Good-Bye Seller “Love Letters” - HB 2550

No More Seller “Love Letters” Beginning in 2022

UPDATE - The Oregon Supreme Court overturned and threw out this law, however, the practice of submitting love letters has subsided greatly since this was enacted and due to the less aggressive markets in the latter half of 2022.

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Beginning in 2022 there will be no more “love letters” submitted with offers.

According to Oregon Association Of Realtors “The love letter bill, House Bill 2550, passed the House this week after Oregon REALTORS® worked to amend the bill in the Senate to make it easier to comply with.”

What this means - is that your offer has to do the talking and will be accepted based on its merit & strength (terms, price, etc.) and not so much on the buyer’s attempt to make an emotional connection with the seller for acceptance in a multiple offer situation.

Personally, I feel like this levels the playing field for all. Although I have had buyers get offers accepted based on letter submission - not all buyers were comfortable submitting photos, letters, and videos of themselves with their offer. Also, this skirts the fine line of fair housing laws, and moving forward sellers won’t be swayed.

The summary of the Bill ‘directs the seller's agent to reject communication from buyer to the seller as necessary to help the seller avoid selecting buyer based on buyer's race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, marital status, or familial status, in violation of federal fair housing laws.’ https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2021R1/Measures/Overview/HB2550

End of the day - this is a win for everyone and I am happy to see those pesky “love letters” go away.