Why isn’t my house selling?

[slithytoveisascientist]

Please can you help?

We have been on since I think October, had only 2 viewings and one offer of £317k which was withdrawn as it was the top end of their budget - we wouldn’t have accepted anyway.

Most other houses locally seem to be moving really fast. Would appreciate guidance.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/88479571#/

Ooh 1997 thank you! All we have been told is 90’s. So you know what I mean about it not being an estate 😂

It’s so hard to describe that purple room. It’s the biggest bedroom by square footage. Maybe I should just put a single in there

Lilac room.

I see a storage room with a bed rammed into the space underneath window. Bed up against radiator is an instant red flag for me that the room is not big enough as a bedroom, & it’s a half room better used as a home office.

Take out dressing table - cute but clutter - & take out tall shelves that’ll reduce the sense of looming clutter further.

Your house is very very tidy so clutterbuckets like me know that we cannot live as you do & ‘fantasy fill’ the empty spaces with our junk. IFYSWIM. So yes show me storage units but leave it at that. So bed with wardrobe & chest of drawers is good, but shelves so neatly stacked & dressing table screams potential clutter to me.

Move the bed out of the alcove, & shunt the chest of drawers in there. That’ll give a sense of space & light into the room.

Light bright roller blind instead of dark curtains will allow more light in.

Small bright colourful rug in front of radiator to counter dark flooring.

& yes, single bed rather than small double.

Which rooms are meanly sized?

The sitting room - family room looks narrow, the ceilings are low (this is most obvious in the kitchen, where it is barely higher than the fridge-freezer). A bedroom where a bed can only be wedged in awkwardly.

I think (as with many newish houses) they crammed in a lot of rooms, while cutting everything down 15% to make it profitable and shoehorn it into the plot. It means the outside promises a more spacious house than the inside delivers.

Nothing you can do about it, but a good chunk of buyers will just rule it out.

The house opposite you was the show house!
In fact I’ve been in your house many years ago!

Oops, seeing double.
Away to kettle & coffee pot.

It’s a lovely house Op
The main thing is the living room, it’s bare.
You need some cushions, plants, flowers throws etc to soften the living room. Also a mirror would be nice
There is nothing wrong with the kitchen imho. You could paint the cupboards , but it’s a perfectly decent kitchen .
Op, you may have to be a bit more patient given that we are in the throes of a pandemic

Do you have the office in one of the bedrooms
If you do remove it and relocate it elsewhere and put in a bed in the bedroom
You will be amazed at the number of people who see only a 3 bed and an office house and not a 4 bedroom house.

Also the living room needs something to brighten and cosy it up or just something to bring it into the 21st century.
Some parts are starting to look a little dated and someone wanting to live there long term would be factoring in the cost of redoing the kitchen and bathrooms and redecorating.

It’s a big double bed not a small one. Crazy how the photos are altering the perspective. The fridge also has an extra section at the top behind the door.

I love that house opposite us I would happily move there!

Yes the office is in one of the bedrooms.

Problem is these ideas are great but we have nowhere to relocate the office to. (Or hide two giant tellies, etc lol) Nor do we want to buy a bed for staging photos.

I have a photo of that room when it had a bed in it somewhere, maybe that will suffice.

Yes the house opposite is the larger style isn’t it, with study and separate garage .
Lovely outlook at the back if I remember, onto the grounds of the large house( the area was once owned by the family there)

I don’t think the kitchen is dated at all. Just liven it up a bit. A bowl of oranges or something.

I think that’s the issue with the bedroom, a room that can hold a double bed doesn’t make it a double bedroom.

Because of the layout between windows/cupboard doors there’s nowhere to put a double bed with walk around space on both sides. Have you tried putting it lengthways without a headboard or a short headboard?

Which way does it face? If the garden is north facing some people won't even view.

OP go on rightmove and look at 4 beds in your area for sale I think yours is the second most expensive. If that’s the case you NEED a USP or a high end property. In the nicest ol possible way, it’s a nice house but it is neither unique or high end.
You can waste hundreds of pounds on paint and bits and bobs but the issue is the price.

Haha I’m looking and thinking we have a lilac room and a yellow room - I can never understand why people insist you can’t have decor to suit you as new buyers will decorate, surely? Our current house was very red and brown everywhere but the flow / layout was ideal so we bought it and decorated. Dc chose their rooms hence the lilac and yellow

It’s a nice house but people are suddenly holding off everywhere. Stamp duty ending and insecurity re pandemic and economy means people are sitting tight. Hopefully late spring it will pick up again but I’m not sure it will before that. It looks like a nice house priced from the immediate area to me.

I live locally to you OP and personally I think your house is a lovely size, the decor isn't to my taste but it's just decorating. However the garden size would put me off and it's overlooked. For that price I'd want a bigger garden and not be so overlooked. My house was almost 100k less, still a 4 bed and it has a bigger garden. Middlewich has much cheaper properties available, and maybe find a local estate agent.

The house looks much nicer in the walk-through video than in the photos.

I agree with loads if the comments above about the staging, what I see is a well cared-for house with good proportions and a lot of potential. However I think that most potential buyers would be thinking about a kitchen and bathroom refit and possibly some sort of knocking through or extending to make a kitchen/diner/family room. The kitchen colour is really dated (though your cabinets are actually quite modern) and the layout doesn’t make the most of all that lovely space you have so buyers would be itching to change it.

However all you need to do is to ensure that the cost of a new kitchen is factored into the price so you are not missing out on buyers who would be at the top end of their budget and have no money left over to do the kitchen. That said, people like that may make you a lower offer anyway.

Sorry, what I meant to say above was that, while I agree with a lot of the comments about the staging, those details don’t prevent me from seeing that the house is in great condition and has lots of space and potential.

Lilac room again.

If that’s a 2M double bed, then try a 90 degree spin in that alcove. Headboard (redressed) up against radiator. Roller blind for light & freshness. In theory, that’ll give just enough space alongside for bedside table with lamp, alarm & book.

Tall shelves out.
Dinky dresser out.
CoD alongside or opposite wardrobes.

Bright colour rug to offset dark carpet.
If possible tone in bedding, blind & rug for harmonious calm.
If possible repaint walls white or cream.

I usually love these threads as the house is invariably piled floor to ceiling with junk and questionably decorated. But your house is actually very nice! Nothing to add re the comments of how to better market it, other than get the total size in sqm and sqft onto the floor plan.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/99672890#/ This looks to me to be your nearest competition, on at £300k. Worth thinking about why your house is worth more, and what that difference is actually worth? I suspect not quite £30k. Remarketing at offers over £300k could be a good approach to take.

So for that house I would say it’s overpriced

No third reception room
Tiny kitchen
And it’s off warmingham lane which isn’t really walking distance to schools and town

It doesn't look like anyone lives there. Until you get to the kids room there is zero sign of life.

There isn't much personality anywhere, so I don't look at it and think "wow I want that to be my home".

But there's nothing wrong with it, other than looking a bit dark as the others have said.

Ok so I am happy to buy bits like a rug, big plant, kitchen table etc

Happy to take curtains down.

I will repaint rooms if I MUST. I’m more ok with rewallpapering the yellow room and living room.

Happy to try shifting furniture. Would rather not get rid of the study or DD bed.

I’d rather not redo the carpets, kitchen or bathrooms.

Will definitely be changing agency and going back on in a few months.

With that in mind, what are the top five things you would suggest I do?

That way I can make a list. As am a teeny bit overwhelmed at the moment and can’t do much while kids are off school.

Thank you all so much for this!

Oh and we will drop the price. Want to talk to agencies first as when we spoke to them initially they ALL said between £320-340k. And we would have accepted £320k if the buyers had been in a proceedable position.