How to sell a good house which is stuck?

[dotnet]

Really nice 1930s 3 bed house with brick garage, back garden backing on to cricket ground, not overlooked. Well looked after, but we can't get sensible offers. I wonder if this is because it's a probate sale?

Drawback: bathroom is dated. My late aunt had the bath taken out; there's a shower though. Toilet and washbasin are light green, 1950s.

The kitchen is quite big and is in good condition. I think most people would probably leave the kitchen units as they are - they'd prioritise the bathroom - unless they had plenty of spare cash, in which case they'd probably update both.

Lots of houses in the street sell for about £140,000. The estate agent recommended £135,000 for ours. We got immediate offers of £110,000 and £110,500, but we turned them down as we'd had the idea we'd only go as 'low' as £125,000.

Since those early offers, though, the house has hung around for more than a year and just had 'joke' offers. The worst was £76,000! And more recently, from a speculator, £100,000.

This house deserves to do better than this - paintwork is fresh; mostly double glazed; good, oatmeal colour carpets downstairs.

I don't know if it's worth risking paying to get the bathroom redone.

Or can anyone suggest a way of pulling in more punters?

The house is in St Helens, Lancs., in a street of semis.

Thank you !

It will make a lovely home for someone.

But yes, floorplan! The description says that's a kitchen/diner but all I can see is a very cramped looking kitchen with a folding table in it. I want a table that I can dine at and kids can do homework on and I can use as a dumping ground in a kitchen diner. If all I can get is a folding table then no thanks. A floorplan would make it much clearer what the space actually is.

I have no idea why this is seen as an optional extra in listings.

I don't think it's possible to just take off the vote or replace it with a more modern one... it looks like a baxi back boiler fire. In which case it will need the heating system replacing too,

I quite like the 1950s bathroom but not the green - sorry! I think the modern shower unit is too much of a juxtaposition. Maybe the time paint linked above would help?

As others have said kitchen would be a bigger deal breaker and the worry re: wiring and heating too.

Would love to know what's behind that awful fire - I wonder if it's hiding treasure like a nice original fireplace?

Doors and stained glass are nice touches.

As others have said, you'll need to do a lot of work or just reduce the price I'm afraid. You could probably take nicer photos with more cheerful bed clothes etc, some fresh flowers about to make it look less like a probate house. And yes to the floor plan.

We're first time buyers and have spent a lot of time on right move recently

What others said about the kitchen bathroom fire and furniture. Sell that old dresser, it's lovely, just don't leave it in the house.

Also I get twitchy about being shown a picture of a random detail (door plate) not even nice but screams 'we have nothing better to show you'

Also I'd really want to re landscape front and back.

Just sell for best offer in the new year, save yourself throwing his money and time that you won't recover.

I don't think it's possible to just take off the vote

Fire not vote!

Is that artex on the ceiling in the kitchen? That would put me right off, along with the fire in the front room.

Its a lovely renovation job - but everything need updating. I wouldn't invest anything in it to sell it, just be realistic about what needs doing and the cost.

The estate agent set expectations too high, 110 is reasonable given the amount of work.

Take it off the market now - no one house hunts over Christmas anyway. Put it back on the market in February with a different agent, better photos and a floor plan.

I wouldn't bother spending money on refurbishment - whatever you spend you may or may not recoup with an equivalently higher offer but you certainly won't make any significant profit so no point. Just be realistic - this house is definitely a "fixer upper" and you aren't going to get offers anywhere near what good-condition houses go for in the area.

Even if you can't be bothered to redo the kitchen totally, repainting and fixing new cupboard doors on will make it look a lot more inviting.

Just to add to the chorus: the house needs way more than £5k or £10k spending on it. As well as of course the bathroom, the kitchen really really does need doing. I would be massively put off by the lack of double glazing throughout. I would just be seeing £££££££ signs. Presumably that's why the EPC is so shocking - although I see that that recommends cavity wall insulation - again, more £££££s.

The general decor, and the bathroom, makes me think that this house probably hasn't had anything properly spent on it for decades, so I'd be nervous about what the survey will uncover. Although I appreciate that at least most of the carpets (but not all!) are neutral and most of the walls are ok.

Please please get the EA to take down the photo of the house name - that doesn't look quaint, it looks like a broken old sign and again makes it look like the rest of the house isn't in good order.

Although I'd like the fact it wasn't overlooked, it seems that several others on that street look over the cricket ground too, and in the world of compromise that you have to do when buying a house, I'd much rather be a bit overlooked, but be in a nice modern home, than to pay the price you are asking and still have to spend many £s doing it up.

To answer your question: yes, people DO expect a modernised house if you are pricing it only just below similar ones in the area which are modernised, and they will only take on a project (which this house is) if you price it accordingly. You definitely have massively inderestimated the amount people will want to spend on it, and a couple of weeks spent up there replacing the bathroom isn't going to fix that. You might still find it doesn't sell at the price you want (because of the other issues), and you'll have forked out for a bathroom.

I think you've hit the nail on the head when you say you are overly emotionally invested in the house. Everyone on this thread isn't, however, and it's funny how no one is saying "ooo yes, I'd live with that kitchen for years and snap up the house" etc...

If those trees at the end of the garden are in the property, cut them down or trim them. The outlook of the neighbour's garden is far better and the garden much lighter.

I think you are perhaps too emotionally attached to it. Although the bones are good, it needs total refurbishment. I can't really comment on the actual price though as I live in South London :)

You can get cavity wall insulation put in for free - it's the other things this house needs which are going to cost money.

Your two similar initial offers should have given you a clue as to what someone would be prepared to pay for it.

Unfortunately people seem to pay a premium for a house with all work done to a tasteful high standard, but properties needing work can take a hit on the price.

Good luck. You either need to take a lower offer coming in. Or do the work (but keeping the price the same).

Just re-read the thread - this house is what it is, a renovation project. The estate agent's description states as much! No amount of modern bedding, painting things, etc will make a difference - no one is going to offer £125k unless it has been modernised. The OP has had offers - that's offers, not just one cheeky low offer, and has turned them down. A house is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it.

It is a lovely house, but leaving it empty won't be helping. Is someone doing the garden?

I would not start tinkering around with minor improvements, especially if you have not had a full survey done.

Just talk to the EA, in fact talk to some competitors, get it re marketed and sold.

We recently moved into a 1950's house which is in better condition than this but have found that there is still plenty needing doing to it to make it a comfortable family home.

The main thing we had to do straight away was rewiring. The original system had hardly any plug sockets and was so dated I was actually worried for DD to be there (previous owner had seriously overloaded every socket with multiple gang plugs etc). As well as costing nearly 3K the mess and upheaval was tremendous. Your house definitely needs rewiring as the sockets are on the skirting boards.

We're now working on a new fire, insulating and boarding the loft (so much crap left by previous owner up there grrrrr) and then extension and complete refurbishment.

As others have said it's a huge undertaking and the price should reflect that.

I wouldn't spend any money updating bathroom or kitchen. We have just sold our mother's bungalow to pay her care home fees. Same gas fire, kitchen actually worse, 1 sink unit and no worksurfaces just the tall cupboards like your aunt's. Bathroom marginally better as was redone in white about 30 years ago We had to let go of the "family home" feelings.

We had a very good estate agent who priced it as a development project. We had one very low offer which the buyer said was the most they could go to. Our estate agent took the time to show them what else they could get for the money (ie bad position, much smaller) and we agreed a price we were all happy (ish) with.

Also I would advise against keeping an empty house for too long. Mother's was empty a year and we had problems with a nearby lightning strike knocking out the electrics, boiler etc. It was a nightmare to get fixed from 200 miles away and the house insurance wouldn't cover certain things after the house had been unoccupied for more than 30days. Perhaps talk to the estate agent or even change agents. Good luck, I hope you get a sale soon and you will always have the memories of your aunt's home.

Oh dear, people who are looking for a house to move straight into would pass this one by. The kitchen might be useable but it's ugly and not well planned in terms of cupboard space etc so that will put people off. The bathroom with the green toilet and black shower will turn people off right away. I'd take 20k off to redo kitchen and bathroom. I'd also remove all the old fashioned furniture and remove the electric fireplace (or is it a back boiler?) if it's a back boiler that will really turn buyers off and take another 5k off the price to fit a combi. Sorry to be blunt but if the house isn't selling it is overpriced, that's the only reason why property sits for so long. You need to stop being emotionally involved about it, it thinking about how much profit you might make from it, and either reduce it or refurb it yourself.

It's a great house with some lovely period features. When I look at it I see somewhere that needs a complete refurb though - boiler, plumbing, wiring, insulation, kitchen, bathroom, decorating, carpets etc. That would be at least 30k depending on the finish and if the ceiling price on the street is about £140k that leaves you with a likely selling price between £100-£110k.

I'd say your market would be either developers or young families. Developers won't pay over the odds as they need a good return on their investment. As someone with a young family id say obviously some work you can do over time but you can't easily do major, disruptive work with young kids in the house. I'd want to buy it at a price where I'd have enough in the budget to do things like rewiring/boiler/plastering/kitchen/bathroom immediately for safety & practicality.

I think if someone else offers 110k honestly bite their hand off!

As much as the house looks to be in a nice position there's a question mark over the vacant plot next to it. It's been extended, but not in a particularly good way for modern lifestyles and the garage looks narrow for today's cars.

I can see a boiler on the wall in the kitchen, but the whole house needs an overhaul from the bare basics to the fittings and the cosmetic, and the garden needs updating too.

To be blunt, in the circumstances I'd have snatched their hands off when £110,000 was offered. I think, looking at other properties and recent sale prices, that expectations have been set too high by the agent because the house's positives are not going to outweigh the negatives financially until

sorry, malfunction.

until the property is brought up to today's standards.

The longer it stays on the market in this condition the likelihood is that the price will drop and it's continuing to rack up expenses.

Unfortunately people seem to pay a premium for a house with all work done to a tasteful high standard, but properties needing work can take a hit on the price.
This. We have saved ourselves a lot of money over the years by being prepared to buy houses that needed major updating and even structural work, and live in them with DC while painting bedrooms over weekends and picking our way round builders and sparks during the week. From my experience, I reckon that premium is about 5-10% of the sale price of that house in good shape, excluding the cost of the work. So: house in good shape is worth £140k; it needs £30k spent on it; so that's £110k and then take off your 5-10% 'hassle' premium' of about £7k-£14k and you're looking at getting about £96k-£103k for it.

You could either do it up yourself (huge amount of work and hassle, even if you get a main contractor in) and hope that you'll only spend the notional £30k and will then sell it for £140k, or you go for the lower offer.

Sorry, OP.

Get rid of all the furniture and the bathroom carpet.
Paint anything brown white
Sell it without refurbishing the kitchen and bathroom as the buyer might rip it out anyway if you put in a cheap replacement.

Be realistic tho the link to the duly modernised house at only. 2.5k over your price should tell you all you need to know.

Hi OP, we are almost exchanging contracts on a very similar property to yours just up the road in Worsley. We made our successful offer after vendor had just reduced it by 10k and we got a further £6k knocked off. It needs all the same work doing as your property but this is the sort of property we were looking for (untouched, original features). Our vendors have also paid for a structural report and fixing of a broken gulley that had caused some window displacement. Be prepared to knock down. We've walked away nearly twice now due to our vendor being stubborn. We're taking on a huge project but, like yours, the house is beautiful and we cannot wait to restore it.

You need a floorplan.

I'm not averse to a fixer upper but many people looking with small children, or planning to start a family, will be put off by the lack of a bath from day 1. And a "dining kitchen" 7 foot wide with 4 doorways at the dining end, I'm not convinced I could get a proper table in. Again, if you have young children you're thinking about squeezing in a highchair too.

Have you got polystyrene ceiling tiles or very patterned artex? That can be quite off-putting, and arguably more hassle to address than kitchen or bathroom if it affects lots of rooms.

Basically I agree with others, a normal 3 bed semi that sits on the market for a year is simply overpriced.