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Original poster

Property on RightMove with all the photos featuring people

82 replies

PirateMermaid · 13/07/2018 21:27

I like the house and I think they have gone for a lifestyle approach by featuring what is possibly the family in the photos, not looking at the camera but very obviously staged. Not sure it really gives me a feel of the house - I've not seen the approach before.

I feel it is beautiful but overpriced.

Thoughts?

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-74474837.html

OP posts:
NapQueen · 14/07/2018 07:57

They dont actually show the rooms though do they? Lots of doorways and stuff that the owners will take (gym; laptop etc). And a weird Instagram filter over the top of it.

pinkdelight · 14/07/2018 08:26

Looks attractive but any schools are miles away, which is odd given proximity to rail station. Also, I can't tell from the floor plan where the gym is. It's big on atmos, light on actual detail.

mustbetimeforacreamtea · 14/07/2018 08:30

The first thing I thought when I saw the pictures was have Venture Photography gone into the EA business.The next, not totally unconnected, thought was overpriced.

Burnt larch was new to me. Good job they mentioned it as I thought it looked like there was a big job ahead sanding it all down and repainting.

There was a famous estate agent in London who went for a similar aporoach but much more truthful and funny www.mortgagestrategy.co.uk/roy-brooks/

The whole approach is ripe for parody.

pinkdelight · 14/07/2018 08:30

Okay I've just waded through the cringe-tastic description and see there's a garden room. That writing style is hideous though. Very off-putting. I don't find the people in the pix off-putting and the layout is good, but the lack of schools is very strange for something so strongly marketed as a family home.

Original poster
PirateMermaid · 14/07/2018 08:38

@finks100 did they manage to sell the property? I’d worry all my neighbours would laugh their heads off!

@pinkdelight no schools in walking distance but likely to get into one of two good primary schools. Secondary more of an issue but that wouldn’t put me off buying in the village. Although I do appreciate my 10 minute walk to my DCs’ school!

OP posts:
SerendipityFelix · 14/07/2018 08:49

I don’t like it! You come straight into the kitchen from the front door, hate that. The “lounge” actually looks quite small (that is a massive sofa though) and is basically a corridor to get to the stairs. Family bathroom looks like it’s tiny as well. Also no real idea what the outside/garden is like which is massively important to me. I really have no interest in a dog sleeping on a sofa or a lamp or pot plant, you’re not selling sofas or lamps or pot plants you’re selling a building! If it’s overpriced for the area anyway then surely people with that budget to spend will see it, then see a bigger property for the same price/less and just use it as decor inspiration, if they like that style (which not everyone will). Seems a silly way to market houses. The sexist stereotyping is tremendously off-putting as well.

gingercat02 · 14/07/2018 08:53

It all very lifestyle magazine but doesn't really show the house at all. I suspect they are trying to make it look worth the price lol

finks100 · 14/07/2018 08:57

@PirateMermaid - they haven't sold it yet!
Their pictures are so odd, there is a picture of the bathroom taps with a lit candle, very 'styled' but doesn't show the bathroom.
I look at the pictures of their house and it doesn't clearly show the rooms ie the living room is a picture of the log burner and a bench with a fur rug. It doesn't show the actual room.
In my opinion they sell the lifestyle but not the house!

MarshaBradyo · 14/07/2018 08:58

I really dislike the photos with people

cittigirl · 14/07/2018 09:03

a lovely house and I like the pics but for a magazine. I can't get a real sense of the rooms from those pics but may be that's just me. I guess if I was looking I'd just go and see it I suppose though

Squirreltamer · 14/07/2018 09:46

To be fair looks like they did it up in 2011 so not a developer.

Here is next door so you get a real idea of size. Put on market 2011 sold in in 2013

Same house just the extension is only single story. Otherwise it just needs a full update to bring to house 1 standard.

m.zoopla.co.uk/property-history/8-downsway/berwick/polegate/bn26-6td/15883640

glintandglide · 14/07/2018 09:50

It’s really hard to understand the house

Blobbydobbydobb · 14/07/2018 10:05

Completely bizarre.

When anyone is buying a house you mainly want to know how big it is ie room sizes, what each room actually looks like, and how big the garden is/ how it's laid out, is it overlooked etc.

I couldn't get any of that from this listing at all!

I'd say it's an average house which has been badly designed (who wants a front door in the kitchen? To walk all the way through the kitchen and lounge to get to the sodding stairs? Ditto the downstairs loo...rather defeating the point of having one if you have to walk all round the ground floor to get to it. Not to mention the tiny main bathroom. Although all the rooms might be tiny we can't tell as there's no room sizes!) Not worth anywhere near £700k.

FrancisCrawford · 14/07/2018 13:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Greenyogagirl · 14/07/2018 13:15

I think it’s odd, a photo of someone’s dog on their sofa is completely pointless, unless they come with the house why do I need to see it!

PencilPotsAndGlue · 14/07/2018 13:33

Gosh it's so strange that those two houses are next door to each other!

CanYouHearThePeopleSing · 14/07/2018 13:48

I have 2 friends who sold with Mr&Mrs Clarke. One very normal flat and one big 'executive' house. Both had been on the market for well over a year before they switched agents and both had sales which had fallen through. Both sold pretty easily with M&MC. The photos were very staged (think the same accessories were used in both!) but they got people through the door. Both said they couldn't fault the service/ experience too.

GaryBarlowsTaxReturn · 14/07/2018 13:54

I know where this is, it's overpriced by about 200k!

Bananas.

FabulousSophie · 14/07/2018 14:11

If the sellers think they can get a premium on the market price because their photos have people in them, I think they are going to be sorely disappointed. But it goes to show that the market is very strange at the moment, if the sellers feel they need to resort to these kinds of unusual gimmicks to sell.

Blobbydobbydobb · 14/07/2018 14:37

Francis the weird thing is that despite lack of pictures of the garden, judging by the neighbours house it is actually a good size garden with lovely views over the South Downs...I don't get the rationale for not showing it. Also the garden room/ gym is in the front garden which must therefore be huge. But no clear pics of that either. All very odd!

FatBarry · 14/07/2018 14:42

Why would you buy a house based on a picture of a candle in a bathroom or of a dog on a sofa? You can't see the wood for the trees!

I find this approach to selling annoying actually, I would rather see the blank canvas.

Easilyflattered · 14/07/2018 16:18

So I sold recently and was joking about with the agent who was taking the photos. He told me that all the agents at his branch had been on some course run by an American company which claimed that having people in the photos gave potential buyers a sense of what their life could be like living there, but how nobody at his office had been convinced.

At this point my husband arrived home unexpectedly from work because he felt like he was coming down with flu. Before he was allowed to get in the carefully staged bed, he had to wait until the master bedroom had been photographed. The agent did suggest he could be in the bed whilst I gently mopped his feverish brow if we wanted American style photos!

justaweeone · 14/07/2018 16:28

They are selling a lifestyle!
They don't show you in your pyjamas that you've spilt coffee on, hair like a birds nest and mascara under your eyes. Sink full of last nights dirty pans, naked toddler having a tantrum and the dog vomiting on the floorGrin

justaweeone · 14/07/2018 16:30

Agent
https://www.mrandmrsclarke.com/

HeyDolly · 14/07/2018 16:34

It looks like a nice property but it’s actually hard to tell from the photos. You don’t get to see of the rooms in their entirety, just out of focus pictures of a sink or a plant pot.

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