Selling my house... finding the feedback difficult to cope with!!

[af2000]

We are selling our 2 bed terraced house in London. It is a fairly standard 2 bed cottage - 2 reception rooms, 2 double bedrooms though we have a large kitchen which many don't. We also have a lovely 115ft garden, unusual for London. We have completely renovated the house and of course we think it is lovely.

Had our first viewing yesterday. The feedback was that they liked the area/ garden etc but found the house to be small . It is a 2 bed cottage and we have advertised it as such (and the photos dont make it look anormous or anything). I think the price is in line with the area.

Just found it really hard not to get all defensive with the estate agent.. I think I am going to find the process of selling our lovely house stressful!

We have a load of viewings booked in for tomorrow and Saturday. Does anyone have any tips on how to sell your house without taking all the feedback too personally?!

[NightWanderer]

Have you ever seen any of the property porn threads? I mean, gorgeous 4 million pound homes and people are still nit-picking. I think it's like dating. Just trying to find your match. It doesn't mean there is anything wrong with your house but it's just not for them.

[AgathaMystery]

Totally ridic but can you get a massive bank loans and whack on a 40 foot extension making it a mega dream home & make
Squillions?

It's hard to sell your house. It's your home... I sobbed when we were selling ours. I knew every brick. I'd bloody repaired, pointed, rendered and painted most of the fuckers them

[SquinkiesRule]

Sometimes when people have looked, but not clicked, with a property and are asked what they thought, they will say things like, too small, or no off street parking, or other obvious things that they could have figured out by reading the specs.
If it's done to a high standard looks nice and priced well and you have loads of viewings booked, the right person will see it and want it.

[Mitfordhons]

Tell your Estate Agent that you find it hard and would rather not know any negative comments, they should be understanding.

[Imnotaslimjim]

squinkies is right, rather than just say they didn't think the property suited them, viewers will say things like "its too small" "the kitchen isn't right" etc they feel they need to give a reason

[FishWithABicycle]

You can tell the estate agent not to pass on any feedback that would be impossible to change (we had people criticising our house for being 2 bed instead of 3 bed similarly) but if someone who wants a 2 bed thinks it seems too small can you declutter/remove some of the furniture to give more sense of space?

[LIZS]

Check EA isn't putting them under pressure to make a comment. Accept that feedback such as "too small" reflects on the viewers expectations more than your home. Maybe they hadn't seen many comparable properties yet. Is it a FTB purchase ? Also remember you are selling a property not your home. What suits you may or may not suit others, presumably it no longer meets your needs however much you loved it. It isn't personal.

[JeffreySadsacIsUnwell]

You need to remember that

1. many people are viewing a property because the EA has told them they should, or
   
2. because there's nothing on the market that exactly fits their criteria so they're checking out 'that'll do' ones
   and
   
3. many people don't know what they do want, only what they don't want, but they don't know that till they see it.
   
   Maybe your viewers are looking for a 3-bed place with large garden, but haven't seen anything in their price range, and looked at yours to see whether there was enough potential at the asking price to make it bigger?
   
   If you think about it, you will probably view several properties and you are very unlikely to like all of them - so why are you viewing them?
   
   We've viewed quite a few places which, on paper, all ticked the same boxes. Some of them we knew before we viewed probably wouldn't work but went to rule them out anyway - e.g. we knew one house was probably too close to the main road, another was probably a bit too isolated, another the layout didn't work but we needed to see it to work out if we could afford to change it (answer: no, thanks to structural quirks and reduced head height areas which were evident on viewing but not on floor plan), another we thought could be very overlooked (and was), etc... But they were all 4+ bedrooms, 2+ bathrooms, detached, min 1/2 acre plot, close to desired villages/towns, within budget range. That's why people view properties and don't, as a general rule, just put in an offer over the phone having seen a listing on RM.
   
   If you think about it like that, it should be much easier to accept the feedback. Or tell your EA that you don't want feedback from individual viewings unless it's something you can easily do something about. Ask for general feedback at the end of a cluster of viewings - if everyone says it's too small, you know that maybe the garden size isn't as important as you think (a professional couple working long hours who want a spare room for visiting friends may not want a big garden as much as a couple with SAHP and toddler...) and that your current asking price reflects an asset which isn't as great as you think. If it's just the first viewers, and other people find different drawbacks, well, that's just life!

[LIZS]

And ask your EA to focus on feedback which is constructive ie. Things you could change to make it more saleable.

[Artandco]

I think it's also people might perspectives of how big they think it may be.
Some estate agents will just sell it as a lovely two bed house for sale at x amount and viewers hardly get to see how big exactly. Then they view and its smaller 2 bed place than they wanted

For example we have a 1 bed flat. So people think it's tiny on hearing, but the diffenence is size size it's bigger than many 2-3 bed places as few rooms but each is large. We live here in a 1 bed happily, but have viewed many 2 bed cottages that turned out to be half the size of what we have

Remember also one persons nice is diffenent. A brand new kitchen will be lovely for you, but buyers can have completely diffenent taste so even its its brand new, they will be looking at costs to rip out and replace

[Jeremysfavouriteaunt]

I don't get bothered about this but I do understand that it's pretty infuriating when it's things that can't be changed. The one that we are selling now has an unusual layout, you can see what it is from the floor plans, one of the feedback comments was that they didn't like the layout . Not sure why they viewed it then.

The feedback that I am giving on houses in our area is that they are priced too high. We have viewed several that have been sat on the market for a while, being sold by baby boomers.

The estate agent said that two won't accept a lower offer as they want to release equity to give to their children to encourage them to move out.
So I think (I hope) that my comments aren't too personal.

[ChablisTyrant]

If you have done enough to make it look nice and have decluttered, then the only advice you need from the estate agent is whether the price is right.

[wowfudge]

One thing I don't think any pps have picked up on: do the particulars have a floorplan and are the room dimensions on the actual floorplan? When we were looking I rarely read the full description unless something wasn't clear from the floorplan - I'd look at photos, then floorplan if I liked the look of the place, then location on a map and finally streetview.

[Jeremysfavouriteaunt]

Yes, it's pricing really

[af2000]

Thanks all, you have really given me some useful perspective.

Fish - I have spent the last two weeks decluttering, it is as decluttered as it can be with us living in it too!

You are right, it has become unsuitable for us now as we have another child on the way and need a bigger space. I need to remember I am not selling my home but a space. I think the description and floor plan show the house well and are not misleading in any way. We will see what the viewings on the weekend bring.

Interestingly some new builds have just gone up over the road from us, they are 3 beds but only 12 feet wide (narrower than our cottage) and will have tiny courtyard gardens. They are selling for 725k upwards. I will tell the estate agents to focus on the fact that ours has scope to be extended (it is on the market for 550k). I know, the house prices make my eyes water too

[PassiveAgressiveQueen]

Tell your Estate Agent that you find it hard and would rather not know any negative comments, they should be understanding.

i would add "no negative comments, we can't do anything about"
If lots of people are saying "yuck the paint on the stairs is vile, i couldn't move there" you would want to know and do something about it.

[EssentialHummus]

YY to floorplan. Also, if the garden is enormous and if you get more feedback complaining about size, would it be possible for the agent to add something like "Potential to expand subject to planning permission" so that people can see that there's potential to expand outwards (if there is, of course!).

[Aworldofmyown]

I remember when we sold our flat. We had done it up completely, this was shown in the pictures and put in the description.

At least 3 people who viewed said they didn't want it because 'there was nothing left to do'

Selling your home is stressful, I feel your pain!

[TreadSoftlyOnMyDreams]

Some people find it very difficult to gauge space unless they physically visit.

It may be smaller than they were expecting
It may be overcrowded
It may be that they have very large furniture which simply won't fit.
Maybe they have a ginormous dog and currently live in a mansion?

You are overthinking it.

115ft - you lucky things even if you are moving. If it's not moving in a few weeks maybe consider getting planning for a garden office at the bottom of the garden.

[TreadSoftlyOnMyDreams]

Just saw your post. Why aren't you extending if there is scope to extend? Far cheaper than moving? [nosy]

[zipzap]

Is there an obvious way to add a conservatory or extension?
Ask the estate agent if it's worth getting outline planning permission so that you can show the extra potential, particularly if you have a big garden so even if you do build into it, it will still have a decent garden. If you flag it up as having the potential and outline permission plus the garden, then compare to the new ones, you might get a different set of people looking who will see that they can add value too if they are happy to spend a bit if your local area can sell £725K new builds, then maybe somebody could spend £100K on doing stuff to your house and end up with something worth £100K more...

Also - remember that if people are interested in your property, they're not going to be all gushing and saying it's amazing to you or the estate agent because at the end of the day, negotiating property prices is a game. And if you know that they want it then you might hold out for a better offer than you might otherwise have done if you thought that they had two 'it will do' properties that they are offering on and you know that they're not that attached to yours so if you want too much they'll jump to the other one!

[Scooterloo]

Can you post your details (as we will be kind)

[ftm123]

I think anyone doing their first viewings in London is disappointed how little house you get for money. I was still disappointed on my 20th viewing-

Good luck, and don't take it personally.

[af2000]

Zipzap - good point. We are currently negotiating on a house we want to buy and are playing the same game of trying not to appear too keen.

Ftm - it is staggering how little you get for your money in London. I am almost embarrassed to be selling it for what we are considering what we bought it for, though we have had to live here as the area has 'up and come', it wasn't always so desirable!

Scooterloo - not sure about posting the details as I found out recently there are a LOT of mums from my area on here, not sure I want to out myself!! Will see if I can post the floor plan.

The couple that came yesterday are pregnant with their first child and currently live in a flat nearby. That is why the comment about it being small is baffling. And it isn't like it looks giant from the outside!! Anyhoo, onwards and upwards.