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 bought in Newton mearns last year and kept a close eye on rightmove for ages before that, and agree that the house is overpriced. Before you mentioned figures, I would have thought they would have been lucky to get £290k for it.

I have relatives who live in Newton Mearns, so I know the area a little.

I think it's overpriced tbh. There's nothing wrong with it, but I would expect more house for my money.

Could you sign them up for www.ourproperty.co.uk/ so you get a details of actual house prices (not sellers' wishful thinking but actual sale prices)?

It's hard to ask for top dollar when the decor is dated. It's very neatly presented but I'd want to change stuff and that would cost. For all that it's in good condition and nicely presented with a neat, if again dated, garden.

Bungalows attract retired couples who probably don't need 3 bedrooms.

Thing is if the crash has devalued their house it has also devalued other houses so they can get as much for a smaller sale price as they would have prior to the crash on a higher price.

If you can't sell for 5 years it's the price unless you live in some godforsaken hellhole. Newton Mearns is quaite naice.

It is clearly over priced.
Kitchen and bedrooms are dated. Bathroom photo is unfavourable. But the real issue is the price. At the right price any property will sell.

You need to get a new home report done with an up to date valuation and market it at a good price based on that HR.

Make sure you pick a reputable surveyor to do the report.

And get them to put the measurements onto the floor plan. Nothing worse than flicking between descriptions and floor plans.

it's dated and expensive for the size of plot.

The real off putter for me is the paving, particularly at the front. It will be a PITA to shift and dates the property so I would want it to go. coupled with the price its just too expensive.

Have they spoken about selling the holiday home as well? If not, why not?

If they can't repay the mortgage capital and have no income other than pensions then surely the next step would be the mortgage company repossessing?

If it is repossessed the mortgage company will not keep it on the market long, they will price it to sell quickly, leaving your PIL with an outstanding debt.

I think it may be time to give them a few home truths for their own good. I agree with the other posters urging you not to give them any money, because you would only be delaying the inevitable. It will be a difficult conversation for you to have though.

I agree with the others, even when you click your first link, rightmove offers the 321k sold house as a link on the RHS, which was in better nick and had more family friendly space. So even if buyers are clueless about the area, they cannot help but figure out that this house is overpriced.

Only option is to sell this house ASAP for what the market will stand - sounds like it will be in the 270 range if you are lucky, sell the house abroad and buy something they can afford. Although agree that looking at rental options etc is v sensible.

Do not lend them money. DP is well intentioned but nothing good can come of it, believe me. Been there, done that, it will kill your relationship, if not immediately then over the next few years.

Stand firm, OP, this is a tough spot but your instincts are right.

PS whoever sold them that interest-only mortgage w an inadequate capital repayment plan ought to be shot.

I think they need to drop the price by 50k. Then be willing to take an offer in the region of 280. When I look at the pics nothing hugely makes me hate it although the kitchen is an awkward shape and I'd want to replace immediately so buyers will want to spend money doing this.

House prices are dramatically different to 5 years ago what are they thinking¬!! We are in the process of buying at the mo and yes if I saw a house that had been on that long I would run a mile assuming there's huge problems with it and that It's totally overpriced.

They need to take it off the market completely then put back on cheaper as a new listing with an agent so that it comes up in all the recently listed searches on rightmove, zoopla etc

Ok I haven't read all the other replies but my thoughts are:

The photos are terrible. They're badly composed. They don't maximise the space. The second photo in, which should immediately wow, is of the hall and it just looks empty and strange.

The purple leather sofas are off-putting.

The kitchen lino is awful.

It's too expensive.

Other than that - it looks lovely!

I think the house looks immaculately cared for, which would appeal to me. Yes I would want to change things, the photos are quite offputting but nothing that would stop me buying it if I wanted to live in the area.
Funnily enough though, I wouldn't pay £50K over the odds to do so.

I do feel for your PILs - they must be rueing the day they refused those offers of around 255k a year and a half ago. It must be so hard for them to get out of that "but it's Newton Mearns, it must be worth more than that" mindset. Because as so many other posters have pointed out, it really isn't, not now.
Few minor points before main one
1/ Might be an idea, as someone said up post, to try marketing it as a four bed.
2/ Make much more of the workshop - possibility of running business from home etc
3/ Target it at older families with teenagers who don't need so much space to run about in, but do value BBQ area to hang around in.
But ultimately as everyone else has said it comes down to price.
In 2011 after my father died, my sister and I had to sell the family home (3 bed detached bungalow, great views, close to park) in the South Side of Glasgow in a suburb not quite as salubrious as Newton Mearns. We knew his neighbours had been trying to sell theirs for the previous two or three years. They had refused a couple of offers, hoping for more...theirs is still on the market.

We decided we would accept a good bit less than we would have hoped for in order to expedite all the inheritance stuff. We were advised by the EA to put it on at the Home Report price and that is what we sold it for - within a matter of weeks. Mind you it's intensely irritating when you see it back on the market within a couple of months, fully refurbished and marketed at seventy thousand more than you sold it for.....grrr.
As others have suggested, get some good financial advice and think seriously about selling the foreign bolthole...only hope it's not in Puerto Pollensa or anywhere else in Iberia. All the best..

Perhaps the estate agents could (should) sit down and show them similar properties and prices achieved. But what bothers me more is that they have been in denial for 5 years ! I wish my house had been worth more but we marketed low, sold lower within the week. If you need to shift it I think you could as it looks just fine from the photos. But its the price.

Oh and I know its family but would they really want you to continue to suffer from their financial mistakes ?

Grace has given you some excellent advice upthread.

Show this thread to your DH. He sounds lovely and caring but he needs to understand that he would be throwing away his immediate family's money, and with no end in sight without a frank discussion wil the ILs.

Too small, too expensive, too dated.

Please don't enable their financial incompetence by lending them money! Or, if you do, go into it with the understanding that you will be bankrolling them for the rest of their lives.

Your DH needs to have a full and frank discussion about ALL their finances. I suspect they are deluding themselves that they can afford to retain the holiday home; I would imagine they need to sell that as well as this home to avoid repossession/bankruptcy. Someone needs to write all the figures down and make them see them in black or white. Don't lend them any money unless they are prepared to drastically cut asking price, otherwise you are essentially throwing money into a big bottomless pit.

Show DH this thread too - maybe the fact everyone agrees, including those with local knowledge, will help convince him?

Agree with all the other comments about the price and would like to add that it's described as a 3 bed house rather than a bungalow so if anyone is specifically searching for a bungalow it won't appear.

I think renting it out to cover the mortgage and selling the holiday home to buy a retirement flat is the best plan, if financially feasible. It sounds as if they can't bear to let go of it. I would lend them money for something like that (if I had it) but not to maintain the hopeless status quo which is going to crash and burn horribly.

Good luck with that discussion, OP.

For those not familiar with this neck of the woods, this is a fine example of its type, and many similar houses are bought as family homes. They are usually in 'good' areas. This house is perfectly habitable though clearly not to current tastes in decor. Some of you seem very harsh to me, regarding the 'trinkets' and so on (not included in the sale, surely?!) . BTW, this house is extremely spartan compared to my own PILs house!!

A property is worth only what someone else will pay for it. Have you thought of taking your PILs to view other local properties for comparison?

Why on earth should you pay their mortgage due to their stupid lack of financial planning whilst they have a holiday home? Do you have a holiday home op?

They have to realise that what is was worth at the height of the property boom is totally irrelevant - after all, if they HAD sold it for their asking price of £400k, the next property they bought would also have been at an over inflated price, and would now be worth a lot less than they paid for it.
It's monopoly money.

What did they pay for it? If they can sell for a realistic price which, given inflation, means they havn't actually lost money on it, they ought to be well pleased!

It may have been worth less than 50k in the seventies, but I doubt that they'll hark back fondly to that valuation!

Best of luck to you, but DO NOT bail them out of this which is, basically, down to bad financial planning and greediness.