Advice Welcomed on Sale of My House

[goodbyestranger]

I get on well with the agent who says he doesn't think a price reduction is a good idea; that the price is right. His view seems to be that the house may take a while to sell because I just need 'the right person'. The obvious problem is no on site parking but there's plenty on street parking nearby: I've parked on the street opposite for forty years (for the last twenty with a large VW nine seat people carrier) and there are a number of other spaces just a few steps up the road. A similar house with parking sold for £200k more a couple of years ago and another where parking could be created, assuming planning permission and c. £20k to create, sold for £50k more this summer. A smaller house with a small garden and no comparable views and no parking and much, much further from the beach sold for £125 less a few weeks ago. It's a ten minute flat walk along a National Trust path to the incredibly beautiful beach and the buses to both local schools (one a comp, the other a top co-ed grammar) stop at the door. I've brought my eight DC up in this house - admittedly a bit of a squash, but they love the house even so. I can't create any on-site parking, it just isn't there. The other possible issue is the extension I had to build in 2006 to accommodate the family as they grew. It's not the best looking extension ever but all that could be done within the confines of very strict planning controls in the area (AONB - Jurassic Coast) and is a really lovely room inside. The village community is vibrant and welcoming. Advice on how to proceed welcomed.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/73186305#/

Good luck. It's hard to detach from a much loved house (even when you think you're being very objective). I've just sold my house but it took loads longer to sell than expected, and I can see now that to someone else, it needs loads of work.
Comments about selling the lifestyle are spot on, especially in such a gorgeous location.

It's beautiful!! If I could afford it I would buy it!

I love this house. It's up on the opposite hill and currently a bit tatty. It's been a holiday let. It was bought by someone local who said they'd have bought mine like a shot if it had parking, which it...doesn't. The point about this house is that with planning permission a steep drive can be created into the garden to provide parking.

I literally know every house in the village, having lived here so long :)

And agree with the above, professional photos make a huge difference - change agent if necessary. And get a video tour done. If the agents do the photos themselves they're extremely sniffy about professionals (mine was). But mine aren't great, fish eye lens distorting the proportions and all the lights on in every room.

Particularly when travelling is limited, the photos (and video tour) need to draw people in.

Crossed with other posts. That reply was to Nekoness.

I haven’t read all the comments so apologies if I’m repeating....

I’d make the extension bedroom a second living room or make it the dining room.

There’s no picture from the front....can you add one? Otherwise it’s beautiful, I think the extension is fine, I’d love that extra space myself.

I'm now a bit meh about the photos but in fact they were done by a professional photographer, arranged for me. Anyhow, not the agent's own.

ReadySteadyBed that is the front that's shown. It's a back to front house. That's the way the builder built it in the last century. Lots of the houses further up the valley face the road but ours faces the garden. It's much nicer not opening onto the road, much airier.

The parking situation would put me off but that can't be changed.

I'd want to see more photos, the summer house, the small bedroom, living room from another angle, is there a focal point? etc

I'd move the big dining table into the living room, if you need a kitchen table more the little one from the triple bedroom into there.

I'd lose one bed from the triple room (the one at the opposite angle). Push the other two together, add valances and a huge throw creating the look of a big bed, set up like a suite. A nice chair or chaise longue and a side table with flowers etc

I suspect it's just the time of year, things pick up in January and even more so towards the spring usually.

I love lots about it but agree would change the 3 bed room to a dining/family area with the raised bit as a study area. Your duvets seem too small for some of the beds but obviously no one’s buying the beds still would look better better dressed. What is the house like from the lane(?) side. The first photograph would put me off.

I think there are companies who will stage your home to sell, even hiring furniture.
I know someone who did this, it wasn't particularly cheap, but they sold the property for more so easily made their money back.
Worth a thought.

The photos seem to be taken from odd angles. I would have stood at the opposite side of the kitchen and living room for example. Is there a lovely fireplace we can't see?

Op do you want to move to Scotland? You don’t need to answer but is rhe kids father (S) on the scene? There is a tone in your writing like you owe this to your kids becayse you had eight. You don’t. You know this right?

Oh I am very tempted. Wonder if DH can get a job down there and I can homeschool.....

Please be tempted thelake :)

To be blunt Bluntness no I'm a single mother, have been for years. Same father but he's not on the scene and nothing will be forthcoming from him on the money front either. I don't feel I owe them so much as just very much want to do it for them. And I do really love Scotland too - it's in the blood, so I'm excited at the prospect of moving there tbh.

Ceecee there are loads of photos taken which the agent hasn't put up. Incl all the things people are talking about. I'll have to contact him tomorrow and see if he'll put more up.

Yeah do that. When I last sold some of the pictures were hideous. I redid some myself and emailed them to the estate agent. You would think the professionals would know the best angles really but mine didn't have a clue! I would definitely want to see the fireplace in its entirety, it's the focal point of the room!

Countmeout the lane side is very uninspiring. No door that side just windows and the stone is ordinary stone not Beer stone. What the agent likes a lot is that once you round the corner the house and garden open up in a way which you couldn't imagine from the road. it's clean and neat but no drive by magic at all.

I wouldn't put more up now. I'd wait til you've made your changes and then do a relaunch in the new year with new ones.
Also, this is just my opinion, but I'd rather see 15 really good photos showing most of the rooms, rather than 30 plus including 4 of the kitchen from every angle.

You have a really beautiful house. I’m not sure that I could bear to move away.

I wonder if marketing it as a 3 bedroom house with an annexe might open it up to additional buyers. You could consider adding something to the description about “plentiful on street parking” it might hook in a few more viewings who would otherwise discount it out of hand due to parking.

I agree that moving the dining table will really sell the kitchen, it’s quite large but the table closes the space down a lot.

It’s a beautiful house, the views are gorgeous.
But the main thing that stood out for me was upstairs it looks like for bedrooms 2 and 3, they’d have to go through bedroom 1 to access the upstairs bathroom, or go to the downstairs one. That’s a bit off putting.

Interesting about not too many photos.

No the bathroom is accessible to all three upstairs bedrooms but it has two doors so the first bedroom can access the bathroom directly or through the landing. Agree it would be a messy arrangement otherwise.

It is a lovely house. I particularly love the beautiful stone, and the eyelashes! - maybe those thinking it is painted have never seen this colour of stone ?
I agree about the three beds, the space looks more cramped than it needs to, also the kitchen table. For me it has been over-decluttered and so seems slightly bland ? Adding some colour and texture internally and externally would help make it more memorable. I know that goes against general advice to make a house as neutral as possible, but given where you are, I imagine people will be looking for a pretty house with character ?
People see different things though, I am house hunting at the moment and I go by the feel of a house, it is an emotional thing. I am very fussy about windows but I couldn’t care less about immaculate paintwork etc. But other people seem to want show home type pictures or they won’t view. I do think as others have said, that you need to make the extension less of a dormitory, and I also think pretty up the rest with valances on the beds, flowers, a few more personal things around, and some plants outside in pots. Someone will fall in love with it and be grateful for the extension as a studio/ guest space/ sitting room.

The good thing is that you’re taking on board feedback and comments. Some you can easily change others you can’t.
I am surprised at the lack of photos showing your Summer House and I do actually think the photos are not that great. But once you’ve made your changes they need to be redone.

There could be a price issue with the other 5 bed at the same price albeit that their huge compromise is the height and level of the garden. Your big compromise is firstly the lack of parking and that street view shows me the other side of the house is bang on the lane with no walkway etc. Open windows would virtually allow you to reach inside passing cars. This will be a no no for lots of people but not all. Then as you admit an extension built for your needs but not as practical for others. Though it can easily be viewed as main bedroom or children’s playroom.

Once staged better, new photos, including Summer House, mention of parking nearby, more people looking and more interest with a better time to sell in the New Year and I’m sure things will change.

I think it’s a beautiful house op but the photos really don’t do it justice. Picture 1 might better taken from a more central viewpoint as the extension being so white contrasts with the beer stone frontage which on my phone just looks like grubby paint. If the extension was just seen as a sliver down the side of the picture and you were looking at the front of the house from directly opposite the front door I wonder if it would be more obvious that it’s stone.
You could also do with something to pretty up the front door a bit. A planter either side would be easy to do even for a non gardener and a little garden table and a couple of chairs would make that expanse of paving slabs out the front look more inviting. I would do every single thing Yesbutisittouching suggests and get more photos taken. For a decent sized house in your price bracket I’d want to see twice as many pictures as that. You should have photos of the garden office inside and looking out of it into the garden, I can just about see that there’s French doors in the extension, I’d want a photo looking out of them into the garden (once you’ve converted the extension into a living area, not youth hostel) and are there beautiful views from any of the bedroom windows? They’d be a good selling point too.
I would have a look at how holiday houses are marketed and ask for a different photographer altogether. Get photographs that reflect the lifestyle on offer not just the building. www.holidaycottages.co.uk/cottage/28785-parsonage--honeysuckle?n=7&pd=1