House still on market over 2 years later

[lonelysadfedup]

Hi our house has been up for sale for 2 years and 3 months. We had lots of viewings, no offers. My husband then reduced the price this year, more viewings and still no offers.
My name isn’t on the mortgage and deeds due to my bad credit rating.

mortgage in principle ran out ages ago so we don’t know how much my husband would be able to get a mortgage for and how much a month it would be. We have equity in this house. 22 year mortgage with 14 years left.

I’ve made different suggestions to my husband such as listing it as a 4 bed rather than a five with the bedrooms not been big. I’ve suggested decluttering to see if that helps. I’ve suggested going with a different estate agent and lowering the price. Then today I’ve tried to talk to him about it. Mentioned lowering the price and he just dismissed it.

im fed up of it all now and it’s not fair on our children. I’m now at a lost as what to do

It's Wakefield, @Internationalteapot . I'm not being rude, but it's not the same as Manchester, really. My friend got a lovely town house for £190k.
To add, this was just before the pandemic, so is probably worth more now. But still.

@lonelysadfedup firstly I think your home is lovely, I would definitely be interested in viewing it…if only it were in the south west.
Next steps would be making it really neat and trying new professional photos. When we had ours done, we tidied every room, made beds etc. but did have a box of stuff we shuffled around into different rooms to the photographer!

Oh god epic typo, but yes imagine Boris in the kitchen would knock a few grand off the price. 😁

Shut the toilet door for the utility photo, when you have them redone.

Also , why are half the blinds down in the conservatory and half of them open ?

Take the whatever-it-is off the top of the kitchen cupboards (showing lack of space ) .

Declutter / more into storage the toys , as PP's have said.

I think that when you out your house up for sale you need to keep for it selling straight away. We literally packed up half of our belongings and put into storage and only had the bare minimum to really make the house feel spacious. We were told by the photographer to remove everything even loo roll and towels! Touched up paint, tidied garden etc. Put on market and held an open day and the house sold in 4 days.
I know people don't want to 'live in a show home' but done properly it's for weeks at most.
Surely in the last 2 years the kids have now outgrown those toys and they are no longer there?
Pool down, all toys packed away, all surfaces empty. The blinds in the conservatory looks awful from outside.
From a buyers POV I hated viewing homes when they were occupied or the viewing done by the owners. So uncomfortable (that said the one we bought, the owners were home but made themselves scarce until we asked questions). Also some agents are shit and have no umph so it's worth shopping around. Also we were send all the pics and descriptions and plans before to fact check and make and suggestions. The offering online is pretty poor tbh.

i would probably change estate agent take it off the market for a few weeks! Completely declutter the garden and the rooms act like you are moving as trust me you don’t want pay for a few vans to move things. It’s a nice house and when selling my last house I did the viewings. People like an estate agent as you can actually put people off so get the professional in to do it. Maybe neutral paint the blue room personally your house wouldn’t put me off I think it’s nice people can’t see the bigger picture and potential you have to show it as big as you can.

Anyone else in the south east want to cry over these prices??

I think your house is nice enough but it's not a new build it's now second hand so to speak. That means you're up against new builds with their brand new carpets, white walls, everything staged. People who like old Victorians aren't looking at this.

Bedroom 5 really isn't. Make it a study.

Decide you are going to sell this. Take it off the market. Give yourself 2 months to tidy it up. People lack imagination.

Every house I've ever sold has sold within a week. I stage the property. I don't really live there, it's like a show house. Brand new towels out for the viewings, brand new bedding on beds (all beds made to hotel standard), kitchen and bathroom especially must be immaculate. You're selling the potential.

Right now it looks like you're selling a buy to let for students. Really won't take much to turn this into a sale.

Personally if it were me I'd actually have the conservatory taken down and improve the garden. It's been proven no one wants a conservatory (hot in the summer, cold in the winter) and certainly I'd turned down houses to buy based on that alone.

Way too much clutter! It looks kind of soulless.

Take it off the market and stage it properly. Declutter. Hang some art work. Relist at a lower price.

Looking at nearby listings unfortunately there are slightly smaller places that are nicer and cheaper.

EA is saying that because they then have to blur the pictures, not because it stops homes selling. However I completely agree that marketing as a 5 bed is putting people off. Anyone serious is not worried about the 'clutter'. The photos are not very good, Especially with the silly fish eye lens from an iPhone. Wakefield is lovely but the prices do fluctuate. One of my work colleagues lives about 4 streets away from you and he had the problems of no viewings then loads but no offers. He then took it off the market put it back on a few months later and got people bidding.
People stop looking at things over 28 days on rightmove. I'd suggest put it pn with a different agent.

If you want it to be a new listing on Rightmove it has to be off for seven weeks.

Despite the dreadful photos people have still come to view your house and that is when they have decided not to make an offer. Better pictures might get more viewings and a decent agent should get feedback why people don't want to buy (they will be more honest to an Estate Agent than the homeowner).

If there is clutter it suggests there is not enough storage. Looking at the floor plan a utility room is a lovely bonus but the one (unnecessary) picture shows a lot of cleaning products, recycling(?) etc. If your rooms look small in person having measurements on the floor plan would avoid false expectations. A good EA could advise how to arrange furniture to best advantage. Then it's down to price, if the market is very slow you have to make your house more attractive than others. Employ someone to help pack things up if your DH won't and rent storage (but get rid of as much as possible because it will just cost more to move).

As usual, if it hasn't sold in 2 years then the price is too high. Especially if you've not had offers. People presumably think its priced too high for the work they perceive needs doing to it, or compared to similar properties or for the aera etc. If it was in the ballpark of the right price then you'd have had offers, even "cheeky" ones. Can declutter, add a giant clock, some twigs in a vase, write Live Laugh Love on the wall, remove Live Laugh Love from the wall etc etc but it all comes down to the price being too high. Ours was on at a price that turned out to be too high. No offers, then eventually "cheeky offers", cut the price to somewhere between the original price and the cheeky offers and it sold (fell through then sold properly a couple of months later). The problem was the price. Usually is.

Crikey, I wish houses were this price in the SE!!

Pro's:
I love the layout of the house, and the fact it has a dining room, utility room, conservatory and downstairs WC. The front of the house looks good and I like that you have off road parking and a garage. I also love the price - but that is based on fact that I live in the SE and have no idea what normal prices are like for your area!!

Cons: some of the rooms look really cluttered, as does the garden. The pic of the conservatory shows that a lot of the blinds are in use (makes it look dark).

Feedback: declutter rooms and garden. Declutter conservatory - and I think it would look better if the windows were all in view. Maybe advertise it as a 4 bed house with an upstairs study.

I think you will have to do a ‘Stacey’ to you home like the others have already said, however there must be space in the loft. Do you have family nearby to help you do this job. Involve your children to decide what they have grown out of. Have your eldest to help hand stuff into the loft or sell on Facebook. With the smallest bedroom, would a bed fit in it as it has a cupboard, if so, build a cardboard sized single bed and dress it so that the room can be seen able to hold one.

Dropping the price over two year by only £10,000 is not dropping the price, it's a drop in the ocean.
Most people looking are going to see a house at £290k and say "oh its about £300k" so the price drop has done nothing. A nice chunk down to £270 and then you start getting people thinking "ooh its well under £300k" or "oh its just a bit over £250k.

Dropping the price by 3.3% is not going to make any difference at all.

@lonelysadfedup
First of all you need to get on the same page with your DH with your marriage and the house.

Your house looks ok. A bit cluttered, has no storage and dated are the main issues.
If you want to get anywhere near your asking price I would expect the house to be turnkey condition, which it isn't. Whoever buys your house will need to spend money on it which should be
Personally I hate owners showing me round their properties, I would prefer an EA

Even that doesnt really work, because there are houses around here that were taken off for months and then when they are put back on they get linked back to the old listing after a few days (it will say "note: this was previously listed for X price")

The problem isn’t the house or the clutter or the photos or the EA - those are just symptoms.

The problem is your DH - he doesn’t want to
move. Are the reasons you want to move ACTUALLY decent and sensible enough to justify the £14.5k stamp duty, upheaval, and cost of moving for what sounds like a move only a few miles away? Or could you love it instead or listing it. Either way you are at a stalemate and no amount of dealing with the symptoms will sort it.

Good luck 🍀

Or they leave it behind and you have the faff of getting the cost of removal out of them

I agree with others that it sounds like the problem is DH. Take it off. Declutter. Have a serious talk with DH. Put it back on in January.

Part of the reason it looks cluttered is cheap, see through wheely draws. You are selling a lifestyle, so if everything looks cheap, it isn't aspirational. Either get nicer storage, or chuck in a storage locker. After 2 years, it doesn't really feel like you particularly want to move.

Also the floor plan and garden need dimensions. It looks from the terrible photos that the bedrooms are small and the garden is tiny for a 5 bed house. If I was in the market for that big a house, I would want a garden to go with my budget.

@SprigatitoYouAndIKnow sorry but I have to point out...it's not "draws"..it's drawers!

Seriously, is it really worth if for the reasons you've said?

Your husband is clearly not on board with the plans