So I need to sell yesterday :-) ideas?

[barregirl1]

Lovely ladies,

So I need to sell my house SOOOO urgently (I won't bore you with the details on how I'm here - but child maintenance related).

So I've been on the market for 9.5 months, but price was right (had offers, but chain broken courtesy of the BoE governor comments a few months ago.) It's a 400 year old cottage in a sought after village, with planning permission. Third bed upstairs is very small, which has put some viewers off, but have planning permission to turn this into a bathroom and planning permission to erect a wall to re-create a third and much larger bedroom elsewhere.

Trying to avoid the "we buy any homes" brigade, and I've reduced my house price by £70k for a v v quick sale.

Help and ideas would be hugely welcomed. Sorry, it's a bit can I feed the kids / buy petrol today situation.xx

The bedroom ceilings look low, that might put some off.
Photo 10 is weird - it took me a while to work out what was going on behind the bedhead, it looks like tissue paper!
The draught-excluder visible in the sitting room is not a good idea.

Clicky link hopefully
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-64099228.html

It's a lovely house, but did people not look at the floor plan, it's pokey as hell. You can't call that a 3 bed, its an attic room and two tiny shoe box rooms.

Nope!

And been my main issue since I moved in :-)

Just need a quick way out, so advice on options other than "we buy any house" would be soo appreciative.

It's beautiful but there is only so much you can do with what started as a tiny cottage. It's a couple or one child family home but no garage, off street parking, bath, loft. It's very quirky but homes like that tend to take a while for the right buyer to come along.
It still seems very pricey to me for effectively a 2 bedroom house.

Sorry another thing. Can you part exchange for a new build?

It's absolutely beautiful, but (and I don't know about house pricing in your area), in my area, that bracket would be families, and I think most families would perceive it as too small. Might work for an older couple looking to downsize. Our local agents have said absolutely nothing is moving in the £500k+ market at the moment, and that does seem to be borne out when looking at right move. I do think there's a lot of uncertainty around Brexit, and also the market naturally cools around this time as people want to get Xmas out of the way.

Unfortunately I think because it's such a special house, it requires the right person, rather than being a generic, this house will suit everyone kind of thing. I really hope that person walks in very soon.

I agree with the others that this will be a heart not head purchase for someone (I'd buy it in a heartbeat if I was looking in your area!) so it is just a case of waiting for the right person. You could try posting here to target people who are already in the market for a listed older home:

www.periodproperty.co.uk/property/

Sold prices within 0.5 miles are around the 350+ mark. I agree with PP, it’s very pokey

Could you put doors on the study downstairs and update the floor plan and bedroom count to show that as an option?

By the way I love it, and live in an old character cottage myself

Also have you tried agents Jackson Stops and Staff? They sell a lot of higher end character homes, even where at the smaller end of the market... I've had success with them in the past.

It’s beautiful! Agree small rooms and a downstairs bathroom (no bath) an issue for families.

Would the master fit an en-suite?

Lovely house.

If your house was 3 foot deeper it would be so much more spacious upstairs...

I think you’re in a catch22 situation. In that even if you dropped your price lower again it’s still only attracting the same sort of buyer and you just have to wait for them to come along.

Not like it’s a standard 3 bed semi which you can price 20% below market value and people will fight over. Or a developer will swoop in and split it/convert to 4 bed

I think the issue you have is your house is downstairs heavy. I’d consider the upstairs to be like a 2 bed. Your plans to change it make so much sense. And it would be a much easier sell to many more with this setup. But I don’t think it would add any value. The value of your house is in its plot/character/location.
I think it’s just a sit and wait job unfortunately.

To people questioning price a 2 bed terrace 1 street over which needs a full rip out went for 290k in 2014 now valued at 400k and standard 1930s 3 bed semis seem to go for 480k. And 4 beds are around 600-800k so it’s a expensive area for-sure!
From my 15 min check of prices 480k -500k seems about right but I’d rather go for this for probably about 480k /500k now as it’s a more conventional layout.
www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=29047209&sale=45361956&country=england

You day that you have plans (planning permission?)for improvements, can drawings of these plans be added to the photos?

@joinourclub they have been, they are under the floor plans tab.

Move estate agents. I had one lot waffle on for a year. I changed to small local agency and it was sold within weeks.

Good luck.

Well. You can sell it NOW or you can maximise the value that you want to get out, but you can't really do both. If your priority is selling now you can auction it. If you want to try and set a floor price then you will have to wait.

hoa.org.uk/advice/guides-for-homeowners/i-am-selling/how-to-sell-your-house-at-auction/

I would swap study downstairs into bedroom 3, and box room upstairs into a study.
It might be worth just getting the bathroom put in though, and selling with planning permission for 3rd bedroom .

Study downstairs is currently being used as a bedroom by my daughter - which doesn’t come across in property description on-line (been trying to get current estate agents to change on line.) Have given them notice last week to move to new agent.

If I had the money I’d do the work and then sell.

Squirreltamer

Yes, love that house - was over my budget when I bought this and probably would sell at £600k now

For me, the lack of upstairs bathroom would be the killer. I know that's not easy to fix.
Could you remove the wardrobe from the smallish bedroom? It emphasises the small size of the room.

I've given notice to my current estate agents to move to Winkworth
Looking through the list of properties on Rightmove in your area, your present estate agent seems to be far more successful than Winkworth.

I'm not sure it's the agent that is the issue. We're in a tricky market, which is affecting all property types, but also in recent years it has become harder to sell old beamed cottages, particularly listed ones, it is not a property type that is as fashionable and popular as it once was.