No offers on our house

[housetales]

Our house has been on the market for 2 months - launching as the school holidays started which I think was a huge mistake - with what I'd describe as a handful of viewings (mostly right as it went live).

The price it's been listed at was the agent's price, not ours, and when compared with others locally, doesn't seem OTT. All the agents who came round gave similar valuations too. No viewers have said upon viewing it that it is overpriced either.

We had only one bit of negative feedback and it was only from a couple of viewers, not all - that we are overlooked from the side of our property - so we purchased some 10ft trees to allay that concern.

I'm putting myself out there with a link to see what you guys think so be gentle! Should we stay on the market or take it off for now? I should say we only went on the market as we fancied a project for our forever home and were told there was a massive opportunity in our price range as there is such limited supply.

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/110082437#/?channel=RES_BUY

People are so brutal on these threads but then again your viewers and potential buyers will be too.
All I can say is we put ours on last year and I thought it would never sell but we did eventually. Also like you it was with children at home trying to keep it immaculate. We had about 25 viewings and it was really exhausting not to mention depressing as listening to negative comments about your home changes your own perspective of it. We did reduce it a bit and then a previous viewer came back and bought it at asking price. It does happen. Price reasonably, keep it nice whilst not throwing huge money at it and be patient.

The thing is it doesn't NEED a new kitchen or bathrooms. They are fine, they are in working order, they look perfectly "good" but the sort of person who doesn't mind yesterteryear kitchens and bathrooms (ie me) is also the sort of person that might want a bigger garden and or have less money.
So reduce the price and don't tinker with the interior.

Not everyone wants character so you can ignore the posters that keep mentioning it.

Thank you everyone for all the comments. The constructive ones will all of course be taken on board.

The others which have been written to, I think, be cruel - language like "crap", statements like it's not even worth a mil have had the desired impact and made me feel a little teary when I've tried to take every constructive tip on board.

We'll move forward with a new kitchen I think as I'm not interested in a firesale, we only ever wanted to move to do a project together. After that we'll work on the bathrooms. I shall also tell the kids to get the toys back out.

@Itsbeen84yearss

Not everyone wants character so you can ignore the posters that keep mentioning it.

I don't like period or character personally. I have done things like had custom coving put in so the rooms don't feel boxy. No one on here has noticed that

I'm not sure how to do a link as I'm on the app on my phone but this one is gorgeous and if this is what you're competing with for 100k cheaper then I suspect this is why you're struggling.

I had to come back just to say I'm loving your good humoured responses to the criticisms, OP!

@Itsbeen84yearss

People are so brutal on these threads but then again your viewers and potential buyers will be too. All I can say is we put ours on last year and I thought it would never sell but we did eventually. Also like you it was with children at home trying to keep it immaculate. We had about 25 viewings and it was really exhausting not to mention depressing as listening to negative comments about your home changes your own perspective of it. We did reduce it a bit and then a previous viewer came back and bought it at asking price. It does happen. Price reasonably, keep it nice whilst not throwing huge money at it and be patient.

Thank you. That's really good to hear!

At least the real positive is we love the house (unlike the whole of Mumsnet who hate my bland, sterile home lol) and haven't found another to move to, so there's no need to do a huge price reduction. We can just stay for now and do more work.

xx

I agree the kitchen let’s the house down. It’s a project for someone to take on and I guess for them to do that they want to pay less.

Work out what the ceiling is on prices though before doing lots of work.
Perhaps get an architect interior designer to advise before committing to expensive fittings.
I like the French windows
I like the feel of the garden, surrounds.
Capitalise on those.
I think online viewings are also not helping as in RL your house obviously does "come to life" much more, and feels light and airy and quiet

@SofiaMichelle

I had to come back just to say I'm loving your good humoured responses to the criticisms, OP!

Struggling more this morning. They've started to verge on cruel today, almost for a reaction? I'm having a strong coffee in my bland living room and getting toddler cuddles and I'll be on form soon!

I like it, OP.

But, being constructive-

Is the listing correct? It looks like a lot more house than 2,800sq ft.

If that is correct, the price is the issue. Have a look at how it compares in terms of cost her sq ft to others nearby. The one with the pool that sold for £1.3m in Nov 2019 is almost 2,000sq ft larger.

As a PP said, it’s the lack of finish in some areas that would put me off- the kitchen isn’t well designed for the space and the lack of granite/quartz would make me think that other things were finished cheaply too. The front gate seems to be in need of some attention/repair.

The size of the garden would be a negative for me, and how overlooked it is.

Just for comparison, I recently bought a house and had been looking for about two years. Generally viewing 5+ bed houses at 3,500sq ft and up, and they would all have had “luxury” finishes. I’ve not seen one without granite/quartz countertops and a high-end kitchen.

Can I ask where you got the lovely jelly baby/gummy bear piece?

You’re in a very difficult price bracket. Personally if I was spending 1.35m on a house, I’d want land so the plot would be off putting to me.

Lovely house though, but I’d want it for closer to 850-900 and I’m in the south east.

I agree that it's not at all right to use poor language like "crap" and make you feel teary, but this type of thread always throws up some ridiculous comments.

The only thing I would say is do the work on the kitchen and bathrooms if you want to stay and then love your house more. But will you then stay there and continue to enjoy your house?

If you are doing the kitchen and bathrooms to sell say next year or whatever - is it worth the hassle? Would it not be better to simply reduce the price and move on with your life? I honestly don't think your house is anywhere in "firesale" bracket.

@BaoWow

I like it, OP.

But, being constructive-

Is the listing correct? It looks like a lot more house than 2,800sq ft.

If that is correct, the price is the issue. Have a look at how it compares in terms of cost her sq ft to others nearby. The one with the pool that sold for £1.3m in Nov 2019 is almost 2,000sq ft larger.

As a PP said, it’s the lack of finish in some areas that would put me off- the kitchen isn’t well designed for the space and the lack of granite/quartz would make me think that other things were finished cheaply too. The front gate seems to be in need of some attention/repair.

The size of the garden would be a negative for me, and how overlooked it is.

Just for comparison, I recently bought a house and had been looking for about two years. Generally viewing 5+ bed houses at 3,500sq ft and up, and they would all have had “luxury” finishes. I’ve not seen one without granite/quartz countertops and a high-end kitchen.

Can I ask where you got the lovely jelly baby/gummy bear piece?

Sadly I can't make the garden any bigger so that's the compromise on this house.

The Jelly Babies is by Jake Johnson. If you look upstairs you'll see I have the All Sorts one art by him too. Love em. They make me cheerful and after this thread has taken a bit of a dark turn (the comments seem a bit more brutal today) I might go stare at one for 5 minutes

It’s so empty. The house looks lonely. Where’s your life?
You are clearly a wealthy couple so must have travel photos, Knick knacks, something to show you’ve lived a full and interesting life in order to have afforded this house, rather than just worked so hard to buy it and not had a family life or outside interests because of that.

Other than that it’s a fine example of a gilded cage. Someone without personality will love the instant status symbol it affords.

You did ask for honesty remember !
Your estate agent should be working harder for you mind you considering the huge commission they’ll earn.

You mentioned earlier on in the thread that the price was partly due to being on a private gated road, hence the difference between yours and similar local properties. I’m not convinced that would make a huge difference to most buyers, to be honest. In fact it may put some off in case there’s costs of upkeep and services attached to that.

As others have said it’s been a bit too depersonalised and it looks it’s age in style etc.

I hadn’t realised that prices in Sutton Coldfield were on a par with some parts of Surrey, I think you may need to wait as a lot of people might be waiting to see what happens with the market after the stamp duty holiday and as they realise they might have to go back to the office so living further away isn’t as attractive as it seemed 12 months ago.

@friendlycat

I agree that it's not at all right to use poor language like "crap" and make you feel teary, but this type of thread always throws up some ridiculous comments.

The only thing I would say is do the work on the kitchen and bathrooms if you want to stay and then love your house more. But will you then stay there and continue to enjoy your house?

If you are doing the kitchen and bathrooms to sell say next year or whatever - is it worth the hassle? Would it not be better to simply reduce the price and move on with your life? I honestly don't think your house is anywhere in "firesale" bracket.

If it sold for somewhere in the region of the asking price (less obviously as people like to negotiate) we can do our next move up. Dropping it further means we can't so we'd stay put and love this for a few more years.

We also know it has huge rental potential. We've had 2 footballers ask to rent it in recent weeks but I don't really want to do that for now. Maybe in the future though...

I do wonder if it’s worth exploring selling the bungalow with the house - there’s no mention that you own this and it might be available for sale, multi generational living is very in demand. Also us your agent one who specialises in high end property? The over a million stuff here tends to be with one agent.

@KeepPortlandWeird

It’s so empty. The house looks lonely. Where’s your life? You are clearly a wealthy couple so must have travel photos, Knick knacks, something to show you’ve lived a full and interesting life in order to have afforded this house, rather than just worked so hard to buy it and not had a family life or outside interests because of that.

Other than that it’s a fine example of a gilded cage. Someone without personality will love the instant status symbol it affords.

You did ask for honesty remember !
Your estate agent should be working harder for you mind you considering the huge commission they’ll earn.

Wealthy? I wouldn't say so. You could definitely say hard-working. To be fair when I bought it, I was working so hard to pay for it I was not doing things like going out, travelling etc but with meeting my partner 14 years ago and then getting married and having kids, came balance.

We are sporty so there's loads of gym equipment in the garage and the children have medals and awards a plenty which I put away. I am also a massive reader (in the next house, I want a library) but we've put about 1000 books in the loft rather than it look cluttered.

Hi
I decided to read all the comments before looking at the house pictures.
I don’t know the area but I LOVE the house, can’t see how it could be called dated or any of the other comments. It’s gorgeous and I hope you sell soon.
Best wishes
Rosie

People love to tear down an expensive house. It's almost a sport on Mumsnet. Don't take it personally OP. Take the constructive criticism and leave the arseholes to themselves.

OP I think you have two main problems:

-people tend to either aspire to a ‘fixer-upper’ or a recently renovated home. Your house is in-between. It is not one where your first thought is ‘ooh think of the potential’ or ‘wow I want to move in now’.

-The quiet gated road will be a real plus for some people, but I expect those same people would also want more privacy in the garden.

That’s not to say you won’t sell it at that price, but that a large chunk of your potential market will be put off by one of the above. Two months isn’t long so can you wait it out and see what happens?

To be perfectly honest - our budget is a touch lower (1m-1.1m) and often I see properties that make me think ‘ooh I wish we could stretch the budget’. A lot of the other properties people have linked to on this thread fall in to that camp for me. I’m afraid yours really doesn’t - it’s fine, but I want more than fine at that price.

@Dixiechickonhols

I do wonder if it’s worth exploring selling the bungalow with the house - there’s no mention that you own this and it might be available for sale, multi generational living is very in demand. Also us your agent one who specialises in high end property? The over a million stuff here tends to be with one agent.

Yes with the local agency that specialises in 7-figure sales.

They have send the dual listing to some of their database they tell me as they have some who require multi-generational homes.

As we have a tenant in situ who is the dream tenant, we didn't want to just blase list it.

Omg, put the books back! Make it look like your home.

Buyers have little imagination and often can’t see how to live in a space or imagine themselves there without obvious clues and help. Decluttering is good, but books aren’t clutter! Decluttering means… don’t have kitchen counters covered in junk and 800 appliances so it looks like there’s not enough storage. It doesn’t mean hide your books or the elements that make it a home. Books would allow a buyer to imagine themselves curled up on your sofa, or stepping out of the patio doors and curling up on one of the outdoor chairs, and reading. (Even if they’re not readers, it sells a lifestyle – which is what the champagne pic tries and fails to do.)