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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

House still on market over 2 years later

293 replies

lonelysadfedup · 07/10/2024 15:33

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

OP posts:
EatSleepSleepRepeat · 07/10/2024 17:26

First, decide on your marriage.

Secondly, your house looks both cluttered and sparse. The lounge and one of the bathrooms look empty and the rest is cluttered.

It doesn't feel warm e.g. no plants, photos or art

And when I look, all I see is work e.g. id want to take the fireplace out, replace flooring and paint throughout.

It needs decluttering, painting and a small amount of staging, then consider a price reduction.

Don't forget, even though it's a family home, many people buying larger homes have older kids or kids about to go to uni or may even be past that stage and just want space so consider stuff like taking down the kids pool, packing away toys, a more grown up bedroom e.g. no character stuff and go from there.

lonelysadfedup · 07/10/2024 17:26

pinkfleece · 07/10/2024 17:02

You can't be bothered to declutter for the photos - that would make me think that you'll be a real pain in the backside to deal with, never replying to things, leaving a load of junk behind etc.
Sorry, but it matters. Your husband sounds like an idiot.

I can be bothered to declutter. I need my husbands help and I’m not a pain in the backside to deal with

OP posts:
lonelysadfedup · 07/10/2024 17:28

EatSleepSleepRepeat · 07/10/2024 17:26

First, decide on your marriage.

Secondly, your house looks both cluttered and sparse. The lounge and one of the bathrooms look empty and the rest is cluttered.

It doesn't feel warm e.g. no plants, photos or art

And when I look, all I see is work e.g. id want to take the fireplace out, replace flooring and paint throughout.

It needs decluttering, painting and a small amount of staging, then consider a price reduction.

Don't forget, even though it's a family home, many people buying larger homes have older kids or kids about to go to uni or may even be past that stage and just want space so consider stuff like taking down the kids pool, packing away toys, a more grown up bedroom e.g. no character stuff and go from there.

Edited

Estate agent told us to remove all pictures of us as a family for the photos. We have photographs in the kitchen and living room

OP posts:
Pippa246 · 07/10/2024 17:29

For a lot of buyers, you are trying to sell them “the lifestyle”. That which you are selling is (gently) a cluttered, soul destroying messy one!

There is absolutely no wow factor. I know some PPs say the clutter wouldn’t bother them but I think they are in the minority. I genuinely can’t believe these are the selling pictures - I assumed you had just taken them to show us and would normally show the house looking much better.

sorry

lonelysadfedup · 07/10/2024 17:30

WhatsitWiggle · 07/10/2024 17:10

People are coming to view but no offers. What is their feedback to the agent?

I do think your husband is reluctant to move. Take the property off the market. Talk to him about what is going on.

If you are both wanting to move, do some serious tidying and cleaning before getting photos redone - if there is stuff everywhere, it suggests the property has no storage/is too small.

Use the agent for viewings - it's their job to sell your property! And they'll get feedback.

Parking was one, we have space for two cars and the front garden could be converted for more cars. Rooms are too small

OP posts:
SoNiceToComeHomeTo · 07/10/2024 17:30

As everyone is saying, it needs a good declutter which might mean borrowing or hiring some storage space during the period when you are showing people round, or using the garage and parking in the drive. Putting some nice plants in the back garden would make a big difference. The bedrooms are rather small, but that isn't unusual for a modern house and there's plenty of space downstairs. The house seems short of storage but removing clutter would make that less obvious. Other than that, it's a pleasant house in what looks like a nice quiet road and hopefully will find a buyer. Oh, and the photos are poor quality, but that doesn't explain why people who viewed don't offer.

nevergonnaguess · 07/10/2024 17:31

Maybe you need to declutter your husband and put him in the "bin" category.

BirthdayRainbow · 07/10/2024 17:31

Kitchen needs showing.

lonelysadfedup · 07/10/2024 17:32

orangegato · 07/10/2024 17:03

A 5 bed for that price??? Is it a horrible area, or near a school or play park? Either of those are a hard no from me.

I don’t see anything up with the house. Clutter wouldn’t put me off a house I liked as I’d presume you’d be taking it with you.

It’s a nice area. We live in a clu de sac

OP posts:
GivingitToGod · 07/10/2024 17:32

BarbadosItsCloserThanYouThink · 07/10/2024 16:48

You need to declutter and get your photos redone. Picture 3 in particular serves no purpose but to put people off. You need a nice picture of the garden clear and tidy with the pool down. Its a nice house, the presentation of it is not great though.

Edited

This. It is a lovely house OP, WITHOUT A DOUBT

Pippa246 · 07/10/2024 17:32

To add - most people understand that new houses are not great for storage (unless they are total top of the range) but you need to show that’s not a problem by staging the house better.

BellaVita · 07/10/2024 17:33

OP - but clutter puts other people off, end of.

RunningOutOfImaginitiveUsernames · 07/10/2024 17:34

I agree the problem with the clutter is it looks like you don't have much storage. Even if they look by at in the photos, if they go to the viewing and it's still all there it will make it look less spacious which will put people off.

Cattery · 07/10/2024 17:34

Looks lovely from the outside. I’d have been overwhelmed by the kiddie stuff inside though

TipsySquirrel · 07/10/2024 17:36

The house is fine OP. You can tell it’s a family home. It’s clean and whilst there is some clutter it’s tidied away.

There is no photo of the dining room and your dining table is in the kitchen so I’m automatically wondering what is wrong with that space.

It’s a four bed with a study and realistically your downstairs is just a touch too small for a four bed. I would probably move the desk out of the conservatory and into the fifth bedroom because it currently looks like the 5th bedroom isn’t even big enough for a desk.

I think your reasons for moving aren’t great. Taking into account estate agent fees, conveyancing, removal fees, surveys I just don’t think it’s worth it for your son to be closer to his friends. It’s obvious that your husband doesn’t want to move though and he doesn’t value your input at all.

Aside from all that, we sold and bought with William H Brown and I wouldn’t wish them on my worst enemy. I would definitely change agent based on that alone.

mummymeister · 07/10/2024 17:36

this house is never going to sell unless you do something drastic. thats a fact. maybe your husband doesnt want to move or maybe he is just an arsehole who cant be told I dont know.

the garden looks cramped and tiny the front could do with pictures of cars on it to show the double drive, the utilty, playroom etc full of junk. you need new pictures a new agent and probably a new husband. he has to stop doing the viewings and he has to listen or you are never ever going to move. the house has been on the market far too long. everyone will have seen it several times.

you can make excuses and reasons why and not want to confront and whatever you want but at the end of the day that house wont sell unless you do something.

Gettingbysomehow · 07/10/2024 17:40

Going to s different estate agent after over a year sold my house. Give it a go. You have nothing to lose.

JaneEyreLaughing · 07/10/2024 17:40

BMW6 · 07/10/2024 15:38

Don't be shy OP, lots have had really useful feedback from here.

I am firmly in the "anything will sell if the price is right" camp.

Within reason.

If the OP were to march around town wearing a sandwich board declaring house for sale for a price tag of £100, no doubt she would resemble the Pied Piper of Hamlin by the time she returned with a merry band of cash buyers behind her.

If an agent has advised on the price, then it is up to the agent to get as close as possible to that price. That is his job and that is the skill for which he is charging.

If there is no skill involved and it boils down to sell it any price, then why bother with an agent. Undercut your neighbours by £50,000 and wait for the buyers to appear. Any fool can do that.

WonderingWanda · 07/10/2024 17:41

Hi Op, I think you have a really nice help and totally get that if you've got some health problems then decluttering could be a challenge. To be honest it's not that cluttered but it looks like there's no where to out anything. My top suggestions would be

  1. Get some decorative storage boxes or baskets and put the bottles from the bathrooms /utility in them.
  2. Get the table moved into the dining room and get a photo of that room too. If you can afford it buy some sort of freestanding breakfast bar like this with a couple of stools. Decorate with a fruit bowl.
https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/idasen-table-brown-beige-s29395888/
  1. Move all the big toys in the conservatory for the photo's
  2. If you can afford it buy some more storage for the conservatory and maybe upstairs, even if it's just some ikea storage bins or stacking boxes. These are cheap and you could put a couple at the end of a single bed or on top of a wardrobe or under a desk to hide stuff away. https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/tjena-storage-box-with-lid-white-40469302/

IDÅSEN table, brown/beige, 140x70x105 cm - IKEA

IDÅSEN table, brown/beige, 140x70x105 cm Inside or outside a meeting room, sitting or standing, long sessions or short creative outbursts. IDÅSEN meeting and conference tables support all different ways for you to work and collaborate. You can hang you...

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/idasen-table-brown-beige-s29395888

SmileyHappyPeopleInTheSun · 07/10/2024 17:43

The photos are really poor and that may be decreasing viewings.

However you've still had many viewing - so something going wrong with the viewings as well - and possibly price.

It does sound like your DH doesn't want to move and frankly the reasons having your DS nearer friends and wanting 4 not 5 beds don't sound hugely compelling - plus if you can't declutter are you really up for moving - it's a lot of work and stressful.

We were on for a year - I really wanted to change EA - felt they were taking the piss using our house to sell others sending people not even set on area and not doing viewing for a variety of last minute reasons so I had to.

We had point couldn't afford to sell under - so told EA to drop to slightly above that that and they argued about it and didn't want to- we had secondary school application deadline looming so needed to get moving so instead. A couple who looked round before came back - said they'd been told we wouldn't budge on price but has seen we dropped it - then had to deal with EA twice trying to book them into another house not this one. They made a lower than on for price offer but it was at our price point so took it - went though really fast.

I think you have a DH, EA and price issue.

Seagullproofoldbag · 07/10/2024 17:44

Clutter just says there's no storage space and you'll never be able to keep it tidy. I live in a reasonably modern house and have spent a fortune on cupboards and storage solutions.

PfishFood · 07/10/2024 17:44

Some honest feedback on the photos. It's obviously a much loved home, so please don't take these personally - I say them as someone totally independent.

1 - no complaints - really nice kerb appeal - actually looks similar to my house
2 - same - looks fine to me - again looks similar to my house - I have a very similar fireplace - I think it might be the same developer!
3 - Why EA? Why?? As a space, I can see past the clutter on the sides in the utility and the loo, but it really could do with being tidied. All it says here is that there's no where to store the pet food and cleaning stuff
4 - OK, so it needs updating maybe, but there's nothing too wrong with it. I'd move the machine on the right (beer??) to the utility room, and remove the stuff next to the microwave and on top of the cupboards. There's no view the other way to know what other space is like at the other end of the kitchen. No picture of the dining room?

5 - Really cluttered and a mishmash of blinds being open and closed. Use it as an opportunity to recycle some of the kids' toys, get some more Ikea kallax units to hide what's left, and have a general tidy.
6 - There's nothing massively "wrong" as such, but I'd have made the bed a bit neater for the photos and tidied away the makeup (even if it's just moving it out of the room for the photos.
7 - the peach walls aren't great - it looks really yellow from the bedroom. I could see past this though as a pot of white paint isn't much. It would be a room I'd do up at some point. Again, hide as much as possible in terms of the lotions and potions.
8 - I see from the floorplan that this is a second en-suite, which is lovely. There is no picture, however, of the main bathroom, which looks to be the one with a bath in it. Just looking at the pictures people might assume this is a 5 bed (i.e. family) house with no bath for the kids.
9 - No issues really - just would have made it a little tidier for photos - neater bed, corner and top of wardrobe clearer.
10 - Why?? OK, so this is what is classed as bedroom one on the floorplan with an en-suite, but it's not clear and it just looks like someone's taken a really weird photo from the landing.
11 - This is fine to me, though do add an extra hook to the left hand curtain!
12 - I'm guessing this is bedroom 5? There's no sizes on the floorplan, but the blurb make it clear this is almost too small to be a bedroom. You're using it exactly as many would, but the storage could do with being a bit more organised in terms of looking like it was meant to be there, rather than you've run out of space so bought some more plastic boxes.
13 - Or is this bedroom 5? Again, looks pretty small to use as a bedroom, but it's fine as an office. Again, perhaps just make sure the curtain hooks and rings are evenly spread along the curtain (this is being very picky!)
14 - It's a family garden, obviously, but I would perhaps move the BBQ and basketball hoop into the garage for photos. Put a couple of pots out with some colour in it and make it look a little more user friendly. I can see from the floorplan that it's difficult to find a good angle to take a picture of the garden. Whose fence is that on the right? It looks like it needs replacing. And the back?
Give the fascia above the conservatory gutter a good scrub and pull the blinds up in the conservatory - again, just for photos if they're otherwise needed down.

What's the garage like inside? If it's full, again you might want to organise it.

It's a bit of an unusual layout as it would make more sense to me to have a door from the kitchen to the dining room, rather than to the lounge. Not something you can change, but it's a reason that some might not be keen.

If you can't convince your husband to declutter and throw stuff away, can you rent a storage unit for a while and just empty a lot of stuff into it? If you're potentially downsizing though to a 4 bed, I would seriously consider decluttering properly though as otherwise you're going to have the same amount of stuff in a smaller house.

Ultimately though it needs a good sort through, new photos, add photos of missing rooms, add dimensions to the floor plan and possibly a new agent (though given they've already told your DH to de-clutter I'm thinking it's more of a DH problem than an EA problem)

longapple · 07/10/2024 17:44

The floor plan doesn't have measurements on it. People might be expecting the rooms to be bigger than they are? can you ask the estate agent to update it?

Hernamewaslola22 · 07/10/2024 17:44

I've just bought a house. You definitely need better pictures and to tidy up more for them. Theres lots of clutter which is offputting. In one of the bedrooms it looks like there isn't a duvet cover on the duvet? These small things make a different. The pictures they've taken are really crap angles. In my experience these pictures are hiding something. For example, I went to see a house with rubbish pictures and the bits of the rooms they had cut out had awful damp and mould. Wishing you all the best.

W1nt3ring · 07/10/2024 17:46

I think you need to sort the garden out. It looks as if you’ve barely got one with all the clutter in it. House looks lovely.