On market for 10 days - viewers say house 'too small' - do we reduce price now??

[runningLou]

We've had our house on the market since last Tues, and in that time had 4 viewings. 3 out of the 4 viewers have said the house is too small. It's a standard 3 bed terrace with kitchen extension, garden and garage. Same as most houses in the area. EA says 'too small' is code for they're expecting more for their money. I've had an exchange of e-mails with him this morning re: price reduction (5k).
Do we do it now or is it too soon?? I know I'm an impatient person!! We don't have a deadline to move other than by next Easter, but I know I'll get more stressed as time goes on, as well as the annoyance of having to keep the house 'viewing-ready' for months!!

Definitely don't change the price!

if they say it looks small, they're mad! it looks really big for what you'd get down here for that price!

If you're trying to make it look bigger, in picture 7, your dining room, take out that toy chest that's on the chimney breast - you can put it on top of the one in the alcove, or just move it out completely. That will make the room feel wider.

can you put more into the room of picture 12? sometimes too little stuff makes it look like you're trying to make the room bigger - a picture on the wall above your A-Z might make it looks bigger (or even a mirror)
can you get a chair in that room?

i think it's a really nicely presented house.

sorry, i missed your post where you explained about the hole in the chimney breast.
You can get a board that looks like a fire, if that helps, or just board it and plaster it and then repaint over it.

I think there is too much stuff (not a criticism; we have about ten times more stuff than you do crammed in, but then we're not trying to sell...)

Based on far too many hours frittered away wasting the House Doctor, I'd say

Photo 3 -- there is a lot of stuff. There's the unit, and two sets of bookshelves, and the DVD unit under the television, and the white storage chest. It makes the room look smaller and it raises a red flag that the house doesn't have enough storage space. If I were being ruthless I'd put the unit and the storage chest into a storage facility somewhere, thin down the contents of the shelves so that there are some books/DVDs but also some knick-knacks and some space, empty out the DVD shelving under the TV (some to go onto edited main shelves, rest to go into storage along with many of the books from the shelves). And you need to sort out the fireplace area somehow (and I'd try to beg, steal or borrow a big mirror to go over the fireplace, because of too much Ann Maurice).

Photo 4 oooh, and there's another storage unit of some kind lurking behind the armchair, and it looks as though it's got more books and stuff on it. Thin that out as well you want to be sending out "all our stuff is invisibly stowed away because this house has SO MUCH SPACE" vibes.

Photo 5 (and 7) -- more storage units. If you can, put them in storage temporarily. And think about staging the dining table for dining (plates, glasses, maybe something in the middle of the table).

Photo 6 (and 8) -- kitchen isn't huge, but it's not cluttered. Don't think you need to do anything there.

Photo 9/10/11 -- it's a family garden, probably what most viewers are expecting.

Photo 12 (and 15) -- no problems here. It's not an enormous room but it's not cluttered.

Photo 14 -- it's a small bathroom, but not much you can do about that.

Photo 16 -- Nice; good size for a child's room.

Photo 17 -- I see what others are saying; it doesn't look as though the room's big enough to be used as an actual bedroom. I'd be tempted to move the cot into Bedroom 2 alongside other child, borrow or hire a single bed from somewhere and style this room as a single bedroom to prove that it can function as one.

No way would I reduce after 10 days. Nice house. Also garage looks ripe for conversion?

Can someone make it a clicky link please, my phone won't let me copy paste

I think it looks lovely - definitely don't drop yet! When we were selling we had a builder come to look round - he said he wouldn't offer anything more than 20 grand less than we were asking. Came up with a list of problems and how much it would cost him to fix them. We nearly took the offer because he was so convincing but luckily we didnt as two weeks later we got the full asking price :)
Never underestimate how fab your home is!

Link

Another who thinks it looks lovely but would move the unit from the fire too!

I can't see any bad points and it looks quite big from the photo's. I like it and it's a good price :)

From the photos there does not seem to be any reason why your house will not sell. As others have said hang on in there with the price. If you get offers you will be more likely to reach an acceptable price to you if you negotiate from where you are now rather than from a reduced price.

I have recently bought a house and have been looking for about 8 months. Some houses that were up for sale in my area 8 months ago are still unsold. They seem to be where sellers are unwilling to negotiate or where the price is just too high. OTOH properties pitched at the right price go very quickly.

So as long as you know that you are asking a realistic price, I would stick with your asking price but be willing to negotiate.

I've just had a quick look round your post code on right move and there are several, no bigger asking more than you. Ok posh fittings in some, but no garages so I wouldn't, panic yet.

Also I thought we were the only house with a family bathroom that size, but non of the houses I've just found have one any bigger.

I should add DD1 thinks our 6ftx6ft bathroom is too big as it and the hot water tank cupboard are cut out of her room. Literally I suspect as the house is almost 200 years old so it wouldn't have had niceties like a indoor bathroom and hot water when it was built.

Thanks for link.

Agree with others, think you should hold off dropping price. Estate Agents always want a quick sale. Hold on a bit longer if you can. Am always shocked when I see beautiful houses like yours for money that wouldn't buy me a 1 bed flat where I am.

The small bedroom has no single bed in there and I would be nervous about the reality of one fitting.

I would get rid of the units infront of the fireplaces, it makes the rooms look smaller and would make me wonder what there was hidden behind.

If you can live without them, the shelves could go also, for example in the main bedroom, the eye is kept too busy with these things.

Lou - I think your house is lovely and compared to London prices it's a giveaway. It is a totally standard floorplan. There is quite a lot of toy storage in the reception rooms though so it looks like space is an issue. But really, you've done a super job presenting it. Stay firm. You have a very nice property and the garage is a great extra. Best of luck.

NB: love love love the B & W flooring in entry. Snazzy.

Keep it at its test pics for a month. Wait for more feed back

Presumably your EA was the one recommending the price you're marketing at - you could challenge them wanting a price reduction by asking what they based their original pricing on! It is too soon to reduce. You're getting viewings, and I think "too small" is probably viewers looking for something easy to feedback. Ask the EA to question viewers whether there is a specific room or area they mean - if no it's a case of can't think of anything else to say, if they do have specifics it can help you.

I agree with PP re toy storage. We have a smaller third bedroom but for various reasons couldn't put a single bed in it so we put markers on the floor to show how one could fit in. We could explain this as we did most viewings. You also have a fab garage - is this decluttered/organised?

Store some o your stuff to make it feel bigger?

If your EA is telling you to reduce after only 10 days that just tells you your EA is useless - they possibly may have over-quoted the price you could get in order to get your custom and have been planning to get you to reduce all along. They may have been bringing around people who have told them they need 4 beds or 3 large beds big enough for sharers, rather than people actually appropriate for this house, in order for them to be seen to be getting viewings.

Do a proper browse of Rightmove and Zoopla for your area. tbh your house may be over-priced as in the 30 seconds I had to look on rightmove I found a house in your area at a similar price where the master bedroom was twice the size as it extended out above the rear extension, and also saw a house with near-identical floorplan being marketed at £7,500 less. These are the other houses your potential buyers will be visiting - perhaps consider going and visiting them yourselves? (you may need to use a friend as cover as competitor estate agents aren't going to take kindly to this) That may help you work out if your house is genuinely correctly priced in relation to other properties that people might buy.

It's very early days to be looking at dropping your price. The house looks a good size for the price and as you have had several viewings That's a good start.

This is exactly what happened to us!

EA assured us we would get x amount. The house went on the market and the first few viewers said it was too small. They suggested we drop by £5k. We agreed.

Viewers liked the house but said they could get more for their money nearby in areas not as nice as ours. EA then had the cheek to try to talk us into selling for £15k less than asking price. He asked what was the lowest possible price that we could sell at.

Once the contract was up we decided to come off the market. We are now waiting until next year spring.

Very disappointing and disheartening.

Right, well, I have instigated a plan to declutter living and dining area and conceal / get rid of toy storage as much as possible. Am going to lose toy unit in front of fireplace, replace with board papered to match the wallpaper, and put a vase / other toddler bait in front of it.
Am also going to remove one of the other storage units completely and look at putting DVDs on bookshelves, losing books to loft ...
DH is dead against this and thinks I am taking viewers' critiques too seriously but I feel we need to do something.
When we've sorted that - hopefully this weekend - I'll get back in touch with EA and ask for new photos.

"If your EA is telling you to reduce after only 10 days that just tells you your EA is useless - they possibly may have over-quoted the price you could get in order to get your custom and have been planning to get you to reduce all along. They may have been bringing around people who have told them they need 4 beds or 3 large beds big enough for sharers, rather than people actually appropriate for this house, in order for them to be seen to be getting viewings."

EA tend to do that a lot, when we were renting they showed us completely inane places, of course it is too small if you want 3 double bedrooms! I think that is most of the problem.

ooh, i'd go the other way and lose the DVDs.
you only need a few DVDs near the DVD player, and the rest of the bookshelves should be books.

organise them better - double stack paperbacks, meaning that they are further to the front of the bookshelves and put posh hardbacks in more prominent positions.

spend a bit of time thinking about how to arrange your books - make people think about the theme.