Why can't we sell our house?

[Pentiumgold]

Please see attached link, reduced by £20 last week but still no interest. What puts you off our house? I found this property on the Rightmove Android app and wanted you to see it: www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/121091351

I'm not sure that I look at house listings in the same way as others - I don't think it's cluttered, and I think it looks like a lovely house.

We're just in the process of buying a 4-bed and although yours has lots of positives (love the beautiful kitchen/diner) there would be a few big question marks for me:

• Lounge is very small for such a big house *Two of the bedrooms are essentially just box rooms *The third bedroom is extremely narrow albeit long *The bathroom looks old and knackered *Can't see a shower cubicle anywhere *No pictures of some of the rooms *Garden looks small and can't figure out the layout

I completely appreciate that you said that's not the case with the garden so you need better photos which make it easier to understand the layout/size.

Essentially though, the dimensions of the lounge and the bedrooms would be the main turn-off for me. If the rooms were bigger I'd definitely be really interested (if I were in your area). I don't know what you could do to resolve this though, so my comment isn't particularly helpful, sorry.

The photographs are ghastly - the composition is shocking. You need an actual photographer who understands compostion, dimension and light.
Lovely house, though.
Declutter and strip back everything, Completely revamp bedrooms for new pics and strip out everything not useful or beautiful. De-personalise completely.
I would paint a lot of the darker walls white.
Tart up garde, get rid of clutter - make it lovely and get photographs taken that so it some justice.
Pots of plants at fron tof the house and get that shot taken again so that the long drive does not dwarf the house.

i think it looks like a nice place. I don't know why some people make comments about the colour schemes, what is in the rooms, and things like, no pots of flowers at the front of a house etc.. You would be buying a house that you like,as in all the basics, and not because you don't like someone else colours in the house,, or some of their personal decor,or maybe clutter. Although there are no dog ,or pet bowls here, i have seen people on here complain about seeing a dog bowl on the floor of some houses, and they say it puts them off the house,, so truly ridiculous statements.!

It's all very brown and grey, starting from that massive concrete runway which gives it no kerb appeal at all. Even swapping the near-invisible tiny bunch of daffs on the dining table to a massive bunch of red tulips would help. Some bright cushions wouldn't go amiss, as long as they are lavish, not a couple of tiny squares.

The garden is a mess - it should be a real selling point. Borrow a patio set just for photos if you can. Get rid of the junk.

Good luck! It appears to be a fantastic house whose assets are not shown off to their best by those photos.

@1forAll74

i think it looks like a nice place. I don't know why some people make comments about the colour schemes, what is in the rooms, and things like, no pots of flowers at the front of a house etc.. You would be buying a house that you like,as in all the basics, and not because you don't like someone else colours in the house,, or some of their personal decor,or maybe clutter. Although there are no dog ,or pet bowls here, i have seen people on here complain about seeing a dog bowl on the floor of some houses, and they say it puts them off the house,, so truly ridiculous statements.!

I agree in theory - I look at the bones of a house, not what is in it. However, many people don't, which is why dressing it right is so important if you want it to attract a lot of viewings.

Definitely the garden would put me off. I don't like conservatories and you have an awful lot of dirty patio.

Being really picky, your dining set looks so odd in that kitchen. And there aren't enough kitchen photos to give a sense of it's actual size/amenities.

A lot of the photos look distorted, as if taken with a wide angle lens.

@FitAt50

Good advice

Depersonalise

Lights on for photos

New photos from better angles

Price looks fine to me issues I would have:

1. Garden looks minuscule and not v appealing
2. Bedrooms don’t look big

Need better photos OP

When I immediately saw your thread I thought I bet the garden looks shit and unfortunately it does.

For a 4 bed house when I look at the garden I want to see the lawn first and ideally the entire or at least most of the garden in one picture.

Oh and as PPs said:

• declutter the rooms as it makes them look small and one reason the ceilings look low
• jet wash/clean any paving, render and decking.

Many thanks for on the whole some really great suggestions, am definitely feeling a little let down by EA, as I said earlier these were the 2nd lot of photos!!!
I think we also need to mention the conservatory is fully heated and doesn't affect the temperature in the kitchen diner.

Photos 11-16 are terrible! All the others are good

Your home is lovely but just not what I'd be looking for .

Too much concrete out front .
Downstairs rooms are very well presented but dark .
Large conservatory and hard to keep clean and all glass so boiling in summer freezing in winter .
Bathroom or maybe en-suite is dated.
I hate any ceiling with eaves so that bedroom would be a no no for me.
Lastly and most importantly it's a family size house with not much useable garden that I can see , nice for someone that wants nothing to do or just a space to sit outside with a glass of wine but not for kids to play .

All in all if it's the style of house you're looking for it's neat and tidy and the kitchen diner is lovely , ready to move into but for me it doesn't / wouldn't be something I'd view based on the photos .

It's lovely but the grey kitchen makes it look very dark.

And the conservatory looks like an oven with the glass roof

I just don't understand how anyone selling their house does not know that the beds must be made neatly. It is really the minimum one would expect for photos. One person's clutter is another's decor. But messy beds?

Lovely house, OP, but perhaps you'd have been better reading through some threads before the pictures were taken. I wish you well with your sale though.

We look at moving to this area periodically, this is our target kind of house and price.

I wouldn’t view because of the garden. I like gardening and there would be so much work moving stone chippings, I’m massively against Astro turf and I have no idea how to soften up the front to encourage wildlife and wildlife planting without spending a lot on top of the price of the house. The house is lovely and the garden could be, it just wouldn’t suit me without a lot of money and work.

@FitAt50

I sold mine few weeks ago for £17k over asking price and got lots of praise on here for how I stage it. I read up on every thread about staging, decluttering and preparing my house, and followed it to the letter.

DOWNSTAIRS - Looks good and only a few tips:

• Pull the dining table out for at least one of the pictures, so that people can see they can sit around it for dinner.
• Remove the dog/cat bowl on the kitchen floor.
• Remove the ornaments/nicnacs from the living room and open the blinds for more light.
• Remove the Storey Family sign, child gate and dog lead from the hall. Remove the black hall runner and maybe put some flowers in front of the mirror.

UPSTAIRS:

• Clean all the rubbish off the bathroom windowsill and sink. Get rid of the scales and bottles of toilet cleaner. There should be nothing in your bathroom but lovely towels and posh handwash. Your is full of stuff.
• Bedrooms are all in a bit of mess and each of your childrens rooms need a massive declutter. MAKE THE BEDS. Hide all the tv cables. Get rid of everything that does not need to be there and does not look nice.

GARDEN:

• Jetwash the stones and clean the place up - hide anything that does not look good. Get some cushions or throws on the furniture - make it look aspirational.
• Get rid of tbe blue plastic Sheet in pic 16

Best advice I got was "Make your house look like a very class AirBnB"

I followed this to the letter - Hid everything that was personnel to me and all evidence of my cats. Cleaned everything. Ironed my bedding and ironed it again on the bedding. Bought 'show towels' for the viewings and followed every rule.

Good luck x

Was yours the beautiful house in York next to the butchers or bakers? You did an awesome job.

I would agree with above, it just looks so drab. In desperate need of kerb appeal, bright nice flowers in pots. I would also consider painting the front of the house, white, it looks so dirty. You have an absolutely awesome kitchen, but it looks so dark. The garden looks small for a family home. The beds need to be properly made. Why is a stair gate lying across the radiator in the hall? De-personalise. Clear bathrooms, put out posh towels for viewings/photos. Surely the photographer should have mentioned these things??? Price: have you compared what is being sold locally and for what price? If this is the second set of photos, I think I would try a different agent. What has feedback been from viewers? In light of the fuel increase, the open plan, aspect maybe off putting for some purchasers. Good luck.

I think the first photo with all the concrete and the black stain on the render is really off-putting as the overall feeling is one of dampness.

Then it's the upstairs. The bedrooms are packed with stuff so viewers start thinking about storage and they think it's small before they get near the floor plan.

I think you need definition between the bedrooms and the easiest way of doing that is new colourful bedding and the beds properly made.

@2018SoFarSoGreat

I just don't understand how anyone selling their house does not know that the beds must be made neatly. It is really the minimum one would expect for photos. One person's clutter is another's decor. But messy beds?

Lovely house, OP, but perhaps you'd have been better reading through some threads before the pictures were taken. I wish you well with your sale though.

I know, we moved last year, every time we had a viewing I went to massive lengths to clean, tidy, make beds, put away clutter, towels for viewings only 😂 etc. But the properties we viewed were really shocking, no effort made at all. I find it unbelievable that vendors won’t make the most of their best asset. Our house sold in 7 viewings. One that we viewed that has stuck in my mind, had a notice on the door to remove shoes, a good start I thought, I was wrong, it was absolutely filthy inside, bottles on top of the kitchen cabinets thick with dust & grease, couldn’t wait to get out!

Not read many PP - for me - too much dark grey. I would have to repaint. No colour, no plants or flowers to notice, it is not inviting. A large estate?

It looks fine to me ,but Im not the one buying it! What are similar properties going for? It quite often comes down to price really .EA will often state a price ,but if no one offers then you may need to reduce a bit?

I think the other thing is lots of it are missing, there is an office, utility room, a store, another bedroom, that should have photographs.

Missing them out would make me think there is a problem, and you can’t show them.

I think we also need to mention the conservatory is fully heated and doesn't affect the temperature in the kitchen diner.

Don't do this, the biggest concern for me would be all the heat escaping and my heating bills. Has building control signed it off? I know a survey I have had done recently advised there should be double glazing between the house and the conservatory.

The front of the house would put me off, it's very dull and I really don't like the render.