House on the market 2 weeks with only 1 viewing

[ClaireLizzie90]

As the title says - our house has been on the market two weeks with only one viewing. We thought we'd have more viewings by now and are looking for some insight as to why we may be being overlooked. Any help/advice will be much appreciated! We've got our eye on another house that we don't want to miss out on and are keen to be moved in time to apply for primary school (our son will be 3 in July and therefore we have to apply for him to start school by January as he'll be 4 by next school year - scary!)

Here's the ad

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-62639805.html

I agree with FermatsTheorum - can you repaint the front door a more neutral colour? Sorry to be so brutal, OP, but that first shot of the yellow frontage/blue door would really put me off looking through the rest, in case the whole house was decorated like a softplay centre, whereas your colour schemes inside are pretty neutral.

I agree the photos are an issue. I couldn’t even work out which room was the lounge at first. Declutter, make the lounge cosier and more appealing, and put a couple of cheery bright accessories in the bathroom. Also take down the dog run in the garden.

Lovely house, get rid of Purplebricks!! Use a professional estate agent.

You can upload your own photos on PB. I did with a few of mine as we have a good camera and I managed to get some much lighter, brighter shots

Presumably you've signed up to a certain number of weeks with Purple Bricks. I'd start asking round other agents nearby as to what their fees are - they've dropped as low as 1% here.

Houses I've viewed with PB give me the impression that they're a little bit desultory. Whereas more traditional agents tend to keep track of what buyers on their lists actually want.

Nearly everything I thought has been said - yes to decluttering, moving beds and getting new photos. Compare the photos now with the ones showing in Sold Prices when you bought it and although the kitchen colour is yuck, the house looks more spacious and more appealing.

Yes, and it wasn’t bright yellow. That will put people off and it’s so expensive to change. The porch has gone? It’s a shame it looks so lived in and not shown well but many people won’t get past the yellow. Remember to buy a match pot next time. It also seems expensive. I think you will have to reduce to get buyers past the yellow. At least paint the front door pale grey or white.

I like the yellow 🤷‍♀️

What are those blue things on the dining room clock?

My tuppenceworth, take down the curtain pole brackets that are above the bay window!

I like the house & the garden is lovely- the only thing that jumped out at me was next doors 1st floor balcony. Is that a Juliet balcony or can they walk out onto it? If the latter that might put people off as no privacy in your garden. How did next door get planning permission for that?

Re viewings, pare down toys. Take child out for a walk during viewings, use car to store clutter, drive car away from house. Weekday viewers always seem to want to come between 5 & 7pm. Take child to soft play, leisure centre or park. First 2 of these you can buy DC tea there, or take a sandwich to the park. Or ask a friend if you can hang out at their's for a bit and feed DC.

Letthemysterybe - thanks! We liked the yellow in the end as well!

Thanks for tips re viewing!

Not sure if this has been said before but

• Ditch PB and use a proper estate agent. PB puts off some/many. A real agent becomes worth their fee when it comes to getting you from offer to exchange, when lots of sales fall through
• The kitchen and dining room look really dark in the photos and it looks like there are no windows in that area at all (although it seems from the floor plan that there are in the kitchen?). Something to consider when retaking the photos

Well it’s not what you like that’s going to sell it. It’s what buyers like and they are not liking it. Judging by viewings. Quirky and standing out in a bog standard road is a difficult sell. You will just have to price accordingly for a paint job. See what a decent EA says.

Things putting me off.

Yellow house. Especially against the blue front door

The fact you're with purple bricks

Clutter

The yellow in the bathroom

There is way too much clutter in the house. Makes it look really small. Especially the kitchen.

Also lose the photo collage thing. Makes the area look small and dark.

Remove TV and day bed from the kitchen area. Take up too much room.

Move dolls house and car table/play area thing.

Make sure beds look smoothe and curtains tidy.

If I am completely honest, I wouldn't even bother looking at the floor plan as the photos make it look tiny and overcrowded.

Love your garden. Yellow exterior is fine but maybe paint window frames and sills white to brighten it up.

I agree the photos make it look small and like the kitchen has no window. You have a combined sizeable space for dining room and kitchen but it looks like you have a table no one can actually sit at without walking on the hearth or blocking the door, and a kitchen that is just crammed into a lean to area with no light. Why is there no photo of the French doors to the garden? (or maybe I missed them). It looks like photos of corners of rooms, rather than whole rooms. It might just bit that we are so used to fisheye cameras these days, but I don't think your photos are a patch on what looks like a great house from the floorplan.

Am I right in thinking there is not space for the dining table in the kitchen area, where the bench is currently? You need to put the table where it looks useable.

Purplebricks is a big no for lots of buyers due to their conveyancing, post sales support and lack of sales progression and professionalism.

If you want a way to get out of your agreement with them without paying - now is a great time to do so - they've just announced that they are cutting back their 24/7 phone service to new office hours 8-8 so it would be very easy to say that you signed up based on having that 24/7 phone support. They tend to use the fact that rightmove generates most traffic between 6-10pm to their advantage in pitching to customers by saying that their competitors are shut but you can always get someone at their central team on the phone 24/7, which you won't be able to anymore.

They're also getting rid of their sellers concierge service completely.

The yellow.
I don't agree with people slating PB. We've just sold our home with PB and you save a fortune in fees.
We've had no issues, granted that you have to do most of the work like arranging viewings etc and managing your online account yourself. But it's saved us over a grand compared to estate agents charging 1% commission and more.

Knew it would be purplebricks, I worked there for nearly 4 years and trust me you're better off paying a little extra and actually receiving a service..

Could it be you are listed with purple bricks? I know it have to be a magnificent dream house for me to bother looking at a purple bricks listing again. They don't have The best reputation.

As a buyer I found PB impossible and eventually refused to make any bookings through them. Stupid system!

In term of size and standard of finish then no.31 is the closest recent comparable sold property and that sold in March for £128k.

On that basis and especially given you're looking for a quickish sale then offers in excess of £150k looks extremely ambitious.

Bubbles Buddy - fully aware it’s not what we like that will sell it, which is why I posted here to get objective viewpoints.