Please critique my house

[nosupermum]

Our property has been on the market 1 week and we have had 1 viewing. They were people that had just sold with the same agent so were told as soon as we had approved the details. They said they liked it but the garden was a bit too small and they weren't keen on the 3rd bedroom being on a separate storey from the main 2 and the little nursery/study room.

I think it is on for a reasonable price. The market is fairly slow here- smaller houses are moving fairly quickly but all the bigger things that we have been looking at are quite stagnant. I suppose we are a bit in between the 2.

Is there anything drastically obvious you can see? It is going to kill me keeping this place quickly presentable with 3 DC under 6 years old if we need to do this for months

I will chat to the agent at the end of the week for feedback but have just braced myself to post here meantime...

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-28287324.html

nrudeshitrequired what a ridiculous comment. you can go an buy a 10 ft tree for at most garden centres. sorry people dont like trees in a garden ??????????? like others have said view isnt great.

Makes me wonder if I should avoid any tree-ish areas on windy days now - because you just never know

Thank you everyone. We do interchange the livingroom/dining room positions sometimes but have had them this way round so in summer we can just have the doors open and the kids playing in and out. AS someone else said also you cut through the living room bit with plates then to get to the dining room.

I had meant to pull the sofa out a bit, we have it shoved in to make a wider pathway for dc to run at full pelt with toy buggies etc, and I forgot in the stress of photo day.

My mum had said she thought it looked a bit too decluttered too. WE have a couple of big boxes of toys under the bay window that I stuck in the car but otherwise everything is generally stored out of sight anyway (well normally it is strewn across floors but it does have homes in the bottom of big wardrobes, under beds etc) I guess that is a benefit of having 3 close in age and the same sex, they all play together and it normally involves 1001 stuffed animals and a load of paper and pens.

In the flesh it is more lived in.

The little 'study' room currently has dc3 in it. It is big enough to fit and ikea toddler bed but too small to class as a bedroom. They did take pics of that but didn't put them up.

The front door is uPVC so can't be painted.

The building behind the garden is bingo so not smelly and not loud and about a 20 foot drop so garden is not overlooked and is south facing so a sun trap.

The estate agents are a bit quirky with the photos so often put up arty ones of stained glass etc, our hanging basket must have been as exciting as she could get. I did see her doing a close up of the pitch pine doors/panels but they must not have came out well so you are spared them!

We don't have a nice tv cabinet for when we use the other end so will troll ebay and the flea market tomorrow for some nice piece of furniture that could be used as one.

Thank you

You have a beautiful home. My first thought is the sitting room furniture looks awkward as if the room isn't big enough to furnish it all. The garden looks pretty uninviting I know the pictures were taken on a damp day but because of the surrounding buildings it looks a bit industrial. I would soften it a bit with even some kids outdoor toys to make it look a bit more usable and inviting. All in all it's not the house it's just the pictures. It makes all the difference if the are taken on a sunnier day. X

Besides most people hate trees in gardens, too much of a risk in stormy weather.

That's the most random thing I've ever heard

No offence norudeshit

No offence taken. We had a huge tree come down in a storm and it missed the house by inches so we had the rest cut down, so I'm totally biased in my opinion of Trees and have a vendetta aginnst them . All my neighbours have had their trees either chopped down totally or seriously scaled back. The main reason being that when trees get too big they start affecting the amount of sun light that you get, but also the storm issue and trees being uprooted, also the fact that trees can affect the foundations of a house, also the fact that they (in my garden) get in the way of where I want to position the trampoline and swing.
I am talking about big trees of course. I don't actually see that a 10ft garden centre tree would make much difference to the OPs garden.

Clearly you have good reason to be suspicious of trees!

I love trees but only have them down the bottom end of our garden - where they are nowhere near any houses (just wanted to clarify so you don't have nightmares! )

Good luck with the sale. Your house has obviously been a much loved home.

Your house looks lovely. No idea re. Chesterfield prices but it's tidy and well maintained which is worth it anywhere.

I might 'dress' it a bit more. The photos don't make it look very homely. Just a few cushions, flowers, house plants etc and some of the 'nice' toys would soften it a bit. (I got all the tasteful wooden ones and the intact Playmobil neatly in shot when we sold ours)!

It looks a little dark in the photos I think? I realise this won't be the case in RL but perhaps some nice soft lamps around the place might cosy it?

I think your place looks lovely though and would give it a look if it were what we needed.

And I like the view.

It's lovely.
But too decluttered!
A few pictures, fruit bowl & vases of flowers will make it look a bit more homely.

Does the book case in the lounge fit in the alcove? If so I would move it there, move Tv to front of the blank fireplace, put the chair in the other alcove with a lamp and footstool (reading nook), then position the other two sofas towards the TV in an L shape. Add a side table between the sofa's with a lamp and a couple of books and something of interest on it.

It is a lovely home and so, so neat! But lacking a bit of personality at the moment.

Your house is lovely, especially the kichen. We have the same tv cabinet too.

I would swap e dining and lounge areas, and then add a few bits to make them look homely - a bowl of fruit on the table, perhaps, and some bright cushions. Then take a few more pictures yourself, and email them to the estate agent, so he can put them on the website, and change the hard copy details - I assume most agents nowadays have their details on the computer and print them out when needed, so it's not like you are asking them to throw away lots of copies, and if he has printed lots out, he can still change the details online.

I would definitely swap the dining and living rooms. And make the master bedroom the top floor one with the ensuite.

Other than that, it's a bit bare, so maybe add some flowers etc.

Yes to a bit too decluttered - I mean where are your bedside lamps. It's beautiful though - just what we need but not in Derbyshire :(

Lovely house and I agree with what has been said so far.

Looking in the floor plan it seems that you have masses of storage space in the eaves and the cellar, could this not be pointed out? Also is the cellar plumbed etc and could it be used as a laundry room? Is that a shed/garage in the garden?

Echoing what others have said, your house is TOO de-cluttered. (Wish mine was.) For example, in the bathroom you have neither TP nor towels, not to mention toothbrushes, etc.

I see in the map view you have solar panels on the roof (assuming I have the right house). I didn't see them mentioned in the description.

As there is no shower in the master bath,.people may assume you dont have one. No shower can make someone discount a house entirely.

What everyone else has said about the living room and garden. The other thing that struck me is that the interior looks like a new build (quite bare, magnolia, laminate...) but it's a period property. Do you have any original features? Can you get pictures/emphasise them in the text. I've just gone and had another look and I see you have a ceiling rose, cornicing, wooden doors, I completely missed these the first time I looked. If you feel like decorating maybe a deeper colour would be good, even a feature wall (!) to make it look more like a period property.

I see you're quite central, what's parking like? are there local amenities, a good school, park shops? In general I think the text could be improved with a lot more detail added.

I agree with the comments so far. The house is a lovely old place, well decorated and a blank canvas for someone to move straight into.

I would definitely rearrange the living room and maybe get something for the blank chimney breast wall. At the moment it doesn't seem to have any kind of focal point, so it looks a little 'lost'. The garden would benefit from some nice seating and better photographs. There are too many photos of the front of the house - one decent one would suffice. The hanging basket photo really needs to go too.

I'd like to see photos that make more of the original features - cornicing, original doors etc. Not as close-up arty farty photos, but just so that they are obvious in the general room image.

The house looks like a rental, as, beautiful as it is, it doesnt seem to have much life.in it.

Dress the attic bedroom - it looks.like a student rental.room.in a shared house.
Swap the lounge and dining room round, and have the Lounge take precidence in the photos.
Put towels, loo roll and a glass jar with toothbrushes into the bathroom.
Show a photo of a shower.
Vase.of flowers in the lounge and dining rooms.
Side lamps in all rooms.
Agree - one photo only of the front elevation.
Table and chairs outside.

Just another couple of thoughts. Could you have a go at taking some photos yourself - play around with furniture angles, soft furnishing and taking the photos from different corners of the room to see what works best. If you could get a good set of photos together you have taken yourself, you could persuade the agents to use them.

Also, could you re do the outdoor ones on a sunny day? Houses and gardens look so much nicer in the sunshine. (Tis lovely here today in Derbyshire - give it a go?)

Your house is lovely but does not look 'lived in'.

Where are the toiletries in the bathroom, children's toys/items in their bedrooms?

The walls look a little blank. Are you able to put up a few pictures?

The presentation looks good to me and so I have no comments rather than be patient and your buyer will come. A serious buyer will see past the absence of a fruit bowl or the hanging basket. Well done on decluttering so well.

Our house was a bit messy (kids 5 and 3yo), smelled of fish and our 5yo happen to have a tantrum when we had unexpected viewings - it didn't prevent them from making an offer. So fingers crossed and just try living your regular lives.

If I have GOT to pick up something, that would be the bare garden with not overly pretty view of that building on the right. Could you at least a garden picture without that building OR screen it with bamboo plants in ponts so it does not show on Rightmove pictures.