Help me sell this house!

[eggofmantumbi]

On the advice of a user on my other thread.
This house was meant to be our forever home. Then things went a bit wrong and now we're relocating. Bought for 210k in September 2015. Need to sell ASAP.
On the market for about 6 weeks. 7 viewings. Common theme about kitchen (1 or 2 also just downstairs in general) being too small.

I've done what I can for pictures but teaching full time with an 18 month old and no family/ friends nearby....

But it's half term next week and I have childcare so any advice??? Please be nice- I'm a bit tearful! 🤣

www.rightmove.co.uk/s6p/67709629

wowfudge I can see past the decor I don’t like and would certainly buy that house if I was looking for a project. However I would at the very least want to rip out the kitchen, knock some walls down, replace all the carpets and replace the bathroom to make it how I wanted it.

Can you put a bistro table & chairs on the patio? It looks a bit unloved. Also maybe put the small table from the current dining room into the breakfast room so it looks usable. Then borrow a decent size dining room table for the actual dining room.
Get rid of the ramp at the front door, it looks like you've got builders pushing wheelbarrows up it!

I can see past the decor I don’t like and would certainly buy that house if I was looking for a project. However I would at the very least want to rip out the kitchen, knock some walls down, replace all the carpets and replace the bathroom to make it how I wanted it.

Yup Sorry, I echo what everyone else is saying.

Looks tired and unloved and I would want to totally redecorate and re-carpet as a minimum.

The kitchen is bad, both layout and cupboards/appliances.

The bathroom is OK but not great.

I think you overpaid in 2015 based on other listings. The price seems high compared to the other properties for sale in the area.

There are some real positives - three big beds plus the singel, downstairs loo, nice size garden, off street parking. But it just looks a bit sad.

I think you need to accept that no one is going to see your house and love it, you need to sell it as a bit of a project so knock £20k off and get some offers in.

Also the funny kitchen extension makes me think it will be really cold because I assume it has been done cheaply (I assume this because it wasn't opened up properly to the kitchen at the time of doing it)

I agree that the carpets aren't helping but it would be expensive to sort those out. Or time-consuming - you could theoretically rip the carpets up and sand/oil/paint the floorboards, but that takes ages and is not compatible with small children. Although I did my hall floor after PIL's dog peed on the carpet - ripped up carpet, yanked nails out with hammer/pliers, and then painted the floor with white floor paint. That took an hour to rip up the carpet and yank out nails, another hour to paint, then left to dry and a second coat done the next day - 3 hours work total, and it has brightened up our dark hall no end! We have a hall runner down for practical reasons. I didn't remove the stair carpet because it would have been too much faff. Maybe if you did something similar to your hall it would at least remove one of the oddly coloured carpets.

Just wanted to say I don't think your house looks in the least bit sad. 200k for four bedrooms and your own garden? At that price I was expecting a burnt out shell, not people mithering that your curtains don't match your taste.

Surely to god nobody actually discounts moving house because the curtains don't hang right and someone said Twirk?

Those aren't serious buyers anyway.

IF this house is your competition, you are overpriced. This has a much nicer layout, kitchen and bathroom and there isn't quite so much redecoration to do and only that red carpet looks offensive flooring wise.

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-66606667.html

wowfudge I can see past the decor to the potential. What I can't see past is it being priced only 5-10k lower than the houses that have already had the reconfiguration work done.

Yes I'd be tempted to take up some of the carpets and polish or paint the floors too. We did it in a previous house - white floorboards give a lovely scandi chic.

I might paint that fireplace white too.

Lovely house, tbh, and lots of great advice here.

In addition to advice already mentioned (and this may have been, I just skimmed!) I'd also suggest taking down the hanging mugs in the kitchen----having things hanging in the kitchen tells a buyer that there's not enough storage in the kitchen!

On that note, the kitchen may present better if you can move some of the appliances to the laundry area (microwave/coffee pot/etc.).

I love hanging mugs and pan racks. May be just me!

get down to charity shops/ facebook & get some more colourful curtains/ rugs.
Change the layout in the nursery or take the single bed out the room looks cluttered
bigger table in dinning room
table in kitchen to make it a 'breakfast' room

Plenty of places to get cheap furniture

I haven't read all the other replies so apologies if repeating what others have said, but I agree with the things like making the dining room look like a dining room - you need to be clear about what is on offer rather than hope buyers will visualise it themselves. It looks like a lovely house, but I think people sometimes have difficulty seeing past someone else's taste to how a house would look with their own furniture, colour scheme, etc.

The main thing that struck me (& this is unusual for a house listing) is there are far too many photos. Rather than choosing the best view of each room/area it feels like every view is there including the worst ones, which doesn't help you at all. They are also a bit mixed up so that it's not always clear which room is which. I think if you show too much you might miss out on viewings because potential buyers might feel they've seen everything already.

So I would go through the photos and work out which ones are best and get the agent to delete the ones that aren't helping or are repetitive (e.g. too many of the garden). Take some new ones if necessary e.g. photo 22 does nothing for the kitchen - I would move the pans and everything off the worktop temporarily and take another photo. Same for some of the others - photo 12: take up the rug, move the bin, things off the surfaces and one or two of the items of furniture on the right and re-photograph. The less clutter in the photos the better, even if it has to be there when people view (but ideally move it to the garage/loft for a few weeks if possible). I don't mean your house is messy (it's a lot tidier than mine) but neutral and uncluttered helps people to visualise themselves living there.

If you can neutralise anything else, do it - e.g. perhaps paint over the yellow patterned wallpaper in one of the bedrooms. More drastically you might consider painting the doors & kitchen cupboards white, as I think it would look fresher and more neutral than pine, but that would be quite a big job.

That's a lot of help! Thank you...

A couple of you mentioned professional stagers. Is that a thing? Cam anyone recommend??

The estate agents by us advertise home staging as one of their services. Maybe you have a local estate agency that does similar.

I'd agree with some PP on pricing. I'd say you paid too much in 2015 for a house in need of updating but haven't got around to doing it yet. Prices haven't risen everywhere. Here they have dropped noticeably & its not London. I'd put this one at 200k & hope for offers as a PP suggested.

It also needs to be presented better for sale. SushiMonsters link is a great example of how to present a property for sale. Over all its a great house that just needs a bit of TLC. I can't get over how much you get for your money in some areas. If it were where I live it would be 500+.

It's got lovely proportions but I'm not sure as I'd view it as it looks so unloved and needs loads spending on it. Every flooring needs replacing, new kitchen.

If you are getting viewings, the problem isn't the listing (though I agree with most of the comments and suggestions about staging)

If the feedback is that the kitchen is too small, can you look into the options for extending so that the agent can advise when showing the house? Eg do you need planning permission or would it be a permitted development? What have the other houses on your street done? How much garden would you actually lose?

It looks bland.

Rooms need to have distinct identity.

Lounge needs big sofa placed nearer door. Room looks a bit bland - could do with a bit of colour - new light shade, cushions, curtains in matching colour, larger picture above mantelpiece.

Dining room - make it into dining room, remove toys and storage. Make curtains hang properly. Larger dining table in centre of room (this is a large family house so needs larger table). Room looks bland and needs more colour.

Hallway - remove stairgate if possible.

Kitchen - maybe herbs in pots by windows?

Bedrooms - better placement of furniture, brighter duvets, lampshades. Room with cot needs better arrangement of furniture. Curtain needs to hang properly. Beds need headboards.

Move single bed to room where office is. Rearrange cot room with toys and storage from dining room.