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 personally wouldn't panic at this stage. If after Easter there have been no offers, consider either dropping the price to £349k (a lot of people will have £350 as the top of their price range) or spending up to £2k to dress the property up for sale.

Quick improvements such as rugs on the floor, lifestyle assessories, garden furniture, pots outside, better wall lights in living room, piano put into storage and so on can make a big difference.

All cottages have practical problems in some way or other, what you need to do is create a viewing experience that highlights a 'lifestyle'.

I was also going to suggest an Open Day. Much as I hate them as a buyer, it did put pressure on us to put an offer in on a house as we didn't want to lose it to someone else. If I sold, I would be tempted to do it this way. It also means you only need to make it immaculate for one day. I would put a lot of the kids stuff away. They won't even notice, and will probably play more with the bits you leave out. It's only till you get an offer and it's all progressing.

If you can make it look like the pics, it is gorgeous, and maybe a few more mirrors opposite windows as a PP suggested to reflect light.

I love, love your kitchen. Could you make it look more like a second reception? Is there room for a small sofa somewhere? Also love the garden . People would kill for a house that size at that price around here.

It's a lovely house OP

I agree with everyone who says do a massive de clutter and hold an open day. And I would mention that it's not listed, that's a selling point.

I think your pricing is about right. This is 4 beds too, same square footage

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-38330805.html

I know this sounds a little harsh and I don't know the area well, but even though the house is lovely, it is not a house I would consider as a family house with a young family. I too have 3 children and it just wouldn't work to have so little little living space downstairs. I presume there is no scope to extend?

If the photos are deceptive and you have lots of clutter, then get rid of it. I think the key is making the house look bigger than it is in reality, and clutter will do the exact opposite - it will simply re-iterate for some potential buyers that its too small. Take furniture out, remove cot unless you're using it, don't store things on top of things or underneath beds etc.

Thanks everyone. Yes, maybe dropping the price a bit in a few weeks if it hasn't gone might be good, agree about the 350k 'barrier'.

Maud, that house backs on to the side of ours! The sellers only have a front garden - or a drive really - so they have the parking but not the private garden. Also, it's a very nice house but needs a fair amount of work, inside and out and I think that is why THEIRS hasn't gone (actually it did sell then fell through)

I suppose you could extend - in fact if we end up staying here we will rejig the garden and do just that.

The cot and the piano are in daily use though so I'd be in trouble if I put those in storage

Could you get a friend to ring and enquire about it, see if your EA do actually mention the parking?

When we were searching, one estate agents who knew we were searching for a 4 bed substantial home with parking, sent us to a property that had 3 bedrooms plus loft space, false frontage that gave the outside impression that the house was wider (it was an end terrace) and no road access, never mind parking.

We were really pissed off in fact I waited down the road in the car and made DH go in on his own what a waste of our time and the vendors, DH said you could tell they were desperate to sell.

Fwiw I do think your rooms look lovely- do declutter asap though, clutter says 'not enough storage' immediately

That other house is more family friendly though in that the downstairs is bigger than yours, even though the overall dimensions are similar. From the photos, it doesn't look as though it needs alot of work.

Fair point about not putting the cot into storage if you need it

Namechanged, yes, I agree about the downstairs. We have one more bathroom than that house but most people would go for a bigger downstairs...I know it doesn't look like it needs much work and I am not slagging it off (it is a really nice house and I hope it sells for them) but some of the work that needs doing is apparent from the outside and the rest I have been told (by viewers, who usually come and see both houses)

Am I missing something- that other house looks detached to me.

Round here there's a big price difference between detached and terraced yet these 2 houses are the same price?

The decor in the other house doesn't look too bad, expect the bathroom, and the lack of beams make it like lots bigger whilst still cottagey.

Complete tourist here but it is very lovely. I've recently bought a 4 bed for my young family, I would probably have gone to look at yours knowing it wasn't quite right but hoping....

The other house is effectively an end terrace. If you look at the last picture of mine, the back exterior, the last two windows on the right belong to the other house. The front of their house is side on to our house, if that makes sense.

It is someone living there on their own, I expect it looks bigger than ours full stop because of that

Stylingwax, therein lies the problem. I think a lot of people think it's a nice house but not quite right, and hoping...but ultimately say naaah.

I am off to start the declutter (again) in a mo, had two viewings yest and have one tomorrow so far.

The fact that it looks as if you're trying to get a £200K profit on a house you bought for £150K two and a half years ago would put me right off. If you bought much earlier and paid much more then you really, really need to get that corrected asap. I'd say that was more important than any minor stuff about clutter.

Your garden is very exposed - there seems to be zero privacy - which would also be an issue for me as it would require a lot of time, work, and money to correct. But there's not much you can do about that, and a lot of people probably wouldn't mind.

Can you find a self storage unit locally? We've just rented a unit (due to start extension) and its something like £85 a month for 50 square feet. It'd probably be money well spent. Good luck.

But even if we had (and we clearly didn't), we are pricing it at market value or below. Hence all the viewings. People are coming through the door, and we haven't had one offer - not even a cheeky or a silly one! Which tells me the problem is more fundamental.

Namechanged - going to have a big chat with DP at the weekend and take action.

Oh, and FatherReboola, the garden is off a track used by the people who live in the row of cottages. It is not overlooked by the street or anyone else. But I take your point that it's not for everyone.

You have a really beautiful home!
I wonder if a lot of it is a case of people being nosey? We had a period home which we'd totally gutted and renovated. We put it up for sale and the amount of viewings we were getting was unbelievable - but most weren't even in a position to put in an offer at that time. One viewer actually said that he walked past everyday on his way to work and loved the outside of the house so wanted to see inside. Incidentally, he and his wife were the ones who bought it as they decided that rather than miss out they'd rent out their house.

Good luck!

Wow - cannot imagine poking round someone else's home for a wheeze But I guess it happens!

I think it's a lovely house. Lots of character and a nice, big garden. We're moving on Monday. Initially we were looking for a cottage, something similar to yours, but realised that what we wanted wasn't available, so are buying a victorian place in the village we wanted, for the space and character. However, the things that strike me about your house are exactly the same things that made us dismiss all of the character cottages that we looked at, namely no parking, or if there was parking it was to the detriment of garden space, and very little storage.

Could you do anything about parking at the road end of your garden - gravel car standing area sectioned off from the rest of the garden with some trellis, shrubs etc?

You say that there is storage in your bedroom, but this isn't shown in the photos, so I'd say that they need re-doing to reflect that.

I agree with other posters that the kitchen table could do with removing, at least for the photos. Also, be ruthless with decluttering. Clutter in houses shouts that there isn't enough storage, so get rid of yours and get some sort of system to tidy toys etc away in.

the problem is more fundamental

It is- it's the price.

The fact you are getting people through the door but no offers would indicate it is well over priced given the issues which uncover themselves upon viewing.

You can't change most of them so you're probably going to have to change the price and work on the things you can change.

If the EA is saying you need to declarer then you really need to.You have some massive furniture like the iron bed which is making the rooms look even smaller.

If I went to view this if be hoping the rooms felt bigger IRL but if you're saying they are actually more cluttered now then it will really be putting people off.