Help! What are we missing with our house sale?

[GXDavid]

Hi Everyone,

We had sold our house but then got dropped three weeks before exchange. We have had some viewers and a lowball offer but haven't found that right buyer yet.

Our house is a 1928 Arts & Crafts style house in a private estate, ten minutes from the station/ shops and with a good selection of local private and public schools included a coveted catchment and distance to Dr Challoners grammar schools. The house is fully modernised (wiring, plumbing, heating, windows, kitchen and bathrooms) and is neutrally decorated apart from the kitchen/ dining room which is big enough to take quite a bold maroon colour that offsets the modern kitchen and flooring. For the local market we are on point re pricing , if not a little cheap. So my question is what are we missing?

If you look at the details - what is there that might put you off? Any comments very gratefully received as we feel like we have done everything we can to present the house but wonder if we are missing anything?

www.frostweb.co.uk/property-details/375332/buckinghamshire/gerrards-cross/the-queensway-1

Thanks and regards,

David

For an expensive house there are very few pictures. Where are all the bedrooms?

The garden is small for the size and age of house. The lack of bathrooms upstairs might put some off - the trend is for more. But otherwise it looks like a nice house. The market is weird at the moment.

It's almost always price-I used to live in GX and don't think that is "a little cheap" How long has it been on the market?

Not to be nitpicky but that's not GX is it? Isn't it Chalfont St Peter? Just wondering if that could be a factor?

I think house has curb appeal but looks tired outside-both front and back. Just a bit of TLC-maybe some flowers now that Spring is around the corner?
The modern kitchen isn't for me-sort of at odds with the house but you can't change that although I wonder if toning down the paint in there would help as it is a very dramatic colour choice.
Maybe some new photographs could be taken as not sure if they are showing house to best advantage?
One shows a vast expanse of wood floor and another is a too big snooker table dominating a room.

@eurochick

The garden is small for the size and age of house. The lack of bathrooms upstairs might put some off - the trend is for more. But otherwise it looks like a nice house. The market is weird at the moment.

Weirdly, I couldn't see anything but main bathroom upstairs first time I looked, but then my brain focused and there are three, which seems fine.

The estate agent is definitely not earning their money here. Ten photos (none of bedrooms) and a brief paragraph for a £1.5 million house. I'd be telling them to try harder.

Photo of the garden on a sunnier day would be good too, although obviously not the best time of year.

1.5 million would put me off. It's nice, but not that nice. However I don't know the area (thankfully!)

I was expecting it to have some arts and crafts character or heritage inside but it looks like it's all been stripped away to make way for an identikit modern interior.

At that price the garden should be landscaped or at least thoughtfully and attractively planted.

It's a shame, it's a lovely looking house from outside.

Apart from the kitchen colour (really not a fan of red shades sorry) I was just thinking of how long that would take to cover. I don't think it shows the kitchen off in its best light.
I also would have gone for a kitchen more in keeping with the house but that's just my opinion.

You have a lack of pictures of the upstairs.
Its really expensive but I don't know the area.

I don't know much about the area so can't comment on price but there definitely aren't enough photos! You want people to be interested in viewing and there just isn't enough to see. Also, I know it's far above the limit but the stamp duty holiday ending is doing all sorts of funny things to house buying atm

The kitchen colour is likely to be off putting for lots of people and as someone else has said, the kitchen is at odds with the age/character of the house.
Not something you could easily fix but a repaint in a more neutral colour might appeal more widely.

There needs to be more photos, you really don't get the feel of the house.

Price wise I have no idea, my part of London is 1.2m for a nicely decorated period terrace. The kitchen & decor style wouldn't be to my taste so that would put me off but equally some love that style. Is it more popular in GC?

Thanks so much for the comments; that is useful. I will flag the photo comments back.

mumsiedarlingrevolta - good catch re the pool table and the wooden floor. Could you enlarge on your comment re looking tired front and back? It would be helpful.

HardAsSnails
Little bit harsh! Interesting comments though.
In terms of the features - it retains all of the original doors, door handles (we have matched to them where we needed more), beams, same style/ colour window frames, tiled window sills (inside and out and matched where we extended), tiled corbills used to match, render texture finish matched on the walls, picture rails, etc. so short of adding more features that were not there originally that would be a difficult ask.

Thanks and regards,

David

A nice house but if you really want critique....

Not enough interior pictures, need to see more bedrooms and bathrooms. Very disappointing lack of period features inside that makes it feel like a boxy new build, no obvious Master bedroom suite which I would expect in a house this size, and I absolutely loathe the kitchen wall colour and units (they look cheap in the photographs).

This is more expensive but this is more what in line with what I would expect re features & decor.

www.primelocation.com/for-sale/details/photos/54401924

Just seen your update. None of those features are obvious from the photographs or description so make sure those details are included.

The decor and internal finish are completely at odds with the Arts & Crafts style. The leaded window in the bathroom picture looks particularly incongruous for eg.

1 bedroom photo?

There's also no proper photo of your dining table and dining area so you
don't get a sense of how spacious it is. I also rather suspect that many people looking for this size and price of house would prefer a separate dining room to a kitchen/diner.

I know GX. I wouldn’t worry about the kitchen. Lots of people modern use them but it’s fairly “glossy” which does appeal to some and there isn’t much you can do about it.

The bigger issue is the garden. It appears to be just grass which is very boring. Potential buyers would expect a better garden. It looks like it’s been forgotten. If you want to relaunch, I would think where a flower bed or two might go. Or trees.

There is a picture of one bedroom and one bathroom. You seem to have a glorious landing window but most of your rooms appear dull and lacking in character. Rugs are small and all the furniture feels too small and spaced out. It doesn’t feel like a home. Maybe a bit of interior pepping up would help. Cushions, flowers, positioning of furniture etc. It looks cold and clinical.

I'd agree with others on the contrast between the lovely Arts and Crafts exterior and the very modern interior - the interior really puts me off I'm afraid. Also agreed that you need more photos, and I couldn't see a floor plan? That's the first thing I look for, before the photos even, so I can get a sense of the flow of the house.

OP i don’t know your area at all but we’ve just sold a house in that price bracket (went for 15% over asking in fact). I think at that kind of price point - irrespective of where you are in the country - people are expecting either a renovation job, and have the romance of a project & bringing their own style to it; or they are expecting something aspirational and stylish. Yours is a very nice house but it is neither of those things: I am sorry to be so blunt. As you say yourself it is very neutral, and for me it just doesn’t have the sense of style or character that I’d expect. People who love modernist, white glossy kitchens won’t like the maroon wall colour. I know it’s actually not a big deal to change but I think when you’re spending that sort of money you want something that’s really desirable! (And assume that all the wiring etc being in good order is just a given).

As another poster has pointed out the exterior of the house (which is charming) doesn’t go with the inside. So if you loved the outside, you’d be disappointed with the inside; and vice versa. I’d also be expecting a lovely garden for 1.5 and I’m afraid yours looks unloved shall we say. You could at least have mown the lawn, and moved the trampoline and all the rubbish, discarded footballs etc underneath it!!

Yes, I think what’s wrong with it is that all the Arts and Crafts features that it must have once had have been stripped out. The interior’s very bland and generic - could be any big house, anywhere. So, that’s not easily fixed and you’ll probably have to wait until the right buyer comes along.

I have just looked at more GC properties & to be fair a lot have thar style kitchen so the market there likes that.

Has covid/remote working had an impact? prices where I am are pretty stagnant as people who have that budget now have that freedom to move further out.

Just found the floor plan! Wasn't expecting it to be so far down the page. I'm not keen on your agent's layout tbh, it doesn't flow well to me. It is on Rightmove as well?

Yes I agree it doesn't look very warm & inviting.

I can’t see it on Rightmove other than when it sold in 2003, although I’m on my phone so might be missing it, if it’s now on there I know agents object to their fees however they have the largest audience.

I can see it here www.zoopla.co.uk/property-history/26-the-queensway/gerrards-cross/sl9-8nb/55233897

Price seems ok, it’s a little stark, and the kitchen isn’t in keeping with the property so potentially a love or hate view.

To be fair, it is GX.

mumsiedarlingrevolta - good catch re the pool table and the wooden floor. Could you enlarge on your comment re looking tired front and back? It would be helpful
I think you need to "dress it" a bit-maybe some potted olive trees out front? hanging basket and a spring wreath on door and tidy the hedge. A welcome mat? Just so it looks a bit softer.
At the back I would do the same.
Put cushions out on furniture, maybe set the table. It needs to look inviting and it all looks a bit meh. Some pots of flowers to add a bit of colour and not make it seem so stark.
As another poster said it doesn't look like the garden of an expensive house not landscaped or planted out-just there. The gorgeous pics that @brownet posted are perfect examples of dressing the house for photoshoot.
I think the interior shots need staging and softening too-you want it to invite people in and make them imagine they want to live there!