Not getting any viewers?

[DisappointedOfNorfolk]

Our house has been on the market for two and half weeks now and we have had only two viewings so far (although the first viewers did want to offer but sadly their buyer couldn't get a mortgage and withdrew their offer so they couldn't).

We thought the first couple of weeks were supposed to be the busiest but nope!

We don't know what we're doing wrong, and wondered if anyone would be happy to check out our Rightmove ad and give us some feedback please?

I'm in Norfolk.
It's kind of a back end of Nowhere place (I live in similar).
I must be cleverer than I thought because I easily understood the garden layout, especially lovely allotment. We would like the pond a lot, too. The sofa was obviously huge in a (perfectly decently) moderate size space. I like the cheerful blue, too.

I don't understand why only 2 pictures of bedrooms, barely shown, yet advertised as 3 double bedrooms + 1 single. That wouldn't put me off, but is odd.

I wonder if your estate agent could say what kinds of properties are getting viewings in your area right now. Ultimately yours is a large semi & maybe people aren't viewing many large semis in that area, right now.

Sorry if that all sounds harsh OP and I know you’ve heard a lot of it already.

ps: when we house-hunted & bought in Norfolk, DH was adamant he wanted detached 4 bed. Would not consider 4 bed anything-else. I truly believe people wanting a rural 4 bed semi in South Norfolk is a narrow market.

It’s actually really difficult to get an affordable mortgage at the moment all the banks are withdrawing mortgage offers with 15% and less deposits, so you will need a 20% deposit for a new mortgage application. Might be putting buyers off

Good luck for your new listing OP. Re: the pond as a few have mentioned it, it might put some off but we actually offered on a property today that we love that has both a pond and a stream running at the bottom of the garden - our eldest child is 3 and I'm pregnant with dc2. Whilst the water features did cross our minds when viewing we are looking for a long term home- you can always cover or fill in a pond and I know our son would love the stream when he's a bit older. So I'd bet that some families with younger children will see past it "in the now" if that makes sense? X

Here is the new listing... fingers crossed for some more interest 🤞we already have one viewer booked in for Tuesday .

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-84947461.html

That does look better OP! Well done! I like how the first shot emphasises the size of the garden, you’ve played down the pond and made the kitchen look a lot lighter and more spacious. I also like the bathroom shot better and it’s good to have shots of the utility and garage. The bedrooms look more spacious too. Good luck with it!

Thats so much better! It looks completely different to the first set of photos. Good luck with selling

Looks great OP Good Luck 🤞

Thank you all, we are much happier with the pictures, they show our house more honestly and show the garden better than all the bitty pieces of garden shown in the 'arty' photos before!

Lesson learnt. This is the first house we've sold and we thought the first photos were good - but it's hard to be objective when it's your own house and easy to be led by an estate agent when you aren't confident in your opinions!

The floor plan is right this time too and there's photo's of three of the bedrooms, all showing the beds and the floors which helps I think? The fourth bedroom isn't shown but that's because the agent chose the best 14 pictures and wanted to show the garage and the utility room!

The original viewer apparently is still interested and as I said we had one new viewer booked in as soon as it went online, so hopefully some more people will want to view now .

I appreciate all your comments as they helped us see where we were going wrong and how to make the pictures more appealing, so thank you all .

I think the new pictures are much better, and overall it is a nice house. A guide price is much better than offers over too.

I wouldn't view it though I'm afraid, because a conservatory open to the rest of the house does not meet building regulations. Double glazed windows are far insulating than walls, and the polycarbonate roof will lose masses of heat. In my experience of this setup, the conservatory will mean the house is overly warm in summer and takes a lot to heat in winter.

New photos are much better. It's all ve well answering here that the place isn't cold but if the photos made it look so then that's something you had to address on the listing because buyers would also think it.

I don’t know the area at all - I’m in Scotland - but it’s a gorgeous house and l love the garden and the views.

Keeping everything crossed for you.

A conservatory like that isn't against building regulations but it does have to meet certain requirements @whatsthecomingoverthehill although as the op bought it like that she can't really help if it does/doesn't

As you bought it like that OP I would hope your solicitor checked for the relevant permissions ( if they were a requirement at the time) it might be sensible to talk to them now to see if you'll need to produce something you don't have. You can pay for a restrospective inspection OP think they are a few hundred pounds

I'd be very doubtful that it would meet BR requirements. You normally need to leave external rated doors in and they shouldn't be heated. I wouldn't be worried about an inspector aiming visiting or enforcement action though.

The conservatory has been there for more than 20 years I think, so I have no idea what, if any, building regs applied then. As far as I know building regs cannot be retrospectively applied to existing structures or there would be rather a lot of worried people with many alterations needed to many houses...

I imagine if you wanted to you could quite easily put in some doors between the rooms to separate them, but we have never seen the need to do so since we bought the house 10 years ago, as we like the space as it is, and it's never been cold!

E.g. the Building Regs that applied in 2000 for conservatories are as in the screenshots - there's no mention of external doors being needed, or separate heating systems that I can see, just certain standards for the glass!

It is part L of the regulations and they have applied since at least 1995.

Like I say though, it is very doubtful that there would ever be any sort of legal/council issue. I just personally wouldn't be interested in a house with an open conservatory like that. I'm sure there are plenty of people who wouldn't mind though, and I hope you get more interest with your updated listing.

Just wanted to say thanks again everyone for your comments and advice.

We have been on with the new agent for 6 weeks now, and have had 3 sets of viewers in the past week, so that's a relief! One set seem quite keen so 🤞 hopefully they'll make an offer...

We haven't found anything on the market that we really love/ticks all our boxes at the moment, so feel the pressure is off a little, as the ones we did like have all now gone under offer, and we're feeling a bit more optimistic that, although it may take a little time, someone else will like our house as much as we do!