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.

You’ve had 3 buyers in that time which suggests the price is ok, I would hold firm for the moment and hope a reliable buyer comes along. People can always offer under ask.

The buyer who chose a cheaper house - it may have been smaller and this may have been at the top of their budget. The garden was only an issue for 1 buyer. Some people actively don’t want a big garden that needs looking after.

Sometimes it is just a question of waiting for the right buyer.

Although I'd be more likely to buy that too if I had the renovation funds!

That's in a completely different area, only about 10 minutes drive up the road, but still quite a distance from town by that stage. OP is 5 minutes walking into Colchester where she is. That's what tends to push the price up I think.

Great house though.

But I personally would pay extra for the garden and would want to change the OPs kitchen and bathroom anyway. I get there are pros and cons with each house and not everyone is up for renovations but for us the outdoor space is more important than ensuites etc.

Maybe that's the house the OP is hoping to move to! - on for a similar price but needs a huge amount of work doing to bring it up to the same standard. Lots of potential but not everyone has the time or funds, so it's won't necessarily appeal to the same buyers.

Your house is lovely OP. I don't think it's your house at all, it's timewasters.

I think there are a huge percentage of people out there who think "Oh we'll move", put offers in and then back out again. We had a nightmare when we last sold and it was soul destroying....... we lost 2 houses in the process ourselves due to timewasting.

We need a system where you put a deposit down with your offer, it would cut so much messing out.

Actually I think it is the price. Whilst it has sold three times in the last year, interest rates have gone up so much that a mortgage required on £680,000 will be a lot more expensive which is probably affecting your potential buyers' affordability especially if they were maxing out so a different market altogether than when you started.

Remove all the stuff on the units. I takes it look like you don't have enough space and cluttered. De personalise it as much as possible. I would also remove the kids play stuff from the garden. It's a lovely house. It will sell.

I lived in a house similar to this when my children were small. Loved it! No muddy/grassy garden and we could 'play' out easily all year round. And we hate gardening so it was a bonus! When we came to sell it, we didn't reduce the price but we weren't in a hurry to move. We just found that we were appealing to a reduced market ie people like us and this is why it took longer to sell. If you want a quick sale and can afford to, then reduce the price and it will sell like a hot cake (gorgeous inside, btw!). If you are not in a hurry, then just keep it on the market and the 'right' buyers (who will love it!) will turn up one day.

House prices have gone up over the same period too though. Whether they will continue to do so is another matter of course...

If you are worried about the garden, now is a good time to make it more attractive. The bare root hedging is coming soon, that is cheap and fast growing, you could have three or four foot high bushes by spring. Get some slabs up, make sure the soil beneath them is replaced with topsoil if it is sandy or rubble and get the shrubs in. You can buy a big bag of daffodils to plant round them (about four inches deep, )which will be in flower in March.
good luck

The house is gorgeous. You just need to wait for someone who wants a garden that size.

I had similar selling my flat years ago - the bathroom was tiny...really tiny. I didn't care, and sold it to someone who also didn't care. Got a lot of feedback saying the bathroom was too small.

Also right now, with interest rates going up, people may simply be changing their minds about moving and coming up with excuses.

It.s a lovely house and am green with envy as that where I live would be close to £1M!

No idea on the cost and value in your area, without looking at others in your road. You could say 'offer in the region of' .

People can always make an offer!

I think you could improve the garden by making some of it lawn. It IS a family house and most people would expect a lawn for kids- not just the tiny patch of fake grass you have.

Looking at it another way, you bought it like that, it suited you for a while, so it will suit someone else too.

The issue is that it may not be a forever home as the garden is small.

But, we sold a house with a tiny garden, and it was bought by a family who weren't into gardening, and whose kids were kind of Year 6 in school.

I'd hold your nerve, but do your homework on what's sold for what in your road.

It's unlucky but not uncommon. In similar boat here, south London 2-bed flat but no outdoor space. Had SO much interest in April/May when listed, but having accepted two offers both have pulled out due to 'personal reasons'. So many timewasters. Now haven't had a viewing in 3 weeks. I think buyers are nervous about interest rates and energy bills. We're considering dropping the price first, then possibly switch agents.
Either keep the price and wait, someone will want it eventually, but you'll have to stop house hunting in the meantime (we're not even looking yet). Or reduce price if you want to get moving.

I don't think you should declutter! I love the way it looks - like a proper lovely family home.

I'm really not keen on the way houses are staged to sell in recent years - extremely bare. I know it's supposed to appeal to people but I find it cold.

I looked at them. They’re smaller - one less bedroom - but the one that sold most recently was £300k cheaper. Now you’d obviously expect a four bed to be more but not almost double. Add to that the fact that it’s all extension and no garden and it makes even less sense.

That needs 200k minimum spending on it. It’s already £281 per sq foot, the OP’s is £355 per sq foot for a finished property. OP’s has 4 decent sized bedrooms, whereas that has 3 beds and a cupboard.

But if that sold for say 620, you’d end up spending 820 all in, to extend and to add a 4th bedroom and extra bathrooms. That’s a much more expensive proposition.

I think you could improve the frontage. The red chair and the mismatched pots look a bit lost and sad!

Better to get a couple of bay or olive trees either side of the porch and declutter what's under the window.

Your back garden is a real turn off- sorry! It lacks any coordinated style. A jumble of kids stuff and nowhere for adults to sit out enjoy the sun!

You need to try to hide the walls of the adjoining houses with lots of evergreen shrubs, get rid of the little pots on the walls, create a seating area and just make it all more green and coordinated.

Beautiful house. As everyone is saying, it's the garden that's the issue. As we all know, it's not the size of it, it's what you do with it. LOL. Get those slabs up and get some turf down. That kiddy corner is a bit pointless.
Inside I love all the rooms, you just need to box up some ornaments and books so there's not so much on show.

I don't really like new builds due to that lack of living space but it's not too bad. Putting a log burner in a fake chimney breast so it won't heat the room properly is a bit weird though!

Gorgeous house, and I even like the garden as is, but understand it’s not to everyone’s taste. So for me it would purely come down to the price.

I would move all the existing outside furniture and toys and buy some lovely outside sofas and a table, make the garden look like another room that you care about. Lighting and large pots with nice planting, a large rug and bean bags ( obviously just for show when you have viewings ) pizza oven etc.

I would take it off the market till next Spring.

The reason why so many people put down ghastly AstroTurf is because they don’t want the upkeep of a lawn. Lawns are a hassle, I love them but they are.

That garden will do very well for someone.

Not everyone is bothered about gardens, but I would think when you're getting up to that price range it's moved beyond busy professionals looking for starter homes and more into family territory, where outdoor space is more of a priority.

I think you've been unlucky, but possibly slightly overpriced it. The other house could be renovated quite well, perhaps not to your standard, but made to look a lot more presentable for a damn sight less than £200k! Although I suppose that depends how handy you are,

When I worked in probate, we always called out 3 agents and went with the middle estimate. Some will overprice just to get the job, but your maximum impact is in the 1st couple of weeks of it going on the market. You could just be unlucky, it's hard to tell. Another thing I'd look at is the agents - do they have a good reputation? Could the problem lie with them?