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?

You definitely need to sort the main bedroom out. Put up curtains and make the bed.

If I was looking in that area, the only thing that would put me off your house is the bedroom size. The third bedroom does not even quite meet the legal requirement to be called a bedroom. Once your child is no longer a toddler it will far too small. It is really a 2-bed with office.

Looks fine to me. Maybe the garden could do with a tidy up, but we are just coming out of winter. Maybe invest a pot with some nice colourful spring flowers in it, cut the grass etc,...

I agree that £100000 in five years is a huge increase.

nearby

This hose is nearby and selling for £290000 and last sold for £185000in 2005, 16 year ago.

Is it worth getting g a new valuation?

Your house is lovely-and to be honest if people cannot imagine there stuff/and living there more fool them, the garden may need a tidy but the fence and all the expensive work ie fence is done.

Looks beautiful / apart from the garden like you said.
Lots of good advice on here.
Could just be the garden.
We missed a sale because of the size of the garden though the house was immaculate and I could tell they loved it.

The price increase since you bought it would put me off. I know the market is stupid at the moment but I would really resent putting £100k in someone else's back pocket. It's not like the work you've done to it in five years is worth that amount.

Looks okay to me but I would want to redecorate throughout as not to my taste. Only thing that really dislike though is the stair carpet which looks a bit tired.

Has anyone even made an offer?

When we were viewing we saw a house which looked great online, needed a new kitchen but everything else looked fine.

When we went to see it the reality was different. Wallpaper was poorly hung and bumpy, floors looked badly laid, etc etc. Lots of diy clearly! It went from a "new kitchen and lick of paint" to a total refurb in the space of the visit which pushed it out of budget.

I'm wondering if there are similar niggles which aren't obvious in photos. One thing which jumped out at me was the dining room radiator - it looks quite old to me, as did another one I saw in photos. That could be making people think "new heating system". Similarly I can see surface mounted radiator pipes which many people hate and will be thinking they need work

Few things I can see which might be causing concern for buyers.
In the first pic the kitchen cupboard doors look slightly crooked
Mismatched woodwork in the bedroom - pine door, white frame, pine skirtings.
I can also see a line on the ceiling in that picture of the main bedroom - is that a camera trick or is it present in real life? It's the sort of thing that if it is there will have people thinking "damp patch/leaky roof"

These things might not sound bad - old radiator, visible pipes, mark on ceiling etc but it is what buyers worry about behind it that's the issue IMO.

I think you've been given really good advice OP. Your house is fine, but a bit bland. I do agree with other posters that it is overpriced. You haven't lived there long yet have listed it £100,000 more than you bought it for. How do you justify that? Did you pay a high price initially for it? I would drop the price immediately to be honest.

It looks nice to me, but I agree with a PP - sort out the curtains so they hang properly (esp the ones in the dining area), make the bed more neatly, remove that green rug that looks like a random patch of grass, remove the brightly-coloured toys from the unit under the telly and replace with something a bit arty in the right colour scheme, also remove whatever that odd thing is in the kitchen that says "CAMP".

The exterior isn't that off-putting imo.

Good luck!

I think it looks lovely. Just drop the price and it will be snapped up.

I’ve just looked at a couple of your competitors, both of which are much better value. I’m so sorry, I think you’re going to have to drop the price a bit.

Rear garden needs a bit of work and I agree about jet washing the front and some pot plants to brighten it up for some kerb appeal. Just looks a bit bleak at the moment. I also agree about the child's room - some folks just have no imagination for what their own furniture will look like. The rest of the inside looks fine. Bathrooms and kitchens are very much to the taste of the new owner so best left for them to replace.

It looks lovely to me. The only things I'd do are increase the kerb appeal with a really beautiful pair of flowering shrubs (in massive pots that you can take with you) in the front garden, and mow the lawn at the back, clear the decking of toys and add a table and chairs with a photo of when the sun hits the patio so people get a sense of being able to eat outside.

it's possibly a bit pricey but nothing major needs doing my suggestions some are like other peoples

1. Kill and remove the moss and weeds on drive
2. Some Colour in pots by front door
3. remove grass coloured rug from nursery and brown drawer unit
4. Main Bedroom get bedlinen pristine

5 put a small table instead of clippy shelf by bed so it looks like room for you both to have bedside table

1. Back garden looks like it needs re turfing as very uneven it might just need a good cut and weed
2. For aspiration see if you can get a table and chairs on deck in sunny bottom corner of garden
3. Fix loo seat
4. and this is a maybe repaint bathpanel white

10 get two large boxes so you can sweep all toys etc into them and place in garage for a viewing at 30 minutes notice they can come out again after they have gone

do not paint doors or bathroom tiles don't decorate

@SwedishK

If I was looking in that area, the only thing that would put me off your house is the bedroom size. The third bedroom does not even quite meet the legal requirement to be called a bedroom. Once your child is no longer a toddler it will far too small. It is really a 2-bed with office.

Do you live in the UK? That's a good sized third bedroom for that style of house. Many, many children have smaller bedrooms. It's absolutely fine for a child or even a teenager.

I don't think you need to do a thing to it, other than reduce the price if you definitely want to sell soon. It's the only thing in the end that will get more people round to look. On Right Move you need to reduce by enough to send alerts round to people in the price bracket they are looking at - if you came down to 270000 you would get a whole new load of people who will see it and get alerts sent out, if you reduce to 280000 you will also be in a different price bracket though it wouldn't be enough to send the emails out to people. If you talk to your estate agent they should be able to advise on that. But if you definitely want to sell soon, reduce the price and you will sell, I'm sure. All the advice about flowers in the garden and kerb appeal is fine, but presentation is not the main issue I feel sure.

The only thing that would put me off if I was in the market for a house like that would be the awkward shape of the kitchen, I’d prefer to have a more open kitchen diner but if it was me I’d have a separate utility in the main kitchen area and move more of the kitchen back.

I think buyers are definitely wanting ready to move in houses, we are getting exactly the same responses for our house. We have done so much to the house in the years we had the house. We completely gutted it. Everything was done very basic to make it livable then we have slowly worked through the house to make it the way we wanted it. We hadn’t actually planned on moving and was expecting to be there for many years so the last job we were going to do, hasn’t been done. We need new windows and doors but we’re planning on doing this when we had enough money to renovate and extend the back of the house. All the big jobs are done, we ripped out the old water tanks and radiators putting in a very expensive boiler and heating system. The house has amazing water pressure, the wiring is modern, plumbing modern, put in an extra bathroom, wood and laminate floors, boarded the loft which is huge, new kitchen... yet still getting told it needs too much work.

Your house is a 3 bed detatched. Its 926sqft. Its a rather unattractive 70s building from the front and the driveway just looks a bit crap with no greenry at all. Your back garden looks like its in desparate need of a basic tidy up. It might be nice but it looks overgrown and unloved. I can't see the garage on the floorplan. Its not completely obvious on the photos when you flick through. Its nice enough inside. A bit bland but thats not always a bad thing, as people want to imagine themselves living there. And then its £280k.

Talk me carefully through why I'd buy it over this one for £290k
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/104876882#/

Or this one for £280k
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/77031921#/

Or this one for £250k
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/98051330#/

Be honest.

Because given the choice I'm struggling to see why I would be interested.

Its clearly overpriced and is trying to compete with other properties which look a lot better.

As has been said it's not as posh an area as Woodthorpe and the school offering isn't very strong. You do need some more kerb appeal and I think if you smartened up the garden it would help a lot. The bathroom is fine.

The garden needs some love and I'd change the bath to a regular shape but other than that, nicely done.

I think it's lovely. Neutral and fresh looking decor. The rooms are very small, that would put me off but if they are similar to others in the price range you can do nothing about that.
The garden is a bit of a mess but the fencing is decent.

Where I live it would fetch about £150k

All the things that PPs have pointed out will help, particularly the garden.

I wonder if it is the downstairs layout/extension that buyers think need reconfiguring when they say it needs a lot of work? It is a bit strange, disjointed and not the optimal layout. The kitchen is divided into 2 zones and long and thin. You have all the disadvantages of an open plan kitchen (smells, noise and mess) but not the advantages, like being able to chat while cooking, watch the DC play from the kitchen etc IYSWIM?

The lounge/diner is a bit odd too. You have the sitting area and the dining area in the extension but the bit in between is kind of a wasted nothing space, just a corridor. The fact that it narrows at that point, makes it feel even more like that and like the extension was a bit of a bodge done so you didn't have to move walls.

Sorry. It is still a lovely house though just that it would be so much better if downstairs were redesigned. You could try rearranging furniture to give the middle zone a purpose. Probably not a home office as PP suggested, as you need quiet for working. I would see that as an impracticality if I were viewing the property. Possibly you could move the dining table to the middle and have a family room area at the back, formal sitting room at the front?