Honest opinions on this listening

[Whytoday23]

House up for sale for a couple of weeks but only one viewing. The feedback was that kitchen is in the small side (fair comment, but potential for extension is there) and the fact that a nearby property is for sale at 650k (note that the said house is a 3 bed as it doesn't have a proper loft conversion). Is it simply the time of year or price. Note that the house had full rewire, every wall replastered, plumbing/new boiler/ heating system, a wood burner added and a garage conversion downstairs. Front and back garden with the potential for a double story extension (if more space is needed) as well as a lift conversion. So more value can be added over time.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/142007819

Me neither. It looks neat and tidy with some stuff you'd expect in a family home.

Lovely, tastefully decorated and furnished house OP. Lovely back garden too. However expecting people to pay an extra £75k plus premium on what you paid in 2022 is a bit of a stretch. I say this mainly because if I was looking, the garage conversion would put me off for a start. It always seems a cheap way to get extra space, compared with a proper extension and never really works. Other negatives are the small dressing room with limited head height and the small third bedroom. Also no second bathroom/en-suite upstairs. The shower head over the bath in the bathroom are never that satisfactory either.

I would take it off the market and re-market it in the spring at a lower price. That ship has sailed of doing a quick refurb and expecting to recoup with a premium price. Be very careful about chasing the market down. Seen so much of that on Rightmove lately. Granted, Tonbridge is obviously an extremely expensive area, I think you're being a little unrealistic in your pricing.

Did you buy it with the idea of refurb and sale or do you have to move?

my biggest bug bear when looking for a house was when it said it was 4 beds but the 4th bedroom was the dining room or another room downstairs. I wouldn't even consider the house. it made me irrationally angry when I clicked on listings!

Nice property but too expensive and misleadingly described. It’s 3 beds, not 4 and the 3rd upstairs bed is not a double. You saying it’s large enough for a small double kind of proves the point, also you seem to have styled both it and the downstairs room as a bedroom/study. It doesn’t look like there is a wardrobe in the upstairs bedroom so overall a lack of storage space. There’s only one bathroom which is not ideal nowadays for people who actually need 4 bedrooms and having a bedroom downstairs without bathroom on the same floor is limiting. That’s also a large room to be marketing as a study, very few people need a room that large for work so it turns into a space with a desk and a mound of storage at the other end. It’s also obviously been converted from a garage and while no-one seems to use garages for car parking, lots of people like them to store bikes, kayaks, for woodwork projects etc

It's a good-looking 3 bed house, in a nice part of Tonbridge. However it's a bit of a slog to the station for commuters, unless they pay to park and at that price there are nearer & cheaper properties.

I agree with people that it's a 3 bed not 4, so would market and price it as such but also, if you only bought it in 2022 I would wonder what was wrong with it/the neighbourhood. Moving after a year does give off the impression there are issues and that would put me off.

I’m looking to buy and there is literally nothing - not one thing - coming on the market at the moment. It’s dead pre Xmas usually and add a CoL crisis. Unless urgent id take it off and put it back on on NY when market should pick up

I have no constructive advice but I just want to say that it is a beautiful home, decorated to a taste I adore. In fact I have saved your listing as interior decor ideas for our bland 'hun' grey and white home.

As a parent of a teenager I would be delighted with a downstairs bedroom - that wouldn't put me off at all.

Good luck! If I could pick that up and plonk it in my part of the NW I would buy it like a shot.

Garage conversions are often freezing, more suitable for office or utility spaces rather than bedrooms. Especially with just a toilet on that floor rather than a full bathroom or shower room. The front windows also look dated so that puts it into fixer upper category for many. It's expensive to extend at the moment and the kitchen isn't big enough for many families.

I think you're in that awkward spot of "much better than a 3 bed" versus "not quite a proper 4 bed".

If I'm looking for a 4 bed, it wouldn't likely hit the spot with only one upstairs bathroom and the 4th bedroom being downstairs.

If I'm looking for a 3 bed, I'd definitely consider it.

While I absolutely adore your style (I could never in a million years pull it off), the dark walls and ceiling may be offputting for some (it would take quite a lot of coats of white paint to bring it back).

The garden is 😍!

Unless you're desperate to move I'd leave it up until after Christmas then see.

I'm not sure about your area but round near me absolutely nothing is moving at the moment. It seems very area dependent as near my work (London zone 5) the market is quite fast paced still.

I wouldn't consider it a 4 bed when one of the "bedrooms" is downstairs. And in terms of upstairs, the third bedroom is basically a box room, so hardly a proper bedroom at all. It's therefore overpriced IMO.

I would take it off the market for now and relist in spring. Price is not totally unreasonable but market is slow and finances are challenging. If in Spring lack of interest I'd start dropping the price. Some of the photo angles of the kitchen are not great - not sure what can be done about that tbh.

The description should lead with "fully renovated throughout" or something similar.

Mortgage Rates are challenging so it'll take longer for people to afford these prices - just look at the monthly repayments! So the previous buyers have been priced out so it is a smaller pool.

Yeah it's a three bed. You bought it as three bed and many would be wary of garage conversion, maybe mention it's fully signed off. Mention the use of it? Perfrct for guests or teenagers blablabla. Ao people can imagine how to use it
Bathroom just had a lick of paint and bits added, radiators look the same in bedrooms, kitchen is lovely. Love your decor style! I would look at description and rewrite a bit. Also somewhere mention why you are selling after year only. When I was looking I wouldn't touch house going back on market after short time.

I actually thought it was lovely. Good luck.

So this house https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/140914115#/media?id=media0&ref=floorPlanPage&channel=RES_BUY has a tiny garden and a shared drive. It's a new built so I appreciate the layout might work better for others, but a shared drive will be off-putting for me...again not something you see from the listing :)

The problem is you bought the house for ~£600K just over a year ago, in a stronger housing market, and the works you've done haven't added £75K of value to it.

(I would question whether some of those works were a good idea/good value for money, but that's water under the bridge now.)

You haven't turned a 3 bed into a 4 bed. It's still a small 3 bed with a garage conversion personally I would rather have the garage so the price has to reflect that.

In my view you need to be knocking around £50K off the asking price. Maybe a bit more, maybe a bit less.

And that house has been on a month longer than yours, also not sold. Suggesting their price is too high as well.

Having seen the competitor on your road - they have much better flow downstairs. But that doesn't mean you should reduce yet - if you can play a waiting game and see if theirs shifts....

And yes, garage conversion fully signed off by building control 😀 so can add that to the blurb, and someone was asking about storage: it has built in wardrobes in the master, landing, and space for wardrobe in the 2 bedrooms (obviously, we have a large bookcase in the 2nd bedrooms, but you can have a similarly sized wardrobe there). There is also a lean 2 long shed in the garden (again nicely hidden but plenty of shelving/storage for the bikes and the like). 🙂

All that has to be in description if it's not on pics. Very clearly in description

It's beautifully decorated for the look you're going for.

However, for most people it's cluttered and the bold colours and design make it feel even smaller (dark walls and ceiling).

I'd keep your lovely furniture/curtains but make it more accessible by toning down the walls and clutter.

Also, out of interest what is the smallest legal dimensions for a small bedroom? I am confused it's 2.3 X 2.8 m, which in my mind is big enough for a child bedroom and we have it as such with a big desk and other matching furniture. The EA had the dimensions wrong at the beginning (it was off by 1 m which probably didn't help the viewings). Are you still seeing the old/wrong dimensions?

Also, out of interest what is the smallest legal dimensions for a small bedroom?
As far as I'm aware there isn't a specific definition of legally be described as a bedroom.

I think that's standard box room/single bedroom in many houses. Like mine