Barely any viewings, opinions?

[KHT1]

My cottage has been on the market for a month and we've only had 2 viewings right at the beginning. We reduced the price last week and still no more viewings yet. It is an unusual property as in it is a small cottage which has outbuildings providing extra rooms...I would love some opinions....

Easterfields, East Malling, West Malling
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-62595527.html

A few things that are immediate red flags and which might put me off:

1. The front picture isn't very clear - where is your front door? Which bit of it is for sale?

2. Country cottage with UVPC windows...oh dear. Did you replace the original wooden ones? They indicate to me that the cottage is on a main road for noise reduction?

3. The kitchen is very cramped and very dated

4. Is there a bath or just that massive shower cubicle? Families will always want a bath

5. What is picture 10?!! Why include that?

Aside from that, at looks neat and pretty and well presented. Yes, the bedrooms are small but it is a cottage. Hope that helps :)

I don't think it's the best time to sell OP. People have thoughts towards christmas rather than house moving.

I'm in Kent too, not your area, more Tonbridge, but it's quiet where we are too. It's a slow market at the moment, not much moving at all from what I see on rightmove. Our friends went on the market recently and told by the agent they had quite a few people lined up wanting a house like theirs. but they had two sets too initially then nothing.

Hopefully things will perk up in the new year.

The house itself looks nice but there are other properties with 3 beds and in fresher condition in your area for £50k less. Also as said above, not many people are looking to move house this close to Christmas x

If a place is priced right you'll get viewings. Sorry, but that outbuilding with the dressing table next to the wc does not shout "lovely extra bedroom with own facilities" - it looks awful and in need of work.

From a quick shufty on Rightmove, there are more attractive properly three bed places for sale at the same price within a mile of the ME19 postcode. It is overpriced in terms of accommodation on offer and the kitchen needs updating.

You need to market it as a two bed with a bonus room/development potential. It's also being advertised as a terrace not a cottage.

Hmmm....picture 10 - wouldn't put me off - but it's a bit weird.

The kitchen and bathroom need replacing. If that is factored into your asking price then you should be ok. The bathroom especially looks grubby and mismatched (sorry).

1) The front picture isn't very clear - where is your front door? Which bit of it is for sale?

I agree on this.

also, you say it on here that it is a cottage, but the summary description at the top of the page says "2 bedroom terraced house". Could they change it to cottage? Might manage expectations better re: room sizes such as the kitchen.

The pictures need to be captioned properly as to what room each one shows. I got confused about whether no. 2 or no. 5 was the living room.

Re: picture 10, I agree with PP that the dressing table pic is odd and offputting. It looks like there is no door on the toilet (even though there probably is) and you need to paint those walls i'm afraid.

Love the garden pics!

Agree it probably isn't the best time of year but may well pick up in Jan.

its overpriced. I agree with wowfudge - the outbuildings look like they need work to be liveable, which actually leaves you with very small living spaces in the main house.

I think it's gorgeous, the kitchen is dated but useable. Do you think that the new developments nearby are having an effect on prices?

I agree that picture 10 is bizarre and not needed.
I would much prefer this over the newbuilds.
I am vaguely in your area but Tonbridge way too.

In my experience no viewings means the price is too high. I had similar when we sold our last house. Bloody estate agent said it's worth x, I said no way, he then argued the point and two months later no one came to see it. He then argued with me on dropping the price so made me do a little drop, no one still viewing, so I said, ok. This is the price,, no argument sold it a week later. Several viewings, two offers. I also got the " well it's nearly Xmas " argument. People still go view houses.

When we bought we found the houses that remained on the market after a few weeks were the over priced ones. The ones priced correctly went relatively quickly.

So it's a lovely house, but i suspect it's over priced.

• No bath means no families.
• Picture 10 is horrifying - is that mouldy painted brick?!
• Bedrooms look quite small
• Kitchen is small, dark and tired
• it seems very expensive.

To be fair, I also can't work out where the front door is.

What is going on with the bathroom type room OP? It looks like you've ripped it out and not finished? It is dreadful and needs sorting out asap. Buyers will see thousands of pounds worth of work there.

Kitchen needs replacing and is very dated

Can't actually tell which bit is your house.

Honestly your agent needs shooting for including picture 10.

Sorry, now I'm trying to work it out, is there only one bedroom in the actual house, and the second bedroom is in an out building? The agents details make it look like that's the case? Plus the room with the single bed has a door to the outside?

I think the lack of bath and only two bedrooms in the main house would put off a lot of family buyers, and the price seems too high IMO.

Yes, wrong time of year for people to move (I am looking to rent a three bed semi and compared to mooching in the summer and properly looking now, there's nothing). I would also expect a bath and pic 9 makes the room look exceedingly tiny - could you move the chest of drawers?

Kichen cupboards are dated but do look smart from the picture. The wooden strips and knobs are what dates it. Small kitchen but its clear that there is a good dining area.

On the time of year thing - we had an offer accepted yesterday, on a property that came on the market late Friday and generated four offers over the weekend. This is in a corner of London where the market is actually pretty stagnant and there are lots of reductions.

If something is priced keenly, it'll sell.

Agree that your ea has done you no favours. The outbuildings are great, that studio/ garage building would be ideal for someone wanting to work from home, I would be emphasising that, ie change description to cottage with work space potential.

Take it off now, .you don't want it to be on for 8 weeks by the time people think about selling.

The time of year is a red herring. Yes the rental market may be flatter, but it's not the same as buying and selling. We agreed a sale of our house this time last year and we had a steady two or three viewings a week - people want to view in daylight so that usually means at weekends that's all.

Apart from the decor comments made by others, it's the price, not the time of year. We had two offers at this time, last year, but none in the sunny summer! Serious buyers will see through most things, but not buy an overpriced house.

Your sitting room is lovely, btw. I hope you get a buyer soon.

Agree with pp's about picture 10.
I'm having difficulty picturing the layout of the house.
My last observation might sound unreasonable but there's such a disparity in standards between the rooms, eg 5 and 6 are very nice, others less so, that it makes me think the seller bought the house to do up and has run out of money/energy. I would not feel inspired to take this on, even though your house has many attractive features.

To get more viewings, definitely remove the photo of the outbuilding. Is it possible to retake the ones of the kitchen San bathroom? They look very cramped.

It is a tricky time of year to sell and I think anyone wanting the space of outbuildings etc. would probably want more than 2 bedrooms in the main house.