Can anyone give us ideas about why our house isn’t selling?

[Hisisteritsmeeee]

Would anyone be willing to have a look at our house and tell us why it isn’t selling. @Iamthesister and I need help pretty please?

www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/55938744

Is there a photo of the main bathroom? The one in the pics appears to be the en-suite? I agree with the carpet wrinkles and front garden comments. I think I’d stage the house abit more.

Is the white expanse on the front underneath the lounge(?) window and at the back on the utility room(?) a feature on all the properties in that road? It looks a bit odd, as if the builder ran out of bricks. Could you put something in front of it - plants, a bench?

Also confused by photos especially when looking at the floor plan which says the garage conversion is used as a dining room but in the photos the dining room has patio doors to the garden? It looks like the room that is the garage conversion is the one with the rocking chair in and it looks very narrow?

As everyone else says the front aspect is not appealing at all the weeds in the gravel, stuff down the side of the house.

I think you need to rethink the way the rooms are laid out, so they are easy to associate with the floor plan and have more defined uses.

The outside picture of the front is terrible - really bad angle. I'd insist they retook OP

First photo gives a bad impression. I suggest you retake that and tidy up the gravel area a bit. Also, just use one of the nicer pictures of the back garden. After that, the house needs some updating, but it's nothing out of the ordinary. I just think the current first photo is really not helping

Really good feedback, thank you everyone, from you’ve all said we need to look at lowering the price, tidying the front garden (@Iamthesister I’m looking at you 👀) and making it more homely. Changing photos and generally doing everything our estate agent should have advised us to do.

We can’t update the kitchen or bathroom, but we can certainly follow all the other pieces of advice.

If you can afford to do a low budget paint job to a neutral colour throughout you'll be suprised how much that can change peoples opinions.

So sorry about your mum x

I’d ditch the agent for one who advertises on all the portals, esp the one used by the majority of the house buying population, and in current times most are also offering videos and /or virtual viewings.

Their photos are awful, they are not making much effort.

I’m reading through this, yes the firebreak does throw a spanner in the works but also gives us time to improve the advert.

I wish you all the best Hisisteritsmee & Iamthesister, having been through selling a deceased relative's house recently I know how awful it is.

Your EA is crap, those photos are awful and they should have given you advice on how best to present the house and they should also have ensured that the floor plan matched the photos.

Unfortunately we’re tied in with the estate agent but after this I am definitely considering changing when we can

Front- tidy up.

Kitchen - remove stuff from the worktop, there isn’t much space and you need to maximise how much worktop you can see.
Remove tea towels from oven door.
Shut kitchen doors- both photos aren’t very good.
Remove dog bowls and bed - also you can see the dog at the door in the 2nd kitchen photo. If I saw evidence that there was a dog in the home I probably wouldn’t bother to view it.

Where you have painted the walls downstairs it looks much more appealing than the yellow colour upstairs. Also - the red carpet, either cover with a rug or see if you can get some neutral carpet cheap?

Sorry for your loss. This must be a horrible process to go through, especially given the current lockdown.

I don't know why people are saying the bathroom and kitchen need gutting! They don't! Just because they are not following the most recent trends, they look nice and clean to me. Some people will like that decor, I'm sure.

I think you need to repaint the yellow bedroom and put a rug over crinkled carpet. Although that is quite deceptive, maybe just get a new carpet and forget about painting.

Remove all the children's toys. Tidy up, make beds look nicer. Remove dog bed and bowls. Move the sofas around - why are they placed so strangely!

And sort the grass out front. What are the white bits? Looks like sawdust or dandruff.

Someone else has probably suggested it but you could paint the kitchen cupboards. Also paint the bathroom tiles.
I agree the main photo looks terrible with all the stones and pebbles in the garden. I suspect it would be quite expensive to make this look good.

I would say first photo house looks fine but you can see lots of rubbish and garden looks very unkept. Would clear excess rubbish and hide the bins if possible. Anything to make front garden look better would help, either all stone or all grass or some plants in pots in flower. Dead tree stump doesn't help either.

Photo 2 better but would take down picture and take blanket off sofa and cushions, don't match. The furniture also doesn't match and almost wonder whether taking all the chairs / sofas out might be better. Remove cardboard box and candles. Floor looks good and paint looks good.

Back garden OK, some flowers would help but OK.

Kitchen definitely ditch the tea towels, look dirty and put washing up sponges out of sight. Looks dated but useable.

Utility take dog bed and bowls out of pic

Dining room fine

Dolls house fine, rocking chair, picture and cabinet with china would remove as well as rug looks dirty and rest look old fashioned and give an elderly vibe which may put off families.

Red carpet is dire as very badly fitted, ideally replace with properly fitted beige carpet, if not an option try and hide the wrinkles. Walls would be better white and not with the border if time / money. Would remove cushions look dated.

Remove old paint can from garden and add some flowers.

Alternatively reduce price a bit.

I like it but sorry to say I think it's down to price. It's a difficult area to price up, I sold a house in that area a few years ago (2017) and it was really difficult with wildly different valuations from estate agents.

I'd personally, if you can, drop the price.

It is always price plus location. My guess is you're over-priced for where you are, or the market is flat where you are.

Having said that the photos are not doing you any favours, and some of your decor could be spruced up for relatively minimal time/effort.

Top tips:

1. Swap pic 19 for pic 1 for outside of house.
2. Ideally weed front gravel, get rid of driftwood, then re-take "kerb appeal" photo.
3. Paint artex matt white so it isn't so in your face. (The shine really screams "look at me, I'm awful".)
4. Hide the doggy paraphenalia when you take photos.
5. Strip, paper and paint the main bedroom (with the red carpet and yellow walls. Choose a non-yellow colour scheme (basically anything that doesn't clash with the carpet, and lose the frieze at dado height (they were dated when I bought my first house in 1993!)
6. Get a chippy in to put proper doors on the built-in wardrobe.
7. Be prepared to negotiate on price over the bathroom (which is truly hideous, sorry).
8. The back garden is very bare. Doing this properly would be very expensive (those are loooong empty flower beds), but perhaps a few shrubs in the beds nearest the patio, and cheap bedding plants, to give people a sense of what could be done with it.

Don't waste your money putting new bathrooms and kitchens in. I had a new bathroom fitted just before I sold one of my houses. Buyers still moaned. You can't please some. Spend the minimal amount on it. I personally don't see the point of sellers putting new carpets down etc as I would not want used carpets / curtains etc. I know some buyers do. You will sell it just need to go through a lot of time wasters first. I dont envy you. However accept constructive criticism.

Sorry about your mum. Really hard to sell a family home.

If you can spend any money, I'd repaint any yellow/magnolia walls white just to look cleaner and brighter. And swap dining room and play room as, at the moment, you have to walk though living room to get to dining room.

The utility room is great but looks bigger than the kitchen. So, it looks like a remodelling project and price probably needs to reflect that.

Front looks awful - sorry - I do feel first impressions count.
All the rubbish on the left of the house needs removing.
Remove dog bed and bowels and tea cloths for photos - if you see dog beds you think "dog smell" if you don't love dogs.
Try and get another pic of bedroom with red carpet and straighten the carpet (it will make ppl think they have to replace it asap)
Could you find white second hand wardrobe doors instead of nets?
Don't do anything re bathroom and kitchen - they are too expensive to do - but make sure things are straight and tidy will ALL clutter removed for pics.

I really think it's the lack of kerb appeal. Make the front garden look decent.

Not sure about others, but when we were looking for a property we would always drive to the house and look at it from the outside before arranging an appointment. Some modern pots full of brightly coloured flowers (winter pansies?) would look great. You can take them with you so the cost is not wasted.

Rake over the gravel to put the pots on and it might be that easy to fix. If it's moss there is something called "Wet and Forget" which deals with it.

Inside the house is lovely. Looks clean and modern. I would point out that they could knock the kitchen and utility room together to make an eat in kitchen and still have a second reception room (study).

to both of you, btw - somehow I'd missed that it was a probate sale.

Go for the quick fixes, get a better agent, and be prepared to negotiate on price.

I'm sorry OP but its very dated. Bathroom, Kitchen and red carpet room bedroom would need immediate attention.
Front yard is very off-putting

It’s a bit confusing matching up pictures with the floor plan - I think the picture of the dining room is actually the play room on the plan with the dining room on the plan having a random assortment of furniture which appears to be part child’s play area and part old furniture. Only one bathroom pictured but not clear which one. Otherwise I echo others - clear all the stuff out of the kitchen so it looks tidier, tidy up the outside areas etc.

@timehealsmost

I don't mean this rudely but you have dogs. .does it smell.?,because dog smell would put me off. its also dated and a bit shabby.

I also didn't know how to put it nicely - but the pet stuff, and the kid stuff (unmade toddler bed etc) just say 'smell' to me and I probably wouldn't even view it (my kids are older, so different smells!). Those things should be hidden/removed for the photos.

The living room looks good and neutral to me. I think the other rooms need to be more neutral too.

Front and back garden very shabby.
Dreadful textured ceiling.
Whole place looks a bit unloved and very old fashioned.
Needs a lot of work to modernise - definitely needs new kitchen and bathroom which are big money swallowers.