Help me sell my house!

[Deliaskis]

I know you're great at this. Can you please look at this www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-34014484.html

And let me know what we could fix to help get a sale. It's been on the market a couple of months and we foolishly viewed a house at the weekend and fell in lurve.

Just want to shift this now. Price is about right for the area but we would negotiate down a bit to minimum 150k.

So be kind, but please let me know if there is anything obvious we can do.

D

Can you move the big blue armchair? It's sitting in the middle of the room and your eye gets drawn to it really quickly.

Would the agent be prepared to take some new photos?

Lovely house. I am always fascinated by how people manage to be so remarkably clutter-free.

I would take the mats off the dining table, but add a vase of talls white lillies and open the dining room curtains properly.

Re-do the photo of the living room so that you don't see the artexed ceiling. Maybe add some white cushions to the sofa and armchair. Perhaps take the photo from the dining area so that the picture shows the front window.

The EA's details are very brief! Could do with seeing a photo or even a description of the garden, and the second bedroom.

Flowers! The pictures are fine,could appeal to lots of age groups. I think get some nice hanging baskets or pots for outside to perk it up. Flowers on dining table & some nice fruit or pots of herbs in the kitchen.
Very clean,I'm most impressed dh says it's like sleeping with the enemy

The furniture in the living room looks a little big.. is there a way of rearranging it, or putting some in storage to make the room look larger? Or is it just a bad picture and the agent needs to take a different one from a different angle?

The front of the house doens't inspire me. Could you get some hanging baskets or some kind of planting in the front garden to soften it?

I think you've had good advice so far.

A photo of the garden might help.
Our friend put a lot of her furniture in storage whilst trying to sell. Made her place look so much more spacious. I was flabbergasted at the result.

I think it's lovely by the way. At the right price surely it will sell. Good luck.

photos 3-6 look good but 1 and 2 need more work:

1. i would clean the path and the house near the corner and add some colour to the garden with cheap plants.

1. the photo is of blue chairs and does not show the space you have

Thank you so much for thoughts, it's all good stuff. I hadn't thought about the blue chair. we could move it for photos but not so easy to move it for viewings (i.e. put in storage) as it's kind of needed to sit on. Will think about it though.

Also agree re flowers etc. inside and outside. The outside pic was taken during the winter (it's been on and off and on the market again) so you're right it's not very inspiring. Our garden, although not massive, would I think photograph well so we should do that.

Thanks again for advice, I am on the phone to the EA tomorrow!

Dx

Can't add much to what others have said, except have you had any viewings with feedback? Find out what properties in your area are actually selling for. Is there a reason it has been on and off the market and have you reduced the price in that time? It looks like a very nice clutter free house so if it's priced right it will sell. Oh, another thing if you are in catchment of good schools get the agent to add that to the description.

Get rid of the big blue curtains in the dining area?

Less pillows on the bed as it's all pillow.

Some flowers or sunmat on the front garden.

Move the coffee table in living room for the photos?

I think it looks lovely! The inside is very different to what I was expecting from the initial photo of the exterior.

I think the few things I noticed have mainly already been mentioned - to move the dining table to the centre of the dining room, add some cut flowers to the dining table and kitchen, and adding some pot plants / a hanging basket to the front of the house.

It looks like you have net curtains in the front room, I'd probably remove these as think they date your house.

A bowl of fruit in the kitchen would add some colour. Also maybe buy some luxury toiletries for the bathroom (which looks really nice by the way).

I want to help but these rightmove links never work on my iPhone. Is there any other way I can view it?

Second a photo of the back garden -- is at a shed I see too or is that next door's? It's not mentioned in the description. In fact, would nag the agents into improving the description, it's a bit sparse.

Also a pic of the living room showing the front window -agree sofa too close to the camera means a small room, which it obviously isn't.

Measurements on your floor plan would help too.

I think the house looks nice. I might repaint the wall in the lounge a creamy colour. And maybe some flowers. Maybe a hanging basket on the front of the house. And some flowers and or tubs in the front garden.

Thanks so much folks for taking the time to look, it's all so useful and we'll be doing some/most/all of those things over the next few days.

Fingers crossed it tempts some buyers, I always say, you only need one, to like it enough to buy it!

Thanks again
D

I'll echo the comment about the lack of a garden photo - if there isn't one on a listing I tend to assume there's nothing usable for children and dismiss the listing out of hand.

It seems realistically priced compared to other three beds (exc. less child-friendly cottages with no lawned garden) at that end of Bollington. Have you compared your asking price against sold prices for similar houses over the last couple of years?

I think you may have to accept that unless you're willing to make it into a bargain then you may have a long wait. I sold a house recently but intentionally priced it ~20% below anything comparable. To balance that, we are currently renting a lovely house (not far from you) which the landlord/owner has put up for sale - 3 months and he's had one viewing and no offer.

Right, I am going to be the baddie.

textured ceilings

Fyfestone fireplace

these date the property and are expensive to rectify

Nets, these date the property and are easy to lose.

I'd definitely do something about the front garden and front window. Net curtains look old and make the place look tired. Can you get rid completely and bear to have people look straight through the glass?

Definitely get some pots, hanging baskets, nice shrubs - garden needs colour. I'd try and get more photos done of the place, showing the other bedrooms, the kitchen etc. Also, possibly, re-pain walls in living room as the colour is quite bold - maybe go to ivory/magnolia?

RCheshire you obviously have local knowledge! It's realistically priced against sold prices of similar houses (i.e. on this estate, as quite a few have changed hands in the last year or so), and I don't think you can get much more than this for the money in Bollington, but we just struggle because it's never going to be a glamorous house, people don't fall in love with it, but it's actually very comfortable and there's little 'wrong' with it as such.

Which brings me to 7to25 's points. Yes texture ceiling and fireplace are rubbish, and we can't afford to fix to get a sale. The voiles (not nets darling) I agree do date the house for the photos so we will ditch them, but conversely I think we need them for viewings, as the window is big and it feels a bit goldfish bowl if they're not there.

Thanks again
D

This is a really presentable house - one of the best I haev seen in my many hours of looking at property porn

Agree with flowers and other suggestions.

The brochure descriptions are really bland, can you inject some flowery descriptions and really sell the benefits of living in the house / area? As you say, it's not the type of house that people fall in love with but it looks extremely comfortable and practical.

Good luck

I didn't notice the voiles from inside pics. I'd remove them for outside pic. Agree hanging basket or something to make outside look more welcoming. In fact I'd go so far as to plant a small tree close to front wall!

Paint the peach wall. 2nd photograph from a better perspective (take your own after experimenting?) to exclude ceiling and move armchair.

Hey D, can't resist a nosy Hope you don't mind but I asked Mr W to have a jeff juke and he has come up with some bits and pieces (hard to believe but he has a background in making things look sellable )

1. get rid of coffee table
2. deffo try and reposition/remove armchair - at least for new photo
3. can you repaint the living walls [ducks for cover]
4. put a mirror above the fireplace not the picture
5. the curtains at the patio doors in dining room - can you change them to something lighter, some voile or just remove them and the pole
6. need some back garden photos