Selling house -advice please !

[Nelly325]

We have put our house up for sale as we are expecting our second baby and have outgrown our 2 bed terrace! it’s our first time selling.

We have had it up for sale for a month and a half , three viewings , only one left feedback which was very positive , she said it just didn’t meet their family’s needs.

The house cost us £100k two years ago, and we have since spent around £10k getting walls skimmed, garden fully landscaped and a new lawn put in , new wooden floors and carpets .

Despite having spent this, we put our house up for £100k because we just want a quick sale . Because of the lack of views, we have now lowered it to ‘offers over £90k’

We can’t afford to spend much money on the house to get it sold sooner but does anyone have any useful tips to make it a bit more Appealing / increase viewings ? Thank you for any help

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-88592771.html

At work so quick fire, all meant as constructive not critical! Brace yourself OP!

• Highchair and footstool out of all living room pictures, just literally take it out of the picture/put it in your car if you don't have anywhere to put it
• TV off
• Items on shelves under TV removed or very tidily arranged
• Straighten side cushions on sofa
• Remove tablecloth/placemats from conservatory
• Sofa in conservatory really needs sorting out - looks dirty. Straighten it up massively or put a throw on it, remove grey table
• What's happened behind the fridge in the kitchen - needs painting
• Remove stuff from on top of fridge - gives the impression of no space
• Give kitchen good clean/freshen up - looks dirty
• Remove red microwave
• Take kitchen picture from another angle, dress window much more smartly
• Remove cot & laundry basket from master bedroom
• Make bed in loft room
• There needs to be one picture of the front of the house

The main problem is the kitchen, it needs a deep clean/paint, new blind, currently looks like the type of kitchen you'd find in a chippy!

Can you rearrange your kitchen? Switch the tumble dryer and fridge around? The fridge makes it looks quite claustrophobic.
Also a rug or something to soften the attic room.
Otherwise looks lovely

The room with the dressing table in looks lovely - model the rest of the house on that. Wishing you lots of luck, I did this with my house and sold within a few days of making the Mumsnet recommended changes!

Definitely tidy up the kitchen. Can you move the microwave over to the oddly empty unit on the other side of the door or just get rid for the photos? It's very distracting.

Try and get a better angle for pictures of the kitchen and loft room. Make the bed in the loft.

Fewer repetitive photos and as pp said, one good clear shot of front.

Downstairs is the issue, there seems to be no distinction between eating and lounge despite seemingly having adequate space. Can you keep the high chair with the dining table, and have the sofas in the lounge only? The kitchen pictures arent great- why the half grey wall paper? Can you brighten the whole room with some white paint?

Thanks for all the advice so far, appreciate it ! I asked our estate agent for guidance before photos were taken and she didn’t make any suggestions :/ we are getting photos all retaken with some of the obvious changes like taking down high chair. Kitchens tricky as it is fairly small.will try putting the microwave away etc!!

-The first photo is terrible

• Is there no photo of the front?
• Take pictures of the garden when the sun is higher in the sky to avoid shadow
• Put estimated rental yield in the description

Some of the rooms are lovely.

Put some flowers or a big white candle in the grate or set some newspaper and kindling.

Tidy up and fix curtains up etc.

And make the most of the loft room , looks like a great space, borrow a rug or something and some pot plants in the conservatory.

Definitely need a photo of the front.seems so obvious when someone else points it out ! But I just deferred to the estate agent !

Mines a basic point - where is your front door? Is the conservatory the front? If so where is the footpath going to it? If the other aspect is the front then that's not clear either. What is the last picture of? The earthy garden?

The inside could be improved with things others have said (nothing major as it's a nice clean tidy house). But curb appeal is lacking.

The conservatory is the back/ back garden. There is a yard at the front. I agree it’s not clear at all . Although round here lots of houses are like this so it’s not too unusual in the area .definitely going to get a picture of the front and ask them to remove some of the repetitive garden ones

The pic of the kitchen. Where the fridge is viewed straight on, it should be on the other side of the door, where the half height cupboard is and the shelf. Can it move there, it looks really weird next to the sink like that.

Agree with the others, declutter, tidy and add a pic of the front of the house.

Can you get rid of the white cabinet thing in the kitchen and put the fridge there instead? Would open up the kitchen. Definitely need a photo of the front. As the first picture if possible. Just a general declutter too. It's a nice house sure you'll get a bite soon!

I asked our estate agent for guidance before photos were taken and she didn’t make any suggestions

I'm always amazed that estate agents aren't more proactive about this stuff. I had a big mouldy damp patch in my bathroom and the front garden was a mess. I pointed out that I was going to fix these before photos and the agent said "oh don't worry, it doesn't matter" Of course it bloody does!

They must realise that first impressions count and they're in the privileged position of having seen hundreds of homes to compare with yours so would easily be able to tell you how to improve it. Such a waste of everyone's time for them to take unflattering photos and put them online.

I can only think that they don't want to piss off a potential customer by telling them that they need to do xyz. But its daft, as they must want to sell it fast and for the best possible price.

I used to love watching House Doctor back in the day. Her advice was always along the lines of "its not your house anymore, you're moving out so it belongs to the next buyer. Depersonalise it - take down anything that shows you live here, family photos, kids stuff, pet beds etc" People would get all upset and be like "but its our home" and she'd have to remind them that no, it isn't anymore!

Fix anything thats even slightly dirty, tatty, broken etc as it will always look like a much bigger job to a viewer than it really is.

You need to spend a few hundred quid and a few days really decluttering, cleaning, painting where necessary, maybe buy new bedding/cushions etc to perk it up. Most of it you can take with you anyway, but whatever you can't is just an investment in the sale, in the same way that the agents fees are payable.

But having looked at the listing, the house looks lovely and a great location (is it likely to be built on? that could worry some people)

It really wouldn't take a lot to make it look much more aspirational, so its down to taking some decent photos and maybe adding a little more interest rather than taking anything much away. Potentially some slightly bolder artwork over the sofa, rather than the map and the small pics on the other wall? (love your wallpaper!) and dress the conservatory and loft room to look a bit more inviting. Otherwise I can't see much wrong with it at all, except the small kitchen, so as others have said, maybe rearrange (or even put in a smaller worktop height fridge?)

It’s really hard to make out where the front door is! And the lack of photos of the front means you can’t see what the parking situation is.

Agree about moving some of the baby items, esp the high chair. It looks like there’s no space for it in the eating area when there actually is! The baby gear also takes up a lot of floor space which is hard to see past in photos.

The sofa in the conservatory need to be facing the garden - put the high chair in there as well

I agree the fridge needs moving -

There appears to be a walkway from the front through the kitchen to the living room so it’s not idea! Could you make the walk through more of a hall?

Thanks for all the advice. We have already made some of the changes ( and had a viewing today) and will work on the rest and get the estate agent out to retake pictures. Really appreciate the insight that the kitchen pictures are particularly weak as I hadnt really seen that until now!