to expect some interest already?

[Homebird90]

Name changed just incase.. Long term poster.

We've made the rookie error of finding a house we love in the village we've been planning to relocate to.

Cottage in Cornwall has been on the market for a week - not a sausage.

It's priced well (189K), 3 bed, lovely views, 10 mins drive from sea, peaceful village, no-through road, brand new woodburner.

I can't see why no interest.. Am I expecting too much in 7 days?

Nobody wants the hassle and upheaval of moving at Christmas time, so people don't bother to look until the spring. February is a much better time to sell a house.
I think the comment about the search bracket is really good one, and should make a difference when people are ready to search.

Good luck OP.

When our estate agents took pics they held the camera at waist height if that helps.

Did you buy the property last year? That combined with the lack of any personality in the photos would make me wonder if you bought it as a rental property. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

We bought it last year after my father died and we had to move quickly to sort out the estate as we were living on his land and it had to be sold & split with my sister. There wasn't anything in the more convenient (for us) village for us at the time, so we bought here instead .

I do love the house. Wish we could take it with us!

The first photo is awful - I would find a photo of the garden more appealing. The "view" photo just looks like a photo of the window. In fact. all the photos are bad.

And it's not a cottage, it's a terrace.

third bed room sizes and workshops dont make a difference to buyers

It did to us! Reason we bought it. Maybe we're in a minority.

The other house on this street is slightly larger and has maintained a more cottagey feel.
Yours is (presumably )fully renovated with modern wiring, heating , plumbing? You say the garden is wider. Your details should highlight all these things so that when someone pulls both listings (and they come up together) they can tell exactly why yours is dearer.
I agree with pp above that some of the photos don't look the best: move the furniture in the childs room so it isn't in a line, put some soft furnishings in. It's a lovely house but you've tidied so much for the photos it looks like a holiday home rather than a home.

Better photos all round needed:
1 of house in context of lovely street/village
Better view of fields
Better photo of "juliet balcony" photo looks like a door put in instead of window with a stairgate across. Looks like an expensive mistake to rectify - sure it's much nicer in the flesh
in search you just get a close up of the er - unusual cladding.
too much pine furniture in second bed. just put something in the shed for a bit.

But yes, I think it's overpriced.

These are the competition:

They are in horrible built up areas Artandco, they're not comparable with Penponds, which is a rural village.

We put our old house on the market just before October half term and agreed a sale before Christmas. If you need to move, you need to move. No need to wait until the new year.

Also from the pictures it appears to have 4 bedrooms which is confusing? Or are the two Juliet balcony pictures the same room dressed differently ?

Picture 9 - with the big wardrobe. Worked out what it was on the tip of my [visual] tongue.

You bought a furniture package for that room right? An all in one set? Doesn't mean you have to use every stick of it! That's notwithstanding that the placement of it looks really strange and simply thrown into the room.

For example, could the bed stick out longways from under the window, with the wardrobe either to the side where the mirror is; or the other side wall we can't see; or behind where the photographer is standing?

Definitely lose that very strange (child's?) desk. Its no use for a kid on holiday and pointless for an adult. Stick a picture on the wall and some "stuff" on the drawers/bedside too.

Yes - the rooms are dressed differently. I will arrange to have new photos taken throughout and amend. Thanks so much everyone for your tips.

Have just heard that the house we want is being withdrawn from the market until March, so at least that takes the pressure off for now.

Agreed with others on the photos OP, I'd probably overlook the property based on those. They make the space look very cramped and a bit uninviting. I'd definitely get better photos done. Also, don't let portrait mobile phone pictures go up, they look so unprofessional and always look smaller on phones etc.

On third bedroom sizing, disagree that this isn't important. We bought our 3 bed a couple of years ago and 3 good sized rooms was a major factor. We didn't want two bedrooms and a box room!

I think you should look at the sold house on the same street that is directly below yours in the listing . Very similar house, STC at £185, copy the quality/angle of their photos and what they have in them.

I agree that it looks a little un-lived in, and that in combination with the short time you've been there might make people think it's unhomely in comparison.

I don't think there is anything wrong. It's been a week, and it's Cornwall. The property market isn't fast there. You just need to wait. You could take all the advice here (some of which come at great cost) and not be any better off than just chilling for a few more weeks

Nothing happened for us in the first week and a half, then loads of viewings with only one second viewing. We reduced our price and tons of viewings and a bidding war in the end! So don't let it get to you :)

Pic 1 - change it as already mentioned
Pic 2 - nice garden, but change the angle so it isn't facing that shed dead-on. Maybe to the right a bit so you don't see what tarpaulin thing either?
Pic 3 - show some human habitation!
Pic 4 - Ditto and also a bit dark - take pics at diff times of day to make most of sunlight?
Pic 5 - was the photographer floating on the ceiling?! There is high-level and there is bird-level! Move the pouffe thing infront of the armchair on the left, light the fire, add a few books...
Pic 6 - way too dark and kind of pointless - is it the table area or the view you are showing here?
Pic 7 - don't the juliet balconies have the metalwork on the outside? Looks like you have bolted a stairgate to the wall here. Also (pet hate) make the duvet covers smooth and neat!
Pic 8 - nice telegraph pole! Angle this to show an actual view out of the window, not the phone wires and a shed!
Pic 9 - as per previous post with the furniture
Pic 10 - Not sure of the point of this pic? Doesn't show anything really.
Pic 11 - Need a landscape or wide angle view of this (and without a doorknob in the foreground). And preferably a white loo seat!
Pic 12 - Where is the shower screen/curtain?! Why do we see half a hallway too?
Pic 13 - Another shot which should probably be from the other side - that massive tree obscures most of the house.
Pic 14 - add the floorplan

The photos aren't grate but I think that's a bit of a red herring. Most people will consider anything in their price range/location/size criteria and will bother to look at a floor plan. There is nothing offensive about your house, it's just a bit bland.

I think it's the time of year. I put my flat on the market last september and had about five viewings before christmas, it was awful. The in the week after new year I had loads and accepted an asking price offer on the 13th January. People just don't want the upheaval around christmas.

If you can now wait until the turn of the year I think you will do better.

*great ffs

Why is the EPC showing such a low rating, that puts me off. Also there are no measurements given for the kitchen, which makes me think its small and they've left the measurements off because they don't want to show its small - yet the kitchen pic looks a reasonable size?

There are many cottages in Cornwall, I wouldn't class that as one. Its definitely a terraced house. I wouldn't have it in my mind as a holiday let hotspot either.

The two you've linked to Art, not being picky but the area of at least the first one, is much less desirable than the OP's area. I'd expect those to be priced at £20k less. (Vandals occasionally change the road signs for Tuckingmill, turning the T into an F )

Does your listing say price reduced already? Apologies if I've confused it with another, but that alone always makes me wonder. A week or two is nothing in the Cornwall property market.

Agree with getting better photos taken. Do you know someone who's good at photography who could take some for you?

The house is fine and looks clean, tidy and recently decorated. People are fussy though, and can't always see beyond your stuff, so I would try to remove some of the pine furniture from the second bedroom, and definitely remove the cat from the bed in the third bedroom.

Regarding online agents. We moved this year. We tried to view a few properties through online agents and without exception all were rubbish to deal with and not one got us an appointment to view. I just don't think they have the interest or motivation to actually 'sell' your property like an normal agent. The house we bought was not one we wanted to view. It had been on the market for months and we didn't think it was what we wanted at all. However, we viewed a property being marketed by the same agent, and after rejected that property, the agent phoned me twice a week for several weeks trying to persuade us to view this one. Good job he did. We eventually relented and viewed it, and now we're living in it. You don't get that commitment fro the online agents.

Sounds like you've got until March then so you can take your time. If I were you I would ditch the online agent and relaunch with a "real" agent. Good luck and I hope you get your dream house!

Considering you're not using an agent, a week isn't long. If you'd been using an agent then I would be concerned there hasn't been any interest. I had an open day 2.5 weeks after my house was put on the market and had 15 people view it, we ended up in a bidding war and managed to get approx £20k more than asking price (so agent definitely earnt their £2.5k).

Agree with other comments, photos aren't great and make the place look small and dark, which it probably isn't. I'd also stop calling it a cottage as it isn't one and may lead potential buyers to wonder what other comments are a stretch of the truth.

Anyway, good luck and hope you get a buyer soon!