To think that it’s odd no one has come to look?

[Onwayto50]

I wasn’t sure how to title this - but we put our house on the market 3 weeks ago and have had utter tumbleweed. I’m including a link - am I missing something? I think it’s priced right for the market and I think the photos are lovely but maybe I’m too close to it?? AIBU to think we should have had a least a little interest? Or am I missing something glaring??

Looks like lovely house, but the kitchen does look weird - no units just a long island? Maybe photos don't show it - so could they be redone?

Kitchens are pricey to replace so that would be put me up for a house that looks 'done'.

Garden looks good size, but maybe some planters to vegetation it up a bit might help and make it seem more inviting?

It's the kitchen though for me that makes me think not right house.

Just seen update from OP, seems weird to ask for feedback then obviously get annoyed by it...

ok noted. I thought you might have meant it was Georgian or more recent. Sorry.

The Harlaxton Rd one is on the A607, perhaps an even busier road than Op's!

Also no garage & possibly a smaller garden.

Not saying that Op's isn't overpriced though.

I'm not quite sure.

The OP didn't know what the problem was and wanted to know. Despite then admitting the kitchen was marmite which baffles me. If you know your kitchen is marmite then you know it has a much more limited pool of potential buyers. That's being in denial rather than not knowing what the problem is.

There is a resounding issue with the awful kitchen no one liked at all and the terrible layout where you have to walk ALLLLL the way up and ALLLLL the way down to a) use the kitchen, b) get into the lounge because of the total lack of thought by the person who made those design choices.

Most people totally understood this wasn't a choice by the OP to do those things; they were inherited by the owner. And they can't really be changed.

Ultimately if you have so many posters telling you this, there's your problem. It's nothing personal. It's not being vile. It's just something that a lot of people just aren't prepared to live with. They CAN see past decoration and taste differences, and that's part of the problem.

And you are still stuck with an awful layout that is either going to cost a lot to put right or you are going to have to live with.

So the OP needs to understand that they either have to keep their house on the market for ages, fully understanding that very few people will choose to even look at the house OR they understand the problems with layout need to be taken seriously with the price. Just because the estate agents have given a standard price based on square footage doesn't mean they are right about the price. Clearly they are not accounting for so many people disliking the layout and the kitchen but it's a very big problem with trying to sell.

As I say, previous posters have nailed the problem when they say it's essentially a house which needs a lot of work in the eyes of many, but has the premium price tage of a renovated house, that doesn't need any work.

Thing is, the OP liked the house. So it's getting your head around what appealed to the OP. I'm fairly sure that being £100k cheaper was one of those factors. The higher price alone, in an era where wages are fairly stagnant, acts to restrict the number of possible buyers because there's less people who can borrow that much money.

I know you said you weren't coming back @Onwayto50 but I know you will be reading. I'm so sorry that you have been upset about peoples comments - tiz AIBU and people are harsh! 😬May have been better posting it on the Property board. (I don't think I was rude, if I was I apologise.)

But anyway, try not to take the comments to heart, people have different views and opinions, and frankly, I think your house looks BETTER than when someone listed it in 2018. I think it's lovely inside. It looked bland and dull before. Some other posters have said it's nice too.

All I would suggest is maybe re-taking some of the photos because some of them do make the rooms look long and narrow, and I can see from the room measurements that they're not. The photos also make the rooms look smaller than they are. They don't look as big on the photos as the actual measurements IYSWIM.

And yes it can be classed as a 4 bed, even 4/5, because of the extra room in the basement, (and regarding the smallest bedroom, just because a bedroom is small that doesn't mean it's not a bedroom - as several posters have said! )🙄My younger DC had a bedroom around that size til they we moved to a bigger 4 bed home, (when they were 11,) and they managed perfectly well in it for 11 years. Your smallest bedroom is 10 ft 3 X 6 ft 3, our smallest bedroom was 10ft X 7t!

And yes, other houses around you don't have as much room as you (because of said extenstion.) Ignore people saying you have no right to bump up the price, because ALL houses have gone up loads since then. You have every right to ask whatever you want. Of course, if it's not selling, you may need to drop it. It could be a bit overpriced now (sorry!) You may need to drop it 5 or 10 thousand. though, as I think £395K is a bit overpriced for it (sorry.) Even with the extension and the fact it is nice, I think it's too much for a terraced house. (That maybe has no parking, I can't see any on the listing...) I suspect you may need to drop it to around £360K to even have someone look at it.

Hopefully someone has seen your house on here and fancies buying it! (Or you do pick up some tips from some of the posts here) Even the harsher ones!

Good luck. Happy moving.

p.s, You could report your thread to Mumsnet and ask them to delete it if it's upsetting you.

OP you asked for the reasons why you weren't getting any viewings so we told you. You think the photos were lovely but many have disagreed.They are showing the full potential. A lot of people don't like the kitchen & these are valid reasons why potential buyers aren't booking to view, they're not personal attacks. Maybe just retake them from different angle or something especially the kitchen one . I like your garden actually it looks like a good space to relax in.

Usual nasty, rude posters. It’s fine if you think OP has over priced the property but she’s put herself out there with revealing her clearly much loved home so can’t people find it in themselves to at least say something nice along with their views about price??

I thought it looked nice, and I like your bright colours, my suggestion would be to declutter and remove as much stuff as you can, particularly personal items. And definitely get the photos redone, preferably by a photographer who specialises in real estate.

Admittedly I'm in Australia and very different but we were told to remove anything personal as it helps people visualise it as their own.

Good luck with your sale.

I thought the OP's response was perfectly fine ,I don't know why posters are having a go at her .
But i don't understand this

1. to whoever queried that it was sold for £50k about 10 years ago - nope that was an anomaly and to do with a divorce!

can anyone help me out?

These (and @Zov) long “smug but helpful” responses are even worse the the outright rude ones - it’s like a gleeful take-down!

To reiterate, I think your house is gorgeous downstairs but the garden and bedrooms need work, just in a styling way though rather than expensive make-over.

I think getting new photos down and reducing the price a bit are also crucial.

I actually received some really good advice from Mumsnet last year when a property I was selling didn’t have much interest, and I ended up having new photos taken with me supervising the photographer. Interest went right up and we had an offer soon afterwards, actually from someone who’d disregarded it previously, based on the original photos.

I did have to sift through some horrid responses to get to the good advice though - some people picked up on a minor unrelated aspect and just piled on!

I get that it’s frustrating to be told your house is overpriced when you’ve priced it according to the advice of the estate agents, who are the experts. Not many people are going to have their house valued at £390k then say ‘actually I think it’s only worth £300k so I’m going to ignore you and put it on for that’. They go with what they’re told.
However the fact that there have been no viewings does suggest it’s a price issue. On paper, according to square footage etc it may be ‘worth’ a certain amount, but in reality it’s only worth what someone is willing to pay.
Someone in that area is only going to spend £390k on a a mid terrace house if it’s the most perfect mid terrace house they’ve ever seen, and I think in this case all the small ‘niggles’ such as the unusual kitchen, uncared for garden and industrial looking carpets mean that there are just too many downsides for it to be worth the financial outlay.

Being nice won't help her solve the property though!

This is the problem with getting yourself tied up in knots about being polite and desperately trying not to offend anyone, when what you actually asked for (and need) is honest feedback.

I think much of the house is lovely but I would be out off by the layout downstairs. I always think it’s such a shame to knock down walls and stick a box on the bag of a lovely period house. I would never consider a house of that size which didn’t have a separate dining room. I also really don’t like the kitchen and it seems incredibly badly designed. The front looks lovely from the outside but the back garden couldn’t look much less attractive .

I don't think it's smug and 'helpful' to say, in response to: "I don't understand why no-one has looked. Can anyone tell me why?" with a comment that basically says, "I wouldn't look because the kitchen wouldn't suit my needs. It's too small for me." It completely answers the question. It doesn't mean it's not a lovely kitchen for someone else, it's just not the right one for me and why I, as an individual, wouldn't look. What's more helpful than genuinely answering the question asked to help OP understand?

It's the price. Three bed terraces are selling for around £200K in your area so asking twice that much for a four bed just isn't going to fly.

You don't seem to have a proper kitchen, which is offputting. Your bedrooms are set across 3 floors which means it isn't suitable for families with young children.
It also looks like a posh youth centre for children, professional and lovely furniture but not a home.

OP your house looks fabulous. I would love a kitchen like that. Hope you make a sale.

I think some people lack the imagination to see how their life would fit into a house from photos. Especially when yours is decorated specifically to your taste which of course it should be it’s your home. I don’t think the photos do it any justice and so I’d ask for new ones to be taken.

Dress the beds better, no wrinkled duvets or flat cushions. Sadly it seems you have to make it look more like a show home these days and sell a lifestyle rather than just allow people to figure it out for themselves.

My dh couldn’t sell his house at first so I staged it somewhat and it sold on the first viewing. Lots of people can picture how they would make it theirs but so many more can’t.

I have a huge island like that in my kitchen too. It's remarkably practical with loads of storage on both sides and lots of worktop space. BUT, and this is important, the space one side of it is still wide enough for a run of wall units, my sink, cooker, dishwasher, fridge freezer etc, so it doesn't feel like it's floating between two pointless, empty corridors that minimise usable space rather than maximising it.

If you are still reading OP, then I think that while you had to correct a lot of misconceptions, those misconceptions are really useful feedback for you. It shows what is wrong (eg sale history) or not accurately conveyed in the pictures (spaciousness etc). You need that floor plan corrected asap too.

I have no idea about the prices in Grantham but while I am prepared to believe it's overpriced, I think it's a bit insulting and outlandish to suggest the OP has put it on for almost double what it's worth! Victorian and Edwardian houses command a premium. You can't compare it with every other three bed terrace, including poky ex-council houses or ugly, flimsy 80s and 90s builds or new builds with tiny rooms, no front garden to speak of and no proper pavement outside.

stressful isn't it. The house is only worth what someone else will pay, not how much you like it! The listing above yours on that rightmove link is a bigger detached house 1/3 mile away with a garage for £10k more (also not sold).

your home is lovely, but it's cosmetics don't outweigh location size and facilities which make the value, they just speed the sale once the price is right

I know nothing about the area so can’t comment on price - the big issue is the kitchen for me - it just looks like an island in an empty room - photos need sorting out .

Probably that one half of a divorcing couple remortgaged for 50k to buy out their ex.

I must check the listing for mine to see if our additional 25k mortgage taken to do works on the property is shown as a 'sale'.