What's wrong with our house?

[sueyandcol1]

Hi all. I'm a retired gran living in west London with DH and I would really appreciate some practical advice please.

Our house has been on the market for 4 weeks and we haven't had a single viewer. I know the price may seem high but that's about average for this area. We can't work out what's wrong with it. We know we could rip out the brown bathroom, paint all the walls white, etc, and if we haven't sold in six months then maybe that's what we'll do. But we're just wondering if there's anything obviously "wrong" that we can fix without spending too much money. We just want to get some viewers! Any practical suggestions would be most welcome...

Please see www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/44957399?betabanner_dismiss=1#8IpVgvS6tHJhxHgW.97

My opinion would be that the kitchen is lovely (albeit a bit small for some people?), but the rest does seem dated. The bathroom obviously needs redoing, but lots of people would probably feel they need to redo the rest as well, so perhaps a lower price would encourage people as they would feel they had money left to spend on it (so a lower price than other houses in the area).

Just my thoughts..

I'm not a local expert but no viewings in 4 weeks means you've musjudged something.

My guess is it's priced too high for something that lacks an eat in kitchen and 2nd loo. The garden's lack of lawn also reduces the appeal to a lot of family buyers. Head may say it's fine, but heart is drawn to a splash of green much more grey/brown. I also agree with PPs that offers over is v offputting. In summary, price.

I'm afraid no matter how well kept it is, we'd be looking to redecorate, refloor (which is expensive) and probably knock through to the kitchen, so would likely need to budget for a new kitchen.

I know this market pretty well as we bought less than 5 mins away from you last year. We paid 1.2 and for that got 5 double bedrooms and a huge garden - more than twice the square footage inside and I guess three times the size of garden. Sorry, the decor wouldn't have put me off at all but the small garden and lack of space would. I think you know you need to reduce the asking price - or at least take out the 'offers over'. Good luck

Realistically the whole interior of the house needs ripping out and replacing which, in London is going to cost c£100k.

It's too expensive.

I think you have a lovely house but the price needs to reflect the work that needs to be done to update it.

Im at people saying the kitchen is lovely- it screams 1980s to me- sorry to be brutal but I think it's hideous.

To be totally honest it's well kept but very dated and hasn't really got a garden. It's an absolutely lovely house and is well kept but it's not really worth well in excess of a million quid once you factor in interest on any mortgage.

price is too high. people don't mind having to redecorate, but the price has to reflect the amount they'd have to spend.

don't put in a new bathroom.

drop the price.

If you’re priced correctly, you’ll have people through the door who are prepared for the amount of money it requires to modernise it.

If a property doesn’t receive any interest/viewings, it’s almost always due to the price.

We received 3 identical valuations from agents at the beginning of this year and yet, after 2 months on the market at that price, we hadn’t had a single viewing.

We instructed a new agent, who advised us to drop the reduce the price to bring it in line with nearby competition and, within a week, we received an asking price offer.

Lack of interest = price.

Best of luck.

It's a very nice house with good sized rooms. I'm not so keen on a long narrow kitchen prefer a square one. I agree with looking up the sold prices nearby for similar houses then you'll know if your price is OK or a bit high. I'm also not keen on offers over. I think offers around is better. I don't think the décor would put people off because they will decorate to their own taste.

Dated throughout, teeny garden, bedrooms need to be styled as bedrooms. Way overpriced for the area- knock off £100,000 and you'd be nearer the mark!

i personally would update it, i couldnt bring myself to buy a house that would need a full bathroom suite replacing and updating, its not too my taste i would want something i can move in to more or less straight away. i dont mean to offend anyone but neutral colours are always good as brightens the place up lets people see what they can do with the place, all i can see when looking at it seems like loads of work needing done with decorating, sorry but i would rather be honest with you, i wouldnt buy the house

PS - Just looked at the floor plan.
The vast majority of buyers would want to remove the wall between the kitchen and dining room too.

I haven't read all the comments so this may have been mentioned but you are selling through an online agent? That doesn't seem to be working for you at all. Terminate the agreement with that agent and go on with a reputable local one who knows the local market and has buyers lined up in your area. I think an online agent is fine for a house which is modernised and completely ready for a new owner to move into, yours sadly is not.

I agree with everyone (I think?) that is is overpriced. The house mentioned by other posters (20 Waldegrave Rd) that recently sold for £875k has much nicer kerb appeal and has been totally renovated including a rear extension and a loft extension.

I think you house has the makings of a lovely home but I'd want to renovate it. New kitchen, bathroom, carpets, decoration throughout plus rear extension and loft extension.

Prices have been coming down not going up. Either 20 Waldegrave was a massive bargain or your house is massively overpriced. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Hi,
I’m thinking a nice sized, family home, it’s seems quite confusing as to how a family would use the space.
It currently looks very personal but with nothing strategically placed on on the walls to give a bit of warmth/depth....just lots of furniture.....dark furniture.

If I was viewing, I’d be ok until I reached the bathroom. I know you know it needs redoing but literally for a couple of grand you can totally transform it.

I love the frontage....beautiful looking property with good kerb appeal.
Lovely, low maintenance back garden.

If it was me, I’d prefer a kitchen diner and separate lounge but from the pics it’s tricky to tell which room is which and which room is next to the kitchen. If it’s just a non supporting wall, I might do a knock-through so the kitchen isn’t a galley kitchen....something a family would prefer. A galley kitchen isn’t great.

Overall though, with a basic white bathroom suite, a bit of a paint redo to white, a few arty pics up here and there, and removing/hiding some excess furniture, I think it would sell.

I think it's a lovely house, except for the bathroom which is scary.

The house is much bigger than you would think from the outside, and it is light and airy looking. The garden looks very attractive.

I think it's a very expensive property, but I live in t'North, so can't compare.

Apart from the price (but I don’t live in London, so am not tuned in) I couldn’t live with the kitchen and bathroom, so would be working out how much they would cost me to rip out and start again - both fully tiled so quite a big job. Otherwise it looks a nice house

Price I expect and relying on online estate agent. As others have said, house needs refurb / extension to make it work for families. People want kitchen / diners, more than one toilet / bathroom. And one of the bedrooms is really small.

It's a lovely house and looks like it's been really well looked after, but it's really dated. I would worry about how much needs redoing - wiring. boiler, heating system etc. Bathroom and kitchen badly need redoing. Would want to rip up the slabs in the garden to get some grass for the dc too. Compared to others pps have linked to it therefore looks over-priced.

Beautiful house, but sorry, ruined by that foul bathroom.

I think your house is lovely however, for me, the whole house needs re-doing. Whilst it is liveable and certainly very clean and tidy, there is a lot of work there. I havent looked at prices in the area so can't comment on whether it is overpriced however the fact you havent had any viewings would indicate it is. That said a house is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it. If you need to move you need to perhaps reduce the price, if not you can sit tight. Alternative is to tart it up - replace the bathrooms etc.

The price could be a factor and the decor looks quite dark and a lot of clutter

The exterior is glorious, you've done beautiful work on the garden. But I do agree with previous posters about the interior.

When we buy, hopefully soon, we're going to be stretching ourselves, and we're not going to have spare cash for redoing everything, and I would guess that a family that are selling a house to buy this one are still going to be in the same position, even if they too have done well out of the housing market.

I think you need to position the interior so it doesn't look as if it needs everything doing to it to make it more modern; e.g. with the bathroom, you'd do well to just paint the whole thing a nice pale cream, to tone down the browns a lot. If you could replace that side panel too, and the loo seat, it would look a lot more modern.

The rest of the rooms have more modern interior decoration, but the furniture is possibly making it look less so? I quite like it but a lot wouldn't.

For the kitchen, it's very smart, but that black and white look is a little bit much - but you could tone it down a lot by replacing the black handles with white ones.

That said: prices in London are dropping a lot. I think you do need to reduce it by a good chunk.

Good luck with your sale, I hope this thread helps - and that bedspread and matching pillows are darling, I think they're really lovely. (Though, again, whilst I love them, I'm not sure they're really a modern go-getting look, and I suspect that a family who can afford your house would want that).

It's the dated bathroom suite and the dark wood throughout (especially large fitted wardrobes). Plus, dark carpets on stairs. Not a fan of the tiled kitchen walls or unit doors. The fire(s) and their surrounds are also dated - if I was paying that kind of money, I wouldn't want to spend even more on ripping stuff out. Just my opinion & personal taste though. I hope that I haven't offended?