Please could you help with our house!

[oopnorthmum]

Hi all, been for sale since June now and only had 3 viewings! Changed estate agents once and feeling very disheartened now. Please could you take a look and offer any advice.
Thanks :)
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-27619296.html
(sorry, don't know how to do clicky link)

[oopnorthmum]

Thanks everyone. Dh chased EA this morning, we now have another viewing tomorrow evening!
Have found some cushions and moved a rug. Will pull dining table away from wall and have moved some bits of furniture. Fingers crossed as these are already under offer and looking for something like ours. Fingers crossed, will keep you all posted. :)

[Pinkje]

If you love your house but want to be closer to (your?) parents wouldn't it be easier to get them to move nearer you? {realise that completely ignores their needs & desires but maybe something to consider}

[HavantGuard]

You need to sort out the price first. Offers from £245. That will get people in the door and it's the price that's stopping them. Then put back signs of life. You've decluttered to the point of it looking like an empty house in some areas. Fruit bowl, a couple of rugs, big vase of flowers, lay the kitchen table etc borrow from family and friends or get cheap deals from places like Homesense and IKEA. If there's a glut of property you need people to fall for your house above all the others.

[Pannacotta]

I think you could make it look better for the pics, though the price/stamp duty may be the real issues.

I would put your kettle on the kitchen worktop and fruit bowl etc just so the kitchen looks more lived in, rather than a show home.
I do agree re the yellow walls (esp against black furniture), might be worth painting them in a more neutral colour.
I would also make it more cosy, add a rug/throw/cushions to your living room, and perhaps move the dining table so its more central to the room (if you can borrow a bigger table then even better).

I also agree re moving the cars and I would add a couple of large pots with winter pansies to the back garden for some greenery and colour.

Basically it could all do with some colour and life!

Also what is the square of sand by the patio? That looks a bit funny.

[RandomMess]

See I'm from Eaglescliffe originally so the thought of living in Stockton proper even the nice areas is just a no. I'd want my dc to be walking distance to either Egglescliffe or Conyers and if I was relocating up there now with the sort of budget we'd have of course I'd really want one of the period properties - LOL!!

[RedHelenB]

I thought it looked as though your garden is really small from the pictures so if that isn't the case I would definitely get a better picture taken. Definitely emphasise the biggest plot on a small select development on a quiet cul -de - sac angle in the particulars!

[Clargo55]

The only thing that would bother me potentially is the radiators. Do you have more than one in some rooms? The one in picture 8 (master bedroom?) looks really undersized for the room.

Also agree with other posters. The photos are not good at all. Do you know anyone who is good with a camera who could take some better ones for you?

[kitsmummy]

In my view the problems are: is there anywhere that the table would sit better in the kitchen room? It looks like it's a massive room but the table is wedged up by a pillar, it just doesn't look like the room "works" from that photo. I also think you need a picture up in the kitchen over the big space of wall above the wooden worktop.

Picture 7- I HATE the yellow walls. With the black furniture it looks like some 80s nasty room, not helped by the black leath sofas and the horrible (sorry) big tv unit thing. The coffee table is dodgy too. I'm sorry to be rude but I think this room is really chavvy and needs a neutral colour on the walls, a rug, some texture and softening.

[TallulahBetty]

Immediate problem for me is that there's only one picture of the garden, and it's not a very good one at least one more pic needed! House is lovely

[wonkylegs]

Sorry I don't mean to be harsh but we've looked at an awful lot of property in the area as we've relocated due to work, this summer. We got to know the market & agents pretty well within a 20mile radius of Middlesborough and looked at awful lot of houses before we found one we liked.
We found in most areas it's still a buyers market unless you've got something interesting in a hotspot like the right bit of Yarm/Eaglescliffe.

[TheIggorcist]

Thought you meant you couldn't put a boy in a yellow room.
Have now looked at pics. I think it's lovely, though part of me hates you for the uncluttered, toy-free existence you seem to live

[Wuldric]

It's a lovely house but I think it is the area. Can you imagine how much it would cost to get all that living space in London? It is a deprived area where people just don't have a lot of money. Also I agree about the stamp duty threshold barrier. Easier if you have a house that is automatically above the threshold. I wouldn't change a thing - it is a lovely house - but you will prob have to go below the threshold.

[17leftfeet]

In a 4 bedroom house I would be looking for a kitchen with much more work top space, there will possibly be five people plus living there -where would you do your food prep and dish up?

For my taste the house lacks character, the properties in your area seem very much split between period and newbuilds and they do tend to polarise opinion

[wonkylegs]

I'm afraid it's just where you are. Ingleby Barwick and Wynard Park are both struggling to sell in many price brackets because they are over stuffed with new housing, with a lot for sale.
We didn't even look in IB despite being in our prime search area for our move this summer and having loads of houses within our price range.
The notion of it all being new housing is just not attractive to a lot of people, the quantity of houses/plots for sale put us off and I believe you are stuck in a not great price bracket for the region. Not low enough to attract FTBs or high enough to attract the big money both of which are the main market. You will be competing with more attractively priced stuff in IB & Stockton or more attractively located stuff elsewhere.
Unfortunately the regions housing Market is still slow in most areas.

We did like your agent though when we looked at houses, they were one of the few that didn't make me want to scream & bash my head against a wall at for being useless and not having a clue.
I'm not a fan of modern Builds but yours seems light & airy, a small injection colourful of flowers/pictures/rugs might make it a bit more lived in without cluttering it up.
At the moment it looks too much like everything else for sale in the new housing estates and won't stick in peoples minds as something interesting.

[oopnorthmum]

Yes, neutral as we decorated before he was born and didn't know he was a he! Moved him went he was almost 3 into bigger room with bathroom

[TheIggorcist]

Yellow is a neutral colour for babies surely?

[oopnorthmum]

The yellow room was the baby room before we found out he was blue! we then changed him into the other room with the en suite when he was potty trained. Its our spare room now so haven't painted since. The lounge isn't perfect! just looks best from that angle! from where I am currently sat i can see the huge overflowing magazine rack and the toys :)

[invicta]

Lovely house! The only minor observations is that the lounge area is a little too show-home-y, - a bit to neat and perfect, and I don't like the yellow room. However, these aren't deal breakers and they may look cosier in real life.

[oopnorthmum]

*find

[oopnorthmum]

we have been very spoilt with our bedrooms, cant fid anything even similar for double the budget where we are looking. Will also be gutted to leave my kitchen, will need to do another one when we eventually end up somewhere!

[clam]

Oh, and am very jealous of the size of those bedrooms. My house is half that size, but twice the price.

[oopnorthmum]

Blame and others, I can do some more photos and move the fruit bowl etc. I haven't moved things for the photos, the kitchen is like that, but understand what you mean. Wouldn't have thought that would be enough to stop a viewing though. Eurgh hate this selling lark

[RandomMess]

Yes I should imagine they would be - after all the private schools are very much about prestige

[clam]

The only things I would suggest are so minor and petty, that I can't believe they would make much difference. (re-do the photos, move the cars as you originally suggested - people are perfectly well able to judge for themselves that a double driveway in front of a double garage means you can park two cars on there - move the bed away from the wall and turn it so it's not backed onto the window, make the kitchen/diner a little less clinical with rugs and a few accessories etc...

So, it comes back to price and time of year.

[oopnorthmum]

I do agree, but we have some houses one mile away with same catchment that are currently on the market for £800k upwards. I suppose they may go private though if they can afford those prices here!!