Advice on selling house - one year on and still no offers

[Munchkinsmama]

So, our house has been on the market for almost one year. We are with an online estate agent but as of yet have had no (sensible) offers and viewings are not exactly thick and fast. We originally put it on just under the highest valuation, but knowing that was probably a bit optimistic quickly reduced it by £10K. We reduced the house again 3 weeks ago to by another £10K. We just can't afford to drop it anymore, as we need what little capital we have left in it for the minimum deposit for a new house. And to be honest it's now on at a very competitive rate for similar properties, although admittedly its a two bed cottage at the high end of the price bracket for a 2 bed - due to location, size, standard and character. But it is comparable to similar properties nevertheless. Its also now on for less than what we paid for it 7 years ago.

Since reducing the price we've had 2 viewings (although one generated by someone we know who was looking for a buy to let) and an open house today which generated 2 more viewings - although i suspect neither were that serious and just curious.

I'm at a loss at what more to do. The house is finished to a pretty high standard. Kitchen and bathroom all under 3 years old and tastefully (IMO) done! Despite having an 18 month old son the house is always immaculately presented at viewings (most toys hidden and is presented like photos/how we used to live in it before child came along as target market is young professional couple).

I know the market is slow, and tbh although things in my area are selling, those that are selling in my price bracket do tend to be 3 beds - with the odd exception.

Does anyone have any words of advice to help shift our house. I'm 20weeks with dc2 and we'd really like to be in something bigger by the time he/she comes. I have considered moving to a local estate agent but all the house buyers we know just use rightmove so really i really question the benefit. And having dropped the price means finding the £3000 or so would be hard to find!

Just put a bed in the second bedroom for the picture. The point is to get people through the door,if theyr'e interested in the house they'll forgive the cot being there when they view.

What a beautiful house! I hope it gets the new owners it deserves.

Hi Munchkin...like everyone else I think your house is gorgeous...I did however at c.190k for a 2 bed near oldham! I think you should do a couple of things:

1. Find out who sold the last similar type property and get them out to value realistically
2. Probably use them
3. Look at the price of 5 ish houses you are interested in buying, come up with a reasonable figure you would be willing to pay, then look at how much they were bought for last time (hopefully some will have coincided with the purchase of your current property)...now, work out the % drop in price and apply that to your property - this should show you that you are actually gaining even if it doesn't feel that way - if you are moving up in a down market you gain - your house may have gone down by 20k but the one you want has probably gone down by 35k so 15k gain iyswim? If it was the other way round - moving up in an up market you would lose. We have chosen to move a year or two earlier than planned for this reason.

HTH

I know this area quite well, so here goes...

• It's listed as 'Oldham', not 'Delph'. Get that changed asap. Oldham has a terrible reputation (shabby, deprived, riots...) but Delph has a good one (picturesque, desirable).

• You have a very limited market. There are probably only a handful of people looking for a house in this location and price bracket. You were never going to get a quick sale.

• You're more likely to sell to someone who doesn't know the village than someone who already lives there. I'd suggest including a couple of photos of Delph village and the area around - eg hills, reservoirs and maybe the canal at Uppermill/Marsden.

• Do you have a nice view? Lots of houses in Delph do. If so, include a photo of it. :)

• You have competition from properties on the other side of the hills, as well as the Delph/Saddleworth/Uppermill side. For instance, in your own price bracket there are 2 and 3 bed ones of a similar style/period, with gardens and stunning views, like this and this and this.

• You also have competition, unfortunately, from quite a lot which are £30-60k cheaper, like this one and this one and this one and this one and this one. Their interiors are definitely not as lovely as yours, but many people prefer to buy more cheaply and make their own mark on a house.

• These villages have better transport links than Delph, and a lot of people buy houses in this price bracket to commute to Manchester and Leeds. There's nothing much you can do about that, but you might like to say how far close it is to Greenfield/Marsden stations and the M62.

• You might want to consider going with R&D EAs, who advertise on both sides of the hills.

• If you can find a way, advertise in Manchester and the BBC at Salford Quays. There are loads of academics from the universities in and around Delph, and quite a lot of BBC staff moving from down south, but they won't look at 'Oldham', and they won't even know 'Delph' exists unless you tell them... :)

It's a beautiful cottage. :) Good luck!

Have you got it priced correctly for the house and area. I have thought that if I ever sell a house again I'd get one of those home stagers in for advice. If I could afford it that is. They give advice like a housedoctor. I've not looked at the photograph of your house yet so it might already be perfect!

Absolutely gorgeous house. I would get a local Estate Agent, and possibly drop the price. I don't think there's anything else you can do really. Good luck.

You can check out the reputations of local agents at allagents.co.uk

Also, it's a lovely house and I'm very jealous as will be renting for EVERRRRR but one thing that did strike me is that whilst very lovely and homey it is very neutral. There is a lot of beige in every room and I know that neutral is recommended for selling up to a point but I have watched a lot of The Beeny and she has recommended some colour for people with very neutral homes. A bit of red or turquoise or yellow here and there can really make the photos come to life a bit. HTH.

Also, as lovely as the child's name on the wall is, (so cuuuute) i wonder if that might be worth painting over as it's so personalised, you want buyers to imagine their child in that room maybe?

PS I love the garden so badly!

I'm no expert, but having recently been in a similar position, I think the problems are with a two bed is the type of buyer who buys a two bed is often someone too young to be thinking about children and those people just can't buy any more, needing £££ for a deposit. Buyers are generally getting older and therefore more likely to already have kids or very close to having them and for that buyer a two bed won't do

We were ftb, in our early 30s with one child already and the prospect of another not too far off. We didn't even look at two beds

I read somewhere that ftb's are the plankton if the market, the foundation as it were. And it's ftb's who want smaller houses. And they just can't afford £180k

Flow4 is spot on.

This is Delph, Saddleworth NOT Oldham. I think therein lies the difficulty with online estate agents. They don't know the local market.

Beautiful house and I agree with all of the above.

The only thing that struck me was that the double bed is infront of the radiator - or that's how it appears on my phone. It makes me think the master bedroom is small.

Otherwise I was jealous looking at it :)

It is absolutely beautiful but for a 2 bed in Oldham I would expect to pay between £125 and £145.

Is the large window in the pic of the garden yours or the neighbours? Because the plans make the back of the house look flat but common sense dictates it would be your window. It's very overlooked if it isn't.

No advice about your house in particular but re Rightmove I think you may be wrong. I am selling my house too (stressful, isn't it?!) and this weekend had a second viewing with a really keen buyer. There are some other houses in my road on the market and I mentioned one of them (to point out the differences with my house) and said 'I expect you've seen it on Rightmove' and she said no, she hasn't seen anything on Rightmove and had just registered at all the agencies as a buyer.

I'm sure she is the exception but she may become my buyer so in my case having a local EA (chosen for other reasons) is working ok.

Good luck with your sale.

Hiya, I also live in a 2 bed character cottage (not as nice as yours thou!! Lol)

We bought ours just before the market crash.... At the time we thought that we would buy a lovely 2 bed cottage then get married, upgrade to a 3 bed and have kids etc... Then the market crashed.

I think before the crash our houses would be aimed at young professionals but I think now these people tend to go for cheaper 3 beds as they plan to stay longer rather than moving every few years. I have noticed around where I live that all the 2 cottages used to be bought by young couples are now bought by retiring couples that want t o downsize and live the dream in a cottage or middle aged couples making a fresh start in new relationships after divorce etc (can't afford a big house post divorces and no plans for children so quaint 2 bed is ideal) (sorry I know I'm generalising!)

As this is the case you could try adding some touches to really sell the dream of "cottage living" I.e freshly baked cupcakes/bread on the side when viewers come round, some veggies growing in pots, homemade jams, elderberry wine in bottles with hand written labels (just cheat and go to a WI sales!) on the side etc etc.

When people one round ours or dinner we cook things like pies using a Ceramic pie bird and "rustic cooking" as people really get into the "rustic rural charm" (in reality we don't live like this any other time but every now and then I like to pretend to be kirsty allsop lol

What a stunning house OP, absolutely beautiful.

It's a beautiful house but to put it in some perspective my DMIL's two bed house in Oldham sold recently for £60k. Totally different style but lovely in itself. As far as I can see that's the kind of budget that lots of people looking for 2 bed places have in that area. If yours is in Saddleworth rather than Oldham I'd definitely change the description (and get all the particulars proof read as there are dozens of errors). Speaking as someone who has family from Oldham, the name fills me with horror and if I were looking for property in that part of the world is avoid any houses in Oldham itself.

What a lovely house! I'd buy it if I was anywhere near!

However, I would set that second bedroom up to be an adult double bedroom (use a slightly-smaller-sized double bed if it isn't quite big enough for that) - people mentally categorise bedrooms in terms of the bed that is actually in there, regardless of floor space - so a room with a single bed is thought of as a "single bedroom" even if there would be room for a double. With just a cot in there, people are thinking "oh the second bedroom isn't big enough for a full-sized bed.

Is the only outdoor space that decked area? If there's more you need photos.

You need to imagine who is going to be buying and set up the house for that sort of person. You currently have it set up for a small family with one baby, but the lack of (displayed) signifiant outdoor space is putting people off who are in this category - but the fact that indoors it is set up for people-with-a-baby is meaning that it isn't "clicking" in the heads of people who don't currently have a child.

You need to make it easier for people to imagine their lives there, and at the moment it is falling between these two stools.

My house (2 bed character cottage) was valued last week at £180,000, a similar sized 2 bed on the same road (not a cottage) is worth approx £120,000. They are not the same and is unfair to be comparing the prices of two different types of property.

MissTweed my point is that property in Oldham is considerably cheaper than in the nice little villages around it which is where the OP's house seems to be, but she's advertising it as being in Oldham.

You have a gorgeous home!

I don't know the market where you are, so can't comment too much on that. Some of the others that have been pointed out on here are cheaper but not as nicely done. Therefore your USP is that it's ready to move into.

The room that's letting this down is the nursery. You might get someone in the door who likes that there is nothing to do and is willing to pay a bit more for it, but then they look in there and suddenly there is decorating to do.

I wouldn't worry about a bed if your DC isn't ready for one, but I would decorate in here to make it more neutral like the rest of the house.

I'd also go with an estate agent, as talking to estate agents has made me look around houses I wouldn't otherwise have considered.

HTH

I think if you are struggling for viewing then it is price and agent which are letting it down. I'm unconvinced about online agents (or conveyancers for that matter) as they lose the personal relationship with you as client and lack local knowledge and contacts. Having a city based agent may bring it to the attention of a much wider market. You need to establish your very bottom line and be prepared to settle for that. It is only worth what someone so prepared to spend regardless of what you have paid and improved. Some might even be put off because it is "finished" and could buy cheaper but do similar themselves. I don't know the area at all, is it second home/holiday letting territory or primarily residential .

I'd try a local agent first, and get a sale board outside if you don't already have one. People looking to relocate will drive around and look through local agent's windows.

Give that 3 months. If you are still in the same position then you need to look at either reducing the price, or taking it off the market and trying again in a year or so.

I agree with making the second bedroom look more adult. Paint over the wall with the letters. How old is your baby - will he/she be going into a bed soon?

Better photos too of outside, the village and views.

I think it is a very pretty, characterful house.

however, I wouldn't pay that price for a 2 bed.

I live over the Pennines - W Yorks - our house is on the market - we have a character cottage too - and is on for £230. We have 4 bedrooms - three a similar size to yours and one slightly smaller. We have outdoor space (which I don't see a much of in your pics?)

Granted your village is more exclusive -but I stil think your price is a little high.

A 2 bed is likely to be first time buyers, with none or one child.

It could be worth changing agents. We are on with an online agent also - and they are pretty hands off.

Ours has been on the market since NOvember, with only a little interest. Ours is overpriced - a little - but I am not that bothered about selling now so would not be prepared to go much lower.

If you do want to move then you will probably have to lower - but start afresh with a new EA.

Good luck OP.