Need the collective wisdom of MNers please!

[ginghamstarfish]

Have a property on the market. In Scotland, quiet area, market slow. We moved out to where we now live - I was poorly and could not deal with house viewings etc at that time. Agent took pics with furniture in, day before moving out. House is clean, well maintained, BUT has woodchip, and most ceilings have lines where the boards were not taped together properly (according to surveyors).
So, now on sale for a year, 20 odd viewings, no further interest, not much in feedback except garden small, too far from town. Price already reduced by £25k (in Scotland we have a Home Report with value given by surveyor). What to do now?? No advice at all from agents, but wondering if it's worthwhile to have woodchip removed and ceilings redone? Or try to furnish it? Alternatively drop the price again?
House is in a rural location, few miles from town, lovely views, very quiet, 30 miles to Edinburgh and same to coast.
If you viewed, would it be the decor putting you off? or that it's empty? Would it be better to pay for redecoration/furnishing rather than reduce the price more? Would welcome your opinions! It's crippling us having to pay for two houses.

I think I'd do the work. Even if you drop the price, the buyers have to have the cash available to do the works and have the inclination to do it. I'd say both of those factors may be obstacles that some buyers might not be able to get over.

Thanks, yes, I'm thinking that might be best to redecorate etc and keep the price the same. Does it really matter if it's empty or furnished? I believe people like to see a house furnished but I don't really understand that as I love to see an empty house when viewing, when there's no 'stuff' to hide the actual fabric of the house.

I would decorate and put some furnishings in. Empty houses quickly get a cold neglected atmosphere, especially in rural locations. Can you borrow some basics? Bed, table, sofa. Curtains and soft furnishings might also help, charity shops might be a cheap source for theses. Do you have an open fire. If you can't put it on, lay it ready to be lit with some logs. Leave the central heat on low and timed to take away any chill.

I know the rural Scottish market, it takes that one person to fall in love with the house. Hope it happens soon.

Empty rooms also tend to look much smaller than they are. I'd put some basic furniture in to demonstrate beds, sofas etc fit.

You'd need to see what has so.d in the area to know what buyers are looking for. However, I'd think it prolly boils down to the house feeling unloved and neglected. Over the years, I've seen buyers fighting over and paying top prices for houses that were dated but super clean, smelled nice, were warm, with fresh flowers and had a lovely feel. On the other hand, piles of old post by the door, cold rooms and no furniture makes a house look miserable.

Thanks, yes have been thinking about buying furniture for it as we don't have spare sofa/beds etc. We left pictures, lamps, some kitchen stuff, etc and always have the heating on for viewings. It's clean, no smoking or pet smells etc. So rather than keep reducing the price I'd be better buying furniture?

It's worth looking at what else is on the market and having an honest chat with the agent. They should be able to say why it isn't selling easily.

The agent is crap. They have no advice. I've given notice to cancel with them.

I agree about some redecorating and adding furniture, wood chip can be a real bugger to remove so some people may be daunted by the work. Depends whether the house in general is a bit of a project though I think.
You can't make the garden bigger of course but is there anything you can do in terms of layout to make it appear bigger?
I hope your new agent is more help!

It sound like finding a better agent should make a lot of difference ;) Good luck!

Thanks all, yes, am thinking of having the woodchip removed. Garden is nice, well planted, but could be cut back to make it look bigger. Apart from decor the house is in good condition, very clean, well maintained, 7yrs ago had all new windows, new kitchen/baths, conservatory. I am speaking to a couple of other agents this week so will see if they have any advice too.

We moved out of our house and were advised to leave it dressed, for when it went back on the market so we took all the clutter out but left it looking like a home 80% of furntiture, plants, photo frames etc.

We have a bunch of offers and accepted a proceedable offer in under 4 weeks of being on the market.

We viewed a handful of houses with no furniture in them and hated them all. They felt cold and unloved and you hone in on the nasty bits like a grubby piece of carpet or in your case dodgy chipboard!

90% of buyers want to visualise a house as a home and furniture placement helps them do that. It also takes their eye off any less than ideal decor!

It is annoying to dress a house, we had no furniture in our new property as a result, it cost us money doing it up, but at the end of the day we were lucky and got more for it than we were expecting.

Your house is doing you no favours sat there not getting sold (not to mention the costs of heating, council tax etc). I would enlist a new agent and dress it as a home and focus on finding that one buyer.

You can pay to have the house "staged".

Aghhhh
Zombie thread.
Hope it sold @ginghamstarfish