How to sell a good house which is stuck?

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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 !

I haven't read all of the posts so sorry if this has been mentioned..

Thanks for posting the link! It's a nice house with potential!

Obviously the bathroom would benefit from a new suite which can be picked up quite reasonably priced. I don't think the kitchen is too bad. Perhaps replace the cupboard doors?

For me, the house seems a little bare and "cold", as if no one is actually living there which could make it harder for potential buyers to feel as though they are living there.

How about putting some colourful pictures on the walls and some
Photographs?

A splash of single-coloured curtains and a couple of matching accessories (argos or dunelm mill) in the bedrooms and some nicer (plainer) sheets.

Make the master bedroom feel like somewhere someone could relax when they come home from a hard days work :)

Fresh fruit and flowers on display and ask estate agents back to take new pics - ask if they have a professional photographer that they could use?

A good programme to watch is "Selling houses with Amanda Lamb" she has some great tips. :)

It's a nice house but it obviously needs work.

It looks like you have reduced the price so hopefully that will rekindle interest.

Just read the rest of the thread :) you've had some really helpful suggestions so far!
Absolutely, a floor plan is a must! It makes it a lot easier to imagine yourself in the house (as a buyer).

Those trees at the bottom of the garden... Are they on your Aunt's land? If so... Blimey - they look like a lot of work to maintain and they look very overgrown also potentially a hazard in gale force winds. I would say that the picture uploaded of them is very un-flattering when trying to get potential buyers! If they're in the garden - a trim would definitely not hurt!

Also, as said previously, does the land behind you have planning permission / council or privately owned etc. As a potential buyer, I would be nervous of anew housing development.

As others have suggested... Take it off of the market and put back on after a little TLC in a few months - l a fresh start with a new estate agent and explain the difficulty you have had and what you want to achieve. Of they are good at their job they will tell you what is realistic and what is not.

Have you also thought about doing it up yourself and renting it out? I'm not sure what the market is like by you.

It's a good house with features, but definitely a refurb. However, don't spend money doing any improvements, new owners will have their own ideas. Some suggestions:

Leave the trees. It will cost a fair bit to have those trimmed, but bear it in mind when adjusting the price.

Remove all of the personal items, i.e. flowers, vases, pictures, toiletries, extra heater in bedroom, the bathroom mats. Just leave the cabinet in the lounge and the two beds.

Remove the fringed lampshades and replace with white paper ones (better than a bare bulb but gives a bright light for viewing).

Buy some cheap plump pillows and put them on the beds (no pillowcases) and some cheap duvets and fold them on top of the beds (again no covers) it makes it look less personalised but better than a bare mattress. You need the beds in the rooms to give a space perspective.

Have new pictures taken including the garden. The trees will be bare so will give an idea of what the view would look like when cut down, if that's what people want to do.

Adjust the price to £105k with a view to getting £95-99k. In comparison to the house up the road, yours has more original features and an extension and a bigger garden, but I think a buyer needs to spend at least 25k on it.

We looked at a similar house when we were buying. It had lots of potential and was liveable but needed a new kitchen, bathroom and windows, before you even started thinking about decor and furniture.

There was just no way we could have afforded it all. It was stretch just to buy the house, plus we were TTC so didn't want to have a huge project and a new baby. We put an offer in 25k below the asking price, they took forever to accept and in the mean time we found a better house 5 mins away that needed no work. It's not just the money, it's the huge faff to up date that puts people off.

I've been away for a while so have only just read the further posts. Lots to think about! Helpful, though. curioushorse - thanks particularly for your post and to others who mention the need for a floor plan.

The kitchen is bigger than average - so yes, a floor plan will help.

People who mention the very odd photo of the house name - yes, you're right, that isn't 'arty', just odd and slightly tatty. Also, I agree the pic of the front of the house is too gloomy.

A few people have misunderstood about the price.

Right at the beginning the estate agent we went to, suggested an asking price of £135,000.

With the then £135,000 asking price in mind, we agreed between ourselves we'd accept £125,000.

It was when the house was newly up for sale that we had the two offers of £110,000 and £110,500. We'd have accepted around this level if we'd realised the estate agent's £135k estimate was a lot higher than we could achieve.

The house is currently up for the revised asking price of £117,950.

Thanks to everyone who has posted. There are four interested parties, so the four of us need to agree a plan of action together.

New year, new start. One way or another we'll take a fresh approach.

Unfortunately estate agents aren't always honest and given that sales in the area approaching your initial asking price have been of fully modernised houses, I think you have fallen into that trap. Anyway, good luck with it all.

Fab house, loads of potential. Must've been lovely to play in that garden as a child, visiting your aunt.

Your estate agent hasn't served you well. I'd seriously consider giving them notice now and hiring someone else, with better pics and a floor plan.