My DM selling her house - should anything be happening yet?

[SpidersAreShitheads]

My DM is selling her house and for various reasons is desperate to get things moving. Unfortunately for her, she also can't afford to take a massive drop in price - although there is a little bit of wiggle room.

Her property went on the market a couple of weeks ago - so obviously it's still incredibly early days.

However, I would have thought that there would have been more interest when the property first goes on the market, dropping off the longer it stays available?

She's not had a single viewing yet.

Two people expressed an interest - one person was a builder and I think the estate agent tipped him off before it went on the market, but he found somewhere else to buy the day before he'd asked to come round. The second viewing was cancelled as the woman drove around the area and didn't like the hilly roads on the way to the local shops.

Some of the photos were a bit crap, and there was virtually no description by the estate agent. He's been around today and taken better photos, and uploaded a description which explains that the upstairs floor could potentially be self-contained accommodation.

The problem is that her property is a bit weird in terms of layout - there's an absolutely huge second bedroom which takes up almost the whole of the converted loft space, and it's lovely. But the third "bedroom" is a tiny, tiny room which also houses the boiler. If I were looking for a three-bedroom house for me and my DC, the configuration wouldn't work - and I suspect that might be the same for a lot of buyers.

It's a nice property but I am a bit concerned there has been absolutely no interest. The photos weren't amazing before, but they were passable. Certainly not enough to make people skip past.

I'm a home owner but not sold on the open market before - do things normally take a while to get moving - or is this a concerning sign? I know it's only been two weeks....but no interest in even looking?

Does anyone have any killer tips to get people in to look at the property?

One of the reasons she's so desperate is that she needs something very specific in the next house she buys which is quite rare - and there's one on the market now which fits the bill. If she doesn't get her house under offer soon, this other property will inevitably be bought by someone else, and I don't know how easily we'll find what she needs again....

@Marni83 The buy to let person only offered 33% of the asking price. The older lady told the estate agent if there were no viewers and no decent offer she would withdraw the property for sale and rent it out. Suddenly a few viewers were found. The lady set up a bit of sellotape on the internal doors. She was in the vicinity of the property when these viewings were supposed to happen . No lights were put on inside the property. No cars other than the usual residents were in the street. The agent offered to act in the letting of the property but the lady refused saying you could not find a buyer you likely wont find a renter.
She sacked the agent and went with another agent who had three viewings for the first day to property was opened for viewing. The following day there was an offer of 10% over the asking price which the lady accepted and the sale went through without a hitch.

@Marni83 Sorry that was wrong. The buy to let person offered 66% of the asking price 33% under the asking price.

@PuntasticUsername

Grrrrr I hate some people! One thing op - might be worth you reporting your last post above, to ask MNHQ to remove the estate agent name from it. Just in case they are smart enough (against all expectation) to use Google and they claim you're smearing them here.

The estate agent is in flashing lights on Rightmove! Anyone clicking the link can see who they are.

Do you know what I would do when you're marketing it again - I'd use the phrase "oodles of potential to become the forever home you always wanted".

I watch Homes under the Hammer and one of the thing the hosts on the programme are always saying even when they go into a dilapidated wreck of a place (and your mums is a far way away from that type of description) is "potential".

Also "blank canvas" or "suitable for someone with a flair for interior design and development" would be good phrases to use. It looks like a fine house structurally but the layout could be improved.

Gives them the impression that while the house is as it is, there is scope to change the layout once they buy it!

Declutter but i agree the price is too high - i agree that itt needs to be marketed as a doer-upper and the price adjusted

clutter everywhere. Take all the magnets off the fridge, clear all the windowsills, bathroom surfaces and tops of units and it will immediately look heaps better. A decent Estate Agent would have advised this before they took any photos.

Move the garden furniture somewhere too.

If your DM really wants to sell and has nowhere to put anything she could rent a storage unit for a few weeks.

As a buyer my worry would be that as older people with so much stuff they will find moving overwhelming and change their minds. The fact it is a sudden decision would reinforce that.

Hi - just thought I'd give an update in case anyone is interested.

There turned out to be major problems with the estate agent - the main one being he had forged my mum's signature on the 12 pages of the terms and conditions. She had never seen the document! Anyway, long story short he agreed to cancel the contract and remove the listing.

In the meantime, Mum has had stud walls put in upstairs to separate the large L-shaped room into two bedrooms. She's also hired a storage unit and had a huge declutter. This means there are now three genuine bedrooms, plus a fourth "bedroom"/study which has the boiler in it.

The new estate agent went round today and took some photos and the listing has just gone live. It's not perfect - there are some storage crates visible in a couple of photos. Basically it's because their storage unit is now FULL! They were supposed to move them and put them in the car/hide them in the car port before the photos were taken but obviously didn't. It's been a very hard job trying to get them to understand the concept of decluttering!!

This new estate agent previously valued DM's house at £270k - with the changes they now believe it should be marketed for £295k so DM has gone with what they suggest.

I still think it might be a bit of a niche property as one bedroom is downstairs and I also think DM might have to accept a lower offer, but this is hopefully better. For anyone who is interested, the new listing is

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/114508046#/media?channel=RES_BUY&id=media0&ref=photoCollage.

Significantly better!!

And what a bellend the old agent was.

Much better! The existing new clutter just looks like the type of clutter I'd expect to see if someone was preparing to move, I hope you reported that estate agent!

Those photos are so much better!

Thank you @newnameforthistbread and @whistleinthewind! It's not perfect but it looks and feels really different. It really is a large and lovely house so I'm hoping someone sees the potential. I think the new stud wall makes it more practical rather than just having the single huge space.

As for the estate agent, I've been wrestling with my conscience. I haven't reported him and I told him that if he cancelled her contract (which was supposed to be for 12 weeks) then I wouldn't take any further action. I work full time, I've got two DC both with additional needs (one of whom has very significant needs) they are both home educated and I help my DM/stepdad ( both nearly 80, she has cerebral palsy and he is quite frail following a heart attack). I honestly don't have enough spare capacity to keep up with the essentials, and now there's a potential house move on top to sort - I don't think I've got anything left in me to pursue a complaint. But at the same time I am feeling a bit uncomfortable that I've just let it go.

Thank you @Winecheesesleep.

Oh I forgot to say! The new estate agent has forgotten to label the ensuite on the floor plan but they're correcting that tomorrow.

@SpidersAreShitheads your username made me laugh I agree.

Best of luck with it!

What a transformation! Hope it now goes quickly!

Completely transformed! Well done OP, I hope the hard work pays off and she gets a good offer soon.

Years ago ( about 18) we had problems with your original agents. And funnily enough, went with your new agents.

Hope it sells quickly and your mum gets the new house she wants.

Wow. Looks like a different house. It is much clearer now that it's in great condition. It's just in need of a bit of decorating to the taste of the buyer but a fantastic blank canvas to work from.

The original photos made the kitchen look tiny and it really isn't.

The details still say draft but maybe this isn't the live link? I'd make sure the garden description emphasises there's a gated top tier providing additional space but safe for children

You've done a great job and have such a brilliant attitude. Hats off and good luck. Property Centre are meant to be very good!

Looks so much better. Only thing I noticed is on the floorplan there are two bedrooms listed as bedroom 1, also no measurements.

Fabulous work OP! I'd would 100% have not looked at it before (visualisation is not my strong point!) & I definitely would now x

Looks 100% better! I would view now as a family house where it wouldnt have worked for us before.
It must have taken a lot of work to get to this point, hope you get a quick sale and the dream house.

That is a noticeable improvement on the previous attempt.
When the deal is done through this estate agent, and you're all sorted wherever you decide home will be at that point, I would consider reporting the other fraudulent EA to the police and to their governing body (if there is one) because they didn't just fudge a few bits and pieces, like saying a bedroom is smaller or bigger than it is, they signed a legal document that they were not permitted to do. That's illegal. They shouldn't be allowed market a bring and buy sale let alone any other properties! That is shocking!!!!

Best of luck to you with the sale. Hope your mum gets a decent price for the place!

The room that had all of the storage boxes (think they were for crafting) in the first set of photos that the dodgy EA took - is that now a bedroom?
One other thing you might ask the decent EA to do is to have under the photos the name of each room (so that prospective owners can see if the bedroom that they're looking at is upstairs or downstairs rather than "3 of 17" or whatever) .