06:56 PM PDT on Wednesday, May 18, 2005

By MEEGHAN BLACK / KING 5 News

Have you received the offer in the mail: May I buy your house?

Unsolicited offers from complete strangers are flooding local mailboxes these days and some are getting rich from the practice.

Real estate experts say the practice has been around for years, but since our real estate market is so tight - meaning there are so few houses on the market - these unsolicited offers are now coming out of the woodwork.

Jeff and Tami Surridge buy and sell houses for a living. They send out unsolicited letters to homeowners, but not just any homeowner.

KING

Tami explains their plans for improvements.

"We get a lot of response from people that are in financial situations, having trouble with their house payments, that's probably our best response," said Tami.

They target people in financial trouble, landlords and those with rundown homes.

One Everett home, for example, was on its way to foreclosure.

Jeff and Tami say they saved these homeowners from foreclosure. They bought the house for $90,000 and plan about $30,000 in improvements. They hope to make $40,000 to $50,000 in profit.

"No one ever gives up equity in their home. They're exchanging it for something else that is of more value to them than the money," said Tami.

In this case that value was avoiding foreclosure.

"I don't know if it's really deception," said Karen Portzer, who is not in any kind of financial trouble, yet she gets unsolicited offers every month.

Her letters paint a rosy picture of a couple wanting to move to her neighborhood.

"So you get the impression from reading the letter that they want to live there," she said.

But Karen says it's just investors wanting to resell her home for profit. In fact, some letters come with full documents and offers, including one for $380,000.

A realtor told the family the Magnolia house would sell for $600,000 on the market.

Jeff and Tami say they always strive to make it win-win for each party. In fact they say ask for references and use caution.

"When we do any of our real estate transactions, we close through attorneys and escrow. Nobody should ever do a kitchen table closing. That isn't right," said Jeff.

Jeff and Tami have been in this business for nine months. They plan to be financially secure enough to retire within two years.

Real estate experts say be sure to check out the true market value of your home before agreeing to sell.