Help! Does anyone know someone who is looking to buy a lovely house in Suffolk? Or give helpful advice?

[Suffolkmouse]

We are trying to sell our lovely home in Suffolk. We went on the market in Feb and had an offer quite quickly which we accepted. The sale fell through due to covid ( someone in the chain was furloughed and needed to complete quickly which our buyer was worried about doing as they thought there would be another lockdown and they would've been stuck between houses). Since then, we are just not getting many viewings. We are a 3 bed semi detached stables conversion on historic parkland with amazing views. It feels like being in the midst of the countryside but is walking distance to Saxmundham which has a train station and a Waitrose as well as drs/dentists/schools/libraries etc. We are also mains everything so no oil tank or sewerage system to contend with! We are going to switch estate agents as we don't feel ours is proactive enough. Is anyone looking to move to Suffolk? Otherwise, how about constructive advice please? Thankyou.

I just had a look at the stats for your area and it looks like it’s very popular with OAPs? I think they might be retiring from other areas so I’d focus on things important to them like a bit about being walking distance into town and mention of amenities, the parkland around you, hospitals/doctors etc Including a couple of cute photos of the parkland and the town.

Tistheseason17 sorry just reread my first comment, no tutting intended, it was the bookcase full of tut/tatt/rubbish 😂.

I really should stop looking at these threads!! You get SO much more house for your money pretty much everywhere else!

SE you get a tiny 2/3bdr tce with postage stamp garden 🙇🏻‍♀️

Unfortunately im not sure how to convince close friends & family to move as well 😢

Some of the suggestions you've had I find completely unnecessary (such as making all the fences more uniform, you're in the country, not in suburbia)

You definitely need a new Agent & new photos! That ones done a rubbish job of your listing!

There's something about the white table & chairs out the front that's making it look like a restaurant or something. I'd remove them for the photos and add another photo of the outside of both houses, highlighting the part that's yours.

If I was thinking about moving from here, I'd definitely view it. But unfortunately for us both, I'm not.

feesh and JoJoSM2 thankyou very much, will be acting on the advice here. feesh we actually do have too much sun here! 😂

A new agent is needed OP. Can’t believe the floorplam was wrong and that there’s no pic of that lovely staircase/window combo. Also, better garden pics are required I think.
I’d also get rid of the OIEO.

OP - that is hilarious! My sort of typo, too!
It is nice to have an OP who asks for advice and is genuinely interested in reading it

I also missed originally when reading the listing that there was a study! Huge bonus! Especially now as people consider moving further out of London now they only might have to go in once or twice a week - Saxmundham is ideal for that, but not daily commuting.

Get that study tarted up and photographed.

Those are terrible photos given you have such stunning feature windows.

All of that for just 385k!!!!! It’s beautiful!!! I HATE living in the SE, my house is just under the value of yours and just a standard home with no space nor glamour

Agree the estate agents photos are rubbish and hindering you!

Why is everyone selling up? Did you all have a massive fall out?

Redcups64 thankyou! No falling out at all. All different reasons but none to do with each other or the place itself. We are running out of space and need to be nearer school/new job. Lovely neighbours either want to be closer to family or downsize ( especially after lockdown).

MJMG2015 thankyou. Will definitely put the table and chairs in the garage. Did I mention we have a massive double garage? 😂 Will also try to tart up that front of the house area. We did plant up the tubs and asked the agent to take new photos but she didn't do it and now the plants are coming to an end of their life. Leggy lobelia! Will go to garden centre and restock!

i think the outside needs a little tidying up but its hard when you have children and chickens to keep everything looking show home like! maybe if you need a quick sale reduce the price slightly. you could list it for offers is excess of £375k

It is a lovely house but the photos just are not selling it. We sold a house recently and paid extra to have very good photos done. They made the house look magnificent and we sold it to the second people who viewed it. They said they had been wowed by the photos. Ours was a semi rural country property too.

There’s a double garage as well? My god your agent is shit. I’d rather got the impression that there was no parking at all.

It's a fabulous house. Better photos, including aerial shots will showcase it so much better. Good luck!

Did you mention the gardens are approx 1/2 acre? This should definitely be in the bullet points at the start of the description, it’s a huge selling point.

Your entrance/staircase is also stunning, can’t believe that photo was left off!

The listing is very wordy, I prefer the text as a single paragraph per room with room sizes and a brief description of the room. I think potential viewers may lose interest in long bodies of text and miss something important. It should be factual and punchy, like a CV.

It’s a great house though- good luck in selling!

The garden is 1/2 acre? I completely missed that from the listing. Looked like a small patch of lawn in the photos. And the double garage didn’t stand out amongst the waffle.

OP, honestly, the agent is so bad it beggars belief but did you not sense check the listing youself?

As a PP says, the floor plan needs to show your land- it's really hard to understand from the description and photos what outside areas belong to you, how big they are and what is private or communal. The greenery is a real selling point.
ps. Lucky you keeping hens!

I was looking at the floor plan thinking "that hallway looks like it must have an impressive staircase - shame there's no photo", but to also include no photos of bathrooms, garage and views is practically criminal!

The fact that it sold quickly last time is testament to how nice the house is once you get past the EA's shoddy listing.

Following up on Distinguished Carrot’s point, you could google your address and select the images option at the top of the page, you might find the previous listing and use that to identify better angles and photo choices. Sounds like you need to give the estate agent a kick up the bottom!

JoJoSM2 I am kicking myself for not checked my them properly. My husband had a look but I think we were very naive and thought people would just come then see how lovely it is. 😣

We have a new estate coming on Thursday. So, we need to remove the iron furniture from the courtyard, replant the tubs there, buy some new plants/ shrubs, perhaps a lavendar tree either side of front door, tidy garden, stage outdoor sofa with cushions, wine, glasses, plant, declutter kitchen, add some colour with big bunch of flowers, get them to take photos of EVERYWHERE especially hall staircase, correct floorplan, measure garden and plot it out with double garage on map, try to get aerial shots.... Have I missed anything? 😂

@Suffolkmouse

Rainbowshine that is next door. Much smaller with no views, no downstairs study, tiny garden and not been updated.

How can next door not have similar views to yours? Your houses are in a straight line?

Thisismychancetoshine no they are very different. They are behind us so the front of their house is onto the same courtyard and the back is onto a small square yard. It is the side of our lounge which has full length views of parkland then fields and an old church. Beautiful sunsets. We are about 2/3 and they are 1/3 of the the semi. Our garden is much much larger. They don't have the feature staircase and hall.

Oh, sorry. I thought it adjoined yours.