Selling house, low viewings

[trinitybleu]

About to take house off the market and maybe try again in the new year, but want some opinions on the photos / listing please as the Agents have been crap at providing feedback.

What looks good, what would put you off, what should we change for next time? Be brutally honest, I won't mind!

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-61762934.html

On the key features I'd list a bathroom and the en-suite and the WC downstairs.

Looking at the floor plan, I don't like that the kitchen is so far from the lounge and you have to go through the dinning room to get there.
I don't see it working well for a family. How has it been for you?
But I'd always want easy access to the lounge, maybe by opening a door through the utility room.

First impression is that it's too minimalist and somewhat cold. It lacks some warmth.

I can't see any storage in the bathroom or the shower.

ReedBunting and namechangedtoday15 - I think you might be right. The left hand bedrooms are the exact same width and the wall is above the living room wall, so they should be able 11 foot 10. And bedroom 2 is not 6 foot 7 in any dimension. FFS. They were right on the draft I saw.

Lweji Can't say I've ever been bothered by it. It's nice to be away from the noise of the dishwasher and smells etc. and nice for entertaining in that your guests are far enough away for you to have a minor breakdown over the gravy and they don't notice I always say I hate going through another room to get to the kitchen, but because the dining room is so wide, it does feel like you do. We thought of knocking the kitchen through to the dining room to make a big kitchen diner, but then decided to try selling instead.

*about
*doesn't

OP - that is likely to be your issue. I don't really care what the photographs show (although pylon is an issue), my first port of call is always the floorplan as soon as I click on any house. I'd be looking at 4 bed houses (with 3 children) and would dismiss your house immediately because the bedrooms (according to the floor plan) are so small. I wouldn't even scroll through the photos.

You need to go ballistic with the agent if the floorplan has been like that all along.

Floor plan being redone now. It was miles out ....

And the EPC's will be up too. Muppets.

We thought of knocking the kitchen through to the dining room to make a big kitchen diner, but then decided to try selling instead.

There you go. Whatever you find wrong with the house, buyers will probably too.

-I would list floor plan as 2nd picture after the front

• def need picture of en suite, and downstairs toilet. I didn't even notice there was more than one toilet/ bathroom and would have left thinking that wasn't enough for 4 bedroom house

• the child's bedroom. The high bed and all the Ikea drawers make it look like there is t enough space or storage. I would take bed apart and put in shed, add a cheap double and nice chest of drawers for toys

• lounge looks unlived in for a family with child. No books, toy storage

• try and take a picture of the dining room and kitchen together, I didn't realise they were next to each other at first. Can you fit a small table in kitchen also?

Lweji it's not "wrong" ... it's been 11 years and we've not felt the need to knock through. I like having a separate dining room

Didn't notice pylon. My first thought was I wonder if those fields behind are going to be covered in ugly new builds...

Decor is not my taste but completely inoffensive. I like the downstairs layout. The bedroom photos could be taken from more flattering angles. Nice outdoor space and I like the playhouse

It's not wrong, but big open plan kitchen/diners are a big plus for most people these days. The only people I can personally think off who want a separate dining room are over 70!

I would seriously sack your agents. Once they've done the work and got everything right .

Pylon would be a no-no for me

Op I think you just need to make sure the floor plan dimensions and price are correct.
All these differing opinions on decor, knocking through etc are not that relevant. Would a summer house in garden really put someone off buying if it ticked all other boxes???
Your house and garden look smart, clean and well kept.

Please don't get rid of your dining room. We have discounted so many open plan houses. I love my dining room. It's a nice house and the price seems OK to me (NE England) but mo idea what prices in Rugby are like. I agree it needs dressed more, it all looks a bit sparse. Personally I don’t like 4 curtains in a bay window could they be pulled back to look like 2 curtains?

Artandco she's 9 though - would you expect her to still have toys int he lounge at that age? Although she never did! Toys live in bedrooms

Catsgowoof re the land - no, it's designated open space on the Community Plan. Got a small playground and there'll be a community centre at the far end.

gingercat02 ... glad I'm not the only one re the dining room. With the curtains, not without drilling into the window frames. The current rails are screwed into the ceiling and needed 4 fixings to stay up. You could replace with one pole which would close off the whole bay, but we put the Christmas tree in there

Lol I will forward details to the husband.

Fwiw we want a separate dining room so we can turn it in to a play room and chuck all the plastic toddler tat in there, and shut the door! 😂

honeysucklejasmine wait til the floor plan has been updated

I don't expect toys all over the living room no, in our home there's no sign of toys anywhere once they are away, we are only in a flat but there's storage . However we have storage for their stuff. A chest with toys in, a book shelf with books in, a cupboard with school stuff in. With a child your home seems like it has little storage. Where do you keep homework stuff? School sports kits, art supplies, books, etc? There seems no cupboards or drawers anywhere

And your own stuff? Do you have sports stuff, out of season stuff, sewing kit, hobby stuff? Where do you keep it?

Artandco

Toys are in her room. When she was smaller, the dolls house was in the bay window and there were some bits in the bottom of the tall cupboard in the lounge (jigsaws, games etc). Used to bring a box of, say, dolls down at the weekend and then pack away again Sunday evening. Sports kit is hanging up in her wardrobe. Her school bags hang on hooks behind the dining room door, along with all our coats and her ice skating bag and swimming bag.

Board games are in one of the cupboards the sideboard in the dining room. The taller cupboard on the other side has 6 pull out cubes. One for hats / scarves, 1 for cycle helmets, 1 for tutoring stuff (her homework sheets come home in her book bag are done and go back), 1 for laptops and chargers, 2 are currently empty

Her books are on the shelves in the study mainly. It's all novels now - we passed the younger stuff on when she grew out of them, apart from 10 or so special books that held particular memories.

You see the fitted wardrobes? They hide a lot! DD's has all her clothes behind the two doors (rail with drawers under), her dressing up stuff behind the single door. Boxes of toys in the bottom. There's a shelf above with her memory boxes, paperwork, all sorts. We also left the back of the wardrobe section off her bed and that's stuffed with more toys, stacked up on boxes. Usually it's the dolls bedroom!

In the spare room wardrobe there's all our clothes that don't fit hanging up. A 12 man tent, dehumidifier, tonnes of sailing equipment and god knows what else. The top shelf has more stuff including 15 years worth of sailing magazines. The wardrobes are cavernous! Maps in the drawers under the bed. There'll be a 7 foot inflatable dingy coming home soon that usually spends the winter on the spare bed ...

Our wardrobe has our clothes, 4 suitcases (inside one another, 8 washing baskets, bags, shoes, all our paperwork (15 box files along the shelves). Sewing kit is up there too, plus medicines, spare sock basket, all sorts.

I am ruthless at getting rid of "stuff" and love a good clear out, but we do have a lot of things too. The garage isn't used for storage (apart from a few things in the ceiling as it is boarded out). I think only having 1 child probably helps

I have the same rug as you, so cannot fault your style and decor

If your 4th bedroom is the office room I would strongly recommend changing it to a bedroom. My dh's office is our 4th bedroom and we had lots of views who just didn't 'bite', we changed the layout to fit a small camp bed in there and the next three viewings all resulted in 2nd viewings and then an offer. I didn't really believe the Amanda lamb philosophy but buyers really didn't see it as a bedroom without a bed. I also question any agents pictures when they don't show certain rooms, because it flags up that they aren't photographable - In the house we are buying there were multiple pictures of certain rooms but none whatsoever of the downstairs loo (total 80's throwback) and utility room (horrible damp lean to). That might put some people off so if all your rooms are nice, get them to photograph and include all rooms.

Never mind the floor plan dimensions.

The photos don't match the floor plan at all. The windows and doors are all in the wrong places.

Presumably your bedroom is the one with the en-suite, but either the photos are reversed (or the floor plan) or it looks like it is actually room 2.

thenewaveragebear1983 snap! Am just arranging with my mum to borrow a day bed that goes from cot bed to single sided, so we can redress that room.

Lweji floor plan is now updated and correct sizes on. The room photos are in the order of bedroom 1 (photo from the doorway, ensuite on the left), bedroom 3, bedroom 2, bedroom 2, bedroom 4. Will get them to reorder it to match the descriptions

The first time they did the photos it went lounge, kitchen, lunge again (same photo), dining room, garden, other lounge shot ... was so confusing!

For what it's worth (last sold 2 years ago and we did the marketing and used an online agent), I'd chip in the following:

• Take the first photo without the pylon, from a different angle. Or mention in the text that the pylon is no longer used. Be sure to also stress this when showing people around. Is it due to be removed? Can you find out or can your solicitor?
• Put blurb in the listing about the fields being protected (or whatever wording it is, maybe check with your solicitor) and that there is a nearby community centre and playground.
• I'd also put in about your catchment OFSTED good primary and secondary schools and any other nearby amenities e.g. supermarket within walking distance, 10mins drive to the station (with trains every 30mins to London) etc.
• I'd photograph the bathroom (as I worry if I can't see a photo!) and I might redo the study into a nursery or borrow a single bed so buyers can see it fits one in.
• Make a point of saying that the garden contains a playhouse that could be be changed into a summerhouse with little work. Things like that which might put some people off, might just pip it.
• I'd remove the energy rating from the bullet points at the top and add the single garage on.

The price seems high, I know it's tricky on an estate as there's usually different sized houses in the same street. But a quick look on Rightmove for Rugby, shows up some lovely 4 double bedroom properties in 'nice areas' (as per the text!) for closer to £300k.

I expect if you're not getting a lot of viewings, your house isn't coming up in prospective buyer's search criteria because the price is too high.

Have you considered doing the viewings or at least being there? We did ours and could therefore do evening and weekend viewings, rather than daytimes (which presumably might suit viewers better as they'd need to be working to afford your house!). I was able to say what work we'd done and when, which bits of the house I loved, that the sun came into the garden in the morning and stayed there all day and into the evening, that the neighbours were lovely (no noisy parties etc). We were close to the M4, so I was able to say that there wasn't much noise due to the embankment and tree planting, that the boiler had been serviced every year we lived there with no work needed despite it being 15 years old. All those things that might put off a buyer or indeed the little nuggets of information that might just sway an offer in your direction.

If your agents are rubbish (like some of the ones that showed us around houses), they knew nothing at all. The best houses we viewed and the ones we either put offers in or very seriously considered, were those where the owners were also there, either doing the viewing or just around to tell us about the house/area/neighbours. We were moving across country so this was all super helpful and really influenced our decisions.