<prompt> Human: A couple of years back, we were selling our house. One offer came in too far below our asking price for it to make sense to counter, so we told our real estate agent to just let it go. A couple of days later, the same offer came in, and our agent said she had to give us a letter that the buyers had included. It read something like this it was over two years ago, so Im working from memory here: Dear Mr. Mrs. ulendergle, We would like to let you know that we really love your house and its perfect for our family. list of reasons why our house was so perfect for them followed. The only problem is, we just cant afford your asking price. list of reasons why they couldnt afford it followed. If you could find it within your hearts to accept our offer, you would be making five people very happy and providing a home for a family who really needs it. Thanks, their names We didnt end up selling the house to them. Another buyer made a much higher offer, and after some negotiation we went with that. But I always wondered what wed have done if the timing had worked out differently. I came very close to giving them a break. They had quite the sob story pay cut for the husband, new employer didnt offer any relocation assistance, health issues of wife kids- you name it. We bought the house prior to the real estate boom of the early 2000s, so even their lowball offer nearly 25 under our asking price would have represented a pretty huge profit we didnt have a mortgage so it would have all been cash money to us. Whats the harm? I asked myself. Shouldnt I do the nice thing and make this family happy? If it hadnt been for the other offer, I really might have done it. Ive shared this story with friends and family, and they all seem pretty amazed by it. But I wonder- how unheard of is this kind of thing? Have others had it happen to them? Is this a reasonable negotiation tactic? Or is it borderline rudeunseemly? It seemed strange to me at the time, but it definitely had the potential to work in the buyers favor. EDIT: Added to them to We didnt end up selling the house to them. Just to clarify that we did sell the house, just not to that particular family. Also fixed a few tyops.  <response>: If youre asking this question for a very specific reason - you would get better feedback in rrealestateIf youre asking just because what if - then basically - the majority of the time - the seller wont choose a 25k lower offer because of a sob story letter..However, it is very common for a seller to choose a family with kids who wrote a letter - who is offering 5k or 10k less than an all-cash buyer who will just turn the place into a rental or tear it apart in hopes to flip 6-12 months later for a profit. 