Fancy critiquing my house?

[HouseNameChange]

I think I'm made of stern enough stuff for this...

We've been on the market a while now and viewings are lacking. About 18 viewings in 4 months I think. Lots of positive feedback. One offer, far too low. Negative feedback is small second bedroom and on street parking.

Other houses in the area which are similar are selling. And often marketed at a higher price as well!

Any ideas on how I can get more people through the door? Preferably ideas that aren't going to cost me an absolute fortune. We've already painted the outside of the house to brighten it up.

What is wrong with my house?

Probably already mentioned but on second glance get a new white gloss bath panel and swap the shower curtain for a proper screen and lose the loo brush!. Bathroom has quite a cold feel to it so I would paint the walls a warmer colour and lose the random high up picture.

I like green and suspect the green front room looks nicer than the picture shows.

Picture number 5 of the kitchen needs to be removes as it doesn't make the space look very good

Can you add some trellis to the garden fence to give it more privacy?

These are all rather superficial suggestions but some buyers just can't see past these things.

I don’t mind the green, it just looks a bit stark because you’ve no pictures or anything on the walls. Also, given that supposedly people make their minds up about buying a house in the first minute (or some such) that room is really letting the rest of your house down, because it looks like a storage room for random furniture (although looks like a nice fireplace which I can’t really see in the photo?). I think I would lose the desk, your husband can work from the dining table and then when you have viewings put all the work stuff in the bookcase - yes it’s a pain but being in a state of limbo for months and months is even more of a pain. That would free up some space maybe for a cosy chair next to the fireplace so the room looks more inviting.

Lose everything possible that’s red in the living room - it doesn’t go with the rest of the house.

I’m not put off by decor at all, but I would be itching to put in a more modern kitchen (and tiles) so that would be in my mind when considering what price to offer.

Even if you decide you can't swap the two downstairs rooms round, ask the agent to switch the photos over so it doesn't hit viewers quite so hard - I found it a really odd first interior photo, which then puts people off the rest of the house

I think you said in an update that you have a flat roof extension? That will really really put off people who do come and view, sorry.

I think I agree wil most of what has been said.
Green room needs to be painted a different color.
Can you swap the sitting are and the din8ng room round.
I don’t like the desk there nor the cupboard.
Remove the red cushions.
Upstairs is lovely.
And I like the bright kitchen and may be some more pots outside to give a bit of color..
Lovely little house

I agree with what's been said and I'd do something about the brightly coloured tiles in the kitchen. Make them more neutral. Nice house though and love your garden.

My first house was very similar OP. The front room was the living room. There was a sofa along the wall between the front door and the door to the bottom of the stairs and through to the kitchen. The other sofa was at right angles facing the window. Yes, there wasn't a straight 'corridor' through the room, but it wasn't an issue as the room was pretty spacious.

If that bookcase is fairly tidy inside, you could take the doors off and store them in the loft.

Price is far too high. You paid a lot less not really that long ago and haven’t spent any/enough money doing it up to warrant that huge leap. Agree with the first room being a put off. House Doctor it, put the price down and it will sell.

Repaint the green room. And also for time being change it to your lounge, and move dining table back to room next to kitchen.
This will make rooms flow better.
For the pictures take everything off the kitchen tops to give clear surfaces.
Apart from that it is a nice house with good garden.

@HouseNameChange

How long have you lived there? When I picked up the price /instructions label still stuck on the loo, you said 7 years. But Right Move shows it was sold in 2015.

Have you looked at the other 2-3 houses sold in your road in recent years? Not just the one I linked to earlier.

They have a much more modern feel, re-fitted bathrooms and just look more 'together'.

My final thoughts are you are not getting honest feedback from the viewers you have had. They KNOW it has on street parking- that's what your road is. So that is not a negotiating point . They also know the dimensions of the 2nd bedroom (before they view.)

If you did buy it for £168K 3 years ago, the current price is too high. Compared to other houses on the market now in Eccles, it's too high. Compared to the one sold last year, in your road, it's too high.

You've not invested in a new bathroom or kitchen which would give some credibility to a price hike of over £50K in 3 years. That's more than a 30% increase. I doubt prices in your village have increased that much in 3 years. The average in hot spots in the SE is 8% pa.
I think you need to re-think the price more around £210 and accept offers.

We have lived here for 7 years. We were renting and then purchased from the landlady. Hence the discrepancy in dates.

I will have a think about the price, but I'd like to try and amend the property where I can before dropping the price. Obviously.

The red will be going from the lounge today. I'm going to try and neaten up the bathroom as well. And we are going to cost up decorating the green room, hoping to maybe do it next weekend as it's a bank holiday. We talked about switching the rooms back to a more 'normal' layout but at this point we feel it's too disruptive to our day to day life to do it. I need to find a balance between needing to sell and having to live here. I'm really grateful for everyone's comments though, I've certainly had a lot more feedback than from people I know which has been so useful.

The big sticking points for me are the front room and the red in the living room.

Move the sofas into the front room. It doesn’t matter if they are in front of the radiator for the moment, with any luck you will have sold before you need to turn them on next.

Get rid of the red throws and cushions. The pictures will be fine once the table is in there.

I've just looked at the pictures and read through most of the comments.

My 1st thoughts were;

• WHAT is going on in the front room, the colour isn't nice, the use of the room is undefined, it all just seems underused.
• the lounge is over red.

The glaringly obvious solution is to swap round the two reception rooms.
Reading the comments almost everyone has said the same - yet you aren't considering this, I think that's a massive mistake.

Hi, I'm sure this has all been said before, but if you take a look on right move at all the similar houses that have sold, the way they have laid out their furniture makes their homes, look bigger and more inviting, especially the front room. It can be really difficult for some people to visualise a room differently. pinch some of the ideas from others. I'm sure just rearranging your rooms to present them will make a difference. It's a really nice house, but at the moment looks as if the front room is redundant, which will make people question how the flow of the house would work for them if it isn't quite working for you.

I'm not sure you need to redecorate, the other similar house on, coincidently has almost the same colour in their front room, but it looks completely different and much more welcoming as you first enter the house. First impressions are all ☺️

Good luck and stay positive

Have you found somewhere you want to buy? Do you need to sell at £x to afford a new place? Are you hoping to move up market or relocate?
What's your timescale for moving?

As we've said, others have sold for less and in better condition and one had rear parking and a larger garden.

It won't cost much for a few cans of white paint for the front room.

If this is a house that is for first time buyers, most will be strapped for cash. They can't afford new bathrooms and kitchens (I think your kitchen is fine but a bit dated) so you have to make what you have as good as possible. If you could afford £5K to refit the bathroom then you might get nr your asking price of £225 but at the moment it looks very tatty and uncared for.

The trend now is to have a kitchen and dining area flowing into one. So it makes sense to have the front room your lounge. I don't understand your worry about a sofa in front of a radiator. We've lied like that in a modern house for 20 years- it's how the lounge was designed and there is no choice.

Anyone with a family looking at your house, would want to be in the kitchen and watch their children playing in the middle room /dining room/ extension of kitchen.

The front room is a waste of space because hardly anyone has formal dining rooms now. we do and rarely use it . You could have a lovely large kitchen-diner by making those 2 rooms flow into one, and get rid of the breakfast bar in the kitchen which would give more space.

Your comment about the kitchen tiles is EXACTLY what buyers think and it puts them off - there are yards of hen and it will cost a fortune to retile. Combined with the dark floor, it makes the room seem dark to have so much deep / intense colour

I love the tiles!

Get rid of OIEO. When I see that it makes me think the sellers will be difficult. It would either put me off completely or make me want to make an offer much lower than the asking price just to annoy you.

I think I'm going to stop replying now. I appreciate the comments and I've taken a lot of them on board and will be making some changes. It's very easy for people to state what should be changed when they are not actually living here with small children. I'm starting to feel quite defensive and I don't want the thread to go that way. I'm not going to start justifying every thought/decision in minute detail either.

Thanks everyone for your comments, hopefully we will sell soon

Ok fair enough. But maybe think about accompanied viewings? As an agent (if I were one) I'd be stressing that the middle room could be used as kitchen-diner, if they can't see that for themselves, and 'upping' the good points.

Lastly, if you need to sell at over your asking price, you ought to put it on the market for the price you want. OIEO is silly. if you want £227 not £225, put it on at £230 and accept offers.

If you need £225K in order to move, you may need to re-think.

Good luck.

Good luck OP - hope it sells soon for a good price!

I like it. I'm lucky in that I can 'see past' what's not to my taste and easily, for me dealt with, but the kitchen tiles are very off-putting. You can get tile paint that works well. I did a bathroom and it was so much calmer when the rather vibrant beasties were covered up.

Do you have books that look presentable, or can be made so, in the bookcase with the doors? If so, taking the doors off will soften the room (you can probably hide them behind the actual bookcase), make it more homely. Also, some sort of neutral pictures on the walls ill help - perhaps you won't need to paint.

Just seen your last post OP.

Don't fret about what people are saying - they're only writing their impressions of the house from the pictures, which is what you need as that's what's happening when your house is being viewed online. It's a right royal pita having to think how others see it and not have it as tou want for living there, but you just have to think of your end goal. Ours is going on the market soon (as soon as our chosen wall colours are tined down to magnolia...), and it means no desk in the dining room even though DH prefers to work in there, no treadmill at the foot of my bed, knicknacks boxed up, 'excess' furniture removed, etc etc etc. It's all bleugh, but we want to move and for a reasonable price so we'll have to put up with it for a few months.

Good luck with your sale.

Good luck OP. I hope you s