No viewings - please tell me what I need to change in house!

[Whywontitsell]

Desperately trying to sell a house that we've never lived in and is nowhere near where we're currently living. We move around with DH's job and have accommodation provided with that, so we bought the house 6 years ago to keep us on the ladder.

We've already dropped the price from £500k to £490k to now £475k, but there's just zero interest. It's definitely not looking its best having had (good) tenants in for the past few years - some dodgy curtains left up and some hanging off the track! So the pics definitely aren't selling it well.

We live about a 3 hour drive away but I have a week off soon. If I go through there to do some work - what would I be best to focus on? The showhome pics make it look so nice - I presume you can't add a link to these on the Rightmove ad? An empty house is just so unappealing...

I would really appreciate any advice...

House:
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/143709212#/?channel=RES_BUY

It's the price, I reckon.

I feel that most people are terrible at visualizing so I would sell them a story. Work out who would likely live there. Someone mentioned it's not close to a train so unlikely to be DINKYs commuting to the city. So more likely family. I'd be tempted to stage 3 distinct bedrooms - a lovely calm inviting master bedroom, clean lines, where you can retreat from the world. Think white linen, fresh flowers on the nightstand etc. Then I would do a cute girl's bedroom, fairy lights etc. Maybe 2 single beds, to demonstrate how large the bedrooms are. Then a third bedroom depending on who you think your buyers are. It could be a teen bedroom with a desk / work area, a full home office, or a third bedroom (older child / spare room) with double bed. Much of this can be staged with things you own (ie bring three different coloured sets of bedding with duvet and pillows, vase, rugs, lamps, etc.) You could either buy a cheap bed to move between rooms [with a return policy...] or fake it with large cardboard boxes and linen that completely covers it.

You are selling the fantasy of a happy family home, not a house, and that's how I'd go about it, especially as you have a week to go and do it yourself. Once someone has it in their heads what jt can be like, it will make viewing the empty property much easier as they have already 'bought' the story.

It’s a nice house but looking unloved and uninspiring at present. Obviously down to you not living in it and an ex rental.

But with absolutely no interest at all I think you need to take a cold hard look at your competition and be realistic.

If there are lots of shiny new builds being attractively presented what is the price point of a 3 bedroom? How much lower priced are you against them, or not as the case may be. Even the comparison to a 4 bed linked above is suggesting your price is just too high.

However hard this exercise is, your potential buyers are doing this evaluation so it’s paramount that you do as well. Old new builds are always going to be a difficult sell when against new shiny ones unless there’s a significant uplift in space or a downgrade in price.

I live in Salisbury and if we were looking to move I would choose ops house over one on the St Peter's Place estate. There have been a few news reports of unsociable behaviour in that estate, and it's much newer than the ops one. Plus the location of ops is much nicer with the park and ride minutes away and Wilton itself a short walk away.
It's a shame the street view is showing the estate as still being built as I am pretty sure it's all completed.

Did you get several valuations @Whywontitsell ? What was the range you were given? I really think, given you have had zero viewings, that it is the price. Has there even been any interest at all, people asking questions about it?

1. If something isn't selling, the answer is always the price.

1. I don't know whether staging is necessary or not, but it is hard to tell what the rooms are with nothing. I assume the first internal photo is a living room, but it could also be a bedroom. The white with black curtains just look mouldy. If someone was flicking quickly on their phone through small pictures, they could be instantly put off.

1. The floor plan needs dimensions.

1. There are things on the floor plan that aren't in the pictures. The walk in wardrobe looks weirdly long on the plan, so a picture would really help.

1. It's the price.

As others have said, the pictures aren’t doing you any favours. Putting measurements on the floor plan is essential, as well as labelling the photographs so that people can understand which room is which.

Then, I’m afraid, it’s probably price. If people aren’t tempted by the loveliness of the house, you’ve got to price it at a point where they feel they’ve just got to have a look. And then, hopefully, as they’re standing in the middle of the rooms they can start to envisage how they will use it.

Suggest also that all of the pictures are taken from lower down. At the moment, most of the pictures are of vast expanses of grey carpet. Ask the EA to take pictures that give a sense of the rooms that the carpet is in.

Haven't read the full thread so apologies if anything is repeated.
The agents have done a terrible job with the photos. I'm local to the area and I don't rate C&M at all, they come across as very arrogant and just care about inventory, not selling.
I've seen other houses on the development sit for a while, it's tricky as they are lovely houses but priced accordingly. There is a ridiculous amount of road work happening in Salisbury at the moment, particularly on the Western side. The main road into town from Wilton is half shut and the main car park is being dug up and it's gridlocked every weekend. If you could possibly rent it for 6/12 months then relaunch I think you will benefit from the updates to the city.
There's a guy called Adam Budd, part of an indie network who I've heard rated highly, and I know he sold a couple of houses on the development recently. I also think Oliver Chandler and Jordan & Mason are worth speaking to.

!No viewsings" can only one thing

OVERPRICED

My dad, about 30 yrs ago was selling their home - I recall dad going with the joker, EA that said their home was worth a lot more than it was - dad went with him against our advice - no viewings at all untill he put the price on at a more realistic price and the house sold subject to contract within a 2 week

Looking at what else is on the market at that price point you’re competing with pretty smart detached 4 beds.
As ever… it’s price

I think if someone is looking for a house in that area, in their price bracket, then they'd go and see it.

There's nothing wrong with it. It's perfectly fine.

So it must be the price bracket.

For some reason it's not coming into the radar of people searching within a certain bracket.

I'd include a photo of the fireplace (or maybe that's a fake fire in the photo?)

I'd include a photo of the garage (even if there's stuff in it).

Because that adds to the sense of spaciousness.

Yes! I haven't seen that one before - certainly not at that price. Def need to go to £450k.

I know the area and I think it’s the price. It’s a nice estate in a great location and the houses are lovely but I just can’t see you getting 475 for a 3 bed there. I thought it was going to be a 4 bed when you said the price and I saw it was Wilton. If it were me, I’d re carpet and drop the price. You could see if a professional carpet clean would bring them up better? Have you checked if other 3 beds in the area have gone for that sort of price since the mortgage interest rate madness started? Did the agents advise you that it would go for around 500? House sales have massively slowed down in the area and they just aren’t selling for what they were 2 years ago.

We didn't live near and it's never been without tenants. We bought it on the Friday and tenants moved in on the Monday.

I do wish we'd thought of it though...

It is quite a nice looking house from the outside, But the interior is just awful. It looks really unloved. Because it's not lived in. The kitchen is very basic. What does the estate agent suggest.

Those carpets have got to go, gross. replace with some decent even laminate flooring will do the job. Get rid of curtains and curtain poles, toilet roll holder. Stick a vase of fresh flower around on counters , some outside planted pots.

It has an extra bedroom, but not an extra bathroom.

The house is overpriced, this is somewhat disguised by the fact that there are several similar overpriced properties in the village. But viewers will not choose a 3 bedroom new build with a tiny garden for £475,000 when they can get a 4 bed for £375,000.

The main thing you need to do is lower your price. If you do this incrementally, it'll keep being bumped up to the top of right move listings.

It also looks acceptable, decor wise, but the pictures make it look a bit dingy and grey.

I would totally remove the curtains which look flimsy, old and cheap, except for the ones in the kitchen. The kitchen generally looks very nice. Then arrange for new photos with the lights on, and the en-suite door shut.

If you pay for anything, I'd get new lino to cover the beige bathroom floor tiles, which don't match the theme. The grey theme in bathroom and kitchen otherwise looks fine and can stay.

The paint looks a bit tired and like it hasn't been done since the house was built. It could benefit from being painted bright or warm colours to counteract the dingy tendency. Or even just bright white to reflect more light.

Well, it’s a lot of money for a featureless, surprisingly small new build. Sorry OP. I think no viewings is very telling about the price.

No, I just let the agents who were managing the rental deal with it. We've got an awful lot going on in our lives at the moment and just haven't been able to focus time on it.

Get the carpets cleaned throughout and remove the curtains. They are all awful. Make sure all the paintwork is fresh. Put some tubs in the back garden. Other than that I don't know what you can do. Without furniture it looks bleak and tatty.

I think a lot of folk are being quite harsh here!

It's usually price that's the issue. It's a lovely looking house on the outside and has a fairly modern bathroom and kitchen which are the main things that put people off if they are old or out of fashion. It's pretty much a blank canvas which I love but maybe people have difficulty envisaging what they cld do with it.

The pics do make the carpets looked stained though. Not sure if they are or just lighting but maybe cld do with a professional clean and or new pics taken.

Hi OP

So this house came up in my search 450 - 700 k 10 mile radius of Salisbury.

To be honest with the amount of work needed against the price and location put me off.

Can you get it dressed? Maybe talk to James Jordan - thry really helped me dress my house.

Good luck.

I really like it and wouldn't be bothered by the curtains or carpets. I recently sold a Redrow house and used the floor plan from the brochure as it's more informative. I would stress that there's no onward chain as I only viewed houses in that situation so as to minimise the length of the chain.

I had to drop the price twice and finally sold for £60,000 under the first valuations. My house was in the same price range as yours.

Sorry OP but in comparison to the 4 bedroom house on the same estate it is definitely the price. That 4 bedroom house was also 4 doubles with 2 decent sized bathrooms.

I think you are also underestimating the value of a 4th double bedroom when you mention only dropping to £450k versus that well presented 4 double bedroom house at £475k.

It's understandable that as you have never lived there, do not live nearby etc you are really out of touch with the local market in that area now. I think you sadly just need to drop the price quite significantly now if you want to sell the house and move on with your lives.

so it’s been on the market for 4 months… and there’s not been a enquiry about this property?