What is wrong with my house?

[anonymouse]

We've been on the market since 15th Jan and 1000ish views on the listing which has translated to 5 viewings.

Other properties in our neighbourhood (of the same type no less) have gone within a week of being listed at pretty much asking price. We are priced competitively with those to factor in variations in property (some have conservatory or garage conversion, others no have integral access to the garage just the over and up door)

So lovely people of MN what is wrong with my house? What can I change to sell it quickly without massively reducing the price?

We may potentially drop our current agent to go with a movemaker scheme as we are interested in a new build and really don't wish to lose it. We've been looking for a year or so and this is the only property that meets almost all of our requirements.

link removed by MNHQ as per OP's request

OK, I will play. Last year I broke the ceiling price in my very long road for houses the same as mine. Basically, your photos are SHIT. Whoever took them should be shot. I am hoping this is not you. Get the photos redone with the below in mind.

1. Car should not be on drive.
2. Angle is all wrong. Should show floor rather than ceiling space. Get rid of toys.
3. Angle is all wrong again.
4. WTF is that green thing blocking the window? Get rid. Angle wrong again.
5. Sorry but your garden looks shit. Jet wash the patio. Get rid of the leaves/whatever that stuff is all over the patio. Cut the grass. The fence on the right looks as though it will blow over and is not attractive.
6. Get rid of the clutter. Weird angle.
7. Loads of clutter. Bin bag???
8. Get rid of all the stickers. Odd angle again.
9. Get rid of all the office stuff and portray as a proper bedroom.

My house photos looked as though nobody lived in my house. I just walked with the photographer removing things and then replacing them as soon as he was done. Even things like shampoo and shower gel which we all have in our bathrooms make the photos look cluttered.

Good luck OP.

Agree, the angles don't show anything off to its best extent. I bet your bathroom is lovely but all you can see is ceiling and light reflections.

Rightmove says you purchased it for £310k in 2015, is that correct?

Mine has been on for 10 months. I feel your pain.

I agree about the angle of the photos. I can't get a sense of how big the rooms are at all. I think your house looks lovely but the photos don't do it justice. The outside also isn't a great shot due to the neighbours bins but I realise you can't do much about that! The back garden could maybe do with a tidy too.

Where I live in Scotland, a house of that size and style would be about 250k at most, so the price is a lot for me - but I get it must be much more reasonable where you live.

As others have said, the pictures are rubbish. Being near morrisons and a gym shouldn't be one of the first listed selling points!

Nestoria puts a value on houses (not all) that are listed on Rightmove and suchlike, so if your house seems overpriced I wouldn't consider it.

I'm sure lots of people use this tool.

Personally for me on the photos I'd clear the surfaces a bit more.
Your kitchen put the drainer away with the pots on and the cloths on the window sill.
The front room the toys behind the sofa and the ledge.
Brush your patio and get a de weeding brush, it takes two minutes with one of them and add a few pots of colour or I used fake flower balls and put them on top of my old pots full of weeds 🤣
Stuff on the wardrobes and side tables clear it off. Same in the bathroom get rid of the bin and bottles and dress it a bit more.
Small bedroom just shift the chair and clear the top.
It looks like it lacks storage as a lot of things out on sides.
Looks a lovely house but every light is on on the photos so I think is the natural light not good, the car in the first one i would get off the drive and some hanging baskets and make yours stand out with a pop of colour ( or pots ) for kerb appeal.

The photo angles are not the best and the lighting.
Good luck !

poodle do you have your own thread? Maybe we could have a look and give constructive support/advice?

What 2020 said.

Very blunt but all valid points, the photos make it look like a small 2 bed rather than decent 3 bed house.

The back garden 😳

Thanks. This is the 2nd time the EA has done photos and tbh they caught me just as I was heading out so it wasn't as clutter free as the first time they did the photos where I had planned for it.

Yes, we bought in 2015 for 310k.

It is SE with 39 min commute to London so prices will be higher than the national average.

15th of January was only two weeks ago!

It looks like you bought it at the end of 2015 for 310, and have done nothing to it since then? So basically only four years ago?

I think it's only been two weeks so you're a bit hasty, but generally when something doesn't sell it's the price.

When we sold our house last year I basically had to remove all traces of it being lived in. I foster and had 6 kids living in my home which you couldn't tell from the photos!

You defiantly need to sort garden, put all washing up away that's on draining board. Also if you have a bit of money you don't mind spending replace the short curtains in the bedroom with longs ones and like op said make the office bedroom into just a bedroom. Also the mat on children's bedroom floor needs to come up it's too messy but again you could buy a plain rug if you need a rug down.

Also in lounge you need to move out the toys from the kids area and push the sofa back as it will make the room look much larger and pull your table out from the wall as it gives the impression of a small room x

I think i have made a similar posting and with 5 viewings you are doing better than me. What is a movemaker scheme. Is it one where you are deliberately offered less than the market price ?

I’d get rid of a lot of the clutter (basket on side in the bathroom, shampoo etc). Living room photo is awful and makes it look a really weird shape. I’d also invest a bit of time in tidying the garden, maybe add a few nice pots and clean the patio.

Can you change to Mitchell and Partners? When we sold our house, six years ago, just round the corner from you, we went with them as they advertise in London to entice commuters.
I think you should weed your patio and plant up some tubs etc and put out garden furniture to make your garden more appealing.

I agree with what newme has said and will add the dining table should be pulled away from the wall to show it as it would be with a family sitting around it. The angles of the photos are poor.

I've had a look at sold prices on Rightmove and the photos showing their are as of December 2019 but different from those on the listing linked to? In some ways they are better.

Honestly the things that would put me off are things that you wouldn’t want to change to sell - lack of downstairs toilet, small kitchen, and the integrated garage is a bit of a waste of internal space. Also is the measurement on the living room correct? The measurements make it look almost square, but the floor plan makes it look L shape. Have your neighbours done anything to change these around to get a quicker sale/more money?

I can’t comment on the price as I don’t know the area.

Good luck

What @2020newme said .
How about adding some mirrors?

The price for a small terraced house is eye watering to me but I don't live in the south. I echo others. Sack estate agents. Declutter massively. Get rid of the bin in the bathroom. Get rid of all the stuff on benches, surfaces, smooth out the bed cover in the spare room. Sort out the back garden and make the front of house more appealing, move the car off the drive. Good luck!

Just seen your post about the second set of photos: any decent EA will move things themselves when taking photos. The fact they also turned up unannounced makes me think they aren't up to much.

See, I knew all of this! I just wasn't firm enough with our agent. They found it baffling why so many views turned to minimal viewings. I looked at the photos and thought the same about angles, lights and car...

Using all this feedback I'm going to go back to the agent and say we're doing new planned photos but just showing up randomly in the day.

Movemaker is where the housebuilder instructs the agents and they pay the fees. It might go for lower but tbh I don't care as long as I can move to my next property.

It's not at a part exchange stage yet otherwise we'd consider that.

As someone else said upthread, remove the rugs( lounge and playmat ).
Declutter, make it look like no one lives there.

This is a pretty rubbish effort by your estate agent!
The rightmove pin is in the wrong place and I can't actually find your house on streetview or a map.
When I did find it unfortunately Streetview shows the previous for sale sign. Rightmove also shows a lot of previous sales but perhaps it is the kind of house that change hands frequently.
First impression is that it's quite a small 3 bedroom house but I guess that's standard for the area.

The description is factual but nothing special - are you well located for shops/playground/station etc?

Picture 1. All I can see is your neighbours houses look more appealing with the green space, and their blue bins. Need to add colour and character to your front, crop out neighbours and photo without the car in the drive.

The other pictures as said before are all badly lit and framed, show clutter - even bits on the draining board!. Messages it gives - garden totally uncared for (even allowing for winter), no space for toys, no space for dining table shoved against the wall, no effort to present house for photos. I know it's tidy and you have nice decor but in photos you have to get rid of your daily clutter like a magazine shoot, if you want to stand out. Your house needs to look like a stylish little gem ready to move into.

Better photos, brightening up gardens front and back and some cheap "staging" fresh flowers etc would really help. Also if your estate agent is this slapdash are they making any effort to actually market the property?