What Would Put You Off Viewing?

[JustPurple]

Does anybody have any advice on how we can attract viewers to our house, please? We've been on the market for a little while and would like to give things a push.

For background info, things have been a bit slower in this area due to HS2 uncertainty, but very similar houses on the estate have sold for more than we are asking over the summer.

This is our advert.
tinylink.net/3ZG5f

Thank you

I think it's a lovely, clean home, but agree it could benefit from a few more touches.

I would personally get the pics retaken, particularly in bedrooms and 'dress' the bed up more; more cushions, straighten out the duvet.

Little things like removing the chocolate tins from on top of worktops and fresh flowers in communal areas would add an aura of luxe to it, and really brighten up.

I'm being super picky, but just highlighting things that would turn me from a maybe to a probably in terms of viewing. It's clearly a lovely home, and once potential buyers get through the door, they'll see that themselves.

All the best!

I think it's probably a question of just waiting for the right buyer - the reason I wouldn't view is something out of your control (layout). The thing with townhouses is that the living space is usually quite small compared to a 2 storey 4 bed house. You have a decent size kitchen diner but it's the only living space you have and that would put me off. Families who need 4 beds are probably looking for more than 1 living space.

And the loo off the living space is another no.

The ceiling fan
The pylon
It looks very, very cold and hard and bleak. More colour and warmth - rugs, paint etc. to make it look homely.
I would still view though - all these things can be added.

Apart from the pylon

I'm 41. I have houseplants. They're the best thing I've ever got for the house - totally recommend them. They make any room look better instantly.

I agree the first pic of the front of the houses is not good and doesn't draw you I. Looks like a block of flats. You need a picture of just your house zoomed in without the parking in front. Large rug in lounge and move lounge furniture to make it cosy. Change agent they shouldn't have allowed that first pic

I'm puzzled by all the comments re house plants

They add life and some colour to the photos and break up the white. You don't have to live with them after the house is sold.

First thing I look at on a house advert is the floor plan and yours doesn't seem to be working when I click on it. That would put me off looking further.

It's a perfectly nice house, but I would be put off by the garden; I like some lawn, the open plan downstairs, it looks unfriendly and expensive to heat, and most of all the pylons.

What did you like/dislike about the house when you bought it?

I can't see the floorplan on my Android phone. @iwantasofa - you're over thirty thereby proving the point of the pp! Seriously though, plants and flowers make all the difference to the feel of a place.

It looks a bit dated and unlived in to me. More like a rental than a family owned home.

The view of rhe massive pylon from thr back garden - the photo needs to be cropped or taken from another angle. That's a deal breaker for me.

Photos of the loo and bathroom are impossible to see, need to be reshot.

Soft furnishings or plants / flowers would be good - it looks stark.

Agree online estate agent is massively off putting as well. I avoid them completely.

Those floors, you'd be forever mopping them. The pylons, though you can't do anything about them. Lack of floorplans and sofas pushed against the walls make me think the rooms are cramped.

Agree it looks like a rental, a holiday home.

It's very white! I agree it's beautifully clean and spacious but not remotely homely. Some people love a new build but it's very very 'new buildy'

Pictures taken in the evening with warmer lighting may help cosy it up perhaps.

4 bedrooms implies a hoard of children but there's no proper garden. Only a little yard. This is nothing you can change about that. I wanted a garden for my 3 DC when I last looked at a 4 bedr house. With older teens, they need parking & you only have 2 parking spots which probably 2 adults in the home would need. You aren't even in a student area (students may need bedrooms without carparking). Is there decent on-street parking nearby, or lots of reliable public transport (seems like not). Seems like perfect example of over-large modern house totally unsuited to most people's needs.

Still you say other very similar houses have been selling fine on the same estate. Maybe link to those listings to see any differences. Other posters seem to believe they'll be forced to live with the vendor's chocolate tins, furniture arrangement and cushions. I'm useless because I can't tap into thinking like that.

I don't mind modern houses, and I don't mind stairs, but I wouldn't want:

an open plan living/dining/kitchen combo
a tiled floor anywhere but bathrooms (and kitchen at a push)
a garden with so little space to grow stuff in, there is very little bedding space and for a family sized house I think people expect a lawn

I like that the dining living room areas have pendant light fittings, as I don't like down-lighters in those spaces

Nice house but first pic is off putting. Move bin & add a couple of plant pots outside to give it some life. Agree with dressing bedrooms & move the tables at side of sofa, add cushions or drape a throw over sofa to make it more inviting- get your most judgey friend to advise, the photos need to be better & in a different order. Open blinds in bedroom pic if poss. Inspect each photo, remove any clutter & throw in a bunch of lilies or a houseplant here & there.

Good luck!

You could also market as 3 bed / 2 receptions if you dressed the study as a second sitting room. Only having a single living / dining / kitchen space on the ground floor might put some people off.

But ... having checked the EA flood risk map your property (assuming the dropped pin on the map location is accurate) is shown as located in a flood storage area, and surrounding areas are flood risk 2 (between 1:100 and 1:1000 risk). It’s only when you put the house number and post code into the EA address checker that it shows it to be low risk.

I think that anyone just checking the flood risk map will discount the house pretty quickly.

Here are the relevant images:

I am guessing that the dropped pin on agent’s the location map is wrong, and your location on the flood map is more like this.

I imagine (we're in a HS2 blighted area too) that the latest set of impact statements on HS2 would be seriously putting the jitters on the market in general. I know we want to move (we've desperately outgrown this space) but we're hanging fire as every report that comes out seems to make things even worse in the local area in terms of which bits of space are destined for the bulldozer.

Town house would be a factor too no doubt. The other bit for me is the tiled floor makes it look quite harsh in some photos (I know it looks easy to keep clean from the other angle) so I'd consider some rugs down just to add some warmth into it all... and on a really petty note but it did draw my eye if you're getting photos re-taken anyway - one of your kallax drawers is slightly pulled out and another is pushed really far in on the photo where you can see that! (I'm super sensitive to it since my kids never put bloody drawers back all the way in)

If we were in your area and your budget it's one I might consider viewing but it would be a viewing not expecting to like it that much to be honest - it's a bit cold and impersonal (which I know is what you're meant to do with house selling but still...)

I've never had a straight forward experience when I've used online estate agents, so unless I had a very good reason to want this house, just seeing the logo, I would pass on it.

Definitely move the bin from the front, it looks like you've nowhere else to store it. More colour to brighten up, rooms look but pics are taken from really weird angles. Put down a bright rug, matching cushions, a few plants, get rid of the side tables (looks cramped, although your sofa is large). More pots of colour outside, table and chairs on deck to show a living outside area. As pp stated you need a head on pic of the house front of your house. It's a lovely home though.

Have a look at the house that sold in August for £185k. Looks like identical layout but (at least from the photos) looks much more contemporary and modern than yours, with a better family garden. It's a semi detached (has much better kerb appeal) compared to your end of terrace so suspect you might still be overpriced at £175k.

Just to add - it looks as though you purchased in 2015 for just less than £180k. The house which sold in August sold for the same amount it was purchased for, but would say that's probably down to it being "show home" presentation. Ordinarily you'll have paid a new home premium that you're unlikely to recover after only 3 years.

Your house is showing as for sale at £180k and a separate advert for OIEO £175k. That's confusing.