Help! Selling our rented property

[Misty9]

We are trying to sell dh's house (currently rented to family) but in two months we've had a handful of viewings and two offers...one asking price offer fell through (BTL investor mucking about) and we turned down a near-asking price offer as it had only been on market a few days and agent assured us we could get asking price...

I've had a quick squiz at the market and IMO it's overpriced...it does need redecorating, possibly new windows and bathroom (windows are fine but original ones when built and showing their age). We are trying to decide whether to do some work to it (re carpet and paint) or just hope it sells?

Also, I'm worried the tenant part of it is putting potential FTBs off? He's family and will move out when asked, but it looks like a student house with minimal furniture and no lived-in feel to it. Better to sell empty?? But if we turf him out then we'll have to foot the mortgage until it sells obviously (we rent). We need to sell to fund buying our first family home.

Link is www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-37453930.html?premiumA=true

Feedback welcome!

if it is overpriced, that's it. cut the price.

it doesn't look too bad from the photos but...buy a cupboard for the clutter under the stairs, cut the lawn, weed the drive, and get the agent to redo the photos when someone can be bothered to pick the water butt up and take out the washing line.

Thanks for feedback. We asked the agent re price but he reckons it's correct. Tbh, the agent doesn't seem to be giving us much advice and this is the first time either of us has sold - is this the norm? We've decided to cut the price to £119,950 and get the tenant to mow the lawn! Will also try to address other things you mentioned.

Keep the comments coming! :)

Cut out the duplicate pictures and get some more brightly lit.shots, as it looks v dark and cramped.

Yes, I've asked the agent to cut the duplicate pics already... Argh, now not sure about dropping the price as this would make it the cheapest 2 bed semi in that area - and it's not that bad! Problem is there isn't much with which to compare.

Looks just like our tenants houses - lived in!
Has kerb appeal, the outside picture of front looks very nice.
IMO I wld ask your family to move out or do a serious tidy up and clean.
Wouldn,t redecorate or change bathroom/kitchen at that price.
Where we live that would sell for £195,000 in a matter of weeks.
Don,t worry it is early days yet!

Id paint that grouting, makes hue difference. I did it for my pix. Remve all clutter esp from bedroom and under stairs and get a brighter, more modern looking counterpane.

There's a better presented house on the same housing estate for 125k so not much more. We live on the same village but on the newer housing estate and have just sold our house for 7.5k less than asking price. Houses do seem to be selling though so that's positive.

I agree with fatnfrumpy that it has kerb appeal. I wouldn't change carpets, bathrooms etc as that will cost far too much money.

As the tenant is a family member presumably you could go into the house, and dress it up a bit for a new set of photos? Change the bedding, clear the bedroom windowsill, tidy the under stairs area, mow the grass, move the water butt and washing line, paint the grouting, move shower curtain back, move cleaning products and toiletries, etc.

I think it looks a good house, but isn't being shown well in the photos.

One more thing, can the washing machine go further back under the worktop? If not, try to photograph the kitchen from another angle so as not to give the impression that the kitchen is barely big enough to fit a standard washing machine.

Thanks everyone for the feedback.
Now we've just had to move house ourselves, we've had a rethink and don't want to move again this year - so we're not too bothered about this house selling quickly. Decided to keep price the same and see how things go over next couple months. On the positive, we really like our new rented house!

Re getting in the property to tidy up...it's a bit awkward with the tenant (even though he's family), partly because his friend lives there too, so I certainly don't feel comfortable doing that, and dh just wouldn't! It's dh's house from his previous marriage so I'm once removed from it all really.

There's an open day this Saturday so I might put some pressure on dh to talk to the tenant about tidying up/mowing the lawn at least for that.