What's wrong with our house 13 days no viewings

[Namechangetoshowhouse]

Help us out Please 🙏
We put our house on the market 13 days ago we have friends in the area who have put theirs on and been busy with viewings straight away but we've had nothing.

Three Estate agents said £375 so we started with that after no viewings at 9 days we dropped to £367
We know house is a bit bottom heavy a bit like me and doesn't look pretty but is well presented and has over 80 Sq m of downstairs living space. A huge Kitchen and lounge, 10 mins walk to most amenities as well.

We have seen a house that we love that won't come up again we've put in an offer for asking price but not sure we'll get it as they say they've had 6 offers already.

Anyway here it is do we drop the price some more or just wait a bit?
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-82594633.html

Honestly? It's a 2 bed with the family bath downstairs. I don't know Bicester but I wouldn't view it.

@Zhampagne

FFS that is clearly a family member. There’s blunt and there’s cruel.

Theres a reson why the "experts" suggest de-personalising before a sale. No one wants to see granny on the wall!

It may not have been very well designed to start with. I work in housing and some of the houses I see are horrendous and they are mostly this kind of age. I often wonder whether the people that designed them even considered that people would have to live in them.

I expect it was originally a 2 bedroom council house.

@Drumple

It’s the small things too. Cushions on the beds aren’t straight nor are the chairs.

Anyone put off viewing a house because the photos of it show some slightly misplaced cushions or chairs is not seriously interested anyway.

OP, you've had a blasting.

Remember that many people want or need an extra room. When we were buying, we needed a home office, but didn't have the budget for an extra bed, something like this would have suited us. (if sold as a 3 bed)
Also, my kids are aged 12-17 and a downstairs bed would really suit our 17 year old.
So dress the downstairs room as something.
Either make the box room an office and the downstairs a nice teen room with hang out space (it looks like a big enough room).
Or sell the downstairs room as a home office (well needed in time of Covid and its aftermath) and the box room as a small bed, maybe even put a cabin bed to show it has potential.

Well, it's clean, tidy, spacious downstairs and we'll maintained. Nothing offensive at all.

However, it looks a little boxy and lacks a bit of warmth.

It could do with some planters with flowers in at the front. It could do with a few pictures up.
The green kitchen stools are a distraction, so I would remove those from the photos.
The sofa is quite heavy and cold looking. I would lighten it/break it up with some cheap cream throws )IKEA do some for £2.99) and some cushions.
I would consider putting in an ffine/opposite/facing the leather sofa to define/zone the space as a seating area.
If possible, have a single bed instead of bunk beds in the smallest room to open it up.
The purple bedroom - those cushions look a bit flat/lack lustre. Try standing the pillows up more and then have the cushions leaning back on them in a more upright position.
Add a few houseplants.
There is nothing fundamentally wrong with it. But it could certainly be enhanced by some styling.
I find it annoying that estate agents aren't more helpful in this respect.

Armchair not a ffine (whatever the hell that is).

Also readdress the balance downstairs. Perhaps use one of the rooms as an extra spare room/office with a sofa bed in it.

Hi OP

I don’t think the problem is your house, I think it’s the way it has been marketed. In my opinion you are being let down by the sales team. If I was looking for a three bedroom and saw your property, then I would be happy with the layout and the downstairs space available to me. However, as a four bed I couldn’t see it working and therefore wouldn’t view if that’s what I was after. You may be missing out on your target market, which I would say is three bedroom, because they are overlooking the property, perhaps as early as the search page because they might not include 4 beds in their criteria.

I’m fairly certain you’d get some views if the tag line and descriptions were changed.

Hope that help!

In the spirit of not descending into dickishness just because the OP hasn’t come back and we’re left talking amongst ourselves because for whatever reason, MN’s algorithm made this thread really visible today, here are some things I like:

The door to the back garden - so much better than just a kitchen window! Can you get a shot from the end of the garden looking back at the house? Few planters round that door, you can just shunt them round as the photographer moves round the house!
I like the white render finish on the extension. Clean, classic.
I like the view up this way and the table staging is great. Could you maybe flip this room around and put the dining table at the end near the kitchen door (less distance to carry your plate!) and turn the sofa round so it’s making the fireplace into the focal point again? That way, anyone going from front door through to kitchen won’t cut in front of the telly?
The ceilings and floors look really fresh. That’s great because they are crap jobs to do, whereas changing walls is fun.

Could you get some floaty white curtains for the living room windows and a big pot plant up that square corner? Make a feature of the double aspect window (great for house plants!)

Could you replace Nana with a black board and a row of hooks like this?

I would put these cheap semi sheer white curtains everywhere - where the blind is at the end of the extension, over the extension french doors, in the living room and every bedroom. It’ll lighten everything up and soften the harder bits. You clearly like white, so I would push that even further than you have!

(I’m a plant person, btw. I would totally lend neighbours statement plants for estate agent pictures - have you got any planty friends that can lend you some? All the light in the kitchen would look great with some plants too - and will make the green stools less obtrusive!

Anyone put off viewing a house because the photos of it show some slightly misplaced cushions or chairs is not seriously interested anyway.
Absolutely. Like any potential buyer is interested in your soft furnishings...

@DuDuDuLangaLangaBingBong

In the spirit of not descending into dickishness just because the OP hasn’t come back and we’re left talking amongst ourselves because for whatever reason, MN’s algorithm made this thread really visible today, here are some things I like:

The door to the back garden - so much better than just a kitchen window! Can you get a shot from the end of the garden looking back at the house? Few planters round that door, you can just shunt them round as the photographer moves round the house!
I like the white render finish on the extension. Clean, classic.
I like the view up this way and the table staging is great. Could you maybe flip this room around and put the dining table at the end near the kitchen door (less distance to carry your plate!) and turn the sofa round so it’s making the fireplace into the focal point again? That way, anyone going from front door through to kitchen won’t cut in front of the telly?
The ceilings and floors look really fresh. That’s great because they are crap jobs to do, whereas changing walls is fun.

Could you get some floaty white curtains for the living room windows and a big pot plant up that square corner? Make a feature of the double aspect window (great for house plants!)

Could you replace Nana with a black board and a row of hooks like this?

I would put these cheap semi sheer white curtains everywhere - where the blind is at the end of the extension, over the extension french doors, in the living room and every bedroom. It’ll lighten everything up and soften the harder bits. You clearly like white, so I would push that even further than you have!

(I’m a plant person, btw. I would totally lend neighbours statement plants for estate agent pictures - have you got any planty friends that can lend you some? All the light in the kitchen would look great with some plants too - and will make the green stools less obtrusive!

Great suggestions!

Anyone put off viewing a house because the photos of it show some slightly misplaced cushions or chairs is not seriously interested anyway.

Not true in a competitive market. If two more or less identical houses are on the market for the same price, the better presented house will sell.

OP is probably still at work or busy.

I for one, like to see much loved family members pics on a wall, it shows a hopefully loving family in a happy home.

Maybe I'm weird

Hi all posted and then went out for the day not expecting more then a handful of responses glanced at this earlier and bloody hell I've got more than a handful 😂
So made a quick nip into town and bought some bits to dress the house up... didn't get everything though and need to go sort kids out dinner will be back.

Not any use to OP, but a two storey extension instead would have made a vast difference to this house. These days a single bathroom downstairs is just an awkwardness that doesn't appeal to anyone, especially people with very young children. My first house had a long single storey extension with nice sized kitchen and a wetroom type bathroom beyond it. One day I was off work ill and discovered how long it took me to crawl the length of the house to get to the lavatory and then how long again it took me to crawl all the way back and up the stairs. It might have been a minor nuisance being located there when I was well, but that whole experience made me decide I would NEVER have a house with no bathroom and lavatory upstairs again.

Obviously someone in the distant past has decided to make the garage into a useful living space, but on the other side of a utility room really isn't ideal. I do dream of having a utility room though, that's a lovely feature!

But I wouldn't be viewing because this style of house isn't my cup of tea, and it would cost far too much to do what I'd want to (raze the current extension and build a two storey one so that I can have decent sized bedrooms, an upstairs bathroom and a better size of garden). I also don't like the modern trend of turning front gardens into featureless car parks. So it would be a no from me, sorry.

Some unnecessarily harsh and rude comments here absolutely slating someone's personal taste rather than being constructive. The house looks clean and tidy. Agree with the 3million other comments about it being marketed as a 4 bed when it's not really. Could be marketed as three bed with annex - will appeal to more people that way. I don't know Bicester at all, but looking at rightmove market info, it does seem very highly priced.
Not sure the angles of the photos are so flattering, but that's down to EA.
If I liked a house and it was the right price, some family photos and a like green rug wouldn't put me off buying.

Sorry OP but dressing the house isn't going to help u magically get viewings

The listing needs seriously altering and the price to reflect.... it's essentially not a 4 bed house

DogInATent
You are extremely rude and your statement is totally unacceptable. I hope if, or when you get old that you will think back to how rude you were.

It's also a strange layout. Two downstairs bathrooms, one of which you have to walk through to get to the annex room. So this should be your focus. Turn it into a spare room with seating so that it becomes a great ensuite bedroom/granny annex/teenage bedroom/spare room. Put a cot or single bed upstairs in the smallest room or use that as a study. Get the estate agent to sell other features. For example, the third bedroom upstairs could be turned into a bathroom and one of the bathrooms downstairs into a study.find out much this would cost. Also find out the cost of chagig some of the studwork upstairs to even out bedroom sizes. None of these should cost a fortune, and might be able to overcome some sticking points that people encounter with the layout. You could then always accept a slightly lower offer taking into consideration the price of any works that they wish to do.

Also, that chest of drawers is rather dark in the main bedroom/not sure what that black thing next to it is. And the purple throw doesn't match the pillows. It's a little jarring. The pictures in the lounge are too high up/possibly too personal.
Lots of positives too, which are being undersold, Inc the back garden!

@merrymouse

Anyone put off viewing a house because the photos of it show some slightly misplaced cushions or chairs is not seriously interested anyway.

Not true in a competitive market. If two more or less identical houses are on the market for the same price, the better presented house will sell.

I don't think "better presented" really extends to the cushions... They're background. A few Ikea cushions dotted around will influence nothing.

The front is a bit odd with no front door. I would be put off because there’s no fence or wall between you and next door, I am not sure where the property boundary is? I would not want to share a drive. I also do not see a photo of the main part of the garden, the photo looks like it’s taken down the side of the house? I think your garden is probably bigger than it appears.

Ps, OP, I like your taste in lampshades and light fittings and clean white bathrooms - hide your shower puff/bog brush/litter tray before the next batch of pictures (put them in your car boot if you have to!) the reason things like that seem jarring in your pictures is because your house is so clean 😂 if it was a tatty old bathroom I wouldn’t even notice a shower puff!

Moving the furniture about a bit will make the biggest difference, I think - right now the house layout confuses me but I think it’s in part because you prioritise as much open space as possible whereas I like defined areas to do stuff in - for house photos defined areas are useful because there is less thinking for viewers to do. I think moving the sofa away from the wall and around the fireplace instead will make a massive difference to the way that room feels (see pics)

It really wouldn’t take much to push your photos towards this kind of white with plants aesthetic, very popular on Instagram!

So originally was the front door at the front of the house. I don't really like front doors at the side. But nearly all houses have one or two things we don't like. Our first house had a flat roof. I don't think they do flat roof extensions now but not sure. If I was the OP I'd get the best price I could and move on. We had to do that with first house. Good decision. Depends what they paid for it at the time if they can afford to do that. That very long single storey extension wasn't a good decision. Our conservatory was a bad decision. A lot of people make them. They just have to be more careful next time.

As someone who has just sold my house (twice) and is looking at houses I would advise you to stage it properly for photos. So get fresh flowers, throws, white bedding with cushions, make the rooms look lived in and homley but not cluttered, move the sofas away from the walls, get some hanging baskets and flowers outside etc etc... Have a look at some show homes like a pp mentioned. Get professional photos done, it's not expensive and it makes all the difference. Our estate agent included this and the photographer did houses for a living so knew what to do.
You have already been told about the rooms being a bit of a confusion with the forth bedroom and bathroom so I won't add to that other than to say I'd put it up as a 3 bed to be honest. Good luck op. It's not been long. It will sell I'm sure