A new lawsuit challenges an Oregon law that would have banned one type of love letter. I’m Amy E. Feldman.
According to Yahoo Finance, a 2019 study found that in a real estate bidding war, an offer to pay all cash more than tripled a buyer’s odds of having the winning bid. But the second most effective strategy to win a bidding war was to write a letter telling the seller why the buyer loved the house.
While there were no fair housing complaints based on those so-called love letters, the State of Oregon nonetheless became the first state to pass a law that banned the practice out of fear it could induce a seller to choose one buyer over another because of race, religion, or other discriminatory factor. But this week, a lawsuit was filed to prohibit that law from going into effect, calling it a blatant First Amendment violation. Regardless of the outcome of the suit though, buyers would be wise to show their love—in the form of more cash—to win.
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