Feedback for house sale wanted

[Lisa381]

Our home has been on the market for over 6 months and we have had little interest, less than 5 viewings. It is priced right for our area. I don’t like the photos on Rightmove. I’m not very good at styling the house. What do you think? What do you like to see when viewing? What puts you off? Helpful advice wanted. Be kind. ☺️

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/149995493

I am well acquainted with this style of property having lived next door to one.

My neighbours sold for £500,000 at the peak of post Covid buying. Another on the estate with a better garden has sold for £400,000.

They are lovely houses, but bedroom 4 is tiny. The outside hasn't photographed well because that finish is actually very attractive.

No mention is made of the very useful laundry cupboard.

A general tidy up and a realistic price should get it sold.

I've no idea of house values outside my part of Kent, so I should look at the asking price and get much better photos.

It looks nice inside.

It's the outside that would put me off viewing. The walls look grubby especially at the side, and the wood is a bit tired too.

I don’t know the area at all, I’m at the North.
On the very first picture the wooden upper part looks like it needs repairing ? It would be the big no from me.
I never bothered about how tidy/ colour coordinated the house was and how big bedrooms looked on photos. I usually look at the floor plan and yours says to me that bedroom are small, sorry. However your house has all necessary things for a nice family house, especially for a younger family : outdoor space, family bathroom and downstairs toilet, big kitchen, parking. The garage is not big enough so people might be factoring this in. However imo the insurance is actually cheaper if you are parking on the drive so something to mention to prospective buyers.
Saying all these I wonder if your house is a bit overpriced for the area and for the state it’s in. Because if you need to do say rewiring or roof work it’s expensive and also might result in redoing other things as well e.g redecorating after rewiring or redoing kitchen. So if things need to be done not tomorrow but like in the next 3 years people are factoring that in . That’s might be the reason.
Also if your house has the smallest/ the biggest garden/parking in the area it should affect your price as well.
Good luck.
just wanted to add that your house looks nice, sorry if my post doesn’t look as a positive one.

How tall was the photographer?

Declutter
Fix the woodwork
Jet wash the render
New photos.

I think you have styled well in terms of interior design, but I agree as PPs have said there is a lot more you could do.
You need better photos.
The front of house photo - the eye is drawn to the green bin bag.
The curtains have to be straightened and even in every photo - interior designers would have a fit.
Even out the table cloth in the kitchen and plump up the cushions on the sofas).
They seem like silly things but they draw the eye in the photos. They cost nothing to get right.

I find estate agents are so lazy about photos. They know better but they don't seem to bother - it's easier for them for the price to be a bit lower and turn over a commission. Why not straighten the curtains/turn the light on/spend 2 mins decluttering for the photos?
Any estate agents around to explain?

Again retake the photos but with the lights on as they all look dark atm.

The photos aren't great and the exterior of the property has not aged well given it was built in 2017.

Lots of shrubs, plants out the front. It's difficult to tell from the photo but it looks like there may be too much planted for the space you have.

why do you still have the different floor and desk and chair thing restricting the living room space when you have a garage office? It makes the lounge area look small.
can you clean up the render on the outside?
is that redbrick area a drive if so it is not clear from the pictures

Nothing I. Your road has sold since Aug 24 which looks like it was a bigger house, and you are asking for £100k more than you paid for it, but it isn't clear what extra gas been done to the property since you bought it

Lovely house op. If it was a grey day then all the lights should have been on. Agree with the outside looking grubby especially at the back. My over all impression was dull colours, but that may have been down to the light.
Some estate agents have photographers who know how to stage rooms to their best advantage even if they are moving stuff from one room to another to get better shots. You're paying them enough. Your estate agent is rubbish! Three photos of a wonky tablecloth in the kitchen! Agree with others, office furniture just in the office, de-personalise, clutter boxed up out of site, lose the carrier bags, even if just for the photos. Gardens are lovely. Hope you have some luck soon.

The house is fine.

Id be put off by the number of windows (other peoples houses) overlooking you at quite close quarters.

It looks like a lovely house OP. I'm putting mine on the market soon too so doing some market research.
Haven't RTFT but I noticed:
Photos are quite poor, they aren't taken from very good angles?
Why are none of the lights on?
The living room; de-clutter it of office stuff and don't squash all the furniture together

Also I hate those wipeable table cloths, however practical, when looking at houses they immediately turn me off.

Nice family home. Would normally say to imagine yourself as a buyer with that budget and see what the competition is but there’s nothing else in the town! So really difficult to compare.

Who buys there? Young families? London escapers? What attracted you to buy it when it was new? That’s who you need to appeal to. It’s very rural/quiet looking but also overlooked. Agree photos make it look dim. There are no special features really. A beautiful fireplace or tree swing or fabulous kitchen. Something to appeal to whoever it is who is dreaming of living in that quiet bit of Wales.

Kids room and office are cluttered. Get rid of the whirly gig in the garden and redo front of house photos ( tidy up outside and out some flower pots out). That's the first picture and doesn't make me want to click on 'next'.

you need better photos!
Not your fault, your house is lovely. The photos are dark/make everything look smaller/outside of the house looks dull and needds painting (but probably does not but the light is awful!)

The best estate agent in Cowbridge is HRT, the photos from this estate agent don't show the house at its best. I think it's lovely and priced well for the area, Cowbridge is usually a sought after area to live with good schools so I'd try a different estate agent if I were you.

I do think it looks like a lovely house, but on top of what the other's have said I think putting a plain white duvet set in the main room would help, as well as moving the slide and washing pole out of the garden. Good luck!

Better photos
Get rid of that table cloth
De clutter a lot more

Hi OP

I know Colwinston and those houses are nice. I like yours and don’t see much to tweak but the photos by this agent don’t do the house justice.

However, I do agree with other comments about tidying/decluttering, the desk in the living room, etc.

I think I would move the sofa in the kitchen too, much as it’s probably very useful (and where can you move it to? Maybe someone will store it for you?).

I also agree about the tablecloth, if only for the photos. And put flowers on the table if you can. To replace the colour lost by taking away the cloth, could you get a largish rug in the same tones as the curtains to sit the table on?

Once the office stuff is out of the living room, what about replacing the grey cushion covers with something in more of a green to tie in with the wall - again, that would put more colour in.

For the bed in the master, a valance sheet to cover the bed base and a duvet cover more in the tones of the wall/headboard? In the en-suite, don’t use the marble towels - they look grubby in the photos. Also, is it a bath or shower? The photos don’t show a great deal.

In bed2, (the blue one) it’s difficult to tell where things are placed in relation to the door, but it looks as if the wall between the bed and chest of drawers is completely filled with furniture/units and looks a little overfilled/cluttered. Can you use the L/H wall more? Maybe for the wardrobe (if that’s what’s sticking out the L/H edge of the picture?

In bed3 can the stack of boxes go where the desk is? (I.e. behind the wardrobe where they won’t show). Also the gaming chair if it will fit! It would look better for the photos. Perhaps (for the photos, obvs.) the desk would fit under the bed? Have a play around and see what works.

A blue mat in the bathroom?

Take out the rotary line altogether (for photos) and slide. What’s behind the garage? Is this part of your garden? It’s not possible to tell.

Also, as is common, the agents put an idea of where the house is placed on a map (usually not yours, but next door or over the road). However, on a map, the agents have put a marker on the main street running through the village. I know it’s not busy, but some people (if they don’t know the area) will look at that and not like it! Can you get them to relocate that? Or are you thinking of changing the agents altogether if you’ve had it with them for a while and you have lost confidence in them?

For an idea of how agents can “set” photos, look at CPS agents (Cardiff) who always seem to make the best of theirs.

I will try and add a couple of photos from Dunelm that I quickly looked at to give you an idea of what I’m thinking.

If you want to, you can DM me.

I think all the photos look really dull, you should try re take or even brighten them up, really would put me off. The outside of the house also looks dull, is it supposed to be white and hasn't been redone or is that the colour it's supposed to be? Also clutter, when I'm viewing homes I know it's silly but I tend to skip the ones with clutter and go more towards minimal as it gives me a better picture

Sorry I hit send too soon but other than that it's a lovely home, appears to be decent size rooms

So odd how they have taken photos from such a low angle! And also just some really odd angles, you cant see properly what the rooms are like.
One other thing I'd mention is that from what I can see in pic 7 (odd split view showing 2 rooms), the hallway looks really nice with those floor tiles. What about a better full picture of the hallway as well?