Feedback on my rightmove listing (glasgow) pls?

[FergusSingsTheBlues]

Just wondering if anybody could kindly offer me some feedback on my listing?

Im for sale through online ea. neighbour is on market through high street ea.

Our flats are v similar, pricing is 5k different.

His is student flat, mine is a family home.....he is getting viewings, i think about five since 18th feb, ive had two since 28th.....

We are adjacent to eachother on rightmove and S1....

Other than ea being v proactive (do they really call up people registered with them?), I dont understand why nobody is coming to see my house...according to conversion rate from stats, im at 4%....i think my pictures are ok...just wondering if Im highlighting the wrong rooms on the listing?

Or if I truly should be going with high street? We know theres only really a six week window of action, and dont want to miss out...any advice would be great.

Mine..
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-37798342.html?premiumA=true

His....
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-40675511.html?premiumA=true

I don't know, but your flat is lovely. I'd pay the extra. Is your estate agent doing anything at all?

It sounds ridiculous, but although you give dimensions there's not a floorplan. When we were buying the floorplan was one of the first things we looked at, and I discounted some because of the lack of one (which I know makes little logical sense, but when you look at lots of places that are pretty much the same any criteria to narrow it down is helpful!)

The other flat has an additional shower room, which I guess could be a factor?

I'm not really sure how online agents work ? do they do the viewings? Quite often we were introduced to flats by the estate agent knowing ones that were just new to the market. The estate agents we had contact with (from a buying perspective) were very proactive in terms of getting in touch. Not actually helpful, in that they seemed to get in touch whenever anything new appeared, rather than anything that fitted our requirements, but we got emails every week and frequent calls as well.

The local agent may be sending just anyone on their books to view properties, even knowing that the property doesn't exactly match the buyer's requirements. The ones that come through online website are probably more serious because they have not been pushed by anyone ("oh why don't you just go and have a look"). So I would not worry. You are probably getting quality over quantity.

By the way I find both flats lovely in their own ways.

I think yours is lovely, I think the main differences between them is he is showing 3 of the bedrooms with double beds in, he has 2 bathrooms whereas you have one and he has a floor plan.

It massively helps to have a floor plan that way if people don't like something they can see if they can knock through or rearrange the layout.

I'm not sure which bedroom your son is in but it doesn't look as big as the ones on his photos. This may purely be the camera angle.

If I was being really picky, pull your shower curtains all to the end of the bath rather than two, and pull the navy blue window curtain back so you can see the features better.

We sold with an online agent and bought with an online agent. Your neighbour may well be getting viewings but it hasn't sold yet. High Street agents may have people on their "list" but I didn't register with one when we were last looking. We moved 3 years ago.

I agree that floorplans are very important. Pictures can't give an idea of the layout.

It might be that people are looking at his flat as the kind of place you could rent out to a bunch of students and so make some income? I am not sure people would immediately make that connection though, since the only thing that screams "student" is the desks in a couple of the rooms.

Also- and I hope this does come across as critical- your decor will not be to everyone's taste, especially the hall wallpaper and the red carpet in the living room (which looks very red in the photos). His property, while having some nasty dark carpet in the living room, may seem a bit more netural to people? That said, I am sure someone will view yours and love the decor or else not care about it in wanting to redecorate anyway- it seems like a very nice property as far as space and layout.

Arggg- that should say hope it does NOT come across as critical. :)

Thanks. Maybe, yes, I should do a floor plan and send it to them....
They arrange viewings and do the usual negotiating paperwork etc. i have to do the viewings. Im guessing from their business model that they dont proactively contact anybody..i had assumed that everybody just looks online and thought id bypass the sharks!

Does anybody think i should be rearranging photos?

I can't click on the links but if you don't have a floor plan its really annoying. It tells you So much about the layout which you cannot get from photos.

Can you borrow beds for the rooms without and re-photograph?

agree about having a floorplan but from the photos yours looks 10 times nicer!

Could you reorder the phots? The other flat has a picture of the outside of the building as the first picture while yours shows your bedroom.

For me kerb appeal is massively important and I would much rather see the exterior first, so that I could dismiss it if I didn't like it.

ps, love your decor

I think you are probably appealing to different buyers. Your flat is a lovely family home but expensive for first time buyers who will need a 20% deposit for a mortgage. The other one is an HMO which will be of interest to landlords.

your photo 8 makes it look as though the room is too small for a bed. The decor is lovely, shows off the proportions.

fergus firstly your flat is lovely, do ask your agent about a floorplan (I'm not sure you can do it yourself!). The spare bedroom photos don't do the space justice, but a floorplan would overcome that.
RE your agent yes they should contact their database, a really good agent will call round their list of keen buyers as well. I would really push an online only agent for how they are attracting buyers and how they build their database up (do they do door drops locally? could your flat feature in one of those?) - what is their marketing edge i.e. not just S1/ rightmove, and also who they see buying your flat - you are not competing for the same market as your neighbour at all.

The only reason that the exterior is not the main photo is that myneighbours have done that and we are trying to put as much distance as possible between us as flats. So its on the listing view but onky as the second picture.

Floorplans are my problem, I already asked and have dowloaded software

Interesting point about the bed, i agree that room looks tiny....luckily i have a cot....could make it look like a bed and give the illusion of a massive room...:)

I never thought either about the decor being offputting....although all I can realistically do is change shower curtains, remove paintings and put my persian rug back down if the red caroet is rhat bright....

Weve just ad a baby so realistically unable to decorate right now (no energy)

I would maybe put your kitchen first - not all Glasgow flats have a kitchen diner so that would be a big plus. I had friends who were selling on the southside and people would turn up for viewings after seeing the floorplan and the pictures and say they didn't like it as it had a galley kitchen. I think your kitchen is MUCH nicer than the other one - it's meant to be kitchens and bathrooms that sell places and yours are lovely.
I'm afraid the wallpaper would put me off a little if there was another plainer property to choose from as you would have to put a lot of effort into stripping the walls (or that is what I think you have to do). I don't think it is anything to stress about at the moment though and if I had to choose over your kitchen + wallpaper over his kitchen + plain walls I would choose yours (I think it looks nice BTW just not my style).

Also, I don't know what the market is like in Glasgow at the moment but, maybe people think they can get away with offering £250K for the other one (and save on stamp duty) as it's not so nice but that you will definitely be looking for £260K or more.

Yes, you need a floor plan. And, yes, high st estate agents do phone up people who are registered with them. And I'd think that's especially true in an area like the West End where (rich!) people might be buying flats for their student children and waiting for the right one to come up. So maybe you should reconsider that.

Also I think the adjective "magnificent" is a wee bit trying-too-hard.

I had a boyfriend who lived in Cecil Street when I was at Uni, so this thread has made me feel somewhat nostalgic....

And your decor is lovely, btw.

I used to live along the road form you in Hyndland a few years back.

I would say that your neighbours flat is more neutral than yours. I love your wallpaper in the hall but many might not.

Agree that maybe investors are looking at his flat, rather than family buyers.

The small bedroom definitely needs some sort of bed in it. Even if it is just a cot. It looks like a small unuseable space atm.

First picture should be the exterior or kitchen. I'd go for kitchen.
Mention school catchment (Hillhead?) For the family market buyers.
(Floor plan, agree.)
I'd mention schools, uni, byres road etc briefly in your opening statement. E.g. xxx flat / family home in quiet residential street close to xxx and in xxx school catchment.

Good luck.

I'd be interested in your thoughts on the online estate agent and who did your home report.

OK I am going to be the horrible one and tell you that some of his photos are better than yours and some are worse.
He seems to have wooden floors in some of the rooms, a bonus and his kitchen shows better than yours.
The first picture MUST be of the outside. this will instantly show that you are selling a traditional west end flat. your biggest selling point above all others. Forget trying to distance yourself from next door, it won't work.
I would retake the photos as I think they are letting you down.
A floor plan is a must.
Rearrange bedroom 1 with the bed head to the facing wall. Lose a chest of drawers if needed. carefully dress the bed.
Remove the couch(?) in the hall and possibly another piece of furniture.
Lose all kitchen artwork and excess ornaments.
In the lounge, pull the furniture away from the walls and arrange it carefully. If you can borrow a cheap neutral rug, cover the carpet with it and buy 4 red cushions to put on the couches.
Put a single bed in picture 8
In the bathroom, remove the blue curtain at the window, pull back the shower curtains and remove the clutter from the chest of drawers. Remove the bathroom scales.

You also need to make your hallway look brighter. It looks really dark atm. Either shine lights or do something, but make it look brighter. take that little bedroom photo from a different angle because it looks tiny.