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

Oh @Houseadvice26 this is the sort of house I'm looking for - except not in Swindon. Sorry I know that's not helpful in any way.
The price seems to be ok too. I've looked at a similar property up in Chester but that was only a 2 bed and that was priced higher.

So actually when we were buying a house we went for one with a postage stamp sized garden and immediately patioed it, because we both hate gardening with a passion, even mowing a lawn is more than we want to do. However I wouldn’t go for a house with a ripped up lawn, or gravel or astroturf because none of those are good for people who don’t like gardening, you have to upkeep astroturf or it gets mouldy, children will hurt themselves on gravel and you can’t walk on it in bare feet and if it’s just ripped up lawn then I have to pay and organise someone doing something with it, but if I’ve just paid top dollar for a house I don’t want to have to do that.

Actually gobsmacked that the beautiful garden was torn up! OP has reduced the price of the house by 10-20k just doing that alone.

Looks very grey which was a look about 10 years ago.
Then there's the tarmac out the front, where I imagine there was some sort of shrubbery or a tree which would have added kerb appeal + now there are weeds all over.
The bodge job on the kitchen too - it looks like the units have just been painted over with a random colour that someone had left over from another job.

Have a look at the postcode. It's not a competitive price.

Horrible photos.
Weeds outside, grubby looking bricks. Front door?
Back garden? Same weeds as front?
Either empty it completely or stare it completely - the one Ikea chair just looks half arsed.

Carpet colour is grim.
Kitchen lacks appeal.

Except my neighbours who did exactly this and wondered why it wouldn't sell!

Only apparently plausible explanation for such woeful advice.

Oh my goodness the grey, why did you think that painting everything grey would add 140k to the value?

I think it needs a bit of work in terms of colours, tidying the back yard and making it look like a home and then a realistic price. If you aren't able to do that then keep dropping the price someone else will buy to do it up and sell on.

Also your EA is blowing smoke up your arse about the gravel/astro thing.

The first picture isn't selling it. It looks uncared for. For starters, get rid of the weeds and jet wash the drive. Tidy up the flower bed. The tarmacked black semi circle should ideally be a flower bed to add some much needed greenery.

Oooh thanks for that, glad to see I was right about painting the black bits green! That looks so much better, welcoming and almost pretty.

I really don’t want to post anything negative in case this isn’t the op’s listing. But I have to query some dubious choices in the living room. The access from the hall has been shut off and now access is through the kitchen. The main window is now half the size. And the other window by the fireplace (still there according to the floor plan) has been bricked over.

Improving the property should have been a replacement kitchen with the kitchen made into a kitchen/diner leaving a rectangular living room. Possibly making the downstairs bathroom an en-suite.

Agree with everyone else regarding the criminal damage to the front and back gardens and the appalling photos and wrong location by the EA.

Op hasn’t said if no viewings or viewings but no offers. The huge reduction sends mixed messages to potential buyers.

This

plus get a video done with new pictures and it needs staged with furniture

Property prices down south blow my mind. That would be worth £200k tops where I am.

Have to wonder what goes through the minds of some these Mumsnet critics...

Mrs House Buyer (shaking head): "Ooh, look at that, there's at least twelve weeds there in the front garden. That would take 10 minutes at least to clear up, maybe twelve. We'll have to forget this one."

Mr House Buyer (sagely): "You're right, love. A pity, the rest of it looks pretty good, just what we're looking for. But those weeds...nah, fuck it."

Photo 1, abandoned house without door or functional windows, and a weird unbricked bit of drive.

Photo 2, awkward corners in a hallway.

Photo 3, the back of IKEA's most basic model of Poäng, with a bit of bare room in the background.

I doubt anyone's scrolling further, but if they do they get a mouse-eye view of a kitchen; an 'arty closeup' of a fireplace - except it's not a closeup and has been taken through a doorway with the door frame taking up half the picture; and apparently pentagonal bedrooms. No garden pictures, which is probably a blessing given the horrors you've inflicted on the previous perfectly nice front garden.

Remove the weeds. Replace the plants. Raise the blinds. Repaint the front in something more welcoming. Hire some furniture. And get new photos taken by someone who is over 2 feet tall and actually knows how to use a camera.

@WhereIsMyLight
I literally just snorted at your comment:
"I think to be blunt, you’ve fucked it mate" 😂

Op thinks it's more Insta-ready?

Please, just tell your husband to step away from the tools and design.
I won't say why it's not selling as it'll just repeat what everyone has said, but boy have you made it less saleable!

It's nearly always the cost, but I really don't like any of the flooring, sorry.

I think the point is that most people would just scroll past it based on the front. I would.

weeds = neglect especially when you are trying to sell. If you neglect the basics what else have you neglected / cut corners on under the surface (wiring, plumbing etc)

a few weeds wouldn't put me off but it is a well known fact that first impressions (first online photo, first view of the house as you pull up) count for a lot. I can guarantee many people won't look past that first photo.

Size of the kitchen. Absolutely tiny (and not very nice) for the price

Honestly my first thought was that it looks haunted.

To me those carpets look like some of the tarmac from the front of the house escaped into the bedrooms.

Only if they're not seriously looking for a house, or if they're a bit simple.

By whoever lovingly tended the garden and plants that OP ripped out, probably.