was thinking about moving to be closer to his elderly parents. In conversation we just happened to mention that if he was selling at any point we would be interested in the house and to let us know. He agreed and seemed happy with this. Since then we now and again mentioned this to both him and his wife and each time they told us as soon as it was up for sale but we’d be the first to know. To note we didn’t pester them continuously - it was a friendly few reminders. You can imagine our surprise when last week we saw moving vans outside their home- they had sold up and were moving!! Not a word to us. No for sale sign outside either. We managed to see them quickly and wished them luck and I actually asked why they didn’t let us know and they both lied to us by saying “oh yea, we totally forgot!! So sorry!!” Which was absolutely a lie- it was written all over their faces!! I hope I don’t come across as entitled as I’m really not- they of course can sell their house to whoever they want. I just don’t know why they didn’t give us a chance to make an offer - we have money and we live in a sought after area therefore it wouldn’t have taken us long to sell our house. Plus we’ve always got on with them. We also found out the family that bought the house also had a house to sell so it’s not as though they sold to a family that had no property to sell, therefore making it an easier process, which would have been understandable. What my husband and I did however notice was that several months prior the entire family seemed to be avoiding us- usually they stop to chat etc… but they would quickly dart inside if they saw us or get in their car drive off. We thought we were being paranoid but obviously we weren’t! They were avoiding us! Any idea why they didn’t give us a chance to make an offer?
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female
reader, anonymous, writes (9 February 2024): Firstly I dont think you sound entitled. You liked a house, you asked for them to let you know if they were selling, they agreed - you did nothing wrong.
My guess is they probably didn’t think you were serious & didn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable by asking. Or maybe they just aren’t nice neighbors & didn’t want you involved.
I hope you find a nicer home in the future.
A
female
reader, anonymous, writes (9 February 2024): Selling a house to somebody you know is a big deal, I personally wouldn't sell a car to someone I know never mind a house!
Whilst they probably liked you to talk to, going into such a big business deal would have been awkward and caused a lot of tension - as house sales do. It's asking for trouble.
They did the right thing in selling to strangers, that way they get to wash their hands of the deal and the house and move on without worrying about their old neighbour ringing them up to ask why the boiler isn't working etc.
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A
female
reader, anonymous, writes (8 February 2024): They didn't want to sell to you? Maybe they knew the couple from church or somewhere else. My parents flip houses and exclusively rent or sell first to people from our church or sister churches. That's any business they so, including our orthodontist, attorney and so on. You just weren't part of their networking circle?
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A
female
reader, mystiquek  +, writes (4 February 2024):
 It could be so many things maybe you did not make it clear maybe they thought you were being polite asking?? Or even just nosey..who know? At the end of.the day its their home and they can sell to whomever they want. They dont owe you anything. Next time if situation should ever happen again treat for what it is a business transaction.
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A
female
reader, Honeypie +, writes (4 February 2024):
 It's their house, they can choose who to sell to. Often, it's done through a real-estate agent and the seller takes the highest bidder.
Telling someone that you LOVE their house doesn't mean you want to put a bid on it. ASKING them which real estate agent they are using or actually ASK details; would mean you WANT to put in the work to buy the house.
I'm sorry, but no one has time to run around to people asking if they are still interested in buying their house, they obviously had people interested!
There can be so many reasons why they didn't TAKE the time to let you know. NONE of which is about YOU as people.
And yes, you do come across as a bit entitled.
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