How can I help sell my house, get more viewings??

[IrishHelen]

I live in a beautiful village, north of Sheffield, east of the Peaks and west of Barnsley. Recently after having an offer withdrawn on our house, we've had no more viewings. How can we get people to come and view our house? We reduced it by £5k, after a neighbour did the same and now another house the same as ours has gone up for same around the corner. It's on a smaller plot and is on for £30k more than ours. We want to sell and move on, we've been on the market for 3 months, but have only had 2 viewings in the last month, with 1 of those bidding and retracting, due to buying our neighbours, as they could move out sooner. We've two other couples on the books loving the property but needing to sell.

//www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-42929140.html?premiumA=true

Help. Are we doing something wrong with our advert/photos? What can we do to get more people in a position to move to look at our house? Advice very welcome!
On a local chat I had one response, who was helpful and said the photo of the house made it look really close to next door and the garden looked a but shabby (due to start of spring it being taken). Do you agree? Should I ask for new photos?? Any other advice please? It's a beautiful house and village, but I want to move on now.

[FuckyNell]

Helpful bump for you :)

No advice sorry but consider asking for this to be moved to chat for more replies.

Lovely house!

[IrishHelen]

How do I do that? Sorry all new to me.

[IrishHelen]

Thanks for the advice by the way :)

[Gingerandcocoa]

I think the photos & description are fine, really. Have you asked your estate agents why you've had so few viewings?

[dingit]

It looks a lovely house, but without meaning to sound rude, a bit stark. Vases of flowers, pot plants, fluffy towels added to rooms, and girly it up a little bit?

[IrishHelen]

Gingerandcocoa - I have asked and they aren't very good at answering that. I may hassle them again, but I seem to be doing this nearly daily at the moment. Any ideas on what to say to them?
Dingit - I kill plants hence none around . I'll make sure i have flowers in for viewings, do you think that would help?
Thanks folks, this is great!!!!

[strongandlong]

I agree about the first photo - it make the house look smaller that it is and very close to the neighbour. I also think the pictures of the kitchen look a bit gloomy. If you could ask for those to be retaken on a bright day and with all the lights on, I think that would help. A bit of colour in the kitchen would help too.

Closing the utility room door for the kitchen photos and including a separate photo of that would emphasise that asset.

Reshuffle the photos so that the ones you can see when you first open the link are the best/most flattering. For me, that would mean including at least one of the garden, because that's a really nice size.

[newpup]

Looks, neat, clean and well looked after to me! No garish décor or obvious eyesores to remove I think you need to ask your agent for feedback from the viewings. Maybe add some new pics of the garden now it is Summer?

[DeputyPecksBentBeak]

[IrishHelen]

Thanks newpup, I've emailed them this morning - but they don't have a good track record with replying to me. *Sigh
Strongandlong - great advice, thank you

This is great because you can be so honest about what needs to be changed. :)

[IrishHelen]

DeputyPecksBentBeak - oh thanks. There is a floorplan, but it's slightly wrong, even though I've asked them to correct it 4 times!

I'm going to talk to the estate agents tomorrow if they don't reply! It's obvs. the garden photos aren't helping at the moment, and it's a lovely garden!

[Unexpected]

I would change agent tbh. Yours sound hopeless! Presumably after the length of time you have been on the market, you are not tied to any holding agreement with them at this stage?

[OcadoSubstitutedMyHummus]

I think it looks dark and the garden looks overshadowed. I would want photos retaken on a sunny day and I think it will help. Also yes th front picture does make it look like practically touching the next door house.

[IrishHelen]

I don't think I'm tied to them anymore, but I thought their lacking was about normal. They delayed replying with out acceptance of an offer and I think that also caused them to then drop out. :(
I'm going to make them change the pictures!

[idontlikealdi]

is it honestly the right price for the market where you are? (I'm in London so no idea) but if you're overpriced you won't get viewings.

Looks like a lovely house to me.

[IrishHelen]

Nope, not to high, I think it's about the right price, in fact a bit cheap. 2 others have sold in the last 6-10 months, same style, but on at the same price. Now there is one at £239,950 around the corner the same as ours.

[vickibee]

I live in Penistone not far from you and I would say it is competitively priced in a popular area. I would buy it! It is close to a really good school and has good motorway links, 3 months isn't that long so maybe be patient and I am sure a buyer will come along.

[IrishHelen]

Thanks vickibee

[vickibee]

Are you desperate to move quickly or can youn sit it out and wait?

[IrishHelen]

We've seen a house we like, so want to move.

[vickibee]

What about an open house ? have seen a few of those around?

[TooLongInTheBog]

It looks like a lovely house, and I'm sorry to hear you are having trouble shifting it. Also: OMG cheap! (I say this as a Londoner who would KILL for that much space at that price.)

I'd second the people who said it looks a bit stark. It's obviously spotless, but the photos are rather gloomy, and it looks a bit ...abandoned.

There's an old ad saying "sell the sizzle, not the sausage", and you might go for that. Dress it up a bit, and take brighter photos. Eg you have a table in the garden - you could put a cheery jug and on glasses there, like you'd just stepped away from the family having a breakfast outside, or whatever. (Possibly i am over-egging the pudding, but still.)

[TortoiseUpATreeAgain]

My first thoughts on looking through the photos without reading anyone else's comments:

Picture 1 - doesn't make your house look detached -- it looks either attached to or crammed up very close to its neighbour, and it doesn't look very big. Would it be possible to retake a picture more head-on and without so much surrounding detail?

Picture 2 - looks a bit dark. I'd be inclined just to brighten it up a bit in Photoshop (see below)

Picture 3 - dark again. I'd actually ditch this photo and stick with Picture 4, which makes your kitchen look much bigger.

Picture 4 - but I'd still brighten this one up a bit.

Picture 5 - does your estate agent know how to use a camera? This is dark (quite an achievement for a conservatory!) and the colour balance is off (I bet they were shooting on tungsten white balance inside and didn't bother to change it to allow for the natural light see below). This room could be staged to look more inviting for photos, I'd move the table more centrally, replace the vinyl tablecloth with a table runner, and set for a meal with a bowl of fruit or something in the middle of the table.

Picture 6 - same problems as picture 5, plus I don't think it adds anything.

Picture 7-10 - fine.

Picture 11 I'm struggling to relate this to the floorplan is it a very small room? A space on the landing? I'm guessing the latter, but if it's not presented to make that clear someone could think your fourth bedroom is minuscule. Can you make its context clearer by shooting from a different angle, or consider dropping the photo and leaving it as a nice surprise for viewers?

Picture 12 - fine

Picture 13 - there's nothing wrong with it (although if you want to include this view I'd be tempted to retake with a nice blue sky rather than it being whited out) but I don't think it really shows off anything about the house or garden. If you've got a nice sitting-outside area there it might be better photographed from the garden side.

Picture 14-15 -- these are fine, although seemingly odd framing choices. I'd be inclined to tidy up the paved area around the shed and maybe put in some more colourful flowering plants in pots, but the pictures do show off that it's a good-sized garden ideal for children, which is your major selling point.

[IrishHelen]

I don't think they help houses sell - as the houses still seem to be on the market there-after. However, saying that it is something that I will ask about, thanks VickiBee :)

[RoganJosh]

Ideally you'd have dimensions on the floor plan.
I agree about next door looking very close. Also, you need summery photos of the garden, so it doesn't look like it's been on the market so long.
I think your sitting room looks a bit bare, but the rest doesn't.