House not selling (with listing)

[Housesale2]

Any thoughts welcome - awkward lay out? Decor? Anything else?

To pre-empt a couple of questions; it was originally listed at £400,000, and there is parking for two cars (one on the gravel, one on the right)

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/171873854#/?channel=RES_BUY

And me if I were moving to Swindon. Hope it sells soon OP.

You have a lovely home but the pictures don’t show the back garden very well. I would want to see looking out the patio doors into the garden. You’re also on a bend so where do you park? I can’t see a dropped kerb so not sure if the front is supposed to be a drive.

Where I live (naice south east) house prices rose around covid, then have fallen right back since 2022/2023, to a point where things are selling for maybe 10% more than they did in 2017.

That house sold for £268k in 2017 but you now want £375k for it? Remember buyers wages might have risen but that's more than offset by the interest rate rises.

Who's your target buyer? When you bought the house, what was affordable for you at rates then? Did you have a big deposit from gains on earlier properties? The typical buyer today doesn't, and they've got higher childcare bills, higher food & utility costs, and huge fuel/transport costs. Imagine someone in a job similar to what you had in 2017, can they afford to borrow enough at 5% interest rates with a smaller deposit, to pay 40% more than you did then?

Nothing to add really except to say I really like your kitchen!

Regarding the blue living room and kitchen. Imo, if a property is presented 'aspirationally' I believe you can get away with quirkier design/colour choices - but that needs to be carried throughout the whole property.

It's worked for us in the past (with the caveat we're admittedly not trying to sell in the current difficult time, although we did sell extremely quickly during the financial crash of 2007/8).

In the case of @Housesale2's house, I think the kitchen and bathrooms are fairly aspirational for that type/size property, but the other rooms/areas including the garden less so and subsequently let it down. Where the blue works in the kitchen, I'd say coupling it with the old-fashioned fireplace in the living room it's less successful and a bit random.

I appreciate it's hard to keep on top of kids' clutter, but for the EA photos, maximum effort should be made - after all it's not every day you put your most valuable asset up for sale/mass scrutiny and there's no excuses for it not looking its absolute best! This is particularly true in a stagnant/falling market.

As for the rear garden, sadly the 2017 pics from the historic listing show a lovely established space which appears to no longer exist.

Bedrooms look tiny with so much stuff crammed in them, other rooms have stuff in front of other stuff like it can’t actually fit furniture.

Pictures 10-12 are chaotic. As a pp says, remove green furniture in picture 10 to left and anything you can from 11 and 12. What kind of animals are in the cage? I was put off by pet rats whose cage was overflowing with bedding onto the bathroom floor.

I’m about to put mine on the market, bloody terrified given the global situation. I’ve decluttered in a serious way, the resulting space is amazing. I’ll be removing all signs of dogs before viewings. I’m lucky not to be in a hurry, but it’s still a very anxious time and I want people to like my house! If I could pick it up and move it, I would.

That house sold for £268k in 2017 but you now want £375k for it?

When was the extension/garage conversion done? If since 2017, that would account for the increase.

Which is exactly how it should have stayed. Classic example of trying to bump up the price of the house by adding an arbitrary "bedroom" which is a little more than a closet space.
The price of the house may be reasonable but for that money in the area, I'd expect nice large bedrooms.

I think that first pic could be better if you tidied some of the weeds at the side

This looks much better. The back garden is really off putting. Needs to get thoroughly landscaped etc. The windows are ugly.
Sort the front out and delete the clutter.

Windows would be turn off for me and the fact it feels "built" out from original house of that makes sense with the garage conversion and room at back
Also lack of garage and storage

This is a really nice house OP. When I look at a house I look past animal cages and how a bed is. So don't worry about that. The only thing I don't like about the house is the fact you walk through the reception room to get to anywhere downstairs. However it's really lovely and the layout is nice. It's going to be the price which is why it isn't selling.

There aren't enough kitchen cupboards to be honest. Where do you actually put crockery / pans / cereal etc?

The photos are pretty bad eg the 'snug' patio doors and curtain rail look incredibly wonky.

Having just sold a property, I would advise a huge clear out. Remove the toys, animal cage, most of the items in the office, definitely put a rug down in the lounge, cut the grass and tidy the front and back gardens. I would make it clear that the garage doesn't belong to your property.

I don't like the teal / turquoise blue but that's pretty minor.

The bathrooms are lovely but don't fit with the rest of the property ie they're new, fresh, clean and modern. However, I don't think that the bathrooms and kitchen are sufficient to get you a sale.

Overall, I think it has potential but needs a huge declutter, possibly reducing in price and then some staging.

Absolutely nothing is selling around here. People are very nervous about moving due to world events and spiralling costs.

Your house is lovely @Housesale2 .

I haven’t read every comment so this may have been asked; why are there 2 bathrooms upstairs without one being an en-suite?

I could look past peoples stuff when looking at houses. I would be looking at size of the rooms/layout

That grey fireplace is hideous. Aware it can be changed, but it's a real eyesore as it is currently.

I honestly think people are being a bit picky. It’s lovely op. I think your decor is nice. Maybe I’m not keen on the fireplace but it’s cosmetic and easily sorted and wouldn’t put me off. Your bathrooms are lovely! Good luck

There is a downstairs toilet on the floor plan, it’s just not photographed for some reason.

Plants are your friend here. Some colourful plants in nice looking pots (not stone given all that brick - maybe ceramic) and some nice borders and shrubs to the back along with some more pots. A few hundred at a decent garden centre will pay a dividend and certainly soften things up a bit.

Really? The windows could easily be replaced. It would just take a day or two. Or they could be painted for a fraction of the cost.

We lived in Oakhurst Swindon so nearby, are they still building loads of new builds in the area? We found it hard to compete against the new builds as they can offer so many deals.

Not RTFT but agree with most of the posters so far. So just my thoughts:
Lots of nice things:

• Kitchen is nicely done
• Bathrooms are also really nice and spacious
• Study is good
• Downstairs loo is a tick
• Main living room is a good size

Things you cannot change but would put me off:

• No hall means you walk through the living room to the kitchen. Only a couple of ppl have mentioned this but in a four-bed detached it’s a big no. I lived in one before (my first, tiny house) and you have to furnish the room oddly. And where do ppl take off their boots?
• Bedrooms are very small sorry. @OlderGlaswegianLivingInDevon the reason the bed only just fits in that room is that it’s bed 3 and the 8ft9 is the max – ie into the doorway. The width of the majority of the room is about 6ft 6 I guess
• L-shaped room is a mare to furnish
• No wall cupboards in the kitchen

Things you can change:

• Spruce up the rather sad garden
• Tidy up – yes I know ppl are not buying the things but empty the washer, put away the pet cage, move the things off the kitchen shelves and worktop
• Retake the pix so they are not so madly distorted. If you compare to the 2017 listing, the kitchen pic with the table especially is WILD, it is certainly not that big; and the living room photo is stretched and looks less cosy to me

HTH. Tho tbf it is most likely the price. I realise that you have changed it from a three bed to a four bed since 2017 but because of the nature of the space, I am not sure that it is an advantage tbh.

I think it’s a really lovely house! Some of these comments are a bit silly. Serious buyers really don’t care about the tidiness or even the decor. My mum told me to look up at the ceiling to get an idea of room size. All the clutter etc will be gone!

Whats the location like? Nice neighbourhood, quiet? Close to transport, amenities? These are the important things that can’t be changed.

I agree. It's 112 m2 - absolutely tiny. It's small even for a three bed.