Mil trying to sell house, any tips?

[CheeseandGherkins]

Mil has been trying to sell for a few months now and had no joy and only a couple of viewings. She's had an open house recently with no viewings but it was only for an hour as that's all the estate agent does apparently.

She lives quite far from us and we're hoping that she moves closer but obviously needs to sell first. It's a lovely house in a nice area and is on rightmove. Any ideas or tips on how to sell it?

There could be lots of reasons, without seeing exact house:

• rubbish agent or particulars don't do house justice
• house is overpriced for area/condition
• house is at top end of market (a lovely family home in nice area) and pool of possibly buyers is quite small
• decor or character unappealing to younger buyers even if a lot of money spent
• unusual or difficult features - neighbouring factory, busy road etc...

Just the market being really slow at the moment?
Would the house pass muster from the House Doctor?

There is a house in our village has been for sale for about 3 years. It's big, colossal garden, good condition (but in retired-person style) but nobody has that much money for what is essentially a four bedroom 1970's house at £100k more than the ones on the estate. The sellers simply won't budge on the price because I guess they've poured so much TLC into their home.

If you want to post a link to it here, we could try to help? Otherwise, Fossil has covered it!

Thanks for that. I'll post a link to it. fossil it's a quiet area, Devon, middle of nowhere really...Her house is immaculate so it's definitely not a cleanliness issue. She has 2 dogs and about 5 cats so might not help but doesn't smell doggy or of animals. I think she's already lowered the price of the house but it doesn't seem an unreasonable price to me for the area/house.

It's quite large and a nice sized garden but have a look and see what you think!

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-32811379.html?showcase=true&premiumA=true

Crap forgot to link properly there

Hi Cheese,
this is not intended to be offensive or unduly critical but the photographs are sub-standard. Right move or similar seems to be the preferred selling medium and attractive photographs are de rigeur.
throughout the property, the textured ceilings let it down and the photographs seem to emphasise them. they should be painted in matt White paint to minimise the texture.
In the kitchen, clear all surfaces and only have two kitchen appliances on show. remove all paperwork from the fridge. Remove the tagine from the top of the fridge. remove the dog bed. Declutter all surfaces.
lounge, remove the red rug and CD stand
bedroom 1 remove the toys
Bedroom 2 this along with bedroom 3 is just a bad photo, is the wardrobe door ajar in bedroom 3?
What is that picture of the hall?
the garden remove the washing lines to take the photo and do not feature the oil tank. lack of colour in this part of the garden, suggest tubs or bedding plants
Good luck

I want to sell my house quickly and move nearer my Mum to help her but am worried that it will take along time any advice tips , only just gone on to the market this week.

Also, get rid of the cds in the living room and the cuddly toys in one of the bedrooms. It's a good house though.

I agree with everything 7 said.

Oh, and it's probably best to have a floorplan as well. People like that.

Argh, 7 had already said all that.

In addition to what 7to25 said - there is no floorplan and it's not easy to visualise the layout for a such a large house so I think that would really help.

Agree especially about the dog bed in the kitchen - for those who don't like dogs it's really off putting!

The pics of the bedrooms make them look very small, can you rearrange anything or get some better pics done?

It does look like a lovely house so if it's not the price/area that are putting people off then it could be the photos and agent details.

Good luck!

As it has the annexe I think it's quite a specialist house.

The annex sitting room - would that be better off as an office, at the moment it just looks really odd

Definitely needs better photos and a floorplan. I skip listings that don't have clear floorplans.

Thank you so much for that, it's very helpful! Dh will pass along these ideas to his mother later/tomorrow.

Can I ask what you think about calling the extended part of the house an Annexe? They seem to go on about it a lot but when you're inside it doesn't feel Annexey at all, more extended. Would this put people off or attract?

Floorplan great idea that I didn't think of at all.

Thanks for much 7to25 for all that, it's extremely helpful and hopefully she'll be able to get different photos taken too.

SwedishEdith thanks :) Iwannamovenow thanks too.

Littlepandabear thanks for the additions :)

All very much appreciated!

RandomMess the Annexe living room did used to be an office/study when dh lived there but it was changed to a tv room. As I said though, it doesn't feel like an Annexe when you're in it, it's much more of an extension. Thanks :)

Rubirosa thanks, will definitely get on to her about the floorplan

I felt that the "annexe" theme was overdone tbh. A bit off-putting for a pretty small target group.
the annexe living room would look better staged as a study area.

Agree with 7 dress it as a study etc and then just have stated potential to create an annex - presumably if someone wanted a proper annex they would do something with the garage too.

Yes they did bang on about the Annexe quite a lot! Thanks so much. Dh has just spoken with his mum and is he's going to email her the relevant points. Very good timing actually as she has a new estate agent coming out tomorrow morning to take photos! She said she's moved a lot and decluttered the kitchen already but as the photos don't show that then it's pointless. She's going through it all now and removing things that don't need to be there.

Thanks. The photos are bad. Hopefully the new estate agents will get some better ones and make a difference.

I have to say the photos make the bedrooms look small and pokey and yes highlighting the unfashionable artex ceilings!!!

I won't disagree with any of the points raised, but am often amazed how little people assess price as a primary factor.

Although there are not many buyers at the moment there is also not much up for sale (e.g. four detached 4-5 bed houses within half a mile of your MIL's). If a new house appears of the right size/budget/location, I doubt many currently would dismiss out of hand if there's a bit of clutter.

Two houses sold in November 2011 on the road, a 3 bed for 205k and a 4 bed for 250. In 2009 a 4 bed with double garage sold for 242k (here). I assume your MIL's was a similar 4 bed with double garage before the conversion? In which case the difference between that 242k and 320k is significant - 78k difference plus higher stand duty band.

I meant to add that it may well now be simply overpriced for the road. Not many people need six bedrooms (or even 5 for that matter), so if you can get 4 beds for 80k less then that might put some off? Also, does that extra money (i.e. going over 300k) give you the option of more attractive areas?

Open gate for photos?
Windows very bland, Twiggy vases? Nets?
Photo of each bedroom

Make sure there is no cat/dog smell. Your MIL is probably immune to it. It's SO off putting

Get carpets cleaned, if necessary.