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Property/DIY

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No offers on our house

810 replies

housetales · 12/09/2021 21:21

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

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ItWearsTheBatteriesOut · 13/09/2021 11:43

But op you are. You should be proud, being wealthy (especially when you've worked hard for it) isn't something to be ashamed of or need to downplay.

Doris86 · 13/09/2021 11:44

[quote housetales]@doris86 it won't let me quote you. No I'm not dropping the price. No point selling if it won't give us the money to make our next move. We stay put and improve.[/quote]
Just keep it advertised as is then. If someone eventually pays the price then all well and good, you can move. If not you can stay put and improve.

Changing soft furnishings etc is just wasting your time and money, it won’t help.

Atalune · 13/09/2021 11:45

Well done on taking the comments on board, and good to see it’s come off the market for now, I think you’ll be able to style it and do far more!

Good luck with the potential changes.

Egghead68 · 13/09/2021 11:46

I didn’t word my comment constructively - sorry. I think dropping the price would solve the problem (most people can see through the way a home is dressed). If you want to do any work in the place I would plant up the garden with low maintenance plants.

Good luck!

bshfan · 13/09/2021 11:46

Sorry you've had some harsh comments today and I'm sorry if any of mine offended you yesterday.

I like the living room decor - it's not actually something I'd choose for myself but the room looks finished! I agree you need to get more of your belongings out on display. I'd also get a nice rug for the nursery to give it a pop of colour.

Ammonite is one of my favourite colours - used it in lots of our properties and it's always gone down well so I wouldn't bother repainting.

We renovate properties and I always find Instagram a good source of inspiration.

TheCraicDealer · 13/09/2021 11:46

I wonder if the colour temperature of the lightbulbs you have in is causing the yellow-ness people are talking about? Don't the agents turn on all the lights before they take the photos? Just a thought!

DappledThings · 13/09/2021 11:46

Pic 23 - yellow blind, thrown and wallpaper

Pic 20 - might be green in that wallpaper but looks very yellow

Pic 24 - yellow blind, throw and cushions.

Yellow stripes in lounge cushions and it may be the photos then but definitely looks like a yellow stripe in the pelmets and blinds

Yellow runner on kitchen table.

There really is a very strong impression of yellow as the big accent colour.

Browniecream · 13/09/2021 11:47

It looks like it’s been taken off the market?
It’s a lovely house, I agree about the windows overlooking your garden but you said that’s been rectified.
I think if I have to be honest the house doesn’t have a lot of character, the rooms looks bare, I think you’ve de-cluttered too much.
Where do you keep all of your three children’s things etc?

Good luck if you decide to sell again!

megletthesecond · 13/09/2021 11:51

It's lovely. But the champagne is wanky and it could do with a couple of house plants or flowers inside.

HarrisonStickle · 13/09/2021 11:52

Hi OP, I see you've taken the house off the market now, but I'd like to comment still.

I would be very wary of installing a brand new kitchen. I've not bought houses in the past because a new kitchen that I've disliked has been installed and I think it's a waste to then rip it out and redo it, but then neither could I have lived in a house with the new kitchen. So, simple solution is to look elsewhere.

I actually like your kitchen units, what I don't like are the beige tiles, so if I bought your house I'd keep the kitchen but get rid of those tiles and put in more colourful ones. (In one house I sold, it was very old fashioned with very dated tiles that I painted to freshen them up. With other very cheap measures, I turned the house from being unsaleable to having two at offer price offers on the first day I put it back on the market.)

The same with the bathrooms. Kitchens and bathrooms are so personal. Perhaps completely modernise one of them, the principal ensuite, and with the others put in different blinds or something to give them a brighter feel. I also agree with comments about there being a lot of yellow in your house. Are there any other colours you like that you could buy accessories in to make each room look a little different. I'd perhaps update the curtains/blinds in the sitting room (avoiding yellow). Have you thought of hanging a few more pictures as the walls seem quite bare?

Everything looks a bit samey and clinical. I suspect that's because you've hidden everything! Please get your books back out, and a few toys. The baby's room feels particularly odd, as if there's no baby at all.

What I suggest with the garden is that you employ the services of a highly recommended professional landscaper. I know you have dogs so I'm not suggesting anything complicated. But they will know best how to create a sense of more distance between you and the other properties. This seems to me where money will be well spent. No one is going to rip out things that suggest a spacious yet secluded garden. Which yours isn't at the moment. A good landscaper will know all sorts of tricks to turn around the rather (again) clinical looking garden, and it'll be a lot more succesful than planting a couple of acers in the hope they'll sort out the problem. Randomly planting trees where you think they'll hide next door isn't always the best solution.

When you relist, I'd have fewer photos of the same things, forget pointless ones (like the house name), and get into the house in pic 2.

Good luck!

Auntienumber8 · 13/09/2021 11:54

I wouldn’t go for a new build or a gated community because I would worry it may be a bit Stepford like.

The garden is what stands out for me. My house has a really private garden and the way we have planted it there is a spot that is 100% private. Many homes seem to have the garden as a bit of an afterthought. It desperately needs some texture in it. My friend paid to have hers landscaped, it cost 10k and does look lovely. I’m doing mine myself and I expect it to be another two years before I’m happy enough with it but if you can afford it go for a landscaping service.

I know grey is fashionable but your fence looks a bit eastern bloc, at least plant a border.

NoMoreJam21 · 13/09/2021 11:56

OP come on! There's yellow in nearly every room!!! How can you say there's no yellow?!

I'm overwhelmed by the overall yellowness and creaminess of the entire house. It is a total mellow yellow abode of varying shades of custardliness!

As I said, it's all cosmetic. Not to my taste but as I buyer I'd know all of it would have to go. I hate wallpaper too. All wallpaper - so again not personal.

As a buyer I just add that onto what I'm going to have to pay to the overall cost. So I'd be looking at a fair amount of extra cost plus the time involved and unwanted hassle of putting it to the way I wanted it.

If I REALLY wanted to live in that road and that area at that price I'd pay full whack. But otherwise, no thank you. It's too much bother.

HarrisonStickle · 13/09/2021 11:57

there's NO YELLOW. The pictures may make it so but the living room stripes are a muted lime green and blue.

Gosh! What colour is your table runner? The bedthrow, cushions, wallpaper and blind in one of the bedrooms? The wallpaper in another bedroom? The living room stripes definitely look yellow!

housetales · 13/09/2021 11:59

@DappledThings

Pic 23 - yellow blind, thrown and wallpaper

Pic 20 - might be green in that wallpaper but looks very yellow

Pic 24 - yellow blind, throw and cushions.

Yellow stripes in lounge cushions and it may be the photos then but definitely looks like a yellow stripe in the pelmets and blinds

Yellow runner on kitchen table.

There really is a very strong impression of yellow as the big accent colour.

Ah yes, one bedroom (eldest son's) has mustard and grey. Table runner is yellow - never thought about that. GREEN AND BLUE AND GREY STRIPE CUSHIONS AND PELMETS.
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DappledThings · 13/09/2021 12:02

GREEN AND BLUE AND GREY STRIPE CUSHIONS AND PELMETS
You'll need to get more carefully lit photos taken then because that green looks very very yellow!

housetales · 13/09/2021 12:02

@megletthesecond

It's lovely. But the champagne is wanky and it could do with a couple of house plants or flowers inside.
I bought and killed a number of houseplants before the photographer came. How do we all feel about plastic plants? Grin

The champagne represents my wanky personality! Finally the house has some personality!

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Kintsugi16 · 13/09/2021 12:03

You have been so accepting and good humoured OP 😊

I genuinely think it’s just a matter of time and finding the right buyer. Are you desperate to sell or can you hang on?

I’m not going to comment on styling as It’s really not my type of house, but we’re all different and you would probably hate mine.

Kintsugi16 · 13/09/2021 12:04

We have the same taste in champagne though 😂

SunshineCake · 13/09/2021 12:04

Thank you. Cool picture as well.

housetales · 13/09/2021 12:06

@Kintsugi16

You have been so accepting and good humoured OP 😊

I genuinely think it’s just a matter of time and finding the right buyer. Are you desperate to sell or can you hang on?

I’m not going to comment on styling as It’s really not my type of house, but we’re all different and you would probably hate mine.

No not found anything to move to so absolutely not desperate in the least.

Thank you for your nice comment. Hopefully I'm less bland than my home Grin

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housetales · 13/09/2021 12:07

@Kintsugi16

We have the same taste in champagne though 😂
Apparently Mumsnet in general think it's "wanky" and "nouveau riche". Grin
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NoMoreJam21 · 13/09/2021 12:08

I've just seen the leylandii trees. Are those yours?

That also would be an issue for me.

Most people hate them. They grow very tall and block out light. Neighbours go mad about them.

Did you plant them? Now I'd need to add that to the cost of the house as well, as they'd be taken out immediately.

You need to frame the garden, it's ever so bare. I'd be getting some mid level silver birches or similar and potentially some evergreen trees or cover of some sort to begin to make the garden less bald. But those leylandii trees are a shocker. Sorry.

Overall adding up to quite a lot to do. Definitely not a dream house. Sorry OP :(

TroublesomeTownHouse · 13/09/2021 12:09

I went through this and I would like to say you are taking the comments very well. I kike to think I am not easily upset or offended but I took some people's posts / comments very personally.

In that bracket there are fewer buyers. Of those fewer buyers some will absolutely want a period house. Of the remaining ones some will want brand new swanky kitchen so I think if you are happy with the price it is just going to take some time to sell.

Grenlei · 13/09/2021 12:10

I agree the interior does look yellow toned to me, to some extent this may be the photos rather than it's true colour in good lighting.

For me, the stairs and floor clash really badly, assuming the tones in photos are correct the flooring looks grey? I really don't like the wood stairs, they do look quite 90s/ early 2000s. Round here the fashion seem to be for glass although I'm not a massive fan and not suggesting you change to that but if I was buying it would be another thing I'd be thinking I couldn't live with and need to redo. I don't know whether the stairs would look better with a more neutral flooring, again that might be something crossing a buyer's mind. Matching different woods is difficult, it's why all woodwork and doors in my house are white.

housetales · 13/09/2021 12:11

@NoMoreJam21

I've just seen the leylandii trees. Are those yours?

That also would be an issue for me.

Most people hate them. They grow very tall and block out light. Neighbours go mad about them.

Did you plant them? Now I'd need to add that to the cost of the house as well, as they'd be taken out immediately.

You need to frame the garden, it's ever so bare. I'd be getting some mid level silver birches or similar and potentially some evergreen trees or cover of some sort to begin to make the garden less bald. But those leylandii trees are a shocker. Sorry.

Overall adding up to quite a lot to do. Definitely not a dream house. Sorry OP :(

"Definitely not a dream house". Perhaps not for you. All that feedback was helpful then a snipe like that just makes it seem mean and it's the kind of snipe that makes so many people reluctant to post on here for fear of exactly that.

Hopefully you at least feel better for putting me in my place.

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