Help - 15 viewings and no offers. (Is that bad? It feels bad)

[Ladybard]

Any constructive advice appreciated. Our house has only been on the market for just over a month. We have 'priced to sell' and had what I think are a lot of viewings, which tells me we are probably at the right price point, but no offers. It is a bit more cluttered than in the brochure/pictures online, but I have three kids under 7 though I do do my best for viewings (clean, hoovered, smelling nice, couple of bunches of fresh flowers, the basics). We live in a village and don't have parking (only parking nearby) and I suspect this is killing it for a lot of people (in fact I know it is) but WE bought it, and don't find the parking close by a problem. Also, if it did have a drive or other parking it would be up at a much higher price. ANYWAY, I am getting paranoid now that it is other stuff - does anyone have any tips to make a house look like a must buy?? Am I forgetting something? It's a period cottage, pleasant without being chocolate box on the outside, really charming inside, completely renovated by us 5 years ago. Many thanks...

I have a newish car and wouldn't be happy parking it somewhere out of sight so I think the house is nice and someone will buy it but the no garage or parking will put many off - it will just take longer to sell.

Do you have a shed? Where do you keep the lawn mower?

House is gorgeous. I think older cottage houses are more of a specalist market. You need the right buyer who isn't scared of them. People like the idea of them but then plump for the safe new build.

I like it OP. We have a very quirky old house. A family home, not a show home, somewhat cluttered because it is smaller than our last house.

It was on the market a couple of years ago for 6 months, someone viewed at least once a week, no offers. I got fed up of keeping it tidy and took it off the market, decided to stay. Until recently when I put it back on the market and had an offer from the first viewing.

I wouldn't worry about a bit of stuff here and there, if someone loves the house they will look past that and it is your home in the interim. I certainly don't think a new tablecloth will make a jot of difference to you getting an offer or not.

You just need someone who loves a quirky old house to love it enough, and they will.

I think you need to work on the clutter, if as you say it is worse now than in the photos. Clear a load of stuff into storage for a few weeks. It will put people off if they think "well we've got the same sort of stuff, where would we put it?". As a PP said, bung a load of stuff into the car before viewings, or maybe even consider paying for some storage for a few weeks.

We've just sold out house and ran round to our neighbours with the ironing board before each viewing as I didn't want people wondering what they would do with theirs if they bought it!

It is really helpful to have these different perspectives. Thank you to everyone. Will try to respond to some of them later today. I guess though that we are getting people through the door - it's just the lack of offers. Would not liking a kitchen table etc really put people off?! But I guess it is a case of creating the right feel (unless they are put off by something more substantial which I can't change). Anyway, am grateful for the tips, thank you (although some are a bit long term and we were hoping ot be sold by the summer)

It's a lovely house, but the cottage style and the location won't appeal to everyone. You always get someone suggesting a radical overhaul on these threads whereas a consensus about a couple of key things to change would be what I would listen to.

What puts me off is: the front of your house, I cannot see a front door and the no parking issue is a nightmare.

I strongly suspect that it is not the interior putting people off at all otherwise they wouldn't come in the first place, I don't think.

They will be coming to see if the drawbacks are tolerable.

I thought the back of your house was the front.

With three dc I wouldn't do the walk to the car but then I am a tad lazy!

Possibly a good idea to apply for planning permission to get a drive way and advise prospective buyers of your application

I can't see one mirror in you house - to reflect the light around -

If the last picture is the front, where is the door?

You house is lovely and full of character. The photos do not do it justice. The camera angle is wrong. It makes the garden look very long and plain. In the kitchen the table jumps to the fore and the cupboards and cooker look as if they are tiny and in a dark corner.

The ceilings look really low and the beams massive. I'd get the EA to do lots more pictures for you to chose the best.

I notice you say that you are staying in the same village. Do viewers ask you why you are moving from this house?

Well I think it's beautiful, Ladybard, and I love Enstone (drive through it often on our way to Oxford) - wonderful village shop!

We also once had an old house with original beams and period hearths etc to sell and a lot of people were put off by the thought of maintenance and upkeep. Lots of viewings, but not the rush of eager buyers we had in our naivety expected, given that it was a beautiful house and if you watch the property programmes everyone seems to say they WANT a house with 'features' and 'beautiful fireplaces' and so on - when it came down to it they got cold feet it seemed!

We did sell it in the end, to the 'right person'. Someone who really, really wanted an original and period house and understood what they were taking on - he loved it and made me feel good about it, after all the hurtful No Thankses. It just took a bit more time than selling a standard house but there will be someone out there who loves your house and wants it, because it's such a nice house.

Do make a habit of telling viewers how much you have loved living there, and that you have been there years (at least 5 it seems) so they really take in that you aren't selling in a tearing hurry because of the neighbours or rats or something ; also stress how convenient the location is (which it is, for an Oxford or even a London commute as it's not far from a good rail link, while benefitting from that lovely village setting.)

Good luck!

It's lovely op, great bathroom and garden. I grew up in a nearby village and am pretty surprised by the price - I would've expected a house like that near Chippy to be more expensive. You couldn't buy something with that much space in the desirable parts of the Northern city I now live for that. Like others have said quirky houses need the right buyer. I suppose as well it is very rural and perhaps there aren't loads of families at that price point - many people are much richer or much poorer!

That kitchen table needs to be either moved out of the photo or replaced. It's a negative in your lovely kitchen and I'm sure it would be ok IRL but not in the photo as it blocks and dominates.

The pics of the bedroom are weird. Was he kneeling down to take them. I'd think there must be something odd about those rooms/they were tiny if that was the best angle he could find.

The last pic is confusing. Is it the front? Is it the back? Which parts are yours?

Your TV and the spotlights are your own taste and I'm not knocking that but they are very out of keeping in that room. And you're looking for someone who wants to fall in love with an old and quirky house. They highlight possible problems eg where would we put our TV? How could we light the room in keeping with the character of the house?

There's no photo of the shower room. In my mind, that would imply that it's minging. :)

I've lived in a house like yours. It comes as a package that's bigger than bricks and mortar. Sell the sizzle not the sausage.

I think you've been getting tourists. It's a beautiful house, and people want fantasise about living there, especially with the historical links (do you have a blue plaque?). So people are adding it to their viewing list but not seriously thinking about living there, they're just having a nose.

Love your bathroom; absolutely beautiful. And the kitchen. And the beams.... Lack of parking wouldn't bother me, but I might want a bit more of a cottagey garden. Any chance you could borrow hire or buy some big planters?

Wonder if it might be worth staging it as PPs have suggested, stripping it right back to basics and taking out all your personal stuff, then having an open house type viewing and seeing if that generates anything?

Oh gosh. Well, first of all, thanks again for all the feedback, positive and negative, and apologies for not responding to eveyone individually, but I am really am grateful for the advice and fresh perspectives. It is hard to have perpective on a place you have lived in for nearly 6 yrs! Thanks for the compliments, those that have given them, I need a boost! The negative is mostly very helpful and thank you for taking the time.

Some of it is going to be hard to achieve in the short term, to be honest. Also, I thought the pictures were quite good but in any case, there is no shortage of people through the door so I presume they are at least ok. Camera angles - well, in one of the bedrooms it was to hide mess. The two bedrooms pictured are the spare ones. Ones not pictured are my bedroom (because it also has a cot in and the agent thought that was unsightly even though it is a nice wooden cot), and my bedroom has very large built in wardrobe. Girls' bedroom is the boxroom, it has bunkbeds and a small wardrobe. It might be in an odd place but the shower room isn't minging, honest! If I could criticise it, it's probably just a bit boring!

It's a bit hard to say which is the back and which is the front, if I am honest. There is only one front door anyway. The large picture at the end - the middle six windows are on our house, if that makes any sense!

The car is parked on the village green (turn right out of the garden as you look up it, walk down a short track and there you are).

The paintwork is pretty fresh, structurally it is good as we did everything when we moved in, rewired when we moved in, some of the windows are new and the oil system is brand new.

We are moving because we have too much stuff and also we have three small chidren and I can't quite imagine three teenagers and us in here. Otherwise, we love the house and location very much.

Tbh I wouldn't be surprised if the problem was slightly more basic - if I had a family big enough to need 4 bedrooms I'd need more than one reception room.

Unfortunately I have no idea how you get around that.

I think, after reading all this, maybe we should have a MASSIVE purge on all remaining clutter and some of the personal stuff. Then have an open day. Someone said to me the other week they got the estate agent to tell everyone they were cutting 10k off the price for one week only. If we did that and tied it in with an open day, maybe that might give it a boost.

Hologram said to present it as an 'easy to live in family home' - I think that is a good thing to bear in mind.

Woodchip - you are so right - people round here either have waaay more than this to spend on a house, or way less.

MilkTwoSugars - I think that may well be a very good point - unfortunately!

It doesn't look too cluttered, but is that just because you have hidden it on the photos? Be brutal, it needs to go.
Paint the ceilings white, clean up the sooty kitchen fireplace it just looks like there is a problem with the chimney. The huge tv with hanging wires and the hifi speakers and electrical equipment don't look good either. Tbh the yellow wall is a bit overpowering too.
The garden s very tidy, but a bit bland. Add some instant colour with a visit to the garden centre.
I like the cottage, but most people can't see beyond what's there - they will only see your stuff, not what it would look like with their things in place.
I had a look on street view and the sattelite pictures - is there any way you could get a parking place from the drive/track that looks as if it runs off Chapel lane? You may have to pay but it would be worth it.

Honestly I think it's the parking, people love their cars and don't want them out of sight.

Who did you buy it from OP? Was it a family in there when you bought it?

I think your best bet is an older or child free couple, so 3 beds plus study rather than 4 beds.

But I don't know how you do that whilst you're living in it though.

I will get some colourful pots. And clean up the fireplace (whoops) and attack the clutter anew.

Hadn't thought about a satellite pic. Will ask my DP what he thinks.

We bought it unmodernised and in a very bad state from an old couple. We gutted the place (we had to)