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?

Sorry fat fingers.
Hope you sell soon.

I don’t think the colour in the signing room is the problem, it is just that there is no warmth to it and it is the first room people see.

I bet the dining room table is pushed against the wall, which makes everyone realise immediately that there is no much space. If you are not using the desk, I would be inclined to remove it, put the table in the middle and add some nice courtains and other textiles/pictures to soften it a bit.

The living room is to red, especially when you can see the very colourful tiles in the kitchen from it. Remove the toddler door from the kitchen during viewings, between the colours and the little door it just makes it look untidy even if it isn’t.

I think the kitchen cabinets are ok but the tiles are definitively clashing with the floor. Mixed colourful tiles seems to me too late 1990s so young viewers may not like them at all. I would paint them over and bring the room more in line with the house.

First floor is perfectly ok.

Signing room??? Dinning room even!

OP I can see your point of view about disruption bit if you get an extra £5-10k for example (because you get an offer without having to drop the price) wouldn't that be worth it?

I think you've been very brave and taken the comments well, but I agree that you're going to have to change things or drop the price. I'd rent a storage unit close by - when we did it a couple of years ago, think it was about £70 a month. Get rid of one of the sofas and put the other in the front room, declutter a bit, really stage the house for new photos when you've painted. Could your H borrow a works laptop may be for a while (or even buy a cheap one) so you can get rid of bulky computer and store laptop in cupboard when you have viewings? Could he work at dining room table - just for a few weeks - so you can get rid of the desk?

As I'm sure others have said, it's about showing viewers how they could live in your house. You don't want them to walk in the door and think that it doesn't work for you (study / dining room etc all a bit cluttered) so that's why you're moving.

Would it be possible to take the doors off the bookcase which looks like a wardrobe? You can always stick them back on again when you move.

(unless it's a cupboard like mine where you open the doors and the entire contents of the house pour out)

Everyone has said the same thing, which means everyone viewing it will have the same thoughts.

If you want to sell it, change the things that people are finding off-putting - swap the reception rooms, paint over the green, get rid of all that red, and get rid of some furniture, it makes the house look small.

Don't take it personally, you can do what the heck you want in your next house!

Well everyone isn't saying the same thing. It's moot anyway as she's not coming back.

Yes the decor is not to everyone's taste. but for me the issue is clearly price.

She bought it about two years ago for 168.
She wants to make nearly 40% profit in that time period.
It appears no improvements have been made to the property in that time period.
The price is substantially above any actual sold for price in the locale for anything similar.
The house has fundamental issues, namely:
That's a very small narrow street and it must be a nightmare trying to park at times, you'd be driving around with kids or shopping trying to park close to your house
The dining room I'd suspect is moved to the front due to the fact she doesn't want her living room so close to thr street, so i would suspect noise and privacy issues.
The rooms are very small and the pics make them look bigger.
The second bedroom is tiny and I'd suspect difficult to get much more than a single bed in there.
The price should reflect the issues, as it did when she bought it. It doesn't. She's asking for nearly 40 percent price increase in two years.

So for me, although the decor may not be to everyone's taste, there are some non changeable issues with the property which the price should reflect and doesn't.

@Bluntness

If you look carefully at the photos it appears there is also a cot in the 2nd bedroom and the OP talks about 'children' so assume she has more than one (unless the one child has a cot and a bed.)

All the other houses that have been sold have their lounges at the front. This is quite the norm for small cottages like that.

I suspect that the reason the OP likes her lounge next to the kitchen is so the DC(s) can watch TV when she is in the kitchen.
I think it would be better to reverse the lounge/ dining room layouts and use the middle room as an extension of the kitchen, if the DC needs a TV to occupy them then get a small one and put it in there.

I agree it's grossly overpriced when nothing has been done to it.

I like your house and think it's competitively priced for the area but needs a bit of tweaking and after the tweaking some new photos from the agents

Lots have been mentioned before but here is my list -

1/ Green room repaint white , turn back to being a sitting room but leave the red items out they really do not add anything also leave out the rug as the floor is nice anyway ,can you not place a wide shelf across between the chimney breast and the outside front wall to suffice as a temporary desk if a desk is essential , it would be less imposing and use a less officey chair . The green light in the fire place is not attractive

2/ Middle room as a dining room - bin the tall pinky purple vase on the hatch between the kitchen and dining room - leave the dining table bare the mats look like you are about to lay the table for dinner

3/ book yourself some storage close by and put everything you can into storage out the way ( desk, office chair , bookcase etc)

Have less things out on the kitchen work tops - aim for just the kettle and microwave , it looks a bit busy with the tiles and lots of things out on the work surface

Bedrooms both look fine

Bathroom needs the shower curtain removing and the loo seat replaced with a neutral white one

Outside garden - needs a seating area and the gravel raked and weeded , - is that an old pallet leaning up against the shed ? If so it needs to go

On a right move search most of the property's are up with bluebells agents , yet only a couple are sold , are they the best ones for you to use ?

I think the OP needs to make the rooms better for the photos and when people view, but life will go on in between!

There's not a lot on the worktops except a toaster, kettle, knives and a utensil holder. Oh and a chopping board.

I really don't like the high chair attached to the table. I know there is a child but this photo looks ugly, with the cat bowls under the table as well ,and the S&P pots on a plate. Clear them off and have just the fruit bowl or some flowers.
And yes, get rid of that vase of purple flowers- they are not nice and clash with the red.

Hope you're still reading op. I think overall it's a nice house. I like the green and think any prospective buyer wouldn't be put off.

I like the kitchen, it's lovely and warm. I'd get rid of the red and plump the settee up a bit. Get rid of the rug and replace the canvas boxes with nice wicker ones. Open up the bookcase so it doesn't look like a wardrobe.

Baby gates don't bother me and the nurseries lovely. Maybe a decent picture on the nursery wall.

In your bedroom a nice big throw over the end of the bed and some scatter cushions. Oh and curtains too. Long ones that drape nicely (used ones from eBay. I paid ,£30 for mine).

Bathroom I'd just get some cute striped towels.

Good luck op. Oh yeah and remove the oieo. It just makes people wary

Oh and litter tray out for pics and viewings. And fresh flowers everywhere (about £3 from Aldi)

The colours are horrible OP sorry.

Lime green, matchy-matchy red and black. The sicky pale yellow.

People will look at the price you paid a couple of years ago and think 'no way'

I'm a first time buyer and the first thing I look at when I see a house I like is what did the buy it for and what have they done to it, no point me paying top of our budget if the kitchen is only a couple of years old and I hate it for example.

The fact you don't really want to spend any money, or make any effort, but want as much as possible from the buyer is quite typical - I however, won't care if you need x to move/can't afford to do x/have kids and therefore no time or space to change things - I just won't look at/offer on your house, your problems aren't mine and there are always other houses.

People seem to think it's still a sellers market, of course the agents tell the them so at first, them weeks later they're ringing saying "maybe we need to look at dropping the price"... The sooner people realise it's a buyers market and the house won't sell itself just by standing there the better

When the tax changes which impact landlords really start to bite landlords will start unloading their properties and then prices will drop
Sitting tight and waiting for the amount of money you want might not be a good option...

Dear God I nearly fainted at the price - for Eccles - then realised it is not the Eccles I know.

Me too!

Just had a look on rightmove too - there are 352 properties for sale within a 5 mile radius of the OP's, 2 bed, less than £250k.

That's your competition, OP. 351 other people who are as desperate to sell as you are.

Queen, you're probably right, but I guess it says something that that was my first thought...

Bedroom 2 is an average size for a single bedroom.

The problem is the price. As PP has said, it's on the market for almost 40% more than just under 3 years ago. No money has been spent on it.

The OP is missing a trick with the bathroom. It's over 10 ft long so you could make it really lovely - which is what other sellers have done with the 2 other houses in the road.

To get anywhere near the asking price it should have one super 'fall in love with' room - like a real fire in a cosy lounge, or a lovely new kitchen, or a stunning garden....but every room needs a make over.

Also, there is another thread here about someone looking to buy and doesn't want a concrete garden. It's worth thinking about turfing the gravel if this is a family house where there would be a toddler. How can they play out on concrete and gravel?

I think it’s a gorgeous cute house. Love the colourful tiles and the mint green.

However, it seems like you’re asking in excess of £225k when a nearby house sold for £219k last year. House prices aren’t skyrocketing so I think you’re probably a bit ambitious. I’d drop to £220k, take off the excess, and see if it rekindles interest.

Ahh bless you Op try not to take it personally. I can see why for functional family living you have set up as you have and in an ideal world buyer would have the brains and vision to walk through and go "Oh this isn't how I would set it up but I can see how you could xyz instead"

We've just started thinking about putting ours on the market and our use of rooms are a bit arse about face (mainly ds2 has the huge master bedroom which has an ensuite) it's practical for us as with a single bed in there and two large built in wardrobe he has tons of floor space to play (he makes huge lego model scenes) and loads of storage for toys which means the rest of the house is clutter free from toys. That's the deal with him having the biggest room everything stays in there.

I know though that we have to swap things around to put it on the market which will be a ball ache but worth it in the long run.

A agree with most people the green isn't a good color and the room doesn't look very coherent.
I think the sofas are far too big for the sitting room and make the room look smaller.
I would try and think more about staging the house rather than what works for you.
Kitchen tiles might put some people of but it would be a big job changing them so I would just take out as much additional color as possible out of the kitchen.
Overall a nice clean house and if things are selling in your area I am sure yours will too.

I known you are not reading and don't want to move the furniture, but anyway ...

I would move it all and style it like the Varnes Street house. Or there was another one with two sofas in the living room and they looked fine. If you put your grey sofas in there you could probably even avoid painting the green. Get a rug that matches and a nice front door curtain.

It would be perfectly acceptable to set up the dining table in the middle room then put the PC desk in there too, in the corner. Maybe look on gumtree etc for one of those cabinets that hides it. Ikea used to do a fab corner one that was about 2m high.

Then I would remove the kitchen table.

I've recently had the same issue. My house was on for £230k - 3 agents valued it at that. 22 viewings and no offers. No negative feedback other than back bedroom a bit small.

We took it off, painted the front door and put it back on with a different agent 6 weeks later for 210-220. We sold in under 2 weeks for £232 after 5 people fought it out.

It's always price. I was told all houses will sell quickly if the price is right!