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?

The floor plan, better pictures and dropping the whole 'annex' thing would help, but I do wonder about price. She really needs to nail down the agent on what is realistic.

This may be inferior but it's two streets from her and on for £260k Here

The fact that she had 'a couple of viewings' says it's the price.

Rcheshire thanks for those points. She's going on pricing from what estate agents told her, think she had a few valuations and has lowered it once already too. It might be that people are put off by the price but I don't know. I see what you mean about people not needing a 6 bed, hopefully someone will though!

QOD will mention those too, thanks. I think the gate being open would definitely look better.

Lemon her house usually smells of cleaning products! We don't have dogs and when we last visited it didn't smell of animals at all which is good.

Hoping that tomorrow's photos are an improvement. I don't think it should take long for them to be put up via the new estate agents so I can link again when it's done.

Narked thanks, maybe lowering the price would help with a sale then, or more viewings at least.

Try the obvious other steps first - get a floorplan, take good photos, ensure in a good state for any viewings etc.

But at the end of the day everything comes down to price, i.e. if the agent says it will fetch 75p, it might really fetch 60-70p. If you advertise at 1p you'd sell overnight, advertise at 99p you'll never sell. What you get between 60-70p may be influenced by the decor/animal smells etc.

I never ever trust agent valuations. For the houses I've sold I've always specified the price to the agent after checking what else is for sale in the neighbourhood, sold prices, how keen I am to sell etc. Too many agents either don't have a clue or are manipulating you, e.g. suggest a high price to win your business, then gradually encourage you to lower it to something more realistic.

It is possible to over develop a property so that it is out of kilter with the neighbours as someone said earlier. This means that even though it has more bedrooms etc it will not acheive a proportionately higher price than others because the demand for such a large property is going to be low. If you are looking for a sizeable family home and can get 4 or 5 beds for far cheaper you are not going to stretch to get a couple of rooms you don't really need. I'm afraid it is ALL to do with price and the swirly ceilings and clutter will not be helping. Viewers will be thinking they need to spend money redecorating and improving the garden and your MIL may need to price more realistically to anticipate this. Stamp duty threshold also very relevant - why pay thousands more to the taxman for nothing? She needs to get people through the door which in my mind means drop the price - sorry!

agree with the others, new photos and floor plan (essential imo). generally the house looks nice and tidy, could do with a little more decluttering but is generally not bad. if the price is reduced a little bit, she will have more viewings and therefore a better chance of a good offer.

I would agree about the over-improvement. That is a bigger house than most people need. It needs to be very well marketed.

I have friends with a large family - if you need all 5/6 bedrooms because you have 5 kids, you also need enough reception rooms, bathrooms/wc, kitchen and dining space, garage and storage. You definitiely will need a playroom/den/second lounge depending on kids ages. Whereas this kitchen and lounge look like they are for a 3/4 person household. The dining room is needed because the kitchen only has perching space - so the annex is better marketed as study/playroom /extra reception rooms IMO.

I would imagine if it was under 300k there would be loads more interest, around here that's a lot of people's ceiling.

The thing is you buy a house when you have a family, then grow up in it and gradually change the use as you need fewer kids rooms/facilities. To sell it you have to make it appealing to someone who is back at the beginning of the cycle (yourself 20 years ago) IYSWIM. Except they will have more gadgets, stuff and cars!

£1000 BUYER'S INCENTIVE AVAILABLE (subject to terms and conditions) indicates to a buyer that the seller is not negotiable on price.

Nobody, will want to pay the asking price in the current market.

v tru TadWorried. I always laugh at those.

OK, this probably doesn't help at all, as some of them are things which aren't really fixable short-term, or even long-term, which is why I'd think the price would need to reflect them, but...
Don't like the gates - would be thinking of the hassle in opening/closing them all the time.
Why on earth did the extension architect not put the garage at the end of the house, rather than stuck in the middle like that with a room on the end. House looks unbalanced.
If that room on the end is 'garage-sized' then I would think that a staircase in it is a real waste of space. Also, the photo just gives you a shot of all the wires behind the TV.
Why is there no patio in the back garden? I'd look at the garden and think £££ to sort out, cba. All grass and no colour or 'interest.'
The kitchen layout seems poor. The kettle is right at the opposite end from the sink, which means a traipse round the breakfast bar and dodging the dog-bed every time you fill it up. The stainless steel range splashback looks smeary - needs a bit of baby oil!
Move that trailer in the front garden and try to disguise the oil tank (is it oil-fired central heating? Not sure I'd fancy that)
Plus what the others said.

Sorry, I meant the TV wires in one of the bedrooms.
I presume that's a second staircase, not the main one???
What's that white thing on the back wall in the garden shot?
Where do you prepare food in the kitchen? Very little space around the hob.

I don't think the photos are too bad. Floorplan would be very helpful and with a bit of a declutter and new photos it shold be fine.

I did though like other people on the thread people think this house might be over developed for the area. It is quite big.

I suspect that many people looking in this area might be looking at the 4 bed and £250k category as their ceiling price and anyone willing to pay £350k is looking in different/better areas. It may just be a house caught between two stools. It may also be something MIL has overlooked like the local schools which also puts off the family buyer?

Hi, could I suggest that your mil adds some indoor plants. I realise that beige/cream is best way to sell house, but it needs a little bit of something green and fresh looking. Also garden needs some tubs of colour, she can always take tubs with her when she sells. Good luck