Please look at my house and give me your opinion

[Jellyshoeshurtmyfeet]

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-62009282.html

Hi,
Our house has been for sale for about 5 weeks or so now and we have had one viewing. Please have a look and let me know what might be the problem. TIA.

I would also add lots of mirror, big mirrors bounce the light and are not going to put anyone off like photos or painting might.

Going through the pictures and thought it was lovely until I got to the garden. That put me off completely. I like a garden with grass and the prospect of having to spend a small fortune to get that would be a deal breaker for me.

The big room with a yoda picture in looks odd and needs to be presented more as a luxurious space rather than a boys bedroom.
For that price I would expect a modern bathroom unfortunate yours looks early 90s / very dated.
Can't you have the photos taken on a sunny day? It just looks cold (I love grey and have a lot of grey in my home but the lighting is stark)

It's a lovely house OP and I like your taste. Having just sold my place I've learned it's very easy to pick a house apart, you need to find the buyer who just clicks with it . Some of the stuff viewers said about mine really surprised me, but the person who bought it just fell in love instantly.

With good photos, at least 10-12 of them and some clever panoramic shots I'm sure you'll get viewings. Our place looked amazing in the EA photos.

I'm in London and like pp from the SE, it looks flabbergastingly cheap to me, in my area you'd get at least £1m - insane how prices differ across the country!

The lack of grass would be a plus for some but definately tart it up with pots and plants and make it look appealing. I'd call the long thin room a guest room with en suite. The bathroom colour may not speak but the size is excellent.

I like the house as it is, of course I'd make changes, but that's just personal taste. Anything can be changed.

Honestly, extremely pricey, and as other comments have said, last pic is awful.

Thank you for all your comments. We've decided to take the house off the market, spend a couple of months making some changes, then find a new EA and remarket. It's been really helpful to see the house through viewer's eyes.

Best of luck!

I honestly don't think that the amount of furniture and too many / too few ornaments makes a jot of difference. Or your choice of pictures and colours. I've looked at awful houses in terms of decor - but you have to see past that. The vendor will be taking all their stuff with them!!!

Yes, a beautifully presented house might get more viewers initially, but most people who want to buy look at the price, location (and again and again), the facilities- garden, schools, transport, whether the kitchen and bathrooms need a major refit, and not whether you have an extra chair in your lounge.

This is all cosmetic.

x-d posts OP. Have you found anywhere to buy? Or are you just testing the market and hoping to make a killing on your extension? I think you need to be realistic over the value especially if you need the equity for your next house.

As a buyer, I would be wondering why you are selling it so soon after buying, this often raises suspicions that there's something wrong with a property. Did you just change your mind about the location?

We haven't found anywhere to buy yet. We honestly weren't trying to make a killing. I had £350,000 in my head when we first decided to sell. When working out how much money we can spend on next house I have based it in that as never believed we would get £390k. We are only moving because of an unexpected change of school.

I wonder if the real issue is that buyers have looked at the LR sold price, and wonder why you think it's worth £100K more a year later? They may be cynical and think you have bought, added an extension and want to cash in on the additions. TBH most people would think that what you have done is not worth £100K. The house price index shows the rate of growth per region and it's very small in the NE- I've known people going into negative equity and this link from the Chronicle shows a drop in price earlier this year of -2%.
www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/property-news/how-north-east-house-prices-11112401

I don't think that everyone can see past the furniture/ details.

I also think most people look at at house thinking what would I need to change. Then add up the cost and hassle of having it done. I know that I do.

The garden is such a compromise that everything else needs to be really good.

I love grey and have lots of it but not all grey walls, as people have said it looks cold. Also if you just paint a chimney Brest then it's easy for someone to change.

Update your changes OP I'd like to see what you do.

I don't think that everyone can see past the furniture/ details.
Then they are stupid!

We once looked at houses with 1960s mad wallpaper and patterned carpets but you have to ignore and expect to decorate anywhere unless it's to your taste.. And imagine every room as a blank canvas.

The only things you can't change are location, outside space and neighbours :)

Just wanted to say that I know this area and it's such a lovely street, this is my dream house!

I live in High Heaton and the value of my my house has gone up from £108500 when we bought it 3 years ago to £127000 and that's without any extensions etc.

Thanks maxwell :)

How do you know that Maxwell? That's an increase of over 20% . Is the area special?

OP I know you don't want to change anything too much but the fact is although it's a lovely house in some ways, you still have 2 small bedrooms. The 3rd bedroom is 8 x 7 and the 4th is long and skinny. Would you think about joining them up so your 3rd bedroom included half of bedroom 4? You'd then have 3 decent sized bedrooms and the part of the skinny bedroom could be a study or snug? Or somehow reconfigure the doors into the en suite so you get a 2nd loo that is accessible without going into someone's bedroom? This for me would be a must as you don't have a downstairs cloakroom.

I never believed it before we tried to sell ours, but people really do struggle to see past the decor and furniture. Even watching those property programmes, people say things like 'ew I don't like that lamp' and I think what- it won't be staying??? People also max out in their spend, so look at properties just above their limit and then try to get them for the price they can afford. Even if somewhere is beautifully decorated, if it's not your taste it's still a project. We definitely found that people really couldn't envisage a bed in our smallest room which we used as an office. We got an offer virtually straight away after we put a bed in there, even though the office set up was still in there (and in my opinion looked worse as a bedroom than as an office!)

We got it valued. The area is just very popular for first time buyers as is next to good schools and parks etc, and it's a fashionable part of Newcastle with both families and students. I only mentioned it because it's close to Jellys house and some posters were questioning the big jump in value in her house.

I know the street, it's quite a busy road as it's the main route for cars from the Dene up to the shops.... and there is student accommodation on the other side of the road and what used to be quite a dodgy hotel too.

I've seen your update that ypurw6takingnitnoff the market again for a bit.

Just to chip in, already been covered pretty much but-
Beautifully decorated but garden and bathroom are a let down.
I'd prefer kitchen and dining room to be knocked through and have the lounge separate. I can't quite work it out from the plans because they're 3D style, but I think the entrance to kitchen is under the stairs? I'd move the entrance to kitchen/ dining room to be on same side of hallway where lounge entrance is or at the end of the hallway directly opposite the front door, and the squeeze in a downstairs loo under the stairs. Obviously a personal preference and don't expect you to be making such extensive changes, but having to go through the lounge to get to the dining room and no downstairs toilet would really put me off.
I haven't done research on the area but going off what other posters have said, I'd be factoring in the cost of rejigging the downstairs and the bathroom when viewing.
I'd also have looked on zoopla/ mouse price and be wondering why you were selling so soon.
The garden size would really put me off from viewing.

Wow, thought houses were meant to be cheap up North! That's comparable to prices near me in the South (35 mins away from London by train).

I see a lovely house apart from there's no real garden. Just a yard.

Other than that, I don't see the issues others do.

My first thought was that almost £400k is high for Newcastle - but if you're in the best bit of Newcastle, that would explain that I think.