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Critique my particulars...

69 replies

EdlessAllenPoe · 27/03/2012 20:18

what do you make of these?

www.michaeljones.co.uk/property-howard-road-west-sussex-lan120122-full.html

picture of our back garden looks a bit poor to me....

but the lounge looks nice. wish i'd remembered to tidy the radio out of the kitchen...seems rather brief too, though i think they say they don't want the whole house shown as they want people through the door.

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strictlovingmum · 27/03/2012 21:01

Get rid of that hedge, open up the front, also more pics will draw people in, play the strong card of over subscribed school, and also few pics of those fab views, otherwise decent and well priced.

londonone · 27/03/2012 21:01

Truthfully - They are shocking, No measurements, no floorplan, photo of front looks like it is photo of bushes!

fossil97 · 27/03/2012 21:03

sorry I mistyped there - I didn't mean house stuck in 1975, I started to say I'd assume the house is not in that good condition except for the 2 photographed rooms. Whereas I'm sure it's lovely from what you've said.

travailtotravel · 27/03/2012 21:05

has nothing more to add except that I want to see the bathroom at least as I veto on kitchen, bathroom, heating and double glazing....

EdlessAllenPoe · 27/03/2012 21:06

@oreo

I couldn't possibly say!

but that one needs much work... and like you say is larger.

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EdlessAllenPoe · 27/03/2012 21:09

whole house has been redecorated (in a rather minimal white-favouring style) since we moved in..

DH is annoyed as we were meant to get to read these before they went live...

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oreocrumbs · 27/03/2012 21:12

Say no more Wink. On the off chance it is just next door, then you really must have more photos, showing that yours is fully modernised etc, and in the description you can put something about scope to add extension as that might attract people wanting to get into the catchment for the primary who might want a 3 bed.

The views from the house I linked are lovely so if you have some like that get as many in as you can!

EdlessAllenPoe · 27/03/2012 22:00

i'm not sure the front of our house is that attractive - looks like most of the others (boxy bungalow)! but i think a better angle could have been found. from the inside of the house what it means is the lounge is still completely private whilst getting lots of light...

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DamselInDisarray · 27/03/2012 22:01

Well yes, I can't imagine many with teenagers will want to buy your house. MIL is less complimentary about the secondary than you (even if the new building is all fancy). It's amazing how little the EA has made of the backing onto the downs aspect. That's quite a selling point.

LydiaWickham · 27/03/2012 22:05

I would assume you had a hideous bathroom. I would also want to see the bedrooms and is there a floor plan? If not, get one sorted.

jollydiane · 27/03/2012 22:05

Well done for being so brave and showing us your house. I hope you find the comments useful and not too critical.

I would take the bushes out completely, as a buyer i would be worrying about subsidence and it may well be picked up as risk in a survey.

EdlessAllenPoe · 27/03/2012 22:06

I went there :) and it's been downhill ever since.

i suppose the fact we can creep in as a closest out-of-catchment area to the better school over the hill is something of a selling point. The lengths people i know have gone to get out of this catchment for secondary...

but most people looking at this will be retirees or people looking to start a family with 11 years before they have to worry about that sort of thing.

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crikeybadger · 27/03/2012 22:16

We're just changing agents at the moment and both times the agents have said that they don't usually take photos of bathrooms or bedrooms. Unless the bedrooms are really large and have something really special to show, then you just end up with a picture of someone's bed.

I do agree with others though about the pics of the views and a floor plan though. Why not take some extra photos and email them to the agent to include? That's what we did (oh and I left the radio aerial up too and kicked myself for it!)

EdlessAllenPoe · 27/03/2012 22:16

the bushes seem to be this houses marmite -i hadn't considered them a subsidence thing - our foundations are set 6' back from them, and there are no roots in them (easy to inspect from inside of house).

hard to know - the old people who sold us this place had spent ages growing them for privacy - that's what i liked. Our garden is private too. the other houses currently for sale on our street have no screening other than the fence...not private at all!

If my husband was to be thrown into one task - would you go for clearing the garage (dumping ground for things 'decluttered') or garden?

our deal with the EA was to give it two weeks and then get consider price/house/changes...another house down the road (2 BED, Similar, modern style) has sat on at £210k for three months and i don't want to go that route...

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oreocrumbs · 27/03/2012 22:34

I would set DH loose on the garden, all garages are dumping grounds, no one will be surprised by that, but gardens are big sellers. If it needs pruning or cutting back, and the lawn patching up get it done so that people don't think the garden is too much to handle, and so keen gardeners can see the space and potential.

SophieNeveau · 27/03/2012 23:04

Garden, garden, garden!

tallpoppies · 28/03/2012 00:31

Truthfully they haven't made much effort with these! The front photo is terrible and I would make them change that asap as so many people won't even bother to read the particulars if the picture of the front of the house doesn't appeal to them. It needs to be taken from the drive.

The only mention of views in the bullet points is "sea glimpses" which is a bit wishy washy.

They haven't mentioned what is on the floor in any of the rooms (carpet/tiles etc).

The bedrooms are stated as having radiators, plural. Is this right? I can see it possibly in the large bedroom but bedroom 2 doesn't seem big enough to warrant more than one.

Being picky here but "complimenting ceramics" in the bathroom should be "complementing ceramics"

Kitchen - "a range of roll edge working surfaces"?? Do they mean that you have more than one type of worksurface i.e laminate and stainless steel/ wood and granite? I can only see the black worksurface but they don't state what it is made of. "A range of ash fronted base and drawers below" - I guess they mean a range of ash fronted base units with drawers.

Breakfast area - sliding upvc patio door (singular)? There should be a photo taken from the kitchen area and including the view out through the patio doors to the garden.

The back garden pictures need to be taken again, immediately at the rear of the house so that it includes the patio if this is possible?

A few less commas and a few more full stops!

I would definately include a picture of the master bedroom as it's quite large and has the doors out to the garden.

Maybe I'm just fussy......

tallpoppies · 28/03/2012 00:35

Also, when taking the pictures of the breakfast room and master bedroom leave the patio doors open!

If I were you I would take the pictures myself on a nice sunny day and email them to the agent and ask for them to be added to the particulars. That way they don't have to come to the house again and you can have exactly the pictures you want to market your house with - I've done this every time I've sold a house!

KatieMiddleton · 28/03/2012 00:40

Gosh the photos of the front and the garden are bad. I can't for the life of me think when they have chosen that angle for the front.

YY to floorplan. I have made offers based on floor plans alone.

Hope you get a good offer quickly. :)

PastGrace · 28/03/2012 00:48

Near DP's parents too. It's a lovely area and the estate agents are really letting you down I think.

Look at this property which isn't far from you at all. The first sentence includes "in this highly sought after location close to the downs and with panoramic views across Lancing and to the coast." For me that would make the property worth viewing even if I didn't like the interior, because location is something you can't change. The South Downs are a National Park now - that is surely a huge selling point.

I agree with everything people have said about the photos. More photos = good. To me the interior photos say that the house is very nice (and clean and tidy!) but that the estate agent's photographer was a bit clueless.

Don't be afraid to be pushy - my parents were trying to sell my childhood home and when the photographer came round he left his notes lying out and my mum saw "client v picky" written across the top. Well, yes - she wants to sell HER house, so she will be picky if she has to be.

Letchladee · 28/03/2012 01:07

Just one thing that would have put me off - where's the dining room? It says that you've got a kitchen breakfast room - is that your dining area? Obviously the living is not large enough for it to be in there - but I can't see from the photos and no plan. If it is a kitchen diner, then I would prefer it to be called that, as a 'breakfast area' sounds like you don't have anywhere formal to eat, and that would put me off.

But that could be me being weird Grin.

EdlessAllenPoe · 28/03/2012 19:27

I would have called it a kitchen diner - we have a table that seats four in there and with the dog bed gone (into the aforementioned garage, along with any sign that we own a dog) there's probably space for a 6-seater...but i wanted it nice and open rather than putting in a bigger table...(

most of these houses don't have separate dining rooms (or they are 'bedroom 2/3' if they do)

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EdlessAllenPoe · 28/03/2012 19:30

to be honest, we eat in front of the telly/laptop and the kids have baby chairs (also vanished)

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EdlessAllenPoe · 28/03/2012 19:35

The first sentence includes "in this highly sought after location close to the downs and with panoramic views across Lancing and to the coast.

that is nice.. there is something similar on the renewed particulars!

They have added photos - we now have 6 - the garden shot is gone, gone, gone..

our bedroom is a major selling point as it is 21' long and has space for our king size double as well as a separate dressing area .....so there is a photo!

what people want to see our (standard white) bathroom for is just to know it isn't a green one like it was when we moved in!

DH may have got a little bit assertive with the EA. We have a totally new set of pictures of the house which is much nicer!

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EdlessAllenPoe · 28/03/2012 19:35

I'll get you all to take a peek when we get on Rightmove.

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