I can’t sell my house.

[Zooforhouse]

Been trying to sell my house since January. Have sold it three times. First buyer pulled out as change in financial circumstances, lost us our dream house. Sold again in 4 weeks, but didn’t find an onward, buyer pulled out as found something cheaper. Third time neighbour offered then withdrew quickly as decided the garden was too small (it must have got smaller).

i don’t know what to do really. The garden is too small. That’s why I want to move. Desirable location. The house is done to a high standard. It’s just on a small plot (is in town).

Do we reduce it? Forget about it for a bit? It sold at asking all 3 times. Reducing it won’t make the garden bigger. Change of agent?

Was kind of ignoring the issue but something we want has come up and it’s getting really frustrating now.

Gorgeous house but the garden is looking more like a yard, remove some of the kid‘s stuff and make it look like an adult space, family with teenage kids won’t care about the size of garden . Get more greenery, large potted plants, it looks too concrete at the moment .

That’s not a garden. It has a driveway at the front and a tiny yard at the back. I’ve seen terraced houses with more outside space and I’m not exaggerating.

I just searched 4 bed houses within 1 mile of Lexden and there are many that around £400-450k but with a decent sized garden!

Definitely lower the price. £680k is way too much for zero outside space.

If you change photos please completely declutter. The kitchen around the job is particularly bad. Put most of that away as well as the stuff on the extractor hood.

in the hall move the jackets and shoes and the table and small chairs. It all makes it look like you’ve not got enough storage.

tidy up the front of the house. The red chair.

Get rid of all kids toys unless they are in the bedrooms or a few in the garden.

move the toiletries from the bathroom shelf. No one needs to know you use Mitchum. Move toothbrushes.

go on insta and get some ideas for the garden. It is small but try and make the most of it.

You accepted offers on it three times and have been unlucky. It's probably worth taking it off the market and getting the garden up to the standard of the house then re-marketing it. The garden isn't particularly small, it's much bigger than I'd expected from your posts OP, it just looks bland and the tiny bit of fake grass and plastic toys aren't selling a lifestyle.

I will say that the decor distracts from some of the clutter, for example on the dressing table, in the house, but lots of people have no vision and the garden needs help. I'd move the bunting and put some plants in to soften things. Evergreen shrubs in painted wooden planters will soften things and get something to store the toys in - a storage bench of some sort would be a good idea.

@Qwerkie my point is that the average price and house on that street is significantly lower. I know there's a difference in size but £300K is a massive difference and perhaps people think it's overvalued on that basis alone.

The only thing I’d add is that there is a lot of lovely built in storage, but then still quite a bit of extra stuff around too. This suggests lack of space to me, and maybe makes the house feel cluttered! The hallway is a prime example. All those gorgeous cupboards and then a coat stand and an additional unit with cloth baskets in.

OK going to be brutal, to me it looks soulless, the red brick is very hard as unweathered and the lack of plants is a big problem. The interior is fine but not remarkable, a lot of houses look that way.

I would change agent, invest in some decent plants in pots & garden furniture (you could hire) to soften the front and back, tidy drive and consider dropping the price to under £650k. It depends if your priority is getting out or not re. the price.

I found this on Rightmove: Properties in Lexden had an overall average price of £404,925 over the last year.

The majority of sales in Lexden during the last year were semi-detached properties, selling for an average price of £383,110. Detached properties sold for an average of £608,214, with flats fetching £224,863.

Overall, sold prices in Lexden over the last year were 2% up on the previous year and 9% up on the 2018 peak of £372,409.

So OP’s house is overpriced for the area. It’s only a 4 bed because of the attic conversion. I would lower the price to below £600k and make the outside space (front and back) prettier because everything is paved over. I’d like to see more grass and plants.

A house is worth what someone will pay for it - so if it's not selling, the price is too high

Love your house so much and believe me, I'm fussy.
The thing that will put off some buyers is the lack of a proper big garden but you can't change that & not everyone wants a big garden some people value low maintenance, as you clearly do.
You've been unlucky with 2 of your buyers (your neighbour sounds an idiot) but the one who found something cheaper is the worry. I would talk to the EA about dropping the price a bit. But someone will absolutely love that house and you don't need to declutter in my opinion becuause it's tasteful not the awful tat you see in some houses.

I don’t agree at all about clutter/kids stuff etc. Inside your house is great but as other said, outside does not reflect that. I suspect if people are interested in your house, they are not interested in doing much work which the garden would be. So I would chuck some money at it. It needs a bit spent as you would need a decent garden designer to help. Suspect they would suggest breaking the area up with pergolas/planting/landscaping.

Nice house. I’d say too many pictures m. I don’t feel the need to visit because I feel I’ve seen ever nook and cranny. I’d cut at least 10 possibly 15 pictures.
whilst the garden is small you could do a bit more with it, it does just look like a yard/dumping ground at the moment- the pictures out there don’t add anything at all-I’d remove all of them and have a bit of a tidy

www.onthemarket.com/details/11509609/

same road. The house from the outside is not as lovely as the OP’s - but it’s worth it for that massive garden.

also back to my point about the lack of practical living space downstairs this one has lots of separate rooms where you can have a playroom or separate “den” for older children, or a home office etc

Oh wow, I was expecting a much smaller garden - that seems a perfectly reasonable size, enough for some kids toys and a table and chairs, I wouldn't even consider that small particularly.

I think the garden could look more inviting but I wouldn't angst about it.

I think there are too many photos and it looks chaotic - I would definitely get it photographed again and listed with a different agent

It’s a lovely house but I would put a lawn down at the back. Typical case of a neighbour selling off too small a piece of land to put a house on.

Reduce the price if you want to sell. The garden likely wouldn’t be considered small in a lower price bracket.

What a gorgeous house, I thought the garden would be smaller.

I would change agent, invest in some decent plants in pots & garden furniture (you could hire) to soften the front and back, tidy drive and consider dropping the price to under £650k. It depends if your priority is getting out or not re. the price.

I agree with this. Add lots more plants in the back garden (someone shared some photos earlier in the thread, which are the sort of thing I'd aim for). This would also improve the view through the bi-folds. And some shrubbery (in pots if necessary) to make the front more appealing - it honestly lacks curb appeal.
Also, declutter for new photos and reduce price - I actually think offers above £625K would be sensible if you're keen to sell now.

I would normally say price, but it's sold quickly, it's just those sales have failed through. You've just been really really unlucky there. If you want to sell and proceed quickly, reduce the price a bit, to increase your pool of buyers, but go with a buyer that can proceed quickly.

The price is fine. It’s attracting buyers and you have been unlucky. Try to work out the RM mechanics as PP suggested.

Garden size must be OK as well as 3 people
offered on that.

I think I would stage it for a family with older teens - so hide all the bunting and toys (just for the photos) … I would invest in the garden and make it lifestyle.

It needs height, width, uniformity, green, - get a designer and invest in mature trees and plants. I would screen all the mismatched perimeter walls will high bamboo / modern quality trellisss with climbing plants. Expensive garden furniture - lighting / colour etc. Will be harder to stage that going into winter though - you can take all of your garden furniture and mature potted plants with you.

Great decor and taste - extend that into the garden.

Don’t reduce your price.

Lovely finish, OP and a wonderful balance of tidied-up to lived in. It looks a much loved and high quality family home.

It is horribly off-balance in proportion of indoor to outdoor space. To garden folks, there is no garden - no soil! So remove references to a "rear landscaped terrace garden" - it is extremely misleading. Then highlight in a positive way by conjuring a different and more accurate image, and describe a 'spacious outdoor courtyard' or somesuch.

Hopefully that will draw the right buyers from the start, rather than those who love the house but compromise on the 'garden', and then change their minds.

Remove "with a corner of artificial grass for children" entirely. It will be off-putting for some, and can be seen in the photos anyway.

Those huge high fences along the backs, is it a high bank, a railway line?

It really doesn’t look chaotic it’s a stunning house and it’s clearly shown by the photos

Oh, and feed your giraffe! There's no leaves on that tree.

OP’s house is much nicer than this house. This house needs a good amount of money to get it anywhere near the standard of OP’s house. Yes the garden is better but I would compromise on the garden for the beautiful house which is detached

This house has more kerb appeal than OP's, a massive garden plus that huge outbuilding and the bedrooms look bigger. It therefore has more potential IMO.