How to attract viewers

[Minime38]

So we are trying to sell our house. In 30 days we've had 3 viewers.

Out of those of say only 2 were genuinely interested in buying a house.

We are doing the viewings ourselves and have redecorated almost every room in the house before it went on the market.

We initially had a fixed price but changed this on the advice of our agent which is fine but it's done nothing to attract viewers in.

We have a Gardner coming next week to cut the grass and trim some plants but the garden doesn't look too awful as it is.

I'm not great when I can't control a situation so this is sending my anxiety through the roof and to make it worse just as we put ours on the market we've found our dream home but they are unwilling to accept an offer from us until we have a buyer so it's compounding the situation.im on tender hooks every time the phone goes that it might be the owner telling us that they have accepted an offer from elsewhere.

I gather that the market in my area has been a little bit stagnant since we put it on the market prior to that there had been a real boom.

I just don't know what we can do to actually attract people to come view the house and to be honest our estate agent hasn't been the most communicative and I think perhaps we made the wrong choice in agent.

Please tell me I'm not alone in finding this process so flipping stressful and feeling utterly helpless.

Any advice on attracting people in or keeping myself from melting down

Would love to see a link please. Recently sold our house in under a week so have some success!

Thank you for the feedback It's very much appreciated

Poppa the estate agent took photographs and I really wasn't happy with a number of them and asked him to come back again and redo some which he did but it was getting dark outside hence the different lighting which really annoyed me.

I also agree with you about how the photos are done the bedrooms are actually very generous sizes and I don't think that comes through from the photos at all

I'm very tempted to redo them myself if I'm honest.

It's land and building tax we have in Scotland and our house is priced under the threshold to pay it so it that wouldn't be a factor for buyers.

I'd be put off by being told I could only view a house in 2-3 weeks time @Bouledeneige. Depends on the market locally, but if there is competition you could lose out.

Thanks for the link. I think the photos are really not great. Most EAs use a wide angle lens these days. The first two are mostly of the ceiling. The others don’t show most of the rooms.

Here’s an example of nicer photos.
Also you don’t have the dimensions on your floor plan so it’s hard to quickly see how bit the rooms are. You’re making it too hard work for the potential buyer.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-53809101.html

PS my link is to a house not in the same area, just roughly similar amount of house for the money.

Thanks for the link. I think the only issue is with the photos. The link Dragon sent has professional photos that have also been photoshopped to provide that rich colour. I agree also about the wide angled lense.

Having said that about the photos, I did have to look a bit to find a house with good ones. There are many other houses out there with similar.
I’d definitely push to get dimensions on the floor plan. They may not agree to retaking photos.
You may be able to get better yourself? Be worth trying on a sunny day.

We moved a year ago. We only had about four viewings on our house in three months, but sold to the fourth. Only one person will buy it, so having 20 viewings wouldn't change that.
Ours was priced well, decorated neutrality in good area, but the market was slow. We too saw a property we wanted to buy before ours sold. We live there now. Don't despair OP.

There is a site Home.Co.Uk that will give you the average selling time for properties in your area.
It won’t help you sell any quicker, but it might relieve your anxiety to know the length of time it might take.
It is a stressful time, but usually ends well. Good luck.

Thank you all for your comments and feedback, its reassuring that there isn't anything wrong with the house in itself such as decor or looking cluttered etc.

I agree about the photos, I was keeping DC occupied when the estate agent was doing them, I wasn't happy with the originals as they were very dark and requested they were redone which he did on an evening whilst it was getting dark which made the lighting very unnatural.

DH also told me afterwards that both times the agent had used their mobile to take the photos.

I'll ask around if I have any friends with a wide angled lense camera and if not I might speak to the local college photography students to see if any might be willing to help out.

I'm going to have to get used to sitting on my hands for a bit I guess and steel myself up to the likelihood that we won't get the house we want that way if we do it's a bonus.

Hope for the best prepare for the worst

Could I have a link please? I'd love to see.

We bought recently, are there photos of all areas of the house? I overlooked houses if there weren't many photos.

What about a floor plan?

I think making sure everything smells nice for viewings, we saw a house once and it really smelt of dogs and it put us off.

Also hated it when owners showed us round and tried to oversell.

If you get wide angled lens photos I can photoshop them for you.

Also when is half term in Scotland? Viewings are always quiet during school holidays.

Lego interesting you should mention half term as that's now, our last viewing was two weeks ago right at the start of half term. Hopefully it picks up after the weekend and half term is over. That's also a very kind offer which I think may take you up on.

Animals I'm always paranoid about dog smells so if we have a viewer we send her away hours before and I generally air the house and wash the floors surfaces etc after she has gone and I've been tending to burn some lightly scented wax melts (think clean linen types) we also have a very kind but honest neighbour who pops in to have a sniff she doesn't have pets and is usually honest if she can smell any adverse scents.

If you’re sure that the price is right then it’s just a matter of the right buyer coming along. And the right price is not what the estate agent valued it at. When we sold we ignored the estate agent valuation and put our house on for less as we knew what people would pay in our area.

Noisy It's on for less than the Estate agent valued it at and less than the home report value also so I'm as confident as I can be that it's not over priced.

It's actually the lowest prices property for a 3 bedroom detached house in the area

May I have a linky OP?

Minime thanks for sending the link.

I think you house is lovely and it looks ready to move into, it's clean and tidy and neutral. I can't get over the price, we paid nearly twice that for a 3 bed semi where we are. It looks like a fantastic family home.

From the advert point of view I don't think the photos are very good to be honest.

The kitchen is small but it looks functional and is obviously a modern kitchen, the photos seem to be taken from a bad angle and may be make it look smaller?

I'd possibly move the furniture around in the living room a bit, to make it look a little bit more homely.

I'm no expert we did look at a lot of houses though you can end up writing off a house from poor photos.

Sorry that should ha e said I think the photos aren't very good.

I'd also like a link.

We are about to put our house on the market and I've been avidly reading tips about presentation.

Thanks Animal I agree about the photos.

I'm going to try moving the TV to under the window at a slight angle I just need to work out how to hide the cables from the sky box and such.

The kitchen is modern but small like you said. It's really narrow but has space for a large fridge freezer and a washing machine. That's the one downside of the house is the kitchen size we know it's smaller than most would like.

It's disproportionate in size to the rest of the house which is generous especially the bedrooms but there isn't much I can do to change the size of the kitchen.

I've emailed our agent today asking him to update the advert with a bit more information on the property and the local area.

Where we are is ideal for commuters looking to commute to the city next to us which incidently is why we bought the house in the first place

Yes I agree with the above, the photos are a really poor effort from the agent. I am sure you could do better yourself with a wide angle attachment on your mobile phone! But if you could borrow a proper camera then even better.

It makes it hard to get a sense of the space and I think it's making the rooms look smaller than they are, especially looking at the floor plan.

The house is well presented though and like you say, very good value compared to others in the area.

How is the agent otherwise? Are you tied in to a long period with them?

Your estate agent does not sound great.

You need good pics, floor plan with measurements, mention the loft, mention school catchments (unless catchment schools dire) and let the estate agent do the viewings.

To be blunt: you come across as anxious and that may put people off a bit?

I would also try and remember what you liked about the house when you brought

For example you mentioned the commute

What else? Big hallway now full of shoes? South facing harden (well I don't think the suns back off holiday)
Great local school?

Get these on the ad - or make the changes to what you enjoyed when first moving in

As for viewing the only thing you need to answer is about bill neighbours schools etc - without a running commentary

Viewer access should've sone their homework in regards area etc so you fill the gaps

One last point op. If you get any sunshine over the next few days go out and take as many good outdoor pictures as you can from different angles to get some good ones.