Are buyers expecting pristine houses?

[Lofu]

Our house has been on the market since Dec at £280k. 3 bed extended detached in a desirable area. Garden, drive for two cars, garage.

It's a 1970s house so not attractive from the outside, we know this. Neighbours houses which are smaller but older and more attractive have sold recently for £325k. So I think we are priced accordingly.

We've had 7 viewings so far and each one has said the same thing- the house needs a bit more work than we anticipated.

The only thing I think needs doing is the bathroom which is serviceable but about 10 years old and not on trend. Again estate agent said this is reflected in the price. Everything else in the house is done.

I can't think what people mean. Our house isn't show home standard but I would say appropriately done up for a house of its age.

I thought it was normal to expect to do a few bits in an older house. Is anyone else finding that viewers are being very fussy about how houses are decorated?

It's lovely and light and spacious looking - and the downstairs looks like it has a nice flow.

Could actually the photos possibly oversell it a bit?

It has to be price though, and the RM market info has a few 3 beds which can only be a couple of streets away at 240k.

Also, for the same reason as you want a 4 bed, so do others. People want more from a home they are going to be in 24/7.

i think it looks fine, the worst bit of it for me is the main bedroom - the wallpaper and the mirror wardrobe is not nice in my opinion and the room looks really small for a main bedroom. so wonder if there is anything you can do there.

I've had a look at the sold prices on your road and I have a hunch it's too expensive. But then people could just offer less

I would be adding up in my head how much money I’d need to spend and be deducting it from the asking price. There is no front garden just concrete, no separate living room, back garden has been abandoned and the master bedroom looks tiny with mirrored wardrobe which I would want removing as a condition of sale.
The neutral decor is good as no decorating costs and the kitchen looks relatively new so wouldn’t need to replace immediately.

Looks lovely. My only advice would be is to replace/ paint the brown doors white, and paint the brown part of the banister white too. It’ll look less dated.

I think that lots of people now, are very superficial,and nitpicking types,especially when viewing houses by photo's alone, and even when viewing the property in person.

Some people on here, have posted photo's of a house, that looks quite nice etc, then people wade in and say, oh, its,not got kerb side appeal,as there should be some features at the front, like pots with plants and flowers in etc. Another person said,well the kitchen is fairly ok, but the agent should not have taken a photo showing the dogs bowl near the kitchen units haha, Some go off a house because they don't like wallpaper,or there are too many photo's on the lounge walls, !

I went off watching Location Location,for these reasons,people were turning their noses up at really lovely homes, like they didn't like the type of wood that a front door made of, and all other ridiculous reasons.

I too am of the "if yours won't sell like that then I've got NO chance" ilk; front and back gardens as people have said, the only other thing is - is the toilet seat broken? its off at an angle in that photo?!

Otherwise honestly you could run yourself into the ground trying to do all these "little" things. It looks nice to me.

@Outofplacetoday

Or you could get something like frenchic paint, do the bathroom tiles and paint the glass on the porch. Two birds one stone n all that

Nooooooooo

I’d say

1. The garden and out front.
2. The main bedroom. Does it not have curtains? The bed needs making properly. The bedroom doesn’t look conducive to either sleep or romance. Other than that, I think it’s fine.

Please don’t frenchic the tiles, it always looks absolutely naff. It would put me off way more than slightly dated tiles

It looks really nice to me. There’s nothing crying out to be done immediately. The thing that would put me off can’t be changed which is the size of the master bedroom - I couldn’t be doing with shuffling sideways round the end of the bed!

I don’t think it looks like there is work to do at all ?

I would ask the agents for more details .

It looks lovely inside, but PP's are right that the bedrooms are fairly small. What sized rooms did the other, recently sold properties have?

I agree that the garden needs re-doing (well, re-photographing) and the driveway needs cleaning - and maybe add some pot plants to make it a bit prettier.

You bought in 2015 for £180k - in which case, that's a 55% increase in price in six years. I know the market is a bit bonkers in some areas and you've done quite a lot of work (it is nicely presented) but that seems like an insane increase outside of London (although I'm in the south west so I've no idea what the market is doing up your way).

The curtains in the dining room definitely need taking up and hanging properly, and I would also say do you have enough photos of the house? The listing above has a photo of the downstairs loo - might be worth adding one of this in case people don't immediately look at the floor plan? I would also replace the bath side panel if possible so it matches the white bath - the yellowed plastic immediately makes it look like the bathroom needs replacing, which it doesn't.

Can you post a link to the video tour? These tend to be more honest than photos.

Also you bought it five years ago for 180? That’s a massive price increase in that period?

Another one saying it’s not the ‘work’. It’s the price and/or the size of the rooms when they actually see the house in person. You can tidy the garden etc but there’s nothing wrong with the house. Unless you forgot to mention a saggy roof or a sinkhole in the garden

To me, it looks like it is on a steep hill (or next door has been built in a ditch - is there a drop off the side of the drive?) and that the downstairs is too big for the upstairs.

listing above = previous listing!

Is the upstairs a bit poky?

It has to be be price.

On RM it says it was sold in 2015 for 180k. Hell of a leap to 280k. House down the road which needs a good bit of tidying up admittedly but has a groovy midcentury vibe going on is on for 170k.

It’s fine OP, it’s just lockdown that’s all. Once things open up you will get more footfall.

It’s small but then the viewers will know that already from the floor plan. Most people would probably want to open out the back to one even-sided rectangle, and that would cost.

Also you bought it five years ago for 180? That’s a massive price increase in that period?

Have prices really gone up that much? That's big

Looks fine to me, I'd kill to have a bathroom like that. Not exactly to my taste, but you should see what I have to live with...

Maybe I'm not as picky as the average house buyer though.

@Lofu

It looks lovely. It's half the price it would be here (SE England) I need to move northwards!

Are you getting viewings?

Where did you buy your kitchen units from?

I think compared to the others that came up on the 'nearby' search I think you are appropriately priced.

My first thought was that the walls/carpets etc must be in a worse condition in real life considering the feedback you've had from the Agent.

But you say they're in good condition

How old are your radiators?

As you say your bathroom is a bit dated, and personally I'd budget to change it, but you say that's already reflected in the price. AND it's certainly perfectly fine, it's not like it's an avocado suite in a peach bathroom 😂

The garden needs sorting - at the very least tidying and neatening, but ideally flowers etc too.

Master bedroom looks pretty small, but may be standard for the area, I don't know.

I thought it was nicely presented, if not my taste. I would be going around thinking of 'what can we live with?' 'what would we need to change asap?'. Bathroom is liveable.

The thing that leaped out at me was the number of different patterns put together on walls, floors etc. The kitchen for example has three different, contrary, patterns and made me feel a bit dizzy. Some of the bedroom patterned wallpapers I'd definitely want to remove, which often required replastering, and then paint, so that could be an issue - they're not bad, it's just that patterns aren't to everyone's taste.

The fact that you’ve had viewings suggests that you might not be that far off price wise - if it was horrendously overpriced you wouldn’t get people in the door. I think you must be at the very upper ceiling of what people will pay so that they’re coming in thinking it needs to be perfect (for them) to justify the price tag.