What's wrong with my house

[mrsanflowerpot]

Please help.

Our house went on the market about three weeks ago, 8 viewings compared to everyone else in the same bracket having lots. Similar price to others locally even though we have an extension that we use as a dining room. I know the second bedroom is small, but nothing we can do about that. Can we do anything else?

Thank you!

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-72197922.html

360 I mean

Looking at right move I can see that this house sold for £300k just 6 years ago. (It was £67k in 1997, house prices gone mad they have) £10k a year inflation? Maybe.

It's looks very impersonal; no paintings, no flowers, no colour. Overlarge TV. And I agree about the beds, they look untidy.

Nothing wrong with it - also agree about the beds. If you can't be bothered to make it look nice for photos I would wonder what else was wrong with it ie is it neglected. I'm surprised the agent didn't say anything tbh

Agree on the photos they are awful - the crinkled duvet cover and cushions in odd positions is really sloppy and they've taken 1/2 a photo of the bathroom which is mainly the window??? I wouldn't be happy with the estate agent photos AT ALL

Only skim read pp's but it really needs smartening up and to look more 'crisp.' The beds really need sorting and dressing, plain simple bedding, iron it, tuck it in tight, dress the bed, think hotel, Stacey Solomon on Instagram is a good inspiration, could you get new bedding? Just from Tesco or somewhere so it looks really lovely and clean?

The sofas in the living room look dirty/scruffy, could you have them cleaned? Really plump them up? Get new cushions?

Yes remove fans etc.

Absolutely ditch the guide price.

The big picture with the grass at the end, the car looks like it's dumped on the grass, not a good look.

All just needs a bit of a smarten up, nothing earth shattering and could probably all be sorted at a big supermarket. Sending lots of luck!

I’m selling mine at the moment and am in the process of changing agents - because the agent of the one we want to buy has been very helpful in terms of brutal honesty!

Close the windows for the external photo and make sure the curtains and blinds are arranged nicely from the outside - open windows look like you have a boiling house
Closer crop the other houses out(especially next doors bins)
Neaten the hedge
Well intended though they are, remove the window posters
Living room is fine
Kitchen I wouldn’t bother with any overhaul - it’s fine
Extension - remove the tablecloth, heater, and put some small fresh flowers on the table.
Remove what is the one foreground of the second dining/extension pic including photo on windowsill.
Main bed - smooth the covers. Hide the divan bass with an unpleated valance or a bedspread that goes to the floor. Cushions but not OTT. Clear that shelf with the mirror above (maybe leave a couple of small things). Close those windows!! Move the fan/dressing gowns/etc (fold any stuff like that and put them under the bed pillows for extra ‘plump’ as long as they’re hidden under bedding)
The single photo pics above the bed look a bit lost - just remove
A headboard would be fab if you can find one cheap
Second bed just smooth it all out, remove all the shelf clutter on the left leaving a couple of staged books
Bed 3 remove fan and if at all possible remove chair (could a relative store it maybe?!)
Neaten the bed 3 curtains or get the shot from another angle and remove the pictures leaning on the skirting it looks halfhearted
The first bathroom picture tells me nothing other than it has a window. Bad shot. Remove it altogether from your listing.
Remove 2nd and 3rd garden shots they’re pointless - the other photos say enough and they’re the worst ones.
Hope that helps - it’s all just superficial dressing and overall a very lovely family home!

The thing that struck me was the master bedroom - the bedding colour doesn't match the walls, and I know that's really daft but it made me look at it twice and think, actually, is my stuff going to clash with that? I think it would help just to get a coordinating duvet cover set - or just a plain white one. Nothing fancy. Just something that blends with it a bit more Otherwise there's nothing I find offputting about it, personally. Looks like a normal house!

As pp, I would consider using Frenchic paint on the kitchen cupboards and new handles. At the minute all anyone can see is that it needs £££ spending on a new kitchen.

The living room having no focal point (other than the tv hanging on the wall)just makes it a bit corridor like.

Add some colour in the garden. Put some cheap flowering plants in pots if need be. The decking looks like it needs a scrub/jet wash.

2 front doors is an odd set up.

Crumpled bed doesn’t look great, neither do the bedroom fan and whatever clothes are hanging up & the window looks undress with the blind all the way up.

Overall the photos aren’t great tbh. It makes the house look quite small

There are 5 front doors in the first picture. I wouldn't want to have to work out which house I was actually going to buy.

I'm sorry, but the photos are awful. The hedge at the front makes the house look scruffy and uncared for. The bathroom pictures in particular make it look tiny.

Quick things to improve the first impression - make the beds neatly (iron the sheets?). Remove all the fans/heaters. Remove some items of furniture - the side board in the living room, whatever that is in the kitchen, the chair in the girls room - to make it look less cluttered. The entire dining room needs decluttering. What are the foam mats for?

And totally agree with others about the guide price - I'd also assume it was going to auction.

Nothing wrong with the bedroom dimensions. The two smaller rooms are both OK singles.

The downstairs of the house is spacious, the garden is great for kids and the green out the front is fabulous.

What will put people off though is the fact that it's so dated and tired looking. The duvet on the master bedroom is really pretty but doesn't go with the rest of the room and there's a random pair of shoes next to an off centre chest of drawers. I tend to go to floor plans first but many people don't and the photos just make it look a bit unloved.

Some of the houses listed with it are pristine and modern while some look like they haven't been touched in 30 years so you're up against genuine doer uppers and houses that are more or less done and move in ready.

The photos are horrendous. I'd never guess the living room and kitchen were both roughly 6x3 from those pics, really bad angles. Bedrooms are also tiny, the bulky furniture adds to that. Got a cracking garden though!

Just for my own curiosity, why do you also have a front door in the kitchen? That's the thing that caught my eye the most.

Your house seems overpriced for two reasons

1 very similar properties near by are on for £350k and £355k

2 the similar properties look well cared for with more up to date kitchens/bathrooms, your house looks neglected and in need of updating.

This is why you’re not getting viewings.

I think it looks a bit tired and unloved, OP. Sorry. It looks as if you’ve just gout the garden and tidied away in order to sell the house, rather than you love it and have kept it fresh.

No dedicated parking and no downstairs/second toilet. I wouldn't even consider it because of those two factors.

I personally don’t like the TV on the lounge wall.
Those big couches make the lounge look small. I’d lose one.
Remove the white drawers from the double bedroom, it makes it look small. Also, take the TV off the wall.
Remove the gaming chair from the blue bedroom, makes it look small.
Take the chair out of the pink room, again makes it look small.

When staging our house for sale I did the following:

Bought new bedding for each bed making sure that bedding matched the decor of the room.

I then bought new cushions & thows for the beds, I did the same for the sofa.

I cleared the kitchen sides of ALL clutter and kept only essentials out. I bought fresh tea towels that matched the kitchen and hung them over the oven door for a warm homely effect.

Bought matching towel set for the bathroom, this set was not used and only put out for pictures and viewings.

I boxed up and stored all unnecessary clutter, and binned or donated anything we weren’t going to keep. If you intend on moving there is no harm in getting some stuff boxed now, in fact you’ll be glad you did. Store this either in the loft or elsewhere that is out of sight.

I had a set of hooks on my bedroom door that usually had all sorts hanging from it, which made it look like we didn’t have enough space. I cleared the stuff and hung just my old summer straw hat so it didn’t look bare.

Bought a nice candle for each room which I lit before each viewing, but also blew out before the viewing, that way it’s not obvious and the smell isn’t too overpowering as you can never be sure what one person will like yet give another a headache.

Always put bleach down the loo and plot holes before viewings and opened windows just a tad in each room.

I did my pictures myself, agent did crap ones first so I ended up taking them myself and asking for them to be changed. Even when taking pictures during the day I put my lamps on and it made it look cosy and inviting.

There is nothing wrong with your house OP, it’s just in need of a bit of staging to make it extra tempting and stand out from others. I would declutter, hang curtains, get new matching bedding etc and I would pain those dark doors a nice crisp white.

Your front door is not on the floor plan. The only front entrance shown is the door into the kitchen.

why do you also have a front door in the kitchen?

I lived in a council property in the Midlands that had an almost identical layout, only no extension at the back. We never used the front front doors just the straight into kitchen one. Perfect for muddy shoes shopping etc. I don't know if it was just a common thing back in 80s?

Guide price is a big red flag for me. Implies the agent and client don’t agree on the price. Also I couldn’t live with that old fashioned kitchen and no shower.

What @onlyk said. Overpriced. Needs a good amount of staging too.

I think there are two things:
Photos: agree there are too many photos, many of them are not great. Were they taken by the agent with a wide angle lens? Easy to fix- eg as someone else said a closer crop of the front of the house would be way better than two very similar wide shots.

Agent: are you are using an agent in Luton? I think you'd benefit from a WGC based agent to drum up local interest for you. I'd be put off having to deal with an agent not in the same town.

We just put our house on the market this week (I'm not brave enough to post a link on mumsnet so I commend you for that!)

I had similar thoughts to what others have mentioned, I don't think they agents are doing you any favours with the photos or descriptions. On a floor plan I like to see an approximate overall sq M so I can suss how much house we'd be getting for our money. The measurements provided in the description confirm to me that you've got one double bedroom and two small singles, not easy to market it as a 3 bed to most families? (I can't believe how crazy house prices are in your area, we live in Cardiff and have 3 double bedrooms but still listing at £100k below you!!)

As others say, little things like making beds and decluttering go a long way, if there's clutter people might assume the house is to small for you? I found it helpful for our pics to box up the clutter pre-photos and then when the agent came to take photos I just moved the boxes out of the room 😊 Good luck selling!

Hi OP, I think there are far too many photos. There are 3 of the lounge at the start for example and I think that people might feel like they have seen it all and don't really need a viewing. Photographs never do a house justice so I think the trick is to just have enough (nicely taken) to entice someone to book a viewing.