Why isn't this house selling? Opinions please

[vitaminC]

Not my house, btw. It has been on the market for almost 6 months, with just a handful of viewings in that time. No offers.

Feedback was more to do with the size of the house or its location than the house itself. (It's one of a handful of detached houses on the edge of an estate consisting mainly of sheltered housing for the elderly).

The agents are not being very helpful, so I'd like some honest feedback and suggestions from the experts on here, please. I've already suggested they tidy up the back garden a bit.

This is the house

The clutter in the kitchen/on window sills etc needs to go

Why would you feature a picture of a toilet?

Why isn't the conservatory pictured?

Set that room with the folded table up as a dining room

Take out sections of the giant sofa to improve the perspectives in the sitting room

Your mum can protest all she likes, but I can think of 3 houses refused to view recently because of the garden looking like hers. Lovely, but not for DC.

Not much to add but definitely second the points about the massive sofa, excess of furniture and the garden. There isn't any thing that is glaringly wrong though but I agree that a floor plan is a must for me!

Our elderly neighbours house is on the market and total lack of interest but I am convinced that's because the garden is 'ornamental' but that doesn't match with the potential market of young families. might also be because of peach bathroom suite

Definitely needs a floor plan and can the photos have a title rather than 'picture x'? You can do a floor plan for free on www.floorplanner.com - we're looking at houses at the mo and a floor plan is really helpful.

Also noticed that not all the rooms have been photographed which would make me suspicious. The garden would probably be a little off-putting as we'd be wanting a bit of turf for DD to play in (and I expect we'll have very little money left after moving to pay for 'extras').

The front of the house is just really boring and I don't quite get why it's been taken so low down. I'd buy/borrow some winter flowing plants and put something around the door, even planters that they can take with them. Alternatively, maybe having the photo of the back of the house (taken from the garden) as the first one, might be more interesting.

Blimey, that's about 500yards from where my grandad used to live. Ah, brings back happy memories, thanks!

(agree a floorplan helps...you can 'define' the rooms on one as well, without having to actually change the interior)

Floorplan would really help work out what the pictures are of.

The sofa is huge - but if you could see in the plan where it was that would be different.

Garden looks a bit triffidy - can any of that get cut back?

Other than not having a photo of the toilet, can't really see the problem.

I thought the garden looked lovely - a real, lush cottage garden feel, with the lavender bushes and so on. The front is also clearly good in summer (or at least, there seems to be a low hedge of flowering lavender, which should be attractive). There's probably a half-way house between turning it into nothing but turf (which everyone on here would criticise just as much) and not having any lawn at all. If it's not expensive, they could think about creating a well-defined round lawn on the raised area, to echo the round paved area below it, and then having the cottage-type planting around the edges? Or maybe there is lawn, and we just can't see it.

I can't imagine that the lack of lawn is actually the deal breaker here, though, if they aren't getting people to see it at all.

How about doing the floor plan, and having really good photos of all 4 bedrooms, dining room, kitchen, sitting room and conservatory.

Don't forget that according to people on here, immaculately styled and clutter free is also incorrect...

id change the room in picture 8 so its defined as a dining room. Open up the table, put a runner on it, 4 chairs....

It's the price.

If a house is getting no viewings, it's at least 10% overpriced.

If it's getting viewings but no offers, it's at least 5% overpriced.

I was told that a year ago by an estate agent. We reduced the price, and had an offer within a week, and the sale went through...

It's a nice house but looks tired and a bit tatty (I don't think it IS tatty, but the pics make it look that way).

Rooms are overfull so you can't see the proportions and no floorplan doesn't help when oiks like me are looking and can't be arsed to read the blurb or check measurements on a first quick look at the webpage.

Garden looks overgrown.

Absolutely agree with MrsMcEnroe. It's always the price.

OK, a bit more about the house: my parents bought it around 5 years ago, when they moved my grandad in with them (so they acquired all his stuff on top of theirs)! GF has now died and they are trying to downsize.

According to mum they have already cleared out a lot of stuff (since the pics were taken) and they've had a professional painter in to touch up anything that needed it.

I'm taking all your comments on board for when I call them this weekend. Thanks to everyone for your suggestions.

Show I actually live abroad, so mum won't be bringing her plants over here! I think that's why she's having a hard time getting rid of them, but the garden really does need pulling up and turfing, IMO!

I don't envy you this one. I was in the exact same situation with my parents. They bought a big-ish house to house themselves and my Gran, inherited loads of her stuff when they sold her house off, and when she died wanted to 'downsize' actually they have bought a bigger house, but hey.

They got no offers in a much sought after area, and after 3 months they dropped their price by, wait for it...130K!!! I was utterly gobsmacked mand argued them back and forth. Their buyers were in a mahoosive chain, there were just no plus points to accepting the offer. OK, so estate agents over value, but it wasn't THAT over valued. But it was their decision, despite me being REALLY furious (they basically chucked away at least 50K despite moaning that Almond Croissants are too expensive ). And they managed to get a bigger house for the same money by moving somewhere far less desirable, but closer to me.

It's a blimming nightmare parents selling up. Hopefully your ones are open to some direction!

Well, they at least have the advantage of having no chain, as they already own a house over here they will be moving into. They do, however, still have a mortgage to pay off on the UK house, so can't drop the price too much. But yes, a bit of a nightmare as it's not really the right time to be selling, but Dad can't afford to retire until they do :(

Could you siggest to your mum to pot some of the plants, so she can bring them with her.

The photos are not great tbh. I think the estate agent could do way better.

They could do with removing some furniture, maybe putting some into storage til they move if they can. The sofa does look too large, but maybe if the remove some of the other furniture it would fit a bit better?

And they need the dining room table set out.

Along the fireplace wall, furniture is lined up tightly. Maybe if they removed most of that, there would be room for sectional. I don't like all the books either. I do like the garden but it looks like too much work, I am likely your parents' age. Are the bedrooms we are not seeing also jam packed with furniture?

Yes. And books...

I think the garden is a big problem - it's a large family house without a family garden.

As others have said - too much furniture. They could consider packing stuff up read to move.

Make changes and then change agents.

I also agree that the photos are rubbish - a picture of the toilet???

Agree about the toilet photo. And also lack of floor plan. That's the second thing we look at on right move after the photos.

I know, I know, but they're from that trusting generation and therefore "the estate agents know what they're doing"

I'm going to try to give them some specific suggestions this weekend. Mum has already mentioned changing agents next month when the tie-in period ends, so hopefully she'll be open to making some changes first and being more specific about what she expects from the new agents.

As they're not taking most of the stuff with them when they move, I think they should sell off everything they can and use the money to pay a home stager... Now I just have to convince them of this!

Maybe I should nominate them for one of those reality-TV property shows I take it you still have them in the UK?

Houses not selling in six months is not at all unusal at the mo. If they want a quick sale they'd need to drop the price to make it a bargain. The 'offers above' strategy can work, as it states clearly what you want and deters time-wasters. Are your parents being naive about how much the market has changed since 2008?

Agree that garden needs tidying (though I like the shrubs and, unfortunately, small gardens are typical with houses of this age. Someone wanting a big garden will have to look at different houses in a different neighbourhood). Sofa needs removing, better pictures showing more rooms. Also, someone needs to clean between the bathroom tiles and cover with a grout pen - easy way to make a massive difference in impression.

I find floor plans immensely useful, though a few agents (e.g. Haart) won't use them - (but then I'd never use them again!). Changing agents is probably a good idea.

Too much clutter -sorry.
Get some temp storage, move arm chair out if lounge, everything off windowsills, everything of kitchen worktops (would suggest to me that the cupboards are too small to hold stuff).

I don't like to be bearer of bad news, but unless it is in one of the greatest areas of Leeds then you will have problems selling it. We recently sold a house which had dropped so much invalue that after all the money we have put into it over the years we are, theoretically, in minus figures with it. We had to move though and ended up taking a silly offer for it off someone who was ina good position. We really aren't the only ones this has happened to

Thanks. The rear garden is actually quite big - it just looks small because it's so overcrowded!

I'll definitely mention the grouting to them, as that's quick and easy for them to do, and also the floorplan. I'm actually considering trying to come out there for a few days (sans kids!) next month to meet the (new) agents and try to push my parents into being a bit more proactive...

It's quite exasperating to me because they honestly just don't see the clutter and feel the house is "cosy and lived-in, which is what people should want"!!!

Your point about them not being able to drop the price much rings alarm bells. It isn't possible to set a price based on the seller's needs and expect buyers to accept it. That's not how markets work. Sounds like they may be stuck with 'don't sell at desired price' vs 'make a sale at unsatifactory price'. Which can they really afford in the longer term?

A couple of years ago we had an offer accepted on a house that everyone acknowledged needed some updating. The sellers were empty-nesters, not desparate to move but seemed keen. Our survey showed some major hidden problems but they refused to drop the price as they seemed to have a fixed idea about the sum they needed in order to buy what they wanted, were mistakenly comparing their house with others in much better condition on the same street and wouldn't ackowledge the difference between maintenance, which they hadn't been doing over the years, and improvement. They lost the sale, wasted our time and money and have only recently put it back on the market.

Your parents need to think about how they'll respond if a survey finds problems. They're in a better position as will have had their own survey done more recently but, if they would not negotiate at that point, should be honest about that up-front ('offers above' helps make this point) and accept they may lose a sale.