To ask for your opinions on my house?

[StylishMummy]

We're in the stressful and expensive process of moving house, next door have just sold for £170,000. We're on for less and have slightly less space and less than all agents suggested (165-170). But we're not selling!

Collective brain of the vipers nest is my next place for feedback - be as brutal as you like!

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-70481371.html

Better link 🙈

Lutterworth Road, Attleborough, Nuneaton, Warwickshire
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-79673354.html

I'm not sure the superficial things are red herrings. Even with the small third bedroom, someone will buy that for the right price, and use it as either a third bedroom or a dressing room. It's all about price.

Right now it looks like the op invested in the rooms she uses, and everything else was left, which gives it an unloved cold neglected feel in some areas, like the garden or the conservatory.

For the right price anything sells, the issue is if the op is positioning it price wise with other houses for sale with a proper third bedroom and in a better condition throughout.

A lot of people don't have much imagination and I can imagine them walking into that conservatory and thinking it wasn't usable. Some of the fixes like taking paint splashes off the floor, opening the blinds or curtains, moving the bins and the crap out the garden, will make it better.

However as said, it's all about price and presented as it is, then the price would need to reflect that.

Next door is in a different league. It isn't comparable in size or decoration to yours. The price doesn't reflect that. I think you are way over on your asking price and need to reduce it

The inside of the house looks fine, but compared to next door, the kerb appeal is poor.
If you are not selling it is usually because the price is wrong. What to do depends on how keen you are to move. You can drop the price or wait for the street to catch up price wise.

Flowers outside and a nice big rug to cover the floor in the conservatory.

Unless you're going for the niche "post-makeover Changing Rooms fans" market, don't paint all your interior walls terracotta! Weird advice.

The house next door is a massive problem for you. It’s beautiful and yours makes it look a complete bargain. Sorry.

I don’t think your agent’s description “more than meets the eye” is doing you a lot of favours! Suggests to me, ok, looks a bit shabby outside, but bare with it.
Because the adjoining house looks quite smart, yours doesn’t really have a lot of curb appeal and lots of people don’t have much imagination. Any chance of painting the tired, grey pebbledash, maybe a soft cream? Couple of tins of masonry paint and a weekend would do it. Then a smart pots with a bay or olive by the front door.
Don’t like the blinds, sorry, they look like a solicitor’s office. Roller or roman would be smarter.
Though your garden is nicely enclosed with walls, it still looks exposed and overlooked. I’d put fencing along the top of the walls, think you’re allowed up to 7ft, and paint it a nice cheerful colour. A few more plants dotted around in nice pots and it would be a more attractive, private space. Garden is hugely important to us.
Agree you need a rug in the conservatory too.
Sorry, you said be brutal! Good luck.

Ah op, you're way over priced. If next door was 170 then I am not sure yours can be more than 150, the two houses are in different leagues, I'm sorry, it would take way more than eight grand to bring your house up to the standard of next door.

I'd agree that's a massive problem for you.

Yeah you need to sack the agent! Horrible pictures and a pretty shit description!

The superficial things are red herrings.

3rd'd. No amount of pot plants in the world will make this a 3 bed.

OP - in my area houses that are marketed as 2 bed plus study actually go for almost as much as 3 beds. People can see the potential, and don't feel like they're being mugged off. Houses pretending to be 3 beds (usually ones with bad loft conversions)... hang around in the market.

I would:

• market as a 2 bed with study/dressing area
• add a dining area (three living spaces is bizarre when there's no dining area)
• tidy up the conservatory, open the blinds, add a big rug (this is the area I'd stage as a dining room, in fact)
• be candid about the dressing room - if people are there for viewings, you can say 'oh, yes, it usually would be a dressing room, but we've found it so handy to have DD nearby whilst she's little for night wakings'

• and DON'T worry yourself too much about the decor. Address the above first and see if you can shift it based upon its ACTUAL size.

Looks a good size family home wouldn't add to the photos just when ppl come to view add flowers if you wish the smell of freshly baked goods in the kitchen is supposed to be a good one but personally I think the honest approach is the best wouldn't say your home looks bare and anyway that's a good thing in terms of trying to sell as the viewers apparently hate clutter...

I think you probably need to knock the asking price down if you are desperate to sell quickly. Next door may have sold for 170k but it's a much nicer house (exterior appearance, internal layout, and decor) and has a third bedroom with a window, as opposed to the glorified cupboard you are calling a third bedroom (not many people want a bedroom with no window!).

Your house is full of mismatched furniture and looks unloved and dated - I'd think anyone buying it would be wanting to redecorate throughout, probably put a new kitchen in, and so will be factoring the cost of that into their decision.

Have you had many people actually through the door?

Are the photos misleading? Take photo 2, is that an ordinary length sofa, because it looks huge in the photo? It could be that people are expecting the rooms to be larger than they are.

(I was looking at another house's photos for a friends and they had the same problem. I spent ages trying to figure out where this interestingly-shaped bay window was on the floor-plan, only to realise there was nowt unusual about it at all, it was the photogaph making the room look longer than it is. They also did the same thing with the kitchen, making the door seem very tall and narrow.)

It might be worth going around the house with a laptop and comparing the photos to reality. If they are misleading ask the EA to redo them.

And could you buy a couple of plants for the conservatory? I think that could help.

List for £160K instead of £162K. If you look at rightmove the price brackets on the search function go up in tens of thousands so you are losing buyers who can only go up to £160K and I think buyers who have a budget of £170K may ignore your house.

You have a lovely home and I think the interior is is fine.

I think your problem is kerb appeal. The house next door looks warm and homely and yours looks cold and dark.

The thing that would put me off most here is the exterior. I'm not a fan of the rendering and brown windows. While I appreciate there is not much you can do to change it without spending big money - you could distract by putting in some greenery to soften the look.

Same goes for the back yard.

And then there are the stairs. Some buyers would be put off by them so I'd get your estate agent to omit them from the photos. The house we live in had stairs like that when we bought it and the very first job we did was to get a joiner in to replace them. It actually didn't cost a fortune - perhaps you could get a couple of quotes in to show people.

For sure the first thing you should do is have some more photos done. The existing ones do no favours to your house and don't show it off in a good light. The angles are all wrong, make the house look dark on the outside and don't highlight the best bits on the inside. Getting people through the door is half the job done so get on the phone to the estate agent asap.

Good luck

“absolutely nothing we can do about the render so it stays unfortunately”

Pebble dash can be painted. That grey is pretty miserable.

I am extremely emotionally overinvested and desperate to know where you eat your meals

Let’s be brutally honest - it’s an ugly house. No one is going to love that pebble dashing and it’s not something quickly sorted in a weekend. Its ugliness is thrown into relief by the house next door (whoever could have thought the pebble dashing would look better and pay money to get it done?) so there is a large part of the reason why next door commanded à higher price. That said any potential buyers can see how it could look, but would expect a discount to pay for the work. Even if you can find a buyer who likes the Brutalist pebble dash, you still have the problem of the third bedroom - it’s not a bedroom is it? It is where you would put the stairs to the loft conversion (which already has a Velux window). All the stuff about moving the bins and seeding the lawn and shuffling round the furniture so people can actually imagine how they might live in the house might get people through the door, but won’t actually add value. If you want to sell then price it realistically because that’s what most house sales come down to in the end.

Having what is available in your area I would say you are quite over priced.

This looks like it is just a couple of streets away from you. Probably a preferred location not on the main road.
Bigger garden, nicer interior and £12000 + less

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-70725856.html

Just a few things I would pick up on- hope you don’t think I’m being too harsh xx

Paint the brick fireplace and tiles- it will change the room completely!

Clear conservatory of furniture-looks dated. Get a cheap kallax (second hand) bright coloured boxes massive rug make it look like a playroom/useful space - will help family’s visualise

Put the rattan furniture outside..

take off the tablecloth and set the table with candles/placemats/flowers

Clear the garden of all furniture for photos, except the ratten seats from conservatory- would make it look modern
Could you clear the hutches away for photos?

Flower pots and baskets outside. Make it look enticing so that a family would want to spend time out there! Even add a sandpit or something so kids would want to play out there.

Paint the white wooden shed outside with a fresh coat of white paint

Get the photos redone on a sunny day so the grass isn’t all wet and muddy and you can open curtains/blinds.

Such a beautiful house! Hope it’s sells soon for you xx

People came to view our old house and whinged about the kitchen and bathroom and how they’d need to spend £10,000 to sort them out etc. 4 years later the property is on Rightmove for sale £30,000 more and the same kitchen and bathroom so I’m glad I told them to get stuffed.

Literally I would wait until next door is off the market so there’s no comparison. Then paint the outside white and paint the inside cream. Or grey.
Job done

For the right price anything sells, the issue is if the op is positioning it price wise with other houses for sale with a proper third bedroom

This. However OP obviously believes it’s a 3 bed and has been wrongly advised by estate agents that the house is comparable in value to next door.

Sorry - next doors house is in a different league to yours. It’s well planned, well thought out and looks very well out together, it’s more furnished. The colours go together, it’s polished.

Get your agent to take better pictures op. Maybe on a sunny day. Add some green plants etc, rug in conservatory,m. Good luck op.

crispysausagerolls

I think I've cracked that one. You can see the corner of a dining table in the conservatory.

Sorry OP, but on inspecting the floorplan further, I would say it's much worse.

• no window in 3rd bedroom = not a bedroom
• living room AND kitchen BOTH have no external windows - just into the utility and conservatory

I could furnish it nicely in a weekend. I could redecorate nicely in a month. Undoing all of that mess? Sorry, I just wouldn't bother. And the type of person who would will want to pay accordingly.

Is this the old listing?

www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=39396130&sale=36766608&country=england

£40k in six years (a 30% increase on what you bought it for), when you've done... what, exactly? The bathroom and kitchen aren't changed at all.