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

In the process of house buying: I don't want somewhere that feels like someone else lives in it: I want a canvas to put our family into! Possibly explain it to your parents that way: the more of their stuff that there is in the house; the harder it is for buyers to see themselves living there. But that wouldn't stop me going to view a house which had a promising floorplan and looked like it may be better if viewed.

Photos of rooms: it doens't feel like a 4 bed from those photos. A floorplan could help with this, as could ensuring a photo of every room.

The garden: the idea of a photo of the house from the end of the back garden looks wierd to me and feels like its trying to hide the large industrial unit at the end of the garden. An upstairs window shot down the garden would give a better idea of size and layout rather than the "peeking through the bushes" look that the current back garden photo has.

Also we didn't make a single offer near asking price, have your parents looked on mouseprice at what local properties actually sold for (as opposed to asking price)? Certainly as a buyer in this market I have looked at properties which we would not be able to afford asking price for, but a lower asking price will bring more viewers in.

Only thing puts me off is the bathroom. All the other things can be changed easily

Are the local schools in special measures or anything?

Don't know what special measures means, but there are decent schools in the area and it's close to the town centre/buses/shops etc.

I'm not sure how much they would be willing to drop the price, but my dad is getting increasingly worried about money as he gets older, which can make it difficult to discuss with them :(

They had a survey done before they moved in (by a friend who is a chartered surveyor) and the house is in pretty good condition, structurally. It's really just the clutter/deco that needs dealing with.
The layout is great and I would love to live there if I were planning to move to the UK!

I think I'm just going to have to be firm with them and try to bully coach them to get it cleared out and tidied up!
Currently looking at flight prices to see if I can afford a trip out there...

I haven't read the whole thread but here are my comments:

• I think the house looks very nice overall actually - pretty up to date and well taken care of.

• Way too many shelves/cabinets with nik naks and books on. The shelves keep the clutter tidy but they make the rooms seem smaller by at least a foot each way. Can it all go into storage/with a relative (you...?) for a bit? Same applies to the bedroom - so much furniture in there!

• Sofa also makes the room seem smaller.

• Garden looks lovely to me, but not child friendly. And is that a washing line dominating all the photos...? The child friendly thing may not matter so much if families don't want to live in that location anyway.

• Get a floorplan done. Especially if the layout is a selling point - you need a floorplan to show that off.

it seems to me that people will say "I've got £XXX to spend, what houses are there at that price, in the area I want."

So I would guess that for £XXX they have seen other houses they prefer, and the difference is so great that they are not even bothering to view. So the house is overpriced. IMO the furniture, garden and decorating are what any buyer expects to change, so are very secondary.

How does your house compare with other local ones at £XXX - 10%?

Vitamin check the schools OFSTED....if there are schools that are local but a bit blah then I know lots of families will avoid unless it's a bargain...or absolutely perfect for their needs.

I agree the garden is cluttered by the line but only a dafty would not see the potential.

I think only some first-time buyers will think 'I've got X to spend, what is being advertised at that price'. Most people expect to be able to make a serious offer at 10% below the asking price. 'Offers over' can eliminate both potential problems - people not looking as they don't understand offers and people looking but expecting to be able to offer masses below.

Anyone with sense will be looking at actual sales prices, not asking prices.

But if it's overpriced then that will be off-putting.

I think it looks fine, I assume it's the price or location. Internally it's in okay condition.

This house came on Rightmove only a week ago and has already sold despite the fact it needs work doing to it and doesn't look as tiday as the house you linked to.. I thought it was over priced but was obviuosly wrong!

There are several other, very similar houses close by on the market at very similar prices. The only ones which have sold appear to be the ones priced at over 200K, very bizarrely! Similar houses in slightly nicer areas (but within less than a mile of my parents'!).

Nothing in their price bracket seems to be selling right now :(

I'll check the ofsted site. Thanks for that, Doll

OK, checked the ofsted reports. The nearest primary school is rated "good" and received excellent results in pretty much all areas. The second closest was previously under "special measures" but is now reported to have improved to satisfactory (new head) and the outlook for future progress is reported to be "good"!

Not sure how that will affect the house advert... should they mention the "good" school?

I would have thought any family looking would already have checked that out, but it can't do any harm can it

Lots of adverts do mention being in a catchment for a good / popular school, especially for family houses. The Agent should be able to advise on that.

We noticed when buying in 2010, looking within a large neighbourhood with good schools for a family home, that the houses that looked obviously lovely in their adverts in an 'I could just move into that tomorrow' sort of way were going within a week, in some cases before we could view. There were lots of 'good house, good location, needs a bit of decorating and minor work' which were staying on the market for months. Also some difficult and badly priced ones that probably never sold.

So that might match your finding that higher-priced houses go faster. It was the ones that just had everything right and perhaps some rarer features; larger, south-facing gardens, lovely kitchens and bathrooms, beautifully maintained, that went fast.

It surprised me a bit that plenty of really very nice houses that just weren't so perfect were taking so much longer - but I suppose there was a lot to choose from in that category. I think, logically, that people should be able to see room sizes, be willing to do a bit of decoration and expect to have to make it their own - in fact a blank canvas can be a bonus - but I've also felt the instinctive pull towards loveliness. I suspect we're not as rational as we think.

Not sure that helps, as it's almost certainly not worth getting the bathroom re-done or anything like that. Just don't make the mistake our nearly-vendors did and think that because a house is similar and sells easily / for more, that it's really comparable.

Have only looked at the property details not read the whole thread. My thoughts are:

Sitting room looks really cramped (partly because there's so much furniture in there)
All looks very dated. It could be lived in, obviously, but I think it all needs gutting and redecorating which is a lot of hassle and expense. Kitchens and bedrooms.
Rear garden looks like a wilderness.

Thanks to all who posted.
I have had a good chat with my mum and she was surprisingly receptive!

She has an auctioneer coming next week to collect the too-big sofa, the piano, some china and other stuff, which should free up some space!
I suggested they bring the smaller sofa in from the conservatory to use until they move and she liked that idea.

She has also talked to dad about switching to a different agent, and they're planning to give notice to the current one.

I told her of all your suggestions and she seems to have taken them on board, so THANK YOU! I'll let you know how they get on...

That sounds positive vitaminC and thanks for the update :)

Hope it sells soon!

Thanks ImpatientOne. I think it will be a huge relief to me when the house is sold and they are living under 2 hours from me!

This is really made it hit home that my parents are getting older and less autonomous and that I'm going to have to start hand-holding them a lot more :(

It's hard :(

I work with people with disabilities/older people who need adaptations to their houses so I understand how hard it is for people to accept moving later in life! My parents moved to a bungalow last year and it's been difficult but well worth it.

Please tell me that they are going to move to a nice one level home with no steps outside and a sensible shower room

I missed this thread, have name changed so I don't out myself.

I live round the corner like ICanTuckMyBoobsInMyPockets.

I maybe completely wrong but I live off Magpie Lane, see the map. So I live in the new build part which was built around 12-15 years ago. It is a very large estate with bird names.

The part your parents live on I always assumed was a council estate and I always think of it as a bit rough. Sorry. I drive past the back of the houses on Glen Road.

I think it is over priced, lovely, but overpriced. I know they have a mortgage to clear and so it is hard. We sold our house 2 1/2 years ago for a £5k more than we paid for it but we had ploughed around £20k into it so a loss really but we needed to sell.

The school closest to me is Newlands which is roughly 3 on Ofsted, my children go to an different primary miles away, we moved to Morley as it is much cheaper.

They need to start packing stuff away and getting rid of stuff if they are moving anyway, I agree with the other posters about the garden.

Best of luck, the market is a bit depressed here but stuff is selling at the right price.

Small world Gherkin! Yes, Magpie Lane is just around the corner and I drive past all the bird streets when I go to the White Rose Centre, when I'm staying there :)

My grandad lived on Bridge Street most of his life and I lived just off high street when I was very young :) We left Morley when I was 8, though, and my parents only moved back 5 years ago to take care of my grandad.

The Glens is a council estate, but almost exclusively for elderly people! Almost all the houses are sheltered housing type maisonettes. I always thought of it as rough, growing up, because the houses are very tatty, but it's really very quiet.

The little group of detached houses in Glen Mount are almost identical to those in Bridge Court, which they back onto. Built in the late 80s/early 90s IIRC.

The nearest school, according to ofsted, is Seven Hills, which seems OK. I went to Fountain (or Cross Hall as it was in those days), which has all the kids from the Harrop estate. That one really is rough!

Impatient they're moving to a cottage in central France! There is a downstairs bathroom, though and they could live in just the ground floor if necessary!

Honestly, though, they're quite fit physically (64 and 65yo), so they should be ok there for a few years, to enjoy French country life. And when they can't cope there any more, they've said they'll move into a flat near me...

Less furniture amd nick nacks, new pictures and Floor Plan (is essential). Pictures of ALL rooms, not just some. Agree with turf part of the garden, Mum doesn't have to loose her whole project. A couple of feature walls wouldn't hurt, minimal decorating and would bring the rooms up to date.

Get rid of the washing line for pictures and try to take it down for viewings.

If the estate agant is being rubbish, then go to a different one. Get them to do a full relaunch and then, if nothing is happening, think about reducing the price. But I would definatly do all the other things first before reducing. Because you can't really go and put the price up later.