Any thoughts why this isn't selling? Just too expensive?

[JenniMoo]

My inlaws are trying to relocate from the midlands to be near us down south, but after being on the market (with a short break) for over a year they've still not managed to sell I think they've had one or two low offers, so wonder if it's just too expensive.

Any thoughts?

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-42641953.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-42641953.html

Difficult one that, not knowing the area particularly well. I would say that the price isn't horrendous, but the property could do with some updating (kitchen and bathroom). They probably don't want the hassle of that so I would probably be tempted to drop the price a bit. The only other issue that they have is that they are only 20k away from stamp duty bracket.

I think they need to rearrange the furniture particularly in the lounge and get rid of the faux fireplace thing if they can. IT looks odd, and the table in front of the door is weird. Create a couple of sitting areas if the lounge is a long rectangle shape, one for Tv watching, one for reading type thing.

It looks tidy enough otherwise. Have you checked zoopla to see what other houses are selling for in the area? And looked at their selling page for ideaS?

It's hard to sell a house for anything between 251k and about 275k due to the stamp duty hike at 250k. Could this be the problem?

They either need to accept 249, offer to pay the buyer's stamp duty, or make some improvements which will make it clearly worth 280k+ (risky this last option).

Yes I would suggest going to £250 000 as stamp duty threshold sits there. I don't know the area at all so can't comment on whether it is high or low, but essentially anything that doesn't sell for that amount of time is usually overpriced. It is quite old fashioned and people are factoring in putting in a new kitchen/bathroom and complete redecoration.

Here are 3bed in nuneaton area between 200-300k

Zoopla for sale

Zoopla sold

Agree its so dated. I'd hate to live with that kitchen or corner bath long. What is it with older people and wardrobe cupboards above the bed? That'd have to go too...

What does property go for around there?

It looks nice from the front but the whole kitchen including the tiles need updating.

The bathroom too.

The living room looks boring and bland.

Thanks for the info. It looks more dated on the photos than in real life, I reckon.
I wondered about tile paint on those brown tiles in the kitchen for a start...

I dont know pricewise, what do modernised ones go for? If it is £30k under that I'd say it was priced OK. It certainly looks neat and tidy, gardens kept well and for £30k the new owner would be able to fit a new kitchen, bathroom, carpet and decorate.
Stamp duty is an issue as others have said, so expect offers under that - presumably EA warned of this and priced accordingly.

Have they stayed with the same agent through that time? what feedback were they given?

I think it needs restyling to be honest to attract more viewers and new photos when the garden's more inspiring.

I'll be brutal, not to be rude, but to try and give independent perspective.
The size of the house looks like it's a home for families, but young families are going to look at the house as it is now and think that it needs a complete overhaul. It looks very old fashioned to me and as though nothing about the place has kept up with the times. If I went to view it would be with the idea that I'd have to gut it to get it to my own taste. Storing about half of their furniture and investing in some more modern duvet covers and accessories could transform the impression of it for not a lot of money. Presumably low offers suggest the viewers have felt the same?

The garden also looks very small for the size of the house and the fence looks neglected and in poor condition.
They could certainly power wash and repaint it and get some new photos with some pretty tubs or bedding plants and that wouldn't cost too much.

I'd probably also change the sellers' comments from what they'll miss to accentuate the positive - this is a really spacious and well planned/easy to live in family home with access to lovely open space. Despite having all the good schooling etc. facilities close by it's a peaceful neighbourhood blah blah

It's no crime to have an old fashioned, cosy home that suits the people who live there, but if they want to move it on they need to try every trick in the book.
Stamp Duty on a £249,999 property is 1% (£2,499.99)
on £270,000 it's 3% (£8,100)
Rather than lower the price they could try advertising that they'd either pay the duty or offer £5,500-£5,600 separately towards stamp duty as an incentive, and that wouldn't affect the sale price as it'd be a different transaction. They'd just need to make it clear that would be subject to a specific sale price being achieved.

If I had £270k to spend, I wouldn't spend it on a dated house with tiny garden in Nuneaton. I know the area a little.

As for more dated in pictures, there is no getting around those kitchen cabinets and tiles.

There have been 2 agents and very few viewings. I don't think there's been a great deal of feedback.

I really appreciate the honest feedback: so hard to look at a house and see it through someone else's eyes when you've known it for 13 years, let alone for them / DH who moved in over 30y ago....

Totally agree on the kitchen. It's very, very old...

Honest opinion...

The price needs to drop and the particulars needs to state that the house is priced to reflect the modernisation work required.

It is a family home but it needs a lot of work to bring it up to what buyers expect and want. Every room will need work. The garden is small for a family with small children (key buyers).

The particulars need to reference local schools and transports links more specifically if appropriate.

The sellers comments sound very honest but way too personal. They say nothing about the house - only the garden and the land behind. They are selling the house, the garden should be the icing on the cake.

They need new agents ASAP. Their agents should have told them where they are going wrong. The late August/Sept/Oct period is traditionally very important (before the Xmas slump). Change now and re advertise.

It's very dated looking. I agree with pp who said it should appeal as a family home, but families would be put off by the money it would cost to update it. Garden isn't that large or family friendly either.

I disagree with the pp who suggested spending money on new duvet covers and tubs for the garden. Money down the drain in my view - you can already tell from the photos that it's a solid and well cared for house, garden is neat and tidy too. Buying a few scatter cushions won't hide the fundamental flaws for a family buyer - that it's going to need money spent on a new bathroom, kitchen and carpets throughout.

So, yes, I suppose it is a price point thing being in need of updating and close to the SDLT threshold too. Knocking off £25k would do it. They'll need to compare with the prices of similar, but modernised houses locally. If it's in a good catchment for schools it might shift quite quickly if the price was reduced.

The problem is that not a lot of people have money to put in a new kitchen and a new bathroom, especially young families who I assume would be the biggest market for this style of home.

It's just too dated.
The carpet and furniture in the lounge make it look like older people have lived there for a very long time. The kitchen needs ripping out and something modern putting in. I wouldn't consider painting the tiles (mentioned upthread) because painted tiles always look awful and the kitchen he it's will still look very dated regardless of what the tiles look like.
The conservatory, garden and fitted wardrobes all look okay.
The fireplace in the lounge looks very dated.
I wouldn't buy that house because too much work is required to bring it up to date.

Sorry my post above should have said that one set of the fitted wardrobes look okay, the other one is very dated.

On a positive note, the layout is very good and family friendly except the separate toilet upstairs as most people prefer the toilet and bathroom together rather than a small enclosed toilet room.

It looks dated inside, and the foot stools in the lounge look very grubby in picture 2. There are places where they can hire furniture, so I'd suggest a new sofa and getting rid of the foot stools and the fireplace, a good rug would break the carpet up, maybe something cream to tone it down.

It does look as though the kitchen needs ripping out and refitting, which is expensive, and the bedrooms are taken up with fitted wardrobes so they look small. They may be able to paint over the tiles in the kitchen, but they are vile (sorry), so it could be a case of pulling them off, replastering and painting. Ikea sell shelves which would look great (when staged) and add a little more storage. Depending on their budget, there are companies which replace kitchen cupboard doors, so maybe worth looking into (an outlay of 1k may get them the asking price and it's better than it not selling and them needing to knock 10k off the asking price).

I think the bathroom's OK. The garden's small but there's not really a lot that can be done about that.

A three bedroomed home should attract families, and it's very difficult for people to imagine it as their home the way it is as so much needs doing to it, although it is cosmetic (hard for people to see without help though).

I honestly don't think your in laws should do much to the house or spend the money now, unless they want to turn property developer and transform it. They won't get it back.

I doubt tinkering about with painted finishes will attract a buyer - it needs too much work to bring the house up to modern decorative standards and amenities - new kitchens, bathrooms and all old fitted wardrobes pulled out - but it's basically a good, solid family house. I think only a price reduction will shift it unless the market takes off.

It looks very neat and well cared for. Yes, it's dated and old person-ish, but it's in an honest state IYKWIM. Nothing hidden and it's well cared for.

I'd be a bit if I saw Changing Room style budget make-overs like painted over tiles - never looks good, as if there's something to hide. Unfortunately, nothing but ripping out that kitchen will improve it.

The only thing I might think about doing is levelling and grassing over the whole back garden - making it family friendly, a place for the kids to play football or put the trampoline. Garden is again v neat, but not much use for families with kids and a dog

Looking at the other properties in the area, I do think this one is a bit overpriced for the work that needs done. Kitchen needs redone, plus the main bedroom and the fireplace in the lounge (the rest of it's not too bad - neutral so liveable). The garden is also teeny compared to others. I'd suggest they have to drop the price or pay stamp duty as minimum.

Just very dated , prospective buyers will take one look and think we need to replace the kitchen etc at so many thousand pound. If they lowered the price to reflect I'm sure it would sell

It all depends on where their budget lies and how much dropping the price would impact on their ability to move to where they want to be.

My point about duvet covers, brightening the garden is a fair one I think and I totally disagree that it would be money wasted because it wouldn't cost that much to make the place look a lot more eye catching. Yes of course it wouldn't disguise the refitting of the kitchen and potentially the bathroom that would be required, but the point is that for little outlay it could make the pictures more appealing and tempt people to view - people who currently are looking and passing the property over.
As the OP says there have been very few viewings, that means people aren't being drawn in to be shown what the positive points are.

The rooms are good sizes, a buyer could easily remove fitted wardrobes if they didn't want them and it looks as though it's a light house. It's all about stressing the positives and the inlaws have obviously been very happy and satisfied there so there must be plenty of those.

I'd just leave the kitchen, it's too big a job and I wouldn't spend money on trying to tart it up and I don't think a bit of a job would make any difference to a buyer who'd probably still want to replace it anyway.

As I said, just make the garden a bit prettier, a pleasant place for sitting out and point out to families that there's lots of open space through the back gate for exercise and ball games etc. and it's not space they have to work on, it's just for their enjoyment.

They really do need a good agent though, one who's going to push people to view and talk it up for all its good points, not just leave it languishing and doing nothing.