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

Where's the garden?

Why is it also being marketed on zoopla with a £268K guide price by an agent specialising in retirement properties? I find that off-putting.

https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/72083120/?search_identifier=dd6818cab00c94d1ab3660215a1ddc49578c00ee8063a2b91a0513f1bcad44b6

This actually doesn't matter because the house is at right angles to the road meaning the front door isn't on view.

That's really ugly from the outside, there might not be much you can do about it, but it must be possible to brighten it up a bit.

If I was house hunting in Swindon I'd be wondering why someone was moving again so quickly, and also think they were being very ambitious (greedy?) or didn't really want to sell, to expect such a big profit in 2 years. Then the big price reduction raises more questions.

I think you need to take it off the market and start again.

The street view link is wrong, it shows a much less nice looking street than the one your house is actually on.

Also looking at Zoopla there are some photos taken last year which are a little better although it's screaming out for a sofa to show the lounge off. In the original listing pics from 2023 the garden looks lovely that would bea huge selling point. Not sure what's going on in the 2025 pics, looks like you've covered the lawn in weed membrane.

My advice, buy a cheap sofa off market place and put some stuff in it. Small table and chairs by the patio doors. Pay a gardner to sort the garden and that damaged fence. Get some much better photos of it looking like a home.

This is it from 2023 and although dated it’s quite charming

I really like a side access front door but the lack of boundary in the front ‘garden’ would really turn me off. I would discount for that reason alone, before I got to the weeds in the front and back gardens and the kitchen. Rest of the house is nice enough, if very bland for my taste (so I’d be factoring in decorating and re-carpeting costs from the off).

In all, it looks like you’ve never lived in it since you bought it 2.5 years ago and that would make me wonder why.

This. Grey walls are one thing, but grey woodwork will be a pain to paint over. And black taps/shower just show limescale. So I'd be undoing a lot of work that I don't want to pay for in the asking price. Also I'd feel guilty ripping stuff out that's new, so I just wouldn't buy.

In terms of stuff you can practically do. The photos don't show how the rooms flow together; there's a whole other half of the kitchen you can't see. You can hire staging furniture. I wonder if that would be worth doing to make it feel like a home and show how the space works. Even if only for listing pictures.

In terms of price. The jump to the original price seems like a lot. Did you do a lot of non-cosmetic stuff too? I don't know what local values are, so can't judge it against other local houses.

Outside isn't attractive. Wheres the garden? I hate dark carpets so would immediately replace. It's v v grey. I don't like the bathrooms there's too many lines

To improve
I'd prob whiten some of the grey walls, needs planters Outside. Needs garden pics

The first photo with a load of weeds and no front door makes it look like a dodgy reposession.

I'd scroll past it.

You need to kill/remove the weeds and somehow make it look a little bit more inviting.

You also need some more furniture inside - downstairs looks abandoned except for a chair.

Buyers can be a bit dim and not work out where a dining table, sofa or tv would go.

The weeds!!! If I see a house that’s been ‘done’ but parts are significantly neglected I assume the seller has cut a lot of corners.

Get the outside sorted out, put up some curtains and for heaven’s sake make some effort with the staging. Remember that lots of people have no imagination.

Then get new photos and maybe a new agent.

Jesus. I HAVE found it on streetview and...is this how it was before? What have you done 🙈

I’ve found the previous listing and it looks like it had a decent enough garden, and front parking, so I would definitely add photos of those.

But also, being blunt, it looks like a house flipped cheaply and I’d be worried about the electrics, boiler, kitchen, windows, roof and the structural integrity of the loft conversion. Tbf it’s not at all to my taste anyway though (too much I would have to rip out!) so I wouldn’t be willing to pay a premium for the refurb anyway.

I like the mono look so like what you’ve done with the inside.
However, the outside looks bad - unkempt and unwelcoming. Needs some flowers, some colour, something to make it look loved. Also check out the street view - it doesn’t look to be the right road and I don’t think that will be helping.

All the weeds! Get the driveway jet washed and sand brushed in. Plant some shrubs.

The inside looks odd, like around the corner from the kitchen is what looks like a reception desk at a hair salon. Get rid of that and put in a large dining table. I'd also put a sofa in there. It's unclear what each area is to be used for.

Yes. Looked to make it a bit more ‘insta-worthy’ and 2026 appropriate.

Wow! That actually looks nice.

It's very grey and somehow depressing.

Nothing warm about it to make a buyer able to imagine themselves living there.

Looks like a developer renovated it and did it on the cheap but is now trying to get a high price for it.

Agree with those saying it’s soulless, that the ikea office furniture doesn’t help, also the huge jump from what £360k to £495k back down to £400k is very off putting.
definitely get the garden sorted and make it look more like a home than a setting for some
American Psycho based thing!

When you say 'heavily renovated' - what have you done? Did you add/build the upstairs? Or just update the existing rooms? If you've extended the property upwards then I can see that will have added value, but otherwise it's a big price jump.

The outside needs tidying up - the weeds and broken fence need sorting.

Some of the photos are taken from odd angles/positions - very low down, standing in the bath? It makes it difficult to gauge the size of the rooms.

Where are the oven and washing machine? In the utility room? Would be helpful to have a pic. The kitchen looks small for a 4 bed family home.

None of the decor seems to match to me - the two downstairs bathrooms seem to clash with each other. I do love the herringbone floor though!

Oh @JackJarvisEsq picture explains a lot! It looks so much more attractive with the flower beds and the window makes it look like a house, not an office/village hall type building. Could you put the window back? Or a front door there?

I think it looks fine. Nothing in the photos put me off. I went into street view to have a look at the area. I can’t find the house or anything remotely like it.

Also from the pics it looks like you have 2 bedrooms, but the floor plan shows more.

Agree! What do you have against leaves OP?

Honest opinion and I really don't mean any offence. Just had a browse through the listing with my DH. Both of us think the outside looks bad. Unwelcoming, doesn't scream 'home' to us. Inside isn't much better. The photos may just not do it justice but there's something really oppressive about the interior. Not keen on the bathroom or on anything else. It had an abandoned shop/warehouse impression for both of us.

Again, please don't think I'm meaning it as a bitchy post, I love scrolling through houses for sale and that's just our impression from looking at the listing photos.

ETA: just looked again. I think the bathroom tiles are what stand out as especially bad, should they not have been staggered? I don't know but it just reminds me of lined paper from my school days.