Help me sell my house please!

[movingoverseas]

It's been on the market since early January. About 7 viewings so far, turned down an offer about two weeks in, and no viewings this month at all. Right Move report shows that the number of hits is still consistent with previous weeks. It's an immaculate detached new build in a gated development with extensive gardens, three storey, 4 bed, 3 ensuite bathrooms, garage. The photographer did a fantastic job and it was presented like a show home.

It's pricey, but we are in the suburbs of west London and it's actually £50k below what Zoopla say it is worth. We have asked the agent to recontact the person who made the offer a few months back, but they didn't engage. My husband is already overseas, I'm joining him in August and we really want to sell the house before then. We have a relatively small mortgage, about 30% LTV.

Other than reduce the price, what else can we do? There are 10 detached houses with 4+ bedrooms within a mile and ours is the second cheapest. Thank you!

I know the area vaguely but not well enough to know whether there are serious drawbacks with the houses below, but here are your competition:

£875k for beautiful period property with large kitchen

Modern townhouse with big kitchen and garden that is under offer having been on at offers over £800k

Townhouse in gated development in need of some updating but £850k

What has the agent said about the market in general at the moment?

Honestly it's detached. But it's not really is it? It basically looks like terraces so imho I don't think you can add much value by saying it's dwtached. List it at 850k

It looks fabulous, but soulless. Some flowers, some more pictures, some splashes of colour and something that says ‘home’.

Even show homes look more homely.

This was advice I got last time I was selling and it worked.

By something that says home, I don’t actually mean one of those “home” signs or ornaments btw.

Yes I thought that too. It's very sterile and doesn't look like a home. Maybe it isn't? The shelves are empty and there's nothing personal in it. I'd definitely try again with some warm touches.

I think maybe it looks a bit bare, lots of completely clear surfaces.

Also, having the lamps on makes me think it might be dark, although I'm guessing it's to make it look cosier.

We cleared the personal stuff based upon advice we were given by the agent and photographer! There are flowers and pictures on the walls. Maybe it doesn't help that all of the carpets are oatmeal and all of the walls white, but we knew we were moving overseas about a year after we moved in, so decided neutral was best.

Do you think people can see past the asking price? For example, if you wanted to spend about £850-£875k would you look at house marketed at £945k? We could drop it to £899k and take offers around £860k if we need to. We would prefer not to rent it out as we would like to bank the equity and use some of it to pay the remaining 75% balance on an investment property overseas when it is completed next spring.

amethyst the photographer put all the lights on, even though it was a clear, sunny day.

totally agree with PP ^^ re competition at the price

In a townhouse style property in a gated community you have more of a niche market. You're competing with stuff like this
lovely £750k

But re the listing:
-too many photos
-the hall to kitchen shot makes it look like the wall is paper thin or a bit of cheap stud. It could be the angle.
-the table up against the radiator in the kitchen

• in terms of the set up - show home isn't a great look in a house that's 6 years old. It looks a bit like no-one lives there and no-one loves it, it's too neutral, feels a bit unstylish given the price

-your upstairs sitting room is stunning and potentially a key selling point and underplayed in the photos

• ditto downstairs glazed wall from living space
• your garden is not the garden of a just-shy-of-£1m property, it looks like no-one's ever been in it
• the communal gardens should be an asset but look a bit undeveloped, they might look nicer in a few weeks with more greenery about

I wondered if that was the case - I bet you don't have them on during the day normally!

It’s very similar in size and layout to our home. (4bedrooms over three floors, new build etc here) but yours does seem to have a really tiny kitchen for a large family home. Other than that, I think it’s lovely.

Could you take the kitchen table out just until it’s sold, and get a better photo of your kitchen?

I’m sure it will go really soon, it’s spring niw, the traditional house moving season. Good luck with your move 🍾🍾🍾

But you have no idea what the fees for dealing with your restrictions are?

I could only dream of a budget that high but if i had £875k to spend i imagine id look at houses at max £900-925k.

OP I know the area very well and specifically this community. The houses are narrow, garden is postcard sized and the community has a public footpath to the Thornbury park. None of these are things that you can fix. Also, the market is really really slow in that area. It is all extremely overpriced. You may have to go closer to the price you originally bought it for.

So the price is clearly an issue, and one you can resolve. For me the other issues include (some can be resolved, others not so much):

• kitchen is tiny for the size of house, its also nothing special and I'd expect more at that price.
• size of the private amenity space - again tiny for a 4 bed.
• Officially it may be a detached, but to be honest there seems to be just 1m between each property which reads like a terrace from the street.
• Backing onto the communal area would put me off with noise and people passing.
• Service charges on a gated community can be extortionate.
• It being a gated community... community it won't be, isolated and inward looking, yes, but not part of the wider area.
• Your decor is sterile and I notice you have a lot of malm from IKEA. Please don't take offence but this reads to me that it has been a rental/investment property rather than someones home.
• There is absolutely no homely things around, not hand soap in the bathrooms, absolutely nothing (books or computer) on the desk - for having a fair amount of furniture, it actually feels empty.
• I couldn't imagine myself living there - and that's probably the problem... this is a family home, dress it for a family.

You will find someone, but I fear you'll need to heavily reduce your price. Good luck with the move

To be fair I’d sooner have less bathrooms than a small kitchen.

I did miss that that yours was detached.

Your kitchen would put me off, it looks very narrow and claustrophobic.

I think it's a bit of tricky property to price and shift. Yes, it is a blank canvas and neutral throughout so doesn't require any work. It's almost new so energy efficient etc.

However, when you consider the footprint, the layout, the small rooms and the tiny private outside space, then, in all honesty is more like a terraced townhouse with the added benefit of there being a metre of space between you and the neighbours instead of a shared wall. There is a terrace house on your development available for 750k. The sq footage is almost identical. Yes, your house has an extra bathroom but I'm not sure that attracts much of a premium in a house that already has a downstairs loo and an en-suite.

When people look for detached houses and pay a hefty premium for one, they tend to expect a property with a much bigger footprint and spacious front and back gardens. I also think that community fees will be offputting to many people in the UK.

Overall, I don't think your house will be in competition with detached houses but probably in competition with other townhouses plus a little premium for being detached. I think that realistically, I wouldn't expect the house to go for more than 800-850k especially with the market slowing down. I think that the offer you got was surprisingly generous tbh.

Just for comparison- this house is detached and not far from yours. It's only 50k more but it's 60% bigger with a massive garden and a big drive.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-63382771.html

Wow that’s expensive. It is definitely the price not the decor. I would have thought 750 was more realistic.

I think the decor is too sterile and the furniture is frankly boring and honestly a bit cheap looking. Agree there are two many photos and the angles aren’t great. In the end what sells a house is price. We are now in a falling market, you will have to drop the price to sell it, especially if interest rates rise in the near future.

movingoverseas I live not far from you and think that the house is lovely and priced about right. However, the housing market in West London is very slow at the mo. Friends of ours had their house in Kingston up for sale for a year now. Think the whole Brexit scare has killed it a bit. If you really need to sell you might have to take a lower offer. We actually offered 100k less on our house and it was accepted.

It is a lovely house however I agree with the other posters, the kitchen is very small and you need to take the table out it looks quite strange there and makes the kitchen look even smaller.
Terrible photo of the living room with the table it needs to be from a different angle or something.
And a bit more colour to make it look more homely would be nice.

Honestly you are just asking too much. When you click the see similar properties link there are older cheaper properties that are far nicer. I appreciate that a new build comes with a structural grunted but having experience with new builds I also know that internal finishings are no better than any other second hand and and you are also compromising on character and layout. The kitchen for example is quite depressing. You are simply asking more than the people around you for no reason.

The kitchen would put me off buying it. The table is making it look worse, I would take that out.

Also the table in the dining room isn't in the right place, it's too squashed.

Good luck though, I think you'll sell it at about 890k