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.

I think 315k is much more realistic

Looking at the tour, WHY isn't there a picture of your bathroom at the top of the stairs? It's great! Modern, functional, spotless.

Oh gawd I hadn't even realised there was no bathroom picture. It's only been with new agents a few weeks, the old agents had the bathroom pictures on there.

It's becoming clear I'm not the homey types. I don't like cushions and throws and all that other stuff that people collect. I'm going to have to grit my teeth and girly up my house aren't I.

Op, I feel your pain. My house has just gone on the market and I’ve had to do all the staging and stuff to make people want to come and view it. I’m not the sort of person who spends much time gussying up the house but I’ve had to hold my nose and get on with it.

I find it hard because like you, I don’t care whether there’s a pop of colour in the living room, plants in pots that the seller will take with them, or a ubiquitous wood-burning stove. I look at the location first and foremost, then floor plan and layout after that.

You wouldn’t know that from my house at the moment though. It’s staged to within an inch of its life!

My only negative is no toilet on 3rd floor just a strange shower.

with some plastering, new carpet but no structural work. As is 300k

Agree with PP that the first aerial photo is a problem. It makes the houses look cramped and makes too much of the field.

The front of house photo really needs a tub of flowers by the door or a couple of hanging baskets.

The rest of the photos are a bit impersonal.

@therocinante

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?

I thought it was a sunken trampoline until I went outside on the video tour! OP it’s not about making it ‘girly’, it’s about making it look liveable. The walls are grubby and scuffed, the carpets dirty and threadbare. The paint work is shoddy. It looks older than it is, and like nothing has been done since it was built. Either take it off the market and put some significant work in, or re list as ‘requiring modernisation’.

As Sarah Beeny once said ‘The only reason a house won’t sell is the price’.

She is absolutely right. It doesn’t matter what the location is, what condition it’s in, how big it is etc - if it’s the right price someone will buy it.

You need to reduce the price. If you’re not prepared to do that, take it off the market and stay there.

OP have you considered lowering the price in the last 2 years?

The artex would put me off, the purchaser will need to have each ceiling re-skimmed as they decorate or do the whole lot in one go. It is a messy job and although not that expensive it does mount up. Stains on ceiling certainly need painting over and the causes of the leaks resolved.
It does seem to be a given these days not to allow viewings before the prospective purchaser has sold but in our last house the vendors let us look around, we like it a lot and despite the fact we had two houses to sell they accepted our offer. Our main house sold the first day on the market and the second one went in an auction less than a month later. Don't write anyone who actually likes the house off.
Unless the purchase is a project the purchaser will want to buy something aspirational, so some quality soft furnishings and bed linen would look better in the photographs. Like everyone else I think your present set of photos are not just poor but terrible.

One nearby a bit bigger but very similar sold for 365k in 2020. That house sold for 35k more than yours in 2007 so I would have thought yours would be about 315k last year in proportion. Not sure whether prices have gone up or down in your area since then?

Seriously, people on here saying you need better photos?! New photos won’t sell the house, only reducing the price will.

@Smeds

I agree with other posters that having looked at the video tour, the house is in need of much more work than what the photos first imply. I can smell the dampness from that shower in the loft conversion!

Honestly, it's not damp.

No kerb appeal, needs pots, hanging baskets, is it a shared driveway? Its not clear how you access

Microwave needs to be in the kitchen

Garden, ok about views but the fence at the end doesn’t make the garden secure and I would be concerned about breaking from the field
Are there plans for developing the field?

Plans, seems to show the top bedroom has a shower in it, it’s not an en-suite, which to me would also include a toilet and sink and I hate the fact the bed is jammed under sloping eves, Ibwould be hitting my head when I get up!

Flat roof of the top story bedroom would annoy me, it will need replacing at some point

Small garden

Kitchen small

Looking at zoopla the price maybe ok, but it’s a three bed made into a 4 bed so I would suggest it needs to come down a bit

After watching the video, I must say that what put me off is the uncared for look in the whole house
I have just purchased and moved into a very tired 1980’s bungalow which was reflected in the price
I know what I want to spend, what work I need doing and how I want it to finally look

The house I sold was beautiful, lovely kerb appeal, immaculate paint and woodwork inside, colours, small touches ie flowers, plants, cushions, candles and throws. I got it ready to sell.

Jet wash the front, add planters and pots with greenery and spring flowers, you can always take these with you, repaint the white walls to freshen them up, stain block and paint the ceilings with the water marks (that alone would put me off the 350,00 price) rugs to hide marks, you could even paint tiles in kitchen or bathroom
Just freshen and brighten it up, you can’t make it bigger but you can make it more homey
It looks so unloved

Fill in woodwork cracks, it’s all cosmetic but will be the difference to a reasonable offer or you sitting there forever, when you will have to drop the price anyway as people will see it’s been on the market for ages and question why

In the grand scheme of things these small things will only cost you time but will enhance first impressions

This is great feedback. This shows what impression the photos are giving and how inaccurate they are. I am going to sit down with dh later and show him all the comments. We're going to make this house a home. Agents are crap aren't they.

@therocinante - that instantly looks more appealing

New photos won’t sell the house

No, but they might make people want to look at the house. Good pictures will help get people through the door, the right price will sell it.

Oh, I also love your fireplace! You should take the vibe of the fireplace, conservatory, and family bathroom and run with that. Not girly! Just nice, clean, and functional.

Also, none of the photos show these things to advantage--I had to search the tour to find them, and then I got distracted by the looming green carpet and the stained ceiling.

OP I do feel for you! I asked the same question 2 is years ago and got incredibly "robust" feedback. I made a spreadsheet of all of the comments and those that were repeated most were the ones that were actioned. The conclusion I made was that viewers are idiots who need a lifestyle forcibly thrust at them to even contemplate looking. Our house like yours was a perfectly nice if a bit ordinary family house, even freshly decorated but not too tarted up as frankly we had better things to do with our money at that stage. I spent approx 3,000 pimping it, increasing kerb appeal with pots, replacing dodgy sofas with IKEA smart looking things, nice cushions and throws, framed prints on the walls, put pot plants around and stuck an 'aspirational bench' on the patio. Dunelm is good good this sort of dressing. When you have small kids it is hard to make a house look done and together, but to sell we needed to do this. We did our own photos and it sold. Feedback like this is invaluable and the Estate Agent was really impressed if slightly intimidated. Good luck.

Personally I think it looks bland and not lived in. I’d want to redecorate the whole house and change the kitchen.

There's nothing with your house. It looks lovely and neat, well cared for and light inside. I like the fact it's neutral because as a buyer I would be looking to put my own stamp on it anyway. I would be put off my the green space backing onto you, purely because the area looks pretty built up from the other pictures and I would assume that development would continue.

Plus the outside space is dull and uninteresting, no flowers, or anything to break it up.

On the video tour the inside of the summer house/office looks very dirty.

I was surprised to hear you'd lived there 20 years because it doesn't look like a home that has been lived in continuously for that period of time, it looks like a house that has had different families/people renting it.

I agree with this if you really want to sell and move on:

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.

@Onjnmoeiejducwoapy

The loft shower is stanky. Can just imagine the stench from it. No way could I sleep in a room that is missing a wall(!), has a stanky shower cupboard and that requires me to climb Everest for a piss.

I’m not sure I would buy it as suitable for immediate occupation, it needs SERIOUS work

It's not missing a wall. And the shower is just like an ensuite except there's no loo in it. Does your ensuite generally stink, mine doesn't?

@StopSearching

This is great feedback. This shows what impression the photos are giving and how inaccurate they are. I am going to sit down with dh later and show him all the comments. We're going to make this house a home. Agents are crap aren't they.

Are you going to show him the feedback about the price too?