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

It looks quite cold, and the garden looks unloved.

As is often the case, de-personalise doesn’t mean strip bare. It needs some rugs, some colour, and furniture put so it looks like a family can sit together.

I get why you’ve gone for the colour in the kitchen, but anything ‘definite’ will evoke an emotive response from the viewer, and they will forget to think about size and possibilities.

I think people are coming at this from a non GX point of view. This house is run of the mill there. Fairly ordinary houses sell for well over £1m. So there needs to be a discussion about easy improvements and price to allow some improvements by a buyer. The op needs to attract viewings so Hall, bedrooms, better interior staging and improving the garden are all important.

If the price is right you can add in improvements and break even. I think renovation mistakes have been made but it still retains some charm. The floors look very new and the soul looks absent but it can be restored with someone who understands these houses.

@friskybivalves

How can anyone say the bathroom that is shown looks dated? That's ridiculous.

Those giant beige/brown/grey/can't quite tell tiles all the way round make it look dated to me. Very 90s. And yes, just as others have said, not at all in keeping with the age and style of the exterior of the house.

Thanks for the tip re pictures - re-hanging as we speak. :-)

To add to my above comment it would be nice if the codes gave a proper walk round tour of the house. With people not being able/not keen on going out to view lots of houses houses due to covid it would give a better feel at what you are really looking at.

There’s a big disparity between the inside and the outside as pp have said. The kitchen is completely different to what I’d expect in a house that age. And - I’m truly sorry to say this - the bathroom pictured is an abomination, I’d want to get rid of all the tiles and install a freestanding bath at the very least.

The Zoopla pictures are the best. Why did the agent think it was a good idea to photograph the garden in the shade?

OP Really, really well done for bearing up in the face of a lot of criticism, including from me. It can't be easy.

A previous poster said your house could never look like The Red House pic that I posted a link to. We no, of course not. That wasn't my point. Why I posted that link was because it showed several elements of typical Arts and Crafts styles. (Texture, surface decoration, patterns from nature, honest natural materials, fine, individual craftsmanship and sometimes wobbly hand-made irregularities; things not matching; integrity of the materials worked with - everything looking like what it is; natural, earthy, even sludgy colours; a fondness for leaves and branches and twining vines and birds and bees and flowers ... warmth, homeliness, natural-palette harmony)

Some of these features are still there in your house, eg the (fabulous) windows and the front door. But for the rest, at least in my opinion, what really unsettles the viewer is that the decor is too full of high contrasts (black/dark brown vs white/pale neutrals in living rooms (that's Art Deco and something very different and not at all welcoming or restful) ; deep venous-blood red and white - like an operating theatre! - in the kitchen. The floor may be oak but in the photos it looks like cheap laminate; why not a darker shade? why so high-gloss? why not wider natural-looking floorboards or even parquet (as it would have been)? The hard-edged leather sofas are mid-20th century industrial-modern. The black-slab coffee table looks plastic (I'm sure it's not - that's the fault of the estate agent's photos) and modern and industrial, which is the absolute opposite of arts and crafts style. The kitchen is industrial, too: gloss-white, sharp-edged..

As I said before, this is just my view. I am almost certainly not representative of your potential buyers. But - like other posters - I was hooked by the words 'arts and crafts'. Can I (respectfully) suggest that you re-market the house using different key-words such as 'spacious' and 'recently modernised' etc etc? And above all stressing its location, which is, for a certain market, clearly very, very desirable.

Best of luck.

I think your house probably looks much nicer in real life than in the photos. I'm not sure if it's the camera quality, the angles or the lighting but those pictures aren't great and there is not enough for such a big house.

The modern kitchen will put some people off but its not a bad kitchen and there are plenty who prefer a modern style.

I'm sure the garden looks better in the summer but if you could take the trampoline down and stage it a bit more with some pots and paint the fence it would look much better.

I think you need a new estate agent who takes better pictures and can help you stage the house a bit better.

@GXDavid

Thanks for the tip re pictures - re-hanging as we speak. :-)

Great! Also good idea to make sure your estate agent knows the ceiling height, buyers might want to know that.

@NK5fd36457X11218d61631 that's gorgeous!

And agree with picture rails, I couldn't figure out what it was that was odd about them, but the pictures are right on them, aren't they, not suspended like in this pic.

I’ve not read any other responses so I can give a fair view.

More pictures needed, for a house that big for that much money I want to see all of it.
Get rid of the red in the kitchen.
Get rid of the snooker table.
Better pictures.

Also @GXDavid have a look at the description on the link @NK5fd36457X11218d61631 posted, and how much more info there is than on your details.

Can people viewing homes on the internet really not see past decor they don't like? You will bring your own furniture with you and put the furniture where you want it, surely the vibe not being how you want it will be fixed purely by decorating how you want and putting your own furniture in?

OP, in terms of the listing - more photos are definitely needed - photos of the rooms that aren't photographed as well as different angles. Also take the photos with all the lights on. Some plants might make it look a little homelier.

The kitchen is not to my personal taste and so I would be worried about the cost of changing it - however, it's obviously in great working order so if I really liked the house otherwise, I would put up with it while I saved to replace it. From this thread though it looks like others might not think the same way - might be worth looking to change it if you have long-term trouble selling.

Also - some of the features you mention aren't obvious so some close up photos of those would be useful.

Have been thinking maybe a pale sage colour in the kitchen would work and transform the space into somewhere nice and calm.

Can people viewing homes on the internet really not see past decor they don't like?

They can.

People actually buying houses have their criteria and the sort of layout / style they are looking for, and look at the pictures, location, floor plan, room sizes, and then gauge how much refurb / redecoration they would want to go.

They know they are not buying the decor.

It's obviously potentially a lovely house but my problem is the sort of 80s office vibe I'm getting from the furniture.

Not a fan of the shiny maroon painted kitchen either, sorry.

Shame it doesn't have more Arts and crafts character.

BUT you could easily remedy most of this with a little set dressing. And I'm amazed you get so much bang for your buck in that area, I've never been there but was under the impression it was super expensive.

I don't live anywhere fancy btw, just SE London, but where I am you'd get a nice 3/4 bedroom terrace for similar. Genuinely surprised it's not priced higher.

Is it on Rightmove?
If not, why not.

In terms of original features. My thought was also ‘where are they?’
You say in a post

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.

Your pictures do you reflect this at all.
Because there are not enough photos at all, certainly not for a £1.5m house.
I didn’t get any sense of your house. And I love period / Arts & Crafts houses.
Your agent is doing you no favours.
I’d expect pictures of all the bedrooms and bathrooms. All the downstairs rooms.
You’ve got a south facing garden, so should be able to get some good garden shots.
I don’t like the current wanky estate agent trend of posting useless pics of say a bannister spindle which tells me absolutely nothing.
But for a lovely period property such as this, I’d certainly expect more.
Good luck!

Oh yes, terrible photos and not nearly enough of them...

I've been looking at this area at a marginally lower price point, immediate things to me are:

• Garden looks scruffy with old trampoline and faded furniture, would look better if you removed them then took new photos. Or even considering getting a landscaper to do a quick update with some plants in pots etc. When you're looking at that price point it might be worth investing
• The kitchen colour is awful and out of character with the house, for the price of a paint job I'd paint it neutrally, it will definitely help
• Agree with all the comments about your agents needing to do more - I'd expect more and much higher quality photos
• Also agree about it being a bit too modern and lacking character - wonder if you could ditch some of the more modern accessories e.g. the spotty throws and blinds in the games room, and replace with some cheap antique/traditional furniture or accessories

Also don't underestimate the stamp duty deadline - a lot of people have probably realised they won't meet the deadline now even if they had an offer agreed tomorrow, so have now lost momentum in house hunting and are having a break.

@RainingBatsAndFrogs

Can people viewing homes on the internet really not see past decor they don't like?

They can.

People actually buying houses have their criteria and the sort of layout / style they are looking for, and look at the pictures, location, floor plan, room sizes, and then gauge how much refurb / redecoration they would want to go.

They know they are not buying the decor.

My point is that this thread is full of people saying 'get rid of the pool table'. Genuine buyers will see past this so I don't think it's a very helpful response.

I think one of the hardest things about selling your home is being detached about the photos. When you know that the doors are original, the floors are hardwood, the rooms aren’t dark etc it can be hard to recognise that the photos aren’t showing that. Whilst you might not agree that the comments on here are an accurate reflection of your house, they are what strangers on the internet have surmised from the estate agent photos- just like prospective buyers will.

More photos, showcasing the original features and improving the garden will definitely make a difference.

I really like it but it needs more photographs and more description. It is alot of money and people need to see more. Is it on Rightmove?

Unfortunately if a property isnt selling it is always the price. Could you reduce it?

@clary

Your list of original features sounds amazing! You'd never know from the listing tho. A friend had a pro photographer do pix of her house to sell, charming cottage so not the same thing but she focused on little touches, pix of my friend's decorative vintage finds etc. Clearly these were not on sale but they really sold a lifestyle.

You could get pix focusing on the doors and door handles, Windows etc. And why not 30 pix? I make it more than 15 rooms in X all bathrooms and kitchen and dining area, plus gardens and outside views, close ups and more than one view of kitchen and living room fir sure.

I can see the appeal of photos of windows and I guess door handles but I detest those 'arty' estate agent photos of stuff in houses. Much worse obviously if they're not fixtures or fittings but even if they are, soft focus or close up photos of a fireplace don't really work for me, as long as I can clearly see the fireplace in a different photo that works for me.

I think that part of your problem is a lazy agent. You would do well to have a good look at the £1.6m house that a PP linked to. Although it is a bit more you are potentially competing for the same buyers. Their agents have done a great job with the photos - every room is staged to show it in use - eg a meal set on the table, the sofa drawn up to show how to watch the TV, flowers and lamps and a few cushions etc etc plus some lovely drone photos to show the location etc - it also has a nicely staged garden. If you compare the listings you can see that your agent has come in and done a perfunctory few snaps any old how and made no effort at all with the description of the house on the listing.

Try to walk around you house and imagine how it would appeal to a buyer who was also viewing the other house where they are selling a lifestyle. Can you add some lifestyle touches like rearranging the sofas in the living room to make it look like somewhere you can sit and entertain rather than just being a play space for the children to run around in, a vase of flowers and some nice glasses and a water jug on the dining table (you don't need to leave it set) etc etc. DO that for every room. Also as pps have said a couple of trees in pots by the front door, stage the garden nicely. (If the agent could just redo the shot of the garden as one over the table and chairs with the table laid for an alfresco meal so that there is a different focus to an empty lawn that would help).