Why is my in-laws' gorgeous house not selling?!

[irisetta]

What is wrong with this listing? Some back story - my in-laws have been desperate to sell up for a while to be nearer to us. They live near Portsmouth, we are in St Albans. They have a beautiful house! It's 5 minutes walk from the beach in Lee-on-Solent, it's right next to the High Street but super quiet. Huge back garden. Beautifully renovated home, when they bought it it hasn't been touched in at least 30 years. It looks immaculate. No it doesn't have the open plan kitchen diner, but what there is, is perfect.

For the first 7 months while they were listing the house, the estate agent was effing up the RightMove listing quite badly - they were only appearing for people looking for bungalows, when it is not a bungalow 🤦 I noticed this recently. 🙄 After pointing it out, it's since been amended to appear to anyone looking for a 3 bedroom detached property in Lee-on-Solent.

Anyway, now that it's appearing to everyone who might want it, AND they've reduced the price (too much, IMO), my mum-in-law is somehow still convinced that the lovely estate agent is now doing his level best for them - still no viewings after a couple of weeks. And they've only EVER had 3 viewings, ever since it was first listed those 7 months ago - none of which were even proceedable. Thoughts, lovely ladies of Mumsnet?

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/173477669

If it shows as having been listed 8 months ago, that will turn people off as well. They will be wondering what is wrong with it.

I would take it down, get a new agent, declutter and try again at a lower price point.

It's not a bungalow, it has a sizeable upstairs floor. 2 bedrooms and a spacious shower room. Lovely views too. 🥰

Not quite sure how you can call a detached house with a 2 bedrooms upstairs plus a big shower room "a bungalow"? 🙄😆 It also sits on a massive plot. It's not underpriced at all. 650 would be about right

Are you the rubbish estate agent?! 🤣😆🤦

Thank you!

Definitely, I'll advise they reduce by at least 100k. Sure it's not 150k? How many other bungalows with 2 big floors in Lee are they up against? 🙄

It’s a beautiful home for an older couple but if I was going in to buy it here is what I would feed back…
Narrow road, lots of cars parked
Not enough colour at the front - e.g. couple of planters each side of the front door
Artex ceilings - instant turn off and lots of work
Too much furniture and too much dark furniture
Kitchen needs updating
Colours are too much on the walls
Conservatory festoon thingy is too much plus too much furniture
One of the bathrooms doesn’t have a mirror over the sink
Curtains all need replacing
Motorhome in drive takes up too much room - move it for new photos
The garden is absolutely stunning but what is the target audience. It’s a 3 bed so maybe a family. I wouldn’t want a stunning garden if kids would be running around kicking a ball etc.
If the market is a retired couple they probably won’t want stairs but would love the garden.
I wouldn’t defo get a new estate agent. Take more photos - there isn’t enough. Get a video tour done so you can see the garden in all its glory plus a run through of the house. Move the motorhome. Put some pots by the front door. Remove the festoon thing. Maybe take furniture away and put in storage. It just all looks a bit busy.
Also, although it has 2 floors it is still a bungalow albeit a dormer one.
Hope it sells for them as you can see it’s a much loved home

£630k for a dated 3-bed bungalow in Portsmouth - the world has gone crazy. You do realise that normal people with average jobs people can’t get mortgages for that kind of money?

It's not a bungalow... It has 2 floors! Yes, houses cost money. It's almost on the beach with a huge garden. You cannot fault her location.

Theres a lot of furniture in every space which I feel makes it look a bit cramped - lots of seating options!

The bath has that shower attachment via tap which isnt something I'd like.

I notice on the floorplan there is a garage yet its not clearly shown?

It looks nice but just that, its not got any high quality fixtures and fittings that I can see.

I also dont like the material on the conservatory ceiling, I'd rather see the roof of it is clean and well maintained, I've personally never seen that before and think its a bit odd.

They do need to sell a show home as much as possible, we've sold twice now and each time I removed extra furniture and boxes of stuff into storage to strip everything back.

I think they are not from a generation of constant exposure to inside of others homes via instagram, youtube and rightmove browsing. We all have higher standards now so homes do need to be staged. Their home is nice and I'm sure comfortable for them, but it's too much stuff and not staged to sell I feel.

I wouldnt care about the astroturf, I dont have time to garden, it looks fine for me.

Any house will sell if the price is right. The property is very dated and will need a lot of work to bring it into the correct decade. It’s overpriced pure and simple. If it wasn’t overpriced it would have sold. People intuitively know when a house is a good deal and when it’s not. For a dated house people will be hoping to get a bargain and do it up. If they still want to try to get 600k for this (ridiculous!) then remove all the dated furniture and paint it in some contemporary colours. Recarpet and new kitchen and bathroom.

Firstly declutter big time

Second it really isnt a 3 bed. Its a 2 bed with a study/bedroom downstairs and needs marketing and pricing as such
.

for me, the other issues ate

Colours are very bold and very dated. It needs an overhaul to freshen up and modernise, it is very 90's in decor

Canopy in conservatory - get rid for the time they are selling. Its awful. Makes the room look dark and way smaller than it is

Front is lacking curb appeal, I appreciate umyou said they wanted low maintenance, but get some nice pots by the door, big up the low maintenance garden bit

I would potentially also get plans drawn up for extensions and investigate planning permission. If not too costly get it in place as it will widen the net.

But ultimately your in laws are selling their loved home, they need to amend their thought process to selling a house and lose the emotion.

As someone actively house hunting, here is my tuppence.

A lot can be improved cosmetically. My estate agent told me, he listed a house for 875k with little interest for weeks. As soon as the vendor recarpeted and repainted, interest shot up. He actually advised making cosmetic changes if a house is struggling on the market.

Given the listing, Id:

1. Repaint bold colours to more neutral ones.

2. Store away the wooden furniture where possible as it makes it look very 80s. Brown wooden furniture may be sturdy and long lasting but does date a room.

I'd then get new photos done and relist (have to wait 14 weeks for it to appear as a new listing on rightmove.)

Also it’s a rather ugly house from the outside. Not gorgeous at all
they could do some improvements to add some plants etc to the front garden to try to break up the very austere frontage. It looks a bit prison like. Maybe some olive trees, camellias, fig tree and magnolia. I put all these in my front garden in large pots so can take them when I move.

I was expecting stunning interiors from your description

I’d be removing all bathrooms and kitchen and re doing them plus sorting out the conservatory into something like an orangery etc so actually alot of money to be spent

I think this is definitely the estate agent responding, the extreme defensiveness ties in very well. Plus the weirdly specific extra details about the market, and insistence that this is a "bungalow" (it isn't.) 🤦🤣 My in-laws bought it for a little over 500k over 13 years ago. One thing I know, this particular estate agent has been lazy since day 1, and any sale is a win for them, given that they got given sole agency (why?!!! Never do that, people!) It certainly has not depreciated in value.

I might be wrong, I hope so, but my gut is rarely wrong.

Also those curtains on the third photo are very......busy. I'd remove in new estate agent photo.

i mean i love it, to be fair, nice area, its too expensive in my eyes, but anything is worth something to the right person.

This is a map showing all the detached 3 bed properties within a 0.5 mile radius currently on the market. The property is WAY overpriced

The sequence of photos 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 makes it hard to imagine the rooms or the flow of space. You cannot get a sense of any whole spaces because no doorways or transitions are shown to help build a mental map. The viewpoint shifts chaotically. A lot of the photos have cut-off views of furniture in the corners. A video tour is a must. And a new EA who can take photos that tell a story of going from room to room and looking around. Flood risk assessment would help. Also a front door photo at a different time of day...the porch seems to harbour darkness.

@irisetta you keep repeating “it’s not a bungalow” but it looks like a bungalow + loft conversion, if it has one storey + loft conversion it’s a bungalow. Sorry. Anyway maybe have new photos taken from
the back garden to show the rear of the house as the front pic does not do it any favours. Agree with the other poster who said actually it’s a 2 bed and the sun room could be made to look beautiful by removing the green thing and the old fashioned furniture and adding tons of plants. Theres a woman called Suzanne Steer at house medic interiors she does up houses for sale and she’s brilliant. If they want to achieve that price they need something like that

I am not from the UK so obviously don't have a feel for pricing but I agree with people who suggest a complete change of furniture, repaint, and do more with the front. Its too cluttered - it lacked light and space. Essentially, it is an old person's home, way too fussy and the colours scheme is terrible

I completely agree, it's actually a really difficult house to sell - so much prettier in real life! Sadly they engaged lazy estate agents who did the bare minimum 🤷 At least I'm getting a clearer picture now 😁

People looking for a bungalow when house hunting are looking for a one-storey property. Now this may be for various reasons, but people looking specifically for a bungalow DO NOT WANT STAIRS. My in-law's home has stairs, it has a big upstairs living space. In no universe can it be called a bungalow! The estate agent who was initially trying to market the property would only let it show for people looking for bungalows only. 🤦 It's not a bloody bungalow.

Brutal! Thanks ❤️