No viewings yet... Advice please

[Home2Sell]

We've put our house on the market but have had NO interest or viewings yet. I know it's still early days but our neighbours (mid terrace) sold within a week or so and we haven't even had a sniff of interest. Any advice??

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-66209135.html

Also, take it off Purple Bricks and use a proper local estate agent with local contacts.

You get what you pay for and I ever PB property near me I've seen sits on the market, regularly dropping price, until it goes to a local agent who promptly sells it.

We bought a property through Purplebricks and got about £20k off because they were so useless in negiotiating and the vendors let them be.

I firmly believe that what you save in fees you lose several times over in the final price.

In that case the photo is extremely misleading, OP!

I you can, change your agent.
You need some new pictures !
Don't stress OP, your house will definitely sell, it only takes one person, the right one, to walk through your door.😄

It's difficult when you have put a lot of care into a house and then have to make it appeal to the masses. But you are going to move out so what difference does it make if you have a few weeks less of your kitchen? It would be a shame to miss out on your move and new plans, if you still don't have viewings in a few weeks then you might have hard decisions.

I wondered about better photography but seriously, I would get a quote for re-dooring the kitchen (plus trims obv) in cream e.g. this. It's not a huge job. It might not leave much change from £1000 but it beats reducing the price by £10k. You It would probably be cheaper than new worktop or new floor.

I do feel the garden lets it down, a patio garden needs extra work to feel friendly and inviting. You could do that with potted plants and some paint/trellis and some garden furniture - it doesn't need to be top quality - Wilko, the Range, places like that must do it.

I would paint out the blue in the children's rooms and style them a bit. I put throws and cushions on my teenagers bed for the estate agent photos - they were immediately taken off again!

I bloody love it!

The kitchen wouldn't put me off, nor would the garden. They are both very well presented and if that sent to taste can easily be changed. It's very rare to find a house with exactly the decor and style you want, you usually have to compromise a little.

I rather like the blue garden!

In the short term, remove kitchen photos - if you're not getting any viewings and people are put off because of that, remove those photos and get people through the door.

Beyond that I'd either go with the agent that sold your neighbour's place, or even pay to replace the kitchen cupboard doors - see here or google for others. Not hugely expensive.

I like the blue garden and black kitchen

It's the kitchen.

I'd try anything to break the black up tbh...a few pictures/photos on the fridge...a fruit bowl on the work top...a couple of cutting boards laid flat/leaning on the back...flowers...tea towels over the drawer handles, maybe even a splash back?

It might not make any difference, but it's worth a try.

I'd spend as much money as I could afford on nice pots & some colourful plants to fill them & arrange them altogether in a group. You can shift these around for the photos, so it looks like there are more!

I'd take the photo of the garden from the conservatory off the website altogether.

If the kitchen hasn't put people off, the fact the garden is so overlooked might prevent people from wanting to view.

Is it worth moving the garden table away from the fence a little bit? I think it might actually make the garden look bigger and more usable. Furniture generally gives the impression of there being less space when it is squashed up against a wall, so maybe worth a try?

Good luck!

Obviously re the pots & plants - I meant for in the garden, not the house

I think it looks great. I bet the kitchen looks good in real life too. I would wait a couple of weeks and see what happens.

Sorry OP but the kitchen would put me off as I'd be thinking I'd need a good 10k to replace it with one that's a better colour.

If the area was one I wanted and there was nothing else in my price bracket I'd consider a viewing.

The garden wouldn't bother me though- quite like the blue!

I love your black kitchen!! I would have a much lighter floor though. Could you put in a light colour/white laminate wood floor over the dark grey tiles - that would lift the room in terms of brightness and wouldn't be too expensive. The garden is fine, but needs some plants, bunting etc to brighten it up a little - looks a bit stark.

OP - why not look at just changing the doors on the lower units to white - could look quite good leaving the black wall units. This would break up the complete blackness that you get from the floor tiles upwards?

Kitchen - no lawn. Colours in garden.

Purple bricks are shit . Local EA have contacts on their books etc

I like the house, I think it's presented really nicely.

However after our house being on the market for so long due to our colour combos. We had very dark flooring and the rooms were quite brightly painted I have come to the conclusion people can't see through that.

I've looked on rightmove and saw your neighbours house on there, is your house identical? Their home appears bigger in the pictures and it's down to the angles were taken. Your lounge looks small as they have taken only one half of the photo where your neighbours looks massive.

Can I suggest you use the same agents as your neighbours did for two reasons.

1. There photos are much better.
2. They may have people lined up on their books that didn't get a chance to view your neighbours.

As soon as our house sold, the same week our neighbours house went on the market with the same agents. Ours had much more land, a much larger kitchen and a large brick extension and theirs sold for £8k more.

Definitely the kitchen. Also, it says 'Playpark opposite'. Could you put some pictures of that on? Might appeal to those with kids a bit more. I think the kitchen photo could be photoshopped to look a bit less harsh - the deepness of the black means you can't see the definition of the drawers/cupboards. Surely a good photographer could do better.

I'm really, really sorry OP - your house is lovely ... but the kitchen and garden make it appear very dark and batchelor pad-ish. So sorry, I don't mean to sound rude - just think that you need to soften the look a little.

I wouldn't view because of the kitchen.

Changing it is going to cost money - so how about not showing too much kitchen in the pictures. How about photos showing just a tiny glimpse of it without having too much black on show. ie arty pic of shiny taps and a fishbowl full of apples like you see in the mags. You may get more interest if you 'hide' the kitchen and then people can make their minds up when they see it in RL as opposed to pictures.

The garden is very small for a four bedroom house and could be putting some families off - you can't make it any bigger but you can make it more inviting. Kids might not be able to play football in it but it's definitely big enough for grown ups to enjoy a nice glass of wine. The blue needs to go! I thought only Alan Titchmarch painted fences blue on telly, I've never a blue fence in real life. If you only change one thing, please let it be the fence and shed colour. Paint it back to wood colour a nice normal boring brown and buy some plants - it is a garden after all!

When we sold our last house we had it on the market for a while the year before. After several viewings and no offers (and not being able to find somewhere we wanted to move to) we took it off the market.

We had the hall, stairs and landing redone, and the cellar re-plastered and painted. We put it back on the market the following spring and had three offers within a few weeks. We sold at the asking price.

Just doing those two things made the house instantly more marketable.

I am actively looking at houses at the moment and when I see a new home come on the market my heart sinks when I see its on with Purple Bricks. It's a pain to arrange a viewing. I'm much more comfortable dealing with an agent.

Agree about the kitchen. I have a high gloss black kitchen which I like but with cream wall cupboards, wooden surfaces and a light floor.

Hmm - it's early days yet, but the price isn't right if potential buyers are thinking they'll need to redo the kitchen. That will be why you've had no viewings.

Tone down the colours. Simplify the living room, ditch the feature wall.

Honestly I think it would be the right thing to change the kitchen if you're trying to sell. Something cheap and cheerful and you'd get it back in the price you'll achieve.
Kitchens and bathrooms sell houses and yours is to a very specific taste which will put a majority of potentials offs