What's wrong with my house?

[Namechangeforhousey]

Name changed for obvious reasons. House has been on the market for 2 months and no one has enquired about it after seeing it online. We've had a couple of time wasters sent by the EA, but no real interest.
We put it down to Christmas quietness but other houses have been listed and sold in the meantime in the same price bracket.
Any tips as to what is wrong with either the house or the photos?

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-45647871.html

Ianbro, could you get the estate agent to come back and take more photos on a sunny day with blue skies?
It's all beautiful inside. Love your sofas and love the red shelves in the kitchen. Small thing: one of the walls in the shower room is a bit grimy. I can see that it might be impossible to clean it. Maybe take the photo for another angle so you can't see that wall?

The shower room grime is now mostly gone due to a wooden spatula wrapped in kitchen roll and a lot of bleach! I will take a new photo and upload as the room is too small to get a photo from any other angle!

lanbro - I think your house looks lovely particularly in comparison with the other one you posted for the same price. No idea what the market is like where you live or the surrounding area - is there something about your neighbours or street that could be putting people off? Obviously nothing you can do about that if that's the case, but I don't think it's the photos that are putting people off.

Lanbro - love your house! Some immediate things - move the orange bucket etc from outside and retake the outside shots, none of them look very good. Take down the bleach etc that's on view in the kitchen, bathroom. Magnets on the radiator, I love the view of your kitchen looking towards the units but not towards the glasses/bottles. Looks like a bar
Agree the shower looks terrible, not adding anything. There's a random outside shot about 5 photos in so it's a bit disjointed. Otherwise it's a really lovely home and I can't see why you're not getting any viewings.

I've taken this photo of my bathroom with colour coordinated random items, can't get a decent shot of the actual bath yet. Any better? When I take it for real I'll get the lighting right.

We're on the outskirts of a large council estate, most of the houses around us are private but further into the estate there are more LA properties, unfortunately showing some signs of neglect. Other than that the location is excellent!

We're prepared to take about £10k under the asking so dropping the price will obviously be our next step, just unsure how long we should give it...been on the market for about 6 weeks. Got a viewing this afternoon so fingers crossed

If a house isn't selling, then unless there's some intrinsic problem (next to a pub, railway line at the bottom of the garden, etc.), or the market locally is absolutely dead, it's usually the price.

And I agree about the floor plan - people need to know room sizes! Get the EA to add them - TBH they shouldn't need telling something so basic.

Are you sure your EA is doing a decent job? They should be giving advice too! When we were buying we had a devil of a time getting viewings from certain EAs and some houses were just sitting around (even though we were interested) so it's worth putting some pressure back on them. You're their customer.

It's lovely and clean, beautifully tidy, but the photos make it appear a little cold. I think some green plants could warm it up a little possibly.

Lanbro, your house is really smart (other than the shower thing). Your master bedroom is lovely, the carpet looks lush! One thing that doesn't do your house justice though, in my opinion, is the living-room. The decor is fine, but your suite looks too big and makes the room look really thin and small. I think you should remove the couch and just leave the L-shaped sofa (maybe move the couch to the dining-area?).

Lanbro whilst I can see you've put a lot of effort into your decor and it is beautifully presented, I think some of it is quite marmite. Personally as a buyer I would be looking to redecorate quite a few of the rooms including the master bedroom. In my experience it's the blander houses that tend to sell best. I'd also want a new kitchen and probably bathroom.

None of this is an issue if the price is right or if the buyer shares your taste. Is your house priced top of the bracket or does it reflect that the buyer might want to do some work?

Also I know it very much depends on the housing stock in your area but where I am houses with pebbledash exteriors always take longer to sell but I appreciate there's not much you can do about that.

I appreciate the feedback, thanks! I detest the pebble dash, a lot of the houses round here have it unfortunately. I bought as a first time buyer 13 yrs ago and never envisaged being here so long!

The feedback we've had so far from the few viewers is that they love the decor. The house is at the top end price wise for the area but obviously has the extra downstairs loo and separate that others don't have, plus the off road parking. We are able to drop the price but obviously thought we might as well try for the top end to start with!

How long would you suggest keeping something on the market before dropping the price?

*separate shower

I'd prune some of the less attractive photos. Too many photos leave nothing to find out on a viewing. For example I'd think the kitchen was fine from some of the photos, but the extra long shot makes me think it's very narrow.

As PPs have said, a floor plan is a must.

Almost all the rooms look really small.

I would interpret "deceptively spacious", with no plan or pic of smallest bedroom to mean "pokey".

lanbro - The first 9 pics are crap!
Seriously, look at how tiny and uncomfortable your lounge and kitchen look in photos 2-9. Then preseumably the actual photographer wrenched the camera off the trainee and photos 10-14 make the same two rooms look perfectly respectable - so get rid of the crap ones that would have stopped me looking at the place!

Most of the other photos are similarly wierd, and there's clearly some nice bits of a large garden in the final couple photos but no idea how they join in. I could do better on my phone! The large bedroom is not to many people's taste now so just needs a couple photos proving it is very large.

I think house photos look so much better taken on a sunny day. We have these even in winter and nothing looks worse than a dank wet garden. If the back faces S or W get EA to mention it.

Can you stand on a stool/ladder and take a high photo looking down into the bathroom? You might be able to get more of it in like that.

The doubled up photos are unnecessary - only one of the kitchen required.

I like the bright pink curtains - clearly I have no taste

Thanks pieface

Yr welcome . Other than keeping those curtains, I would move both sofas/chairs close together somehow at the larger (near) end of the living room, and also have the tv down that end to make a cozy sitting/tv area. Then I would put a small dining table or desk & chair in front of the window where the tv currently is. Atm the living room looks a bit of an awkward space...

I would also put a bed in the 3rd bedroom to show it actually works as a bedroom - people generally do lack imagination...

As for price I have no idea

NotCitrus, ouch!

I've played around with my site and the photo order. FWIW the same guy took all the photos!

Out of interest, what is wrong with the bedroom? The general consensus, from a wide range of people, is very positive...

Lanbro - you have too many photos. Really, you need no more than 10 for an average house. And you definitely need some sunny day exterior shots.

I am currently looking for a house to buy and have been on rightmove this evening.

If I was looking at houses in your area, I would want to see the third bedroom, whatever it was like. Also the garden is important to me and I would want to know where I would be able to sit in the sun. Your photo doesn't show a seating area and I agree with pp re taking down the washing line.

Apart from that I can't see a particular problem with your house at all. I have just sold with photos of very girly and bright children's bedrooms.

I must say though, the agent made my house look fab. Something about the light and the angles. I could hardly believe it myself. My house got a lot of interest although it was definitely over-priced. I had loads of viewings and eventually accepted a lower offer. The point I am making is, people will still view if they are interested even if it is over priced.

lanbro

I really like your house but two things stand out to me. The layout of your living room especially in regards to the tv position. It's very high up on the wall and with the two main sofas you'd be facing the wrong way to watch tv. So that would put me off as I would think that the room is too small to arrange furniture better.

The dark wood furniture in the dining room, especially the corner unit take up space and make the room look a bit cramped.