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.

My first reaction looking at the pictures is that the house looks quite cold - I dont know if it is when the pics were taken, or a filter or what but if I were looking I would be put off.

@StopSearching

Did you agent make you take the curtains down to further emphasise the view. No, we've never had curtains 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.

Girly up? Seriously?

@BigSandyBalls2015

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.

We've lived here about 13 years and paid 240 for it.

@FedNlanders

Take of 50k and il buy it !

SOLD!

@BlackInk

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...

No it doesn't flood. It was a bit wet at the time of photos but that was when many parts of the country were flooding and that's as wet as it gets.

Op, have you actually looked at this and can you see the difference?
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/71884494#/ for less money than you are asking for?

It's not girlified, frilly or whatever you are assuming people are saying, it is clean, well cared for, practical and looks like the people who live there actually enjoyed living there.

SOLD!

OP whilst that poster may have been joking, they've proved the point. If you reduce the price it will sell.

You've said you'll take into account the posts and suggestion, but reducing the price should be top of the to do list.

@CassandraCross

Op, have you actually looked at this and can you see the difference? www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/71884494#/ for less money than you are asking for?

It's not girlified, frilly or whatever you are assuming people are saying, it is clean, well cared for, practical and looks like the people who live there actually enjoyed living there.

This might be the 4th or even 5th time that this link has been posted!

@Nancydrawn

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.

--

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.

Thanks so much for this and for others for such great, considered responses. We could do all of the above.

Having been through the video tour now, there’s a lot of work to be done - the repairs to the ceilings from leaks and good redecoration afterwards are vital to give buyers confidence that the issues have been resolved and aren’t ongoing. Beyond that, lots is old fashioned - the airing cupboard and storage cupboard doors upstairs, the light sconces, the cupboards and worktop in the utility room all need replacing. Nothing matches well and the piecemeal extension and alteration shows clearly. The odd louvre doors to the shower makes it look just like it’s been shoved in a cupboard, and is very off putting, including the poorly painted ceiling. It looks like a bodge job. The bolted-on ‘wall’ in the main bedroom is awful - better to replace with proper doors if it can’t be made into a proper wall, so that the room at least looks finished. The kitchen looks okay but a bit out of date and the darker colours emphasis its small size. It would be better if the utility room cupboards matched the kitchen so it all hangs together better. Even things like door handles and doors look very old fashioned and not well maintained. I would be walking around as I viewed mentally adding up the costs of replacing all those things and knocking them off the asking price (which is too high anyway).

You could make it looked better maintained by repainting properly and getting rid of paint runs and splashes etc, making the finish really good, changing at least the handles on the doors and so on, but the costs will not recoup the reduction you’re going to have to make in the price for the really significant things you can’t change about the house. They might, though, at least get you a buyer - at the right price.

This similar house is 0.11 miles away www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/87810211#/

Op, if that's your competition it's no wonder you are struggling to sell.

@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.

I was looking through the 3D view (like google streetview) and I don't think I can get to the upstairs. It goes from ground floor to the roof bedroom. So I could only see one bedroom and missed the bathroom completely!

I have to say you’ve taken it on thr chin, well done. I don’t imagine this is an easy thing to do, post your house snd ask for honest opinions. But I can see why after two years you’d be willing to do it.

I’m sure you also don’t think the majority of people were telling you to girly it up and that cushions and throws will make a difference. And you knew the condition hence why you hate the video tour, as it clearly reveals how bad it is.

As Said a new agent isn’t going to change anything, you’re going to habe to drop the price significantly, how much, depends on how much work you want to do.

Or if you know it’s not worth the price you want for it, and that prevents you moving, the take it off the market. There’s no point in what’s currently going on.

It's just a house that's hard to get excited by 😬😬😬

@fellrunner85

Everyone else had mentioned the damp, the peeling wallpaper, scruffy paintwork, dirty carpets and so on, so I won't stick the boot in any more on that front - but the one thing that jumped out at me is that bizarre little round patio.

It said to me "access hatch", perhaps for a sewer or mine shaft or something. It doesn't look like a patio, and cuts up your already quite small garden.

I thought it was a sunken trampoline!! not read all the thread but all your posts op and a fair few replies, I've been in the same position as you (different reasons, but price was a factor). did you say you were only showing to people who had sold? that's understandable but might explain the lack of viewings. maybe widen your criteria to those who have had a second viewing? you might get people on the off-chance who then sell really quickly. I also think people expect and en-suite and a big kitchen nowadays, even more so now than 2 years ago. otherwise it says 'fixer-upper', and unfortuantely needs to be priced as such. it does look a little bit from the photos as if you can't wait to move out of it!

@Bogoroditse

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.

I definitely feel a spreadsheet coming on, thanks.

Sorry, but the video makes the house look tired and mouldy in a lot of places. It looks like the whole thing would need to be painted and have new carpets. All of the woodwork (cupboards and doors) look old and would need modernising or replacing.

The house looks like an unloved rental. The garden is small. The field looks like it currently smells, and will almost certainly be built on. It’s very close to neighbours, and is not really a true 4 bed house.

EVERY other house that has been linked here is much much nicer than your house. It is overpriced. Clearly not worth £350k as there is no interest.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/71884494#/

Based on this one that has been linked many times, yours isn’t worth much more than £300k

@halcyondays Someone has linked to the local plan, and those fields are allocated for employment and residential use. There’s nothing OP can do about it, but future buyers will look, and they might be put off by the building work.

It’s just been built on behind our house. They’ve finished now and things seem to be selling better again, but while the building was ongoing, all local prices took a hit.

@StopSearching I do think there’s a lot of feedback here that’s good, but I also think you’re going to need to drop the price quite a lot even with the work - so I’d deal with that first, so you don’t spend money that you might not recoup.

Also, the damp looking patches posted several times would massively put me off, if whatever caused them is fixed, I’d find a way to fix the ceiling too. It’s one of those things that makes you think it’s a hard no immediately, especially with the bedroom as it is... it gives the impression of a project house that might not have been done to the best standards, and my father in law taught me to avoid those with a barge pole.

Best of luck selling.

Apologises if this has already been said... but looking at the aerial view on Google maps you can see that two roads close by - Hunts Mead and Wydford Close - just 'end' at fields which would suggest to me that they're the two entry/exit points that have been left to develop the fields behind you. I'm afraid that would put me off.

I haven't read everyone's comments but for me - it's a small garden for the size of the house - or it looks small from the pics.

The countryside views at the rear - it's just an empty field! I think they need to cut out those photo's completely. In this day and age it just screams development land.

I like the neutral colours and minimal furniture, for marketing purposes - you get a proper sense of the space.

Agree with dropping to £349K so you'll be in a different band for searches.

Amazed that the agents haven't suggested all this anyway. What do they do for their money!

Your agent need to earn their money a bit more.

The blurb needs re writing in paragraphs without capital letters and excessive !!!

Mention land at back is agricultural and in use as such.

The photos could show the rooms better with better angles, try some of your own, we did that when not happy with agents ones!

The aerial shots don't do you any favours it just highlights how many other houses are around you. A shot of the front of your house on its own is necessary. You need to get people to come view at the moment. Get flowers in moveable tubs by the front door and on the back patio (I thought that was a trampoline which would have put me off!) Maybe a bistro table and chairs to highlight it. Not a waste of money as you can take these things with you.

Photograph of bathroom especially if modern and nice.

Yes to dressing place a bit more himely but not too much to impose controversial tastes.

In my experience people dont read about the house, it's all about the photos. Complaints when we last sold was the kitchen was too small and it was on a main road, all of which could have been ascertained by the blurb and the photos or a drive by!

Good luck, if these tricks dont work all you can do is reduce process and move on if that's what you want. Better to sell a little less.and get on with living how you want than hanging on for full price feeling miserable.

That's just a shelf that dh took off a wall and stored there to the side of the wardrobe. Not sure why he stored it there as we have a perfectly good garage to put it in but also not sure what you think this photo shows?

Sorry OP but although ‘it’s too expensive’ doesn’t seem to be what you want to hear, until you face up to this fact the house won’t sell.

If the price was right, it wouldn’t still be for sale 2 years later.

@StopSearching looks like another big crack along the wall. These shouldn’t be anywhere in a house that age, you have them everywhere (clearly visible) so I wouldn’t get as far as paying for survey.

I couldn't imagine living there. It's very soulless because you've cleared everything away so there's no warmth.
I feel it is dated too apart from the nice new bathroom. The nice new bathroom needs some towels and plants and a couple of nice toiletry bottles because it seems very cold.
The green carpet doesn't help. That's the first thing people will see when they enter and then they've got "dated" in their head straightaway.
It does need dressing up and some signs of life going on. It reminds me of how my Mum's friend's house looked after she died and the family cleared it of all her personal belongings so that it could be sold. And that's what I mean by dated too - my Mum's friend was 75.

However, for me, the worst thing is the bedroom in the loft. Sorry to be blunt - but it looks a slightly grotty BandB I stayed in in Liverpool in 1998. Still remember it now - complete with shower in the corner (and no toilet so I had to traipse done the corridor for that) and also the nailed in panel wall.
I think it might be this that is the dealbreaker for a lot of people. I'd have to renovate that room and I'd then want to knock a lot off the price for doing so.