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

Apparently, they cannot alter the date; it sold in early October from memory and then went back on a week and a bit ago. Apparently, they used to be able to change the date but have changed their rules which is annoying.

I agree with hgaj on the 'offers over'. That really puts me off. How much over? A quid? A hundred thousand? I wish people would just say what their price is! If my budget was around 1.5 I would assume it was out of my privmce range.

I think you need more photos of every room, for a house worth £1.5m you definitely need 25-30 photos (if not more!)

Why?

There are 9 rooms in this house, and 2 bathrooms. Do you really need roughly 3 photos of each room?

@GXDavid

Same as everybody else has said. It’s the photos. The exterior is beautiful. Your windows are gorgeous as is your front door (I’m assuming it’s original?). You have the most wonderful enormous picture window on the stairwell which would have made a fabulous photo. You have the original interior doors with matching hardware. The bay windows are wonderful. All of those things should have been photographed in detail.

The decor is quite 90s. The flooring looks hard and unwelcoming downstairs and the living-room fireplace is out of character. The kitchen itself is fine but the wall colour is indeed bold, but that’s ok. None of those things are insurmountable.

Yes, the front of the house would be more instantly appealing if it wasn’t in shadow.

I think this estate agent do amazing photos. Different type of house entirely, but they seem to be able to present houses to their very best.

housepartnership.co.uk/property/30211778/

If you are priced right, is it not simply the case that for a house in that price bracket outside of a few particular areas (prime London, Oxford, Bath etc) there will be a smaller pool of buyers and so it might take longer to sell? I think your house is lovely by the way

Apparently, they cannot alter the date; it sold in early October from memory and then went back on a week and a bit ago. Apparently, they used to be able to change the date but have changed their rules which is annoying

No they haven't, I've just checked! Get your agent to contact: [email protected]
attaching a copy of the sales memo and explaining the previous sale has fallen through. RM can then update the added on date.

Needs curtains or some sort of window dressing to soften the windows. Needs bigger brighter light fixtures for the main living rooms and for what we can see of the bedrooms. I love the kitchen . Maybe turn the smaller family room into a formal dining room . Definitely needs a lot more photos and perhaps a better estate agent , and agree that the gardens need sprucing up . I could never afford such a lovely house and hope you get the sale you want .

I think this estate agent do amazing photos. Different type of house entirely, but they seem to be able to present houses to their very best

This is the firm who do the photos for that agent:

bagshawandhardy.com/

Sorry @GXDavid, the MN property boards are not known for being forgiving. I think it’s a difficult position of being an expensive house in a sought after area that maybe is in competition with other houses that might be photographed better, or might just be more appealing. If you can get the existing period features photographed and the bedrooms that would help get a feel for the house, but it doesn’t ‘feel’ like a period house. And I sympathise because our house is 1915 and many of the features have been removed in the 1950s. All we have left are the doors/handles/skirting/window furnishings and panelled bays/one feature fireplace. But we chose period colours when decorating so I think (hope) our house retains some of the feel of the era.

It’s not even that it’s a bad house, I’m sure it’s a very nice house, it’s just not as characterful as some others.

Definitely needs more photos and maybe label them e.g. the photo with the pool table and keyboard in - is that the study or family room?

@HardAsSnails

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.

THIS! For 'Arts and Crafts'I'd be wanting loads of period character.... It just looks too bland, square and characterless inside.

Un modernised with Arts and Crafts houses would be really sought after.

I visited son's workmate's 1870's house and was ''Oh Wow-ing' at it as it felt so homely with lovely period features and a cozy kitchen... but it is horses for courses.

@Mildura

Oh! They’re very near me. I hadn’t realised. I spend a lot of time on the House Partnership website drooling!

Thanks again for your comments and for the recommendations. I do really like the idea of showcasing some of the features (yes the door is original :-) ).

I love it and would consider it if I was looking for a home in that area and price range. Best of luck!

Back to school for me .

@brownet

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

I sort of prefer OPs home to this. Although both are lovely, I am more drawn to a cleaner more minimalistic look

I agree with not enough photos. And whilst a nice enough house, it's a bit 'bland' on the inside tbh.

@GXDavid
My son who is a green oak timber framer who deals with houses all the time just popped in.
I showed him your house, and he said
''What;'s wrong with it? ..I can't see anything wrong with it''

He says it will be the price, as obviously not as many people are looking for a 1.5 million house as a cheaper one..

He says you haven't found the right buyer yet, that's all.

Good luck!

I can only really echo what others have said. The interior is far too modern for the style of house - the house is very soulless to me. The maroon kitchen colour wouldn't put me off as it can easily be repainted but I do think it could put others off. The colour of the window frames aren't to my taste either and they would be a large cost to change. Also, nowhere near enough photos of the property either.

I've just had a quick look. We recently sold a house for 1.4 million so have a some experience.

I agree with many PPs about the lack of photos. There are far too few and the ones you have are not particularly appealing.

The garden is featureless which highlights it's relatively small size. Could you somehow add some trees or bushes in pots maybe?

One photo is just of a huge laminate floor. Or what looks like laminate. It looks cheap and nasty to me.

My overall feeling is quite a bland, cold house. Could you add some curtains, pictures, rugs, plants?

I don't know the area so couldn't comment on the price. Have you checked what else is available locally at a similar price point? That's what your potential buyers will be doing.

I'm sorry if I'm stating the obvious, but these were my first thoughts on looking. At the moment as it is I wouldn't be tempted.

Looks very nice, but as several have said, not enough photos. Since you call it an 'arts and crafts' house, disappointingly, I didn't see a lot of detail to that effect. If you have any, make sure there are photos of them. If you haven't, call it something else.

Good Luck!

The kitchen is very jarring with the rest of the house, but I’m sure that wouldn’t make someone drop out.

Totally agree the photos are poor, and that house partnership link has some really lovely photos.

For instance your front door, if it's original and nice (I hadn't even noticed it from the photos, and I love A&C!) then a photo showcasing it, perhaps I with some flowers in tubs or hanging basket in shot too would be lovely.

I always think the best photos are like the ones you see on posh hotel websites. See how that house partnership link has lots of softening in the photos? Throws, rugs, curtains, bits and pieces on shelves and focusing in on little bits that are nice or unusual (like your door handles? Windows?) it makes it feel all warm and welcoming.

I think the thing for me that is quite jarring with your photos is the A&C thing of 'nothing that you don't believe to be beautiful or know to be useful' I don't mean to be rude about your things, which are all perfectly nice, but there's not that 'beautiful' wow feeling to them in these pictures. I think it might be the very pale neutrals on everything, furniture, walls, it all sort of blends in in the photos. I'm thinking back, I don't even know if you have curtains? I don't remember them if you do, just a feeling of cold white rooms. I also didn't notice your picture rails and had to go back and look when you mentioned them because the low contrast in the above and below colours means they just blend away in a photo. And then there's the kitchen which although I like the colour, is a bit of a smack in the eye after all the neutral photos.

How long do you have left in your estate agency contract and would you consider finding another agent? Fine and Country are one that always seem to market well.

This is a local agent to us, for an example of good photography. I think they cover Bucks but I don’t know whether as far south as Gerrards Cross.

@brownet

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

Really like that house, brownet!

OP, your house is lacking pictures of the entire second floor and the pictures you do have up are boring. Except for the kitchen which won't be to everyone's taste. Hard to picture it as a beloved 'home' tbh. And £1.5m isn't 'cheap' for such blandness.