House not selling (with listing)

[Houseadvice26]

Posted here for traffic. Thoughts welcome please!

Purchased for £360k in 2023
Heavily renovated
Reduced gradually from £495k last year
Now on with a new EA for £400k

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/165327158#/?channel=RES_BUY

@BatchCookBabe here is the listing from 2023

I'm confused- did you reduce the window size in the living room? Also why is there only one window that is grey in the house when the rest are white?

I agree with others about getting the photos redone after sorting out the fence, weeding, and popping in some container plants, as well as some properly considered furniture for the main living spaces

One of the reasons the house is jarring is that you're mixing warm and cold tones together (eg warm flooring in the main areas but a cold grey elsewhere). There's no continuity of style, there's a lot of lines everywhere but they don't match up (e.g. the bathroom). In terms of cheapish fixes, replace the greys with a colour that compliments your floor and maybe regrout bathroom to have white grout so the lines are less jarring.

The kitchen doesn't look functional or finished - you've removed lots of counter space in favour of a massive fridge. You may need to spend some money to reinstate the countertop as a full run and get new neutral cabinets in.

Blocking off the entrance to the living room was a strange decision and will be off putting to some viewers as I'd expect to enter the living room from the hallway (as it was previously).

Some soft furnishings and plants in the inside will make it look more appealing, as would a nice big rug by the fireplace

Sadly I agree that the 2023 house seemed more appealing - I bought a 1970s doer upper on purpose so I could put my own stamp on the space guilt free. It feels wasteful to renovate a space that's already recently been done up so I avoided those. The old garden was lovely 🫠

Are you OP's estate agent?

At this stage OP, not knowing whether you originally intended to live in it or it was a flip, or what you spent on the work to date, I would take it off the market.

Then reinstate the garden, with lawn, repair the fence and invest in giving it curb appeal.

I'd knock through from kitchen to dining area and put a wall in dividing the current dining area from the living room, which will still be a large room. Redo the kitchen as a kitchen diner.

Then find a better EA and re-market.

Photos are terrible, what little you can see of the garden is terrible, old kitchen, front of house / first pic very terrible.

So I really dislike these types of “renovations” where all original features and charm of a property are stripped back, the renovator puts in cheap laminate, cheap carpets, cheap paint job on the exterior and on the kitchen units but expects prospective owners not to notice and pay top prices for a half arsed job.

The garden fence is falling down for gods sake and you’ve absolutely butchered the front. If you want to sell the property as “done” at least put in a new kitchen, replace the fence and put down some turf.

You may have heavily renovated it but you’ve missed the most important part - the kitchen. If I was the agent, picture number 1 would be the last picture. Lead with an internal like your bathroom. Ask your agent to swap that straight away.

Thanks @Knavesmirelass and @ForeverPombear too!

Thank you! Off to look at it now!

This just about sums it up for me

A "done" place can attract a lot of viewers if it's been carried out sensitively, but this is just a horror and what would need spending on the groundworks would be enough to put most off

I agree with this, the front would put me off being interested in viewing the property

....plus it's so contrary to what people want. It's the awful dark grey carpets, the monochrome, the wood burning stoves, the ripped out garden, the wood painted black...
I can't believe an EA actually advised all that.

Oh dear, sorry @Houseadvice26 but it was much nicer - when you bought it in 2023 - before you turned it grey and monochrome. And what has happened to the garden(s?)

Sooooo much grey. As has been said, you need to add a load of splashes of colour...

Why are you selling it so quickly after buying it?

It looks so much smaller now than it did on the original listing. I can't work out where the sofa and dining table would fit. The stairs didn't look great before but they look even more imposing painted dark grey and you have blocked off the door. The fireplace seems oddly placed, too close to the stairs. You have ruined the garden which would have been a selling point and the front now is ugly. I'd need to retile the bathroom, shouldn't the tiles be offset? The black grout isn't nice and it doesn't flow with the flooring. I probably wouldn't look past the first photo but if I did the huge drop in price would make me look deeper. Seeing the old listing then would make me think it was a cheply done flip so I wouldn't buy. It will sell but you will be lucky to get what you paid for it as it doesn't seem to have a target market in mind.

Looking at the before pics you’ve done a lot of work to upgrade the interior.
Grey everywhere is not my taste, but you’re not selling it to me.

It lets itself down on the kitchen and the exterior.

The kitchen should either have been left entirely as it was - which looked dated but ok - or completely replaced. The attempt to spruce up the kitchen with green paint has made it worse. Buyers are going to be looking at a new kitchen.

I agree with everyone that the exterior lets it down. Had you simply re-treated the wood or painted it a more palatable colour than black that would have been an advantage. The loss of a mature garden is a shame. It looked very pretty before and if someone wants to replace real grass with fake that’s up to them. It doesn’t take much to mow a small lawn. Never listen to EAs particularly in small provincial firms - they are clueless.

When renovating a house think holistically rather than superficially or “instaworthy”. It would have been worth spending more replacing the kitchen and less making the exterior worse.

I don’t know how much you’re in for but you may find yourself making a bit of a loss. But that happens sometimes - just sell and move onto your next property with some useful lessons learned.

I think it's been done so badly. Having found the last listing I'd rather pay less and get to do it myself, the herringbone floor is OK, even the bathroom I think the tiles are too big for the room, the rest is awful and astro is beyond awful. I think you've wasted a lot of money. I'd be buying to do up so I'd want a similar price to what you paid so I could redo it all.

I haven’t read the full thread.

The reasons why I wouldn’t buy this property are:

• zero curb appeal
• It’s a 2 bedroom house, not 4.
• I don’t like stairs in a living room. I prefer in a hallway.
• I REALLY don’t like the bathroom tiles.

100% the loss of outside greenery has made it so much worse - cold, hard and sterile.

No wonder no one is interested now.

It's all a bit grey crushed velvet-core... Cold and a bit outdated. I get that the bathrooms are swanky and stylish and I am sure your instagram looks great, but you have massively missed the mark outside. It is a bungalow so make it pretty outside. It doesn't have to be super modern or to your taste - just attractive. Then inside you need some rugs and soft furnishings to try and combat the coldness. This might not be to your taste but it would be cheap/quick and more appealing....

To me it's actually a three-bedroom house with a dining room that's being used as a fourth bedroom, because I wouldn't want to eat dinner with friends in the kitchen.

This might be the greatest opportunity to invest in a facade on the front i have ever seen.

I would retake the front photo after weeding. Is photo 6 showing all the kitchen, there doesn’t seem to be much of it.

The decor isn’t my taste, but I could paint it if I bought it. I’d want to see the garden though, no photos makes me think it’s tiny.

It's very grey in palette, and lacking any charm or character.

heve you seen the back "garden"?

That's great, a significant improvement. It looks more up to date than black and tarmac.