Biting the bullet - what’s wrong with my house?

[ClaraLane]

Hi folks, I’m hoping you lovely bunch can help me work out why my house isn’t selling. We’ve been on the market since 14th October and have only had one viewing. Their feedback was that they didn’t think our balcony would get enough sun despite the estate agent doing the viewing telling them that the sun sets on that side of the house so gets full sun from about 2/3pm until sunset.

There is no picture of the 3rd room because we’ve got to do a bit of work on the bulkhead over the stairs and lockdown is making this tricky. We currently have storage heaters but have had central heating being installed in 2 weeks time.

We’re not desperate to sell as haven’t found anything we like yet but I’m starting to get concerned about why we’ve had so little interest and wonder if I’m missing anything obvious so would appreciate feedback.

Here’s the link if anyone fancies helping out: www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/98430179

Lovely interior.
New pictures for the outside? Sunny day, plants, baskets?

It's nice and airy. What's the colour of your kitchen? It's lovely.

I wouldn't be keen on the balcony with kids, I would worry about safety. I think it's a mistake to have put it up for sale before it's finished, I would want to view the flat as it would be when I bought it ie with the heating in and the bulkhead room sorted.

Plants in pots on the balcony and take the picture on a dry day.

There's no mention of access to any outside space other than the balcony. Is there any sort of garden? I imagine a lot of buyers would want a garden with a house after lockdown.
The description of the garage as 'en-bloc' makes me think of lockups and problems so it would put me off. Maybe just say there's a garage.

I’d remove it from the market and relist in 2021 with the new central heating, a pic of the third bedroom, and a spruced-up balcony. I’d ensure pics were taken on a nice day.

Lovely interiors! It looks like a happy home, warm and appealing.

Show the third bedroom with a bed in it.

Just now I'd show it as a home office.

Price price price. It's always price.

Is it ex LA too?

I had a look at similair properties within 3 miles and there were a lot of houses with outdoor spaces for only £10-20k more than yours. Could price be the issue?

The outside appearance and garage description would put me off viewing too.

I wouldnt take it off the market as there may be a dip post March once stamp duty holiday ends. But I would change up order of photos, enhance the balcony and def show 3rd bedroom as potential wfh space.
Plus, re think price. How many estate agents did you get quotes from, were they all in agreement thereabouts with the price?

It looks lovely inside - you've done a great job. You could dress the balcony with some large plants. A close up view of part of this would be good. The outside isn't selling it as the picture is quite unkind. This is the first picture that folk see on Rightmove and
and could be putting them off from clicking in to see the details. Could you have a go at taking some of your own pics in different lights then forward the best to the agent?

Wow lots of feedback, thanks everyone! So to answer a few questions it’s a maisonette not a flat and has two flights of stairs. The only outdoors space we own is the balcony but there’s loads of grass outside which is a common area that’s maintained by the leaseholders.

It’s not ex-LA and doesn’t have a flat roof either. Our bathroom has a shower over the bath but I can see that the description doesn’t detail that so I’ll get onto the estate agent. En bloc garage just means garages in a row together rather than detached ones or one attached to the house.

Third bedroom is currently set up as an office for my husband who’s working from home. I think I’m going to ask the estate agent if they can put up a different front picture and tart up the description.

Re. price, the most popular (but hideously disorganised and v pushy) estate agent round here wanted us to put it on for £165,000 and the one we’ve gone with said £160,000 was more realistic. We’ve got about £5K wiggle room in terms of equity/what we need for the next house so didn’t want to put it too low in case we got caught out with lower offers.

I didn't realise it was a house, or is it the top 2 floors of the 3 storey house? Description is 3 stories but floor plan shows 2? Confusing.
Initial photograph is not enticing to be brutal - switch it to photo 4 and put it at the back with the balcony photo.
Interior photos are good.
Photo 9 (child's bedroom) lacks a focal point - your eye is drawn to the empty white wall and the bed isn't very well made. Put the cute tent in the corner to hide the heater and hang a cheap something on the wall above the bed and retake it.
Balcony photo again your eye just looks at the bare wall. Some pots, table/chairs and a different angle (nice view).
I looks like a lovely flat. Honestly I think just changing the picture order will make a world of difference.
Good luck!

Sorry x-post.
I'd get the EA to bin the "three stories" second bullet then, it's a bit confusing. EA prose is always ridiculous (how is three stories the second main selling point anyway?!)

Cleaning and staging the balcony is doable. I think I’m going to ask the estate agent to retake photos after the central heating is installed as I wonder if people are seeing the storage heaters and not reading the description where it mentions the heating installation. I’ll get them to do photos of the spare room at the same time They might also worry about installing the central heating damaging decorations, I know everyone ultimately wants their own style but yours look like you could just move in but if there is alot of mess from the installation it might mean decorating is more urgent.

I don't like the photos of the lounge/kitchen, I think the angle is making them look a bit clinical and too dominated by the dining table and ceiling
The green reminds me of hospitals, sorry

I agree, get the central heating in and then take new photos, including the third bedroom/office. The balcony looks quite sad, a clean and some staging would go far. Some cheap garden furniture to suggest how much lounging in the sun you could do? Maybe some pots of flowers to make it a bit more cheerful?

It looks well presented, on that basis id say the price will be too high if no interest.

@Cavagirl It’s a maisonette so the blue front door is ours and leads to a set of stairs. On the first floor we’ve got the lounge and kitchen and on the second floor there’s the three bedrooms, bathroom and loft access. The balcony leads off the lounge.

We’ve got a gallery wall on the other side of my daughter’s room so I can move one of the big pictures above her bed for a focal point.

With regards to the heating creating mess we’ve got enough of all the paint used in the house to paint behind where the heaters are now so will do that as soon as we can.

Don’t apologise @QuentinWinters - it was certainly a lot less cluttered than normal so did feel a bit sterile that day!

It's a lovely home. The outside is what it is, which shouldn't be a surprise to any viewer because they can see it from the outside! Central heating will definitely be a selling point.

The thing that would put me off is the windows. They're too high! It wouldn't stop me viewing, but it might stop me putting in an offer. Nothing you can do to change it, but might explain some reluctance.

Is stories the plural of storey? I too thought it was a flat. The inside is lovely and as other pp have said - the balcony and the third bedroom as a study/office are huge selling points. Imagine having your breakfast or morning coffee on a comfortable and pretty balcony before WFH in a nicely appointed home office?

@Hayeahnobut

It's a lovely home. The outside is what it is, which shouldn't be a surprise to any viewer because they can see it from the outside! Central heating will definitely be a selling point.

The thing that would put me off is the windows. They're too high! It wouldn't stop me viewing, but it might stop me putting in an offer. Nothing you can do to change it, but might explain some reluctance.

How do you mean, the windows are too high? Do you mean they're too tall, or that the windowsill is too far off the ground?

Definitely mention the maintained, communal garden then and if it's just 5 or 6 garages that look OK, get a picture of that.

How long is the lease and how much is the ground rent and any service charge - if nothing, say so, it’s a massive selling point.

I might wonder why that important info isn’t in the listing.

Lack of a garden needs to be well addressed by highlighting outside areas suitable for kids to play.
Agreed this is not a flat over two storeys not three. (UK storeys US stories)
Plants on the balcony.
Maybe dress the window areas a bit more. They look quite clinical.

Get a picture of the garages in, along with the third bedroom as everyone has said, and I agree with Tulip - I'm in the process of buying a leasehold property and most had the length of lease left on them as standard. Less have the ground rent and service charge stated on the info but I much preferred the ads that did have them on!

I was avoiding electric heating but I would have read the description and therefore enquired about when it would be sorted/what you were putting in etc. That wouldn't have put me off (although I'd prefer it was already done!)

Oh - and is there parking separate to the garage? Where I'm moving to has an en-bloc garage too but the lack of electrics means it's fairly unrealistic to actually store a car in (it's only me, so nobody to helpfully jump out and open the door). I'd want to know what other parking options there were e.g. in front of garage (picture would show this), parking spaces, free parking on road, etc