How can I sell my house?

[challacombe]

I am very frustrated as I have a lovely large family home which I need to sell quickly due to my husbands business. It has everything going for it including 4 reception rooms and 4 bedrooms 2 of which are masters with lounges dressing rooms and with ensuites. The reason I mention this is that it would be suitable for so many potential owners as offers dual living so grannys, teenagers or business use would be great for someone. What I can't get my head around is that the agents just do not know how to market my house. As it is unique and doesn't hit the tick box way they work it is being disguarded. So many times I have had to return the details as being wrong and as for some of the photos...! We are close to the beach and being just one hour from London I decided today to phone agents closer to London who may have applicants wishing to move out slightly. Honestly you would think i had asked them to transport their applicants to the moon! The answer was that if they had anyone they would look on Rightmove. My argument is how will they find me if they don't know Thorpe Bay exists? They won't and therefore they are not being offered a good all round service by agents or Rightmove. I just wondered if anyone has any has any suggestions how to get around this. I find that if something doesn't fit a tick box then it stands no chance. How would someone know to look in an area if they don't know that area exists?

I love the fact that two of the bedrooms have living room space. How amazing would that be for teenagers or elderly parents etc.

I see your point mouthful but given one of Rightmoves filters is number of bedrooms, adding 2 to the description can't do any harm can it?

Those rooms are way bigger than any normal dressing room etc.

See, I'm probably being a bit thick, but it looks like the dressing rooms are bigger than the actual bedrooms? Can you de clutter the dressing rooms, they seem to have a lot of furniture in them, and I think it's harder for people to see what they could use the space for, IYKWIM.

Not going to lie, the layout is a bit odd - the dining room seems quite a way from the kitchen. But I'm mentally knocking down walls where the small snug is and creating a huge kitchen, so can't be bad!

The rooms also look smaller than they are, looking at the dimensions - again, I think the photography is to blame there.

Fwiw, I think it's a great house with a lot of potential - I just think the way you use it is so specific to your needs, it makes it hard for potential buyers to imagine how they would fit in.

And yes, you're underselling those rooms by calling them dressing rooms.

They are to dressing rooms what a commode behind a shower curtain is to an ensuite.

And your description of the house makes it sound much nicer than the sales blurb they've written...I think they've missed out some real selling points.

Being honest, it's not a very attractive house but it does have a lot of space. I would be thinking it would cost a lot to replace the old fashioned windows, doors, kitchen, get rid of the brick styled internal walls etc and that would put me off, it needs quite a bit spending on it to make it contemporary. But it is a large house so for someone for whom space is key and has plenty money to update it may be perfect

Good luck

I won't comment on the decor OP as that is not what you have come to ask. However, those 3D floor plans and the drawing of the house are dreadful. Please change agents as soon as you can.

Saying that the house is one that "needs to be seen" is no use. You have to find ways of doing it justice or no-one will bother seeing it.

Definitely ditch the artist's impression - that is for new builds only. Ditch the weird 3D plans - they look cluttered. Get new photos. Consider adding landing space to turn it into a 5 bed. A 2.4 children family isn't going to be able to easily use your house as it is (due to disproportioned bedrooms) and realistically most of the families I know live as nuclear families.

Why have you got a wall part way down your garden? That looks odd.

And the actual floor plans are dreadful. It says you have a 'cloakes room' and an 'aairing cupboard' as well as a 'washing up machine' in the kitchen.
If you had to pay extra for those then you need to demand some money back.

www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/34722742#OL2L5q01rVX0CSs3.97

The pictures on zoopla are a bit better

Oh yes, the Zoopla one, different agents I notice, is much better.

Bloody hell, they are much better on zoopla! On the other one, your kitchen looks tiny, as does your living room when actually they're really spacious.

I have to be honest and say that I really hate those artist impressions. I want a good quality floorplan with measurements. If the floorplan is non existent, or too small to read when enlarged, then I'll move on.

Please hire a professional real estate photographer. They are worth every penny and will show your house to the best light. You have no bathroom photos and only one of the kitchen. The bathrooms and kitchen are the biggest ticket items if they have to be replaced, and if you don't have photos of them, then I'll think you're hiding something.

The advertisement says 'detached double garage' but I can't see any evidence of it. I see cars parked on a piece of dirt out the front. Unless you are talking about that little shed down the back of the garden? That doesn't look like a garage to me.

A good tip is to pack away about half of your belongings to declutter the house. Cabinets full of knick knacks and crystal glassware on display look old fashioned, and even if the house is in good condition, it may make people think that they need to renovated and modernise. Remove them, and quite a few of the cabinets and bits of furniture so that buyers can look at the rooms without all your personal belongings in it. The room with all the pine furniture for instance, I would get rid of most of that 'stuff' - the wardrobes, little bedside tables, all the magazines should go. Take the mirror off the dressing table, set up the TV, and turn it in to a proper little sitting room. It looks a bit like an overflow of stuff that doesn't fit in to the bedroom.

I'd also swap where you currently have the dining room and the small sitting room. Take the TV out of the big lounge room and put it in the (former) dining room and create a cozy little sitting room.

You've got a decent yard, but I don't see how it is adding much to your lifestyle. A nice outdoor table space and chairs around, some big pots of colour and create an outdoor sitting area off what is currently the dining room in that patio space. You live near the beach, but I don't think beachside living when I see your house. It could be any house, anywhere.

Thanks again for your comments. I agree the photos really don't do anything for the house and need to be sorted. The wall actually is very much part of the feature of the gardens. Teh house has a private courtyard/patio from the dining room with a second garden area from the main lounge. In real life this works really well and looks nice. Again photos!! The house needs very little work as such but like any the new owners would want their own stamp and to change things. I accept that my house is not ideal for everyone and they will have their own ideas how to use the space. The fact is though that the space is here offering many different opportunities of use. The 2 master suites worked very well for our family situation especially when the children had their friends over. The third bedroom is a double bedroom while the 4th is a little smaller. As Fingeronthebutton says the area is lovely offering much to many as well as being close to the sea. I haven't thought of Hair actually so thanks for that. I spoke to one of the agents today actually who said they had no new buyers and the market was very quiet. Time of year doesn't help of course. I think I need to sort my house and re-launch. It is a difficult one though as we have to continue to live here and the house is as it is as we do live here. Having read some of the comments which I know were helpful, I now feel I hate my house and want to go tomorrow! lol

The double garage is at the end of the large drive area. It is shingled drive. We are in a corner of a cul de sac. The kitchen is only a couple of years old. The lights were imported from France.

I am quite upset to think the house resembles a care home! Something is very wrong with teh photos and the description which I take on board.

Sorry OP, I genuinely don't mean to offend you but I'm looking at houses in that ball park and I honestly would give yours a second glance - you don't get a chance to talk up the drive etc if you don't photograph then.

All told, IMO for the money there is better available closer to London such as Billericay and Brentwood with the same access to the Grammar Schools which is a major draw for Southend.

This is true. I think maybe you're a bit mistaken as thinking your house is a commuter's house. There are plenty of towns in South Essex both geographically closer to London and with trains that get into London in much less than an hour. An hour just to get to a mainline station is a very long time. I used to commute on the c2c line so I know

The zoopla pictures are much much better! A totally different feel to them. The kitchen is unrecognisable from the first ones. Whoever took the ones on the first link needs a new job.

The photos on Zoopla are 100% better. Shows you the difference between agents!

Why don't you just go with the Zoopla photos and whichever agents took those OP.

To Do list for OP

Lose 3D plans, re- label 2D plan with dimensions & correct spellings

Get photos of your long, shingled drive & double garage, and of the view from the cul-de-sac
Get a photo of the better bathroom, totally decluttered

Move dining table back to original dining room, set up current dining room as a cosy lounge focused on the nice fireplace

Swap blue bedroom & dressing room round

Hide 2 of the blue armchairs & some of the wardrobes/ chests of drawers. Take smaller pictures, crosses etc off the walls and reduce number of cushions

Set up the garden areas with furniture etc to show them in use rather than empty

Use Zoopla photos

What have I missed?

Get a landscape designer in for the garden. It is nondescript.
There are doors going straight out onto the grass...

Cosy up the lounge. large cream rug, cream cushions, cream church candles and lose all the ornaments. Get some house magazines for ideas. Doesn't need to cost much but needs some dressing and decluttering to make it appealing and give it a "style".

Order of photos should go:

front view
living room
dining room
kitchen
any other downstairs rooms
bedrooms
bathrooms
any other upstairs rooms
garden
driveway
garage
floor plans

declutter
depersonalise
better quality photographs

95% of people look for property on rightmove / zoopla so it doesn't matter if you use a local or London based agent, you just need a good one - I'd advise going with a new start up - they will be keen to get you on their books, work hard to keep you as they want a sold sign up, but won't charge you mega bucks.

Strange layout which is going to be divisive, some people will be able to work with it and some won't.

Floor plans absolutely 100% have to have dimensions on.

Without being rude (which always means what follows is rude...) I think your decor and furniture are quite dated and there is nothing at all in the photos which makes me think "I want to live there and have that lifestyle". It is all perfectly fine and very much like a normal home, but very functional, a bit cluttered and not much style.

It shouldn't matter, but that whole selling a lifestyle thing does work.