Could anyone give their honest opinions on why this house isn't selling?

[ComtesseDeSpair]

It's been on the market for rather a long time and after an initial flurry in the first couple of weeks has attracted relatively few viewings (an average of about one a month) Please be as brutal as necessary, I'm not precious and would really prefer honest opinions. I have my own suspicions and feelings about why, but DH doesn't agree with me. Thanks!

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-23747520.html?premiumA=true

I'll state the positives first!

It's lovely and airy and bright and clean.
There is a workshop which could be used an office or study
Near lots of schools
Bathrooms are lovely and clean. Is the shower room downstairs? Is it carpet on the floor? If so get rid!

A few questions?

Where is the tv - can't see one? Is there cable and wifi?
Is it a dormer bungalow rather than a house?
Why has the downstairs bedroom got a sofa in it? Is it being used as a lounge rather than a bedroom, therefore appearing to be a 2 bed house?
How near is it to the M77 - can you hear the noise of the motorway?
Is it double glazed?

The not so goods

There doesn't appear to be much storage
It's too 80's/90's
Too bland and neutral
What is tagged as the lounge. Hate the cushions, curtains and picture. Also the trinkets. Get rid.
I'd swap the dining room and the front bedroom round so that the bedrooms are at the back. I agree that it's weird to have a bedroom between the kitchen and dining room. Maybe swap these over. Idk. Anyway it doesn't work how it is atm.
Living room. Get rid of the figurines, and ornaments on the window sill, and the hideous glass coffee table. The room needs some storage. And a picture or something on the wall. The curtains are okay though
Dining room. Just yuck. Bland, curtains and drapes yuck, chair covers, brown wood, striped neutral walls.
Front bedroom. Get rid of the fitted wardrobes and the dust holding dried flower arrangement. Maybe make this the dining room?

Exterior
Too many conifers
Put small plants together to make a larger display rather than randomly scattering loads of small planters, both front and back.
Needs proper steps and a handrail from the patio to the garden
Also no exterior lighting

Sorry to be so harsh, but there are things which could be done which would take a week or so which would brighten the place up. The price is far too high, especially for the amount of work which needs doing.

It's in excellent condition, and very bright and clean. But incredibly dated, and looks as though old people live there (which of course they do). It looks very similar to xh pils dormer bungalow. They are both in their 80's.

My advice.

Reduce the price to £260,000. Change estate agents. Stress the excellent condition of the house, and the potential for solar panels?

Or move pils out and de-bland and depersonalise it. Add bright coloured towels, bit of storage, get rid of the curtains and put up something plainer. Add steps and a handrail outside at the back, group the plants together, and just try and make it look as though a family with children could move in and not have to do a great deal to start with. Most people find it very difficult to see past the chintz!

Good luck op

I'll state the positives first!

It's lovely and airy and bright and clean.
There is a workshop which could be used an office or study
Near lots of schools
Bathrooms are lovely and clean. Is the shower room downstairs? Is it carpet on the floor? If so get rid!

A few questions?

Where is the tv - can't see one? Is there cable and wifi?
Is it a dormer bungalow rather than a house?
Why has the downstairs bedroom got a sofa in it? Is it being used as a lounge rather than a bedroom, therefore appearing to be a 2 bed house?
How near is it to the M77 - can you hear the noise of the motorway?
Is it double glazed?

The not so goods

There doesn't appear to be much storage
It's too 80's/90's
Too bland and neutral
What is tagged as the lounge. Hate the cushions, curtains and picture. Also the trinkets. Get rid.
I'd swap the dining room and the front bedroom round so that the bedrooms are at the back. I agree that it's weird to have a bedroom between the kitchen and dining room. Maybe swap these over. Idk. Anyway it doesn't work how it is atm.
Living room. Get rid of the figurines, and ornaments on the window sill, and the hideous glass coffee table. The room needs some storage. And a picture or something on the wall. The curtains are okay though
Dining room. Just yuck. Bland, curtains and drapes yuck, chair covers, brown wood, striped neutral walls.
Front bedroom. Get rid of the fitted wardrobes and the dust holding dried flower arrangement. Maybe make this the dining room?

Exterior
Too many conifers
Put small plants together to make a larger display rather than randomly scattering loads of small planters, both front and back.
Needs proper steps and a handrail from the patio to the garden
Also no exterior lighting

Sorry to be so harsh, but there are things which could be done which would take a week or so which would brighten the place up. The price is far too high, especially for the amount of work which needs doing.

It's in excellent condition, and very bright and clean. But incredibly dated, and looks as though old people live there (which of course they do). It looks very similar to xh pils dormer bungalow. They are both in their 80's.

My advice.

Reduce the price to £260,000. Change estate agents. Stress the excellent condition of the house, and the potential for solar panels?

Or move pils out and de-bland and depersonalise it. Add bright coloured towels, bit of storage, get rid of the curtains and put up something plainer. Add steps and a handrail outside at the back, group the plants together, and just try and make it look as though a family with children could move in and not have to do a great deal to start with. Most people find it very difficult to see past the chintz!

Good luck op

The Home Report valuation I think is £340,000, hence asking price. However, nobody is getting anything close to Home Report valuation at the moment, as Twirlyhot's example shows. I think it's really just become a figure which nobody stands a chance of getting a mortgage over.

Several years ago PILs took a lot of equity out of the Newton Mearns house to buy a holiday home abroad. Because of this, if they sold at around £250,000 they wouldn't have enough money to cover the original capital repayment of their mortgage plus what they borrowed to buy abroad, let alone buy themselves somewhere smaller to retire into. They're a perfect example of people who made big financial decisions based on the assumption that property values were only ever going to go up, and are now in an awful muddle as a result of this not being so.

I'd love to just disengage and not become involved. However, DP wants to lend them the money because he feels a loyalty towards them and feels sorry for them. I just want to keep out of it, but we've agreed on having a very frank discussion with them before making any agreements about money. I want to go into that with some constructive things to say and some examples of equally nice or nicer houses with lower sale prices.

Its incredibly dated. Id want every room stripped back and started from scratch. I don't like the kitchen, the fitted bedrooms, the dining room and any of the wallpaper.
Move them out, empty it, gut it and paint it magnolia.

I'll state the positives first!

It's lovely and airy and bright and clean.
There is a workshop which could be used an office or study
Near lots of schools
Bathrooms are lovely and clean. Is the shower room downstairs? Is it carpet on the floor? If so get rid!

A few questions?

Where is the tv - can't see one? Is there cable and wifi?
Is it a dormer bungalow rather than a house?
Why has the downstairs bedroom got a sofa in it? Is it being used as a lounge rather than a bedroom, therefore appearing to be a 2 bed house?
How near is it to the M77 - can you hear the noise of the motorway?
Is it double glazed?

The not so goods

There doesn't appear to be much storage
It's too 80's/90's
Too bland and neutral
What is tagged as the lounge. Hate the cushions, curtains and picture. Also the trinkets. Get rid.
I'd swap the dining room and the front bedroom round so that the bedrooms are at the back. I agree that it's weird to have a bedroom between the kitchen and dining room. Maybe swap these over. Idk. Anyway it doesn't work how it is atm.
Living room. Get rid of the figurines, and ornaments on the window sill, and the hideous glass coffee table. The room needs some storage. And a picture or something on the wall. The curtains are okay though
Dining room. Just yuck. Bland, curtains and drapes yuck, chair covers, brown wood, striped neutral walls.
Front bedroom. Get rid of the fitted wardrobes and the dust holding dried flower arrangement. Maybe make this the dining room?

Exterior
Too many conifers
Put small plants together to make a larger display rather than randomly scattering loads of small planters, both front and back.
Needs proper steps and a handrail from the patio to the garden
Also no exterior lighting

Sorry to be so harsh, but there are things which could be done which would take a week or so which would brighten the place up. The price is far too high, especially for the amount of work which needs doing.

It's in excellent condition, and very bright and clean. But incredibly dated, and looks as though old people live there (which of course they do). It looks very similar to xh pils dormer bungalow. They are both in their 80's.

My advice.

Reduce the price to £260,000. Change estate agents. Stress the excellent condition of the house, and the potential for solar panels?

Or move pils out and de-bland and depersonalise it. Add bright coloured towels, bit of storage, get rid of the curtains and put up something plainer. Add steps and a handrail outside at the back, group the plants together, and just try and make it look as though a family with children could move in and not have to do a great deal to start with. Most people find it very difficult to see past the chintz!

Good luck op

I'll state the positives first!

It's lovely and airy and bright and clean.
There is a workshop which could be used an office or study
Near lots of schools
Bathrooms are lovely and clean. Is the shower room downstairs? Is it carpet on the floor? If so get rid!

A few questions?

Where is the tv - can't see one? Is there cable and wifi?
Is it a dormer bungalow rather than a house?
Why has the downstairs bedroom got a sofa in it? Is it being used as a lounge rather than a bedroom, therefore appearing to be a 2 bed house?
How near is it to the M77 - can you hear the noise of the motorway?
Is it double glazed?

The not so goods

There doesn't appear to be much storage
It's too 80's/90's
Too bland and neutral
What is tagged as the lounge. Hate the cushions, curtains and picture. Also the trinkets. Get rid.
I'd swap the dining room and the front bedroom round so that the bedrooms are at the back. I agree that it's weird to have a bedroom between the kitchen and dining room. Maybe swap these over. Idk. Anyway it doesn't work how it is atm.
Living room. Get rid of the figurines, and ornaments on the window sill, and the hideous glass coffee table. The room needs some storage. And a picture or something on the wall. The curtains are okay though
Dining room. Just yuck. Bland, curtains and drapes yuck, chair covers, brown wood, striped neutral walls.
Front bedroom. Get rid of the fitted wardrobes and the dust holding dried flower arrangement. Maybe make this the dining room?

Exterior
Too many conifers
Put small plants together to make a larger display rather than randomly scattering loads of small planters, both front and back.
Needs proper steps and a handrail from the patio to the garden
Also no exterior lighting

Sorry to be so harsh, but there are things which could be done which would take a week or so which would brighten the place up. The price is far too high, especially for the amount of work which needs doing.

It's in excellent condition, and very bright and clean. But incredibly dated, and looks as though old people live there (which of course they do). It looks very similar to xh pils dormer bungalow. They are both in their 80's.

My advice.

Reduce the price to £260,000. Change estate agents. Stress the excellent condition of the house, and the potential for solar panels?

Or move pils out and de-bland and depersonalise it. Add bright coloured towels, bit of storage, get rid of the curtains and put up something plainer. Add steps and a handrail outside at the back, group the plants together, and just try and make it look as though a family with children could move in and not have to do a great deal to start with. Most people find it very difficult to see past the chintz!

Good luck op

I agree with the poster that said if you can't see through the decor you are an idiot (or words to that effect).

I think most people can see through it, but can also see what it will cost them. We looked round one that needed a complete overall and walked away because gone are the days when you can borrow extra money to do them up and the prices don't rise like they used to any more (not complaining about that bit mind).

I also think people who have been on the ladder a long time fail to see that property prices are out of reach for a lot of families. They seem that focused on what they are worth now they don't consider that 300k + house would cost £1750 + a month in mortgage payments. That's close to my husbands take home pay in an above average salaried job. But in order to borrow that with a decent high street lender at a decent rate you'd have to be earning close to a £100k a year

They need a reality check!

Can't see much wrong with it, other than it's very old fashioned and would need a major redecoration and new kitchen

They need a reality check and a big price reduction on the house. On the positive side, they've sat through the drop from the highest prices in 2008 to now. In England at least, property priced aren't dropping anymore and are rising. On the down side, I don't know what impact upcoming independence will have on property values in Scotland.

It sounds like they won't be happy whatever happens. I wouldn't lend them money as that would just push them into a more unstable position. If they can be persuaded to face up to what's happened, accept the £400k price tag as a blip and focus on making the best of a bad situation they might get away with it. Particularly if they looked to buy in (I know they might balk at the idea) a retirement community where only over 55s can buy. This keeps the prices well below market value.

I would worry about getting too personally involved in this. Not just financially. They don't want to hear that they've messed up, particularly from their child. I know you can't ignore it but is there anyone else they might listen to more? The company that holds the mortgage might negotiate payment terms.

The house is expensive when you consider the need to strip wallpaper (and replaster?), put in a new kitchen & bathroom and remove the fitted bedroom furniture (which again would mean the expense of plastering and decorating).

I wouldn't replace these as buyers like to make their own mark so reducing the price is your best option.

Can they sell the house abroad, sell this one at a realistic price and afford a smaller house? If so, that would be a sensible way out. If not, then they are either permanently funded by family or they can't afford to be homeowners. It's a mess Op, you have my sympathies.

MaryPoppinsBag that's not really the OP's parents' problem. There will be plenty of houses that are selling for that price. Their problem is that the market has flattened and their house is no longer worth what it was.

Also it looks like the stairs go up into the loft room with no door, so no privacy, the kids could walk in on you! It would put me off.

I think you need to get some prices on how much it would cost to update the kitchen and the bedroom cupboards and try to explain to your P-I-L that when young families are viewing this is what they are adding to the purchase price and not wanting to pay it.

Getting involved in house purchases with parents is a nightmare (DH did it) so I'd advise you stay out if you possibly can. Your inLaws just need to face the fact that prices are not likely to get back to their old values for a long time and they need to accept this.

How old is the Home Report?

Eek, I would be trying very hard not to lend any money on the basis of this 'plan'.

There is no plan. Your money will go and then they will still have to accept something close to 250K and possibly even have to sell their house abroad. Or just let the banks repossess.

I would cut them some slack if it had been on the market for a year or so, but 5 years is deep in delusional territory.

I would think about lending if they agree to drop the price to something like 295 then do a massive PR drive for a month which may include some redecorating etc. But it doesn't sound like they'll agree to this.

Can you get a decent financial advisor round to talk to them and get them to accept some home truths?

I am not saying that its their problem I'm just saying it might put it into perspective as to why prices have dropped and markets have flattened.

I agree with schobe, do not lend these people money based on this crazy plan that they will get what they think they deserve for the house.

The are completely deluded. You need a proper plan which involves dropping the price massively and how they will get out of their debts, sell the holiday home?

It will be a tough conversation so you need to get DH on bored, but they need to hear the truth!

must be price. And I see that they have just RAISED the price again (propertybee) so that won't help.

I'd only commit money I was happy to lose given their history. If you subsidise their mortgage you are throwing money down the drain.

Why can't they sell their holiday home?

Surely their permanent home must be their priority?

Agree with those suggesting the rescue plan would throw good money after bad. Is the holiday home soluble or are they locked in ? tbh they can't expect one to fund the other , to was never going to work out that way. What is the bottom line and how quickly does it need selling ? If bank forecloses it would be more problematic to get a decent value for. Have they tried auctions?

I think you'd be mad to start bankrolling them unless you're very well off yourselves and can afford to. At this rate you'll be subbing them until the day they die. They're clearly financially clueless and need help sorting out their problems, not relying on their son to bail them out.