Why won't my house sell

[StopSearching]

My house has been on the market for nearly two years. Recently we took it off and remarketed with new agents. No viewings. We've been so patient for two years but it's getting me down now.

I just want to move on. Nothing wrong with where we live, it's a lovely little town but we have plans and this is all that stopping us. I've stopped looking for houses to buy as they are sold before we even get viewings.

Anyone else having similar problems? It's so frustrating.

There's nothing wrong with the house but there's no excuse for the agent putting such shit photos on there. They're grainy and taken from terrible angles. It really pisses me off.

The decor is irrelevant IMO as most people want to put their own stamp on a house when they move. Even if it isn't to someone's taste, it's not offensive in any way.

[quote Oneapennytwoapenny]The kitchen is very small for a family home, although a buyer could easily knock through to make a kitchen-diner. The bedroom layout would also put me off; two bedrooms, a box room and a loft room.

I prefer this one which is under offer in the same street, and cheaper. www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/71884494#/[/quote]
I think the price of yours is a bit high compared to the one linked in this post. A lot more space around this house, a lovely layout and bright cheery look inside and it's cheaper. Unfortunately a lot of detached houses are so close together, with little gardens, I feel you lose the benefits of being detached.

House looks fine to me. I like the fact that it's neutral because I'd put my own stamp on it. It literally ticks all my boxes and the ensuit is a bonus. 2 years is a long time so I'd change agents if I were you.

@MacDuffsMuff

There's nothing wrong with the house but there's no excuse for the agent putting such shit photos on there. They're grainy and taken from terrible angles. It really pisses me off.

The decor is irrelevant IMO as most people want to put their own stamp on a house when they move. Even if it isn't to someone's taste, it's not offensive in any way.

Did you watch the video tour?

Lack of green or any living plant at the front. The front seems to look out at a brick wall across the road. Can you green it up at the front with large potted plants to add interest and make it less stark ?

Only one WC in the whole house. The lack of WC in the en suite would immediately put me off.

Small garden but you could make it very neat and show it off more with garden furniture nicely arranged and colourful plants in pots.

Would be better with the same neutral colour carpet throughout.

Kitchen is tiny but if it were priced so that buyers could see the potential of knocking through to make the the kitchen bigger, it might be more attractive to somebody as the view is good from the back.
Good luck.

Tiny 4th bedroom. It doesn't look that bad so it will be the price.

Honestly “girlying” it up is not going to sell it op. It will make no difference, I’m not sure if you’re in denial or what, but it needs a lot more than girlying it up.

The condition revealed in the video tour is something to behold. Cleaning the dirty marks off the walls with a magic sponge is the first step, for example if you go to the image of the lilac bedroom on the second floor you can see the dirty wall marks as soon as you go in, them all thr dirt round thr light switch.

You can then see the condition of the carpets, and the walls. And the size of the office. There’s no point removing it, because people will see the same thing when they come in.

But you’ve two options, put it on at 275 and sell it as a doer upper, or change the hall carpets, give it a good clean throughout, carpets and walls, fix the ceilings, replace the hall carpet, put some rugs down to hide the bedroom ones, and sell it for 300.

I looked at a house very similar in layout to yours and it sold for £85,000.

For the price it would have to be far more special than a standard house in a row for me - my parent house cost just less than what you are asking but is bigger, detached and on its own private land which is used to house and run the family business.

That why I honestly wouldnt even look twice let alone bother viewing it.

You need to think about buyers this home would appeal too, what stage of life were you at OP?

Op people are asking what this thing is in the middle of the lawn?

OP if you have lived there for 20 years then surely you would have paid under £100K for it? Which means you've made a serious profit and should be able to either do a) spend a few quid and freshen it up/fix plastering/new carpets or wooden floor etc, or b) reduce the price.

is that the patio?

It’s the outside does it for me, from the outset.

It’s very unappealing - sorry to be blunt.

Not a single bit of greenery or softness. Not even a blade of grass. I just couldn’t imagine waking into that every day. Concrete and walls.

Can you get some big pots, even just with low maintenance shrubs in them?

It looks a bit soulless if I'm honest, no curtains at the windows.

Too many unnecessary pictures of outside showing other houses.

For me the top floor bedroom having no proper en-suite would be a deal breaker, I don't want to traipse down a flight of stairs in the middle of the night if I need the toilet.

Says the bathroom suite has been replaced recently but there are no pictures of the bathroom.

I don't think the house is being presented to show it off, it looks a bit dull and boring.

Why is everyone asking what's on the lawn? It's obviously one of those little decorative patio circles...

What else would it be?! Secret tunnel?

OP I've read all your comments and much of the early part of the thread. I have to agree that the staging of the house is not great. You don't need to 'girly' it up. Doilies are of no use. You need to make it look homely and cared for. The bones are there but no finishing touches are yet. The kitchen for me would be a massive problem, as would the garden room. It may have a proper roof but there is so much glass and apparently a plastic wall. I feel the cold and would never buy a house with a plastic/ glass room which can't be closed off. That may not be what you have, but that is what it looks like. The removeable wall in the master is not great and again looks like not much care was taken. Is there a different solution to the access requirements? Maybe a door? Pricing is interesting. Your neighbours house (same road) is infinitely more appealing than yours. The kitchen takes it to a different level than your house can be and adds a lot of value. It's 15k less than yours but yours looks like it needs 35k spent on it to get it to a place people would desire (inc opening kitchen into dining room and doing something about the open plan dining room). This means that really people are paying 50K for a couple of parking spaces and a garage. Plus having to live with the work. I don't think people might value a garage as much as you think. We don't have one. Ideally we would but it's not a big deal. We have a shed which does just as well (it's quite big). The austere parking at the front of yours, whilst practical, sort of puts me off. It looks very utilitarian. Can you soften that at all?

Take of 50k and il buy it !

It's a bit bland. Just going by what you've posted. Nice house though and has potential.

Why is everyone asking what's on the lawn? It's obviously one of those little decorative patio circles...

I don't think I've seen that before

@dotdashdashdash

And yes the water mark on the hall ceiling throws up huge questions about what's caused it.

I expected to find a bathroom or en suite above it, but nothing. makes it more alarming!

Where is this water mark that you are referring to? Nothing in the hall

Maybe a couple of big statement plants or colour ie throws in the rooms. A big bowl of oranges in the kitchen? If you hate knicknacks can you borrow some from family/friends temporarily? Sounds as though you'd hate them, but watching a couple of those house programmes might give you an idea of the superficial tricks they all use

My first thought when I saw the field at the end of the garden was "does it flood?'... It looks pretty marshy in the photos and flooding is likely to get worse in the future. Looks like a lovely (but fairly ordinary) home. The price seems high to me, I think it would be more like £250,000 for a house like that where I live (Gloucestershire). The photos are all a bit bland. You need to make people imagine themselves living there - sitting in the garden watching the sun set over the fields...

What would put me off - the farmland. It may get developed in the future and can provide access to intruders although less likely than having a park or green there. Farm noise.

The lack of front garden or a fence, I know this is a common thing these days but I don't like it.

Internally nothing would really put me off, but I don't like the cul de sac. Nothing you can do to change that though. Not sure about the price, it is very cheap compared to where I live.

If it helps, OP, here are some good points:

1. I like the new bathroom. It shows up well on the house tour and looks clean and calming. Ditto the extension: the views on the house tour are absolutely lovely.

1. I like the extensive office space. It legitimately looks like a place where two people could work from home, with two teenage children also working from home, and there would be no murder. (Each of you in an office, plus the children in the extension and sitting room.)

1. The location is great.

1. There's reasonable closet space in a house of that size.

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I don't think you have to go "all girly." I think you can be plain and simple. Even in the delightfully amateur photoshop from the PP, you can see what a wonderful difference white paint, light prints, and no tablecloth would be.

I think for a reasonable amount of money, you could replaster the ceiling, redo the horrible green carpet, paint the stair rail, and paint at least the downstairs walls. I'd go bright white for the dining room to catch the light from the back and something lovely and jewel-toned for the front, like a good mustard. Or, if that's too dark, something simple, like a decent sage.

For the floors, put down something simple and clean. Frankly, I'd do wood, but if that's too pricey, pick a nice, low plain carpet in a light, neutral tone.

The furniture is very heavy for a house of this size. It makes reasonable spaces seem cramped. So, in the room with the mirrored closet (and I shouldn't lie--I abhor mirrored closets in a bedroom), it looks like there's no space, and ditto to the living room. There's perhaps less you can do about this unless you want to hire someone to come in with rented furniture to stage the house, but it might not be worth the price.

I have to completely agree about the loft conversion, which looks really problematic. Anything you can do to cover the access space to the water heater, you should. That seems an ideal place for a wardrobe! It gives me skin crawl, as all I can imagine is spider nests. And the en-suite is a total mess. Whether or not there's mould, it seems like there is mold. At minimum, it needs to be repainted in a high-gloss white, ideally with the grout bleached too. As it stands, even if downstairs were completely redone, it would be a dealbreaker for me.

Yes, in a perfect world you'd knock through the kitchen/diner wall, but that's a huge expense and mess. But right now, what you have to do is make it seem less shabby. This isn't a matter of taste alone--it's a suggestion that the house is well taken-care of and solid. Re-plastering, painting stains, recarpeting will all help. Make sure that the lights in the the light fixture have bulbs! (There's at least one missing in the tour.) Again, not just taste but care.

And then you can dress it, try to de-beige it, put some outside furniture on the mysterious circular patio (?) in the garden, etc.

But the biggest help will be knocking the price down. I'd try to get it under the £350 mark for search engines. Even if you go £349--it's going to put you in a different grouping. It may be overpriced even for that.

The aerial shots are no good

First pic should be front of the house. Put up a bright hanging basket and some nice big pots with greenery.

Lounge looks a really odd layout - change to stage. Coffee table. Vase flowers

Take the two end chairs away from the table. Remove the table cloth. Big bowl of colourful fruit in the centre.

Conservatory needs staging. Bit of a garden room?

Kitchen looks stark, you need staged bits on the sides. Fruit. Flowers. A few cookbooks.

Bedrooms too look stark. Pick up cheap throws and cushions from home bargains to stage.

Lower the price, even by £5k