why aren't we getting viewings?

[addictediam]

That says it all really, we've been on the market for about 15 month and have had 1 viewing in that time (yesterday) they loved the house, but haven't yet sold theirs.

Am I just being impatient?

House http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-38029460.html here

Thanks

i agree with cece, that other house looks like a home, nice kitchen and cheaper than yours.
you need to give yours kerb appeal.
gets some pots of flowers from a local market. make it look inviting. flowers inside etc.
also you deffo need better pictures. and as someone else has said. lose the yellow walls.

the house looks like someone will have to spend a bit of money on it. EG new kitchen.

oh crap that house is opposite. crappity crappity crapity crap.

Estate agent friend of mine says there's only one reason for not getting viewings and it's been overpriced. Doesn't matter how dated, etc your house is, if the price is right people will view it.

If that house is opposite then yours is very overpriced. They have a new kitchen which probably adds 10k on a house? Are they the same size?

Agree with pretty much what most others have said.

No upstairs photos always leaves me to believe that it is horrible. As the downstairs is dated and cold and the outside it not amazing I would automatically think that the upstairs is 10x worse.

The kitchen is really dated. It looks so empty and cold. Very uninviting.

The other property linked much better, every picture sells it.

And they have a garage, though I suppose you've got a conservatory.

I'd buy a couple of large flowery plants in pots, they're selling hydrangeas cheaply in most of the supermarkets at the moment. Place them by the front door when taking a photo of the front of the house, then move them to the garden to add a bit of life and colour for that photo.

I'd also be tempted to add a bit of colour to the kitchen, even just a nice vase of flowers on the windowsill with a nice tea-towel picking out the same colours and the green in the tiles folded nicely over the oven door handle.

It just looks a bit bare and unlived in. I would also be put off by lack of photos of bedrooms and bathroom, sounds like you a bit of a lazy estate agent.

You have to remember, your house is not worth what you need to be able to move, it is worth what it is worth to a buyer in a competitive market. So you have it on at the wrong price, hence no viewings. All the advice on staging will help - these photos are awful - but buyers are canny peopple and they care about price, price, price.

right i'm off to speak to my friend and scream into a pillow. we NEED to move, because of my deterating health and 2 very young children, now i'm feeling like its never going to happen

The neighbor does not have a conservatory though, and I prefer your garden.

You need better pictures. Can you do one from the back of the garden towards the house?

Can you stage the "gazebo" in the corner with some colourful picnic wine glasses, a small posy of flowers, and a large jug of drink? Waitrose has some nice blue picnic glasses and jugs at the moment. M&S also. Make it look really inviting.

You need people to look at your pictures and think "Oh that looks nice, that is what I would do" and your garden is the best place for that inspirational thought.

I had a quick scout around other properties in your area (I love property hunting) and your price seems reasonable. However, there are a fair few other houses of similar quality in the 150-170,000 price bracket so you have to compete. People tend to trawl through websites and try to save themselves time by only viewing the houses that seem as close to suitable as possible. Chances are people just can't decide with your house because there just aren't enough photos. Every room needs to be pictured in the best possible way, including all the bedrooms and the bathroom.

Your estate agent sounds thoroughly rubbish - ditch them.
When you take a photo of the kitchen don't include the cooker, it's not a good feature.
Take the photo of the kitchen from the door that's by the cooker, that way you'll show the entire room (it's kitchen/diner right?) while not including the cooker. Dress the counters in the kitchen with some pretty flowers and ware to draw attention away from the cabinets and to make it look more homely. Try not to include too much of the floor in the picture. Put a tablecloth on the table and maybe a couple of nice candles in the centre.
The angle of the sitting room picture is terrible. Try to fill the room up and make it look homely and used. Repaint it a bright neutral colour if you can. Get a cheap rug for the floor and put a couple of pictures on the wall. Currently the photo makes it look like a cheap student let, even though I'm sure in real life it's a lovely room.
Take out the photo of the back garden, it's not helping.

Good luck!

I would also weed the front, rake up the gravel a bit, and hose it down. Move the car out of the way, so the extension is visible. Put nice flower pots next to your front door.

I agree you should ditch the agent.

Dont lower the price. Restage your house and put it on the market with a new agent using better pictures.

Go with your neighbours agent.

you need more and better photos, as everyone said. at least one of each bedroom and the bathroom.
having it dressed for the photos works wonders for the overall appeal. also pay attention to the front, it looks very boring low maintainance.
also look at more simlar properties in the area. maybe you need to lower the price to get the interest.
don't thonk of what you need to sell it for, if it is not worth it to the buyer (and mortgage companies) then you will simply not get hat price.

we have a garage and utility as well as a bigger garden

Pictures aren't too bad but you could possibly "dress" it a little more as others say. A few pot plants always looks good in shots and you could even try instagramming the shots to give them a rustic feel!

Yes you need more of you in the house. Tell a story about how each room is used. Eg the people we bought from told us about their garden parties.

BTW I prefer your over the house opposite. The one opposite looks a bit messy.

No idea of the area or the prices, but it looks a decent typical fairly recently built family home to me, nothing that would put me off except perhaps the small third bedroom, but that size is not uncommon in more modern houses.

I would say you need to change agents and find out what other houses of the same size have gone for (not what they are on the market for) locally.

But then I never look at cosmetic stuff, just the location, structural matters & size of the rooms. When we bought our house there was some stuff that needed doing which was reflected in the price. The fact it had been on the house for seven months I can only attribute to idiots not being able to see past the previous owners' odd taste in paint colour and too much furniture & clutter. Their loss.

Hmm, well, I know they say to de-clutter before selling, but I think you've taken it a stage too far! Surely you can't live like this anyway, with two kids??!

The photos aren't good, for sure, but I think any photographer would have their work cut out making this house look warm and inviting. I know it's surface stuff, but people are affected.

Yes, get your designer friend in, asap!

Just more pictures really, I'm suspicious if I can't see the whole picture. We are currently selling our one bed flat and have almost double the number of pictures that you have up - you need to get the EA sorted.

You need to look at nearby sold price here

Given you paid £150k for it last year, and bearing in mind that the market continues to go downhill and there are several unsold in the immediate area, I suspect you're looking at achieving 140-150 with the top end of that a challenge.

Sorry :(

Your EA sounds dreadful. I'd change ASAP!

My thought on looking at the pictures (before reading the thread) was that it was the (empty) house of an old person who had recently died. The photo with all the open windows and doors suggests to me that the house has some awful smell that the vendor was desperately trying to hide!

Kitchen is dated (not a problem in itself) but I would assume that the bathroom was much worse and too awful to show.

Yellow wall and the huge tv make that room very unappealing.

Lack of upstairs pictures also puts me off.

Garden needs weeding and a bit of 'wow' factor.

Sorry to be brutally honest. Sounds like this thread has given you lots of good ideas for moving forwards.