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

but don’t you see

even if the agent isn’t exaggerating

what does it say about the OP’s property that it’s the end of Jan and not even a whistler of interest let alone an offer

Yes, I do see what you are saying. Either way, if it has had next to no interest, it is over priced and we have seen that it definitely is compared to other properties on the market (see links if you haven't already).

I would say this depends on the area. Our house has had 10 viewings in just under 2 weeks more lined up over the coming week with some serious interest, looking like we will hopefully get offers soon.

I think it’s just over priced

I haven't decided, but I'll probably go down to give it a good clean; take down curtains; put some pots in the garden and get better pics, along with a decent price drop.

will watch with interest!

I echo what a few a people have said and would recommend getting it staged. My friend had a rental property staged recently (ex rental - she was selling it!) and paid £5k for the staging, regrouting the bathroom, deep clean and a few other minor touch up jobs and she's certain she made more than her money back with the price they then achieved. It's so worthwhile.

I'm not ruling out staging, but I haven't had a lot of luck with my searching for one - I'll keep looking.

Good luck! I hope it goes well. Selling/buying is so stressful, especially if you want a quick sale.

I would really recommend taking it off and go with another estate agent. They seem pretty poor and aren’t interested in getting this off their books!

No wonder some people are perpetually skint if they start ripping out 8 year old kitchens and bathrooms- that look perfectly modern and serviceable- of course they don't look as nice as they should- because it's an empty house- nothing there to soften them- be it books , plants , toiletries etc - I don't think the photos help at all and it's a very lazy agent that doesn't have room sizes- but to imply it's some kind of 'do it up' hovel is a long way far from the mark- plenty of people would kill for a house like this in such a nice area - (at the right price) however it clearly is overpriced relative to what else is on the market locally and given the fact it's a harder sell as it's somewhat 'plain'

@Crikeyalmighty , I agree. The photos are dreadful.
The garden and house look fine to me - a blank canvas.

The bedroom thing is a bit of a red herring IMO. I'd rather have 3 decent sized bedrooms than 4 with two of them being poky. Might be different if you are buying for a family with more than 2 DC.

Selling points for me are - Local schools, local amenities (how far to shops, station, transport links etc), Garage, Off-road parking, Manageable garden, 2 bathrooms & downstairs loo, Open plan kitchen-diner, Good light in rooms , Walk-in wardrobe, 3 decent-sized bedrooms, storage space, possibility of expanding if necessary.

The listing doesn't push these.

The points aren't necessarily ones I'd personally look for or in order of importance, but the carpets and curtains wouldn't sell the house to me.

Exactly this. The house needs a lick of paint, new curtains, potentially new carpets at some point - but I hate paying for other peoples decoration.

The bathroom and kitchen are fine.

it is simply over priced for the area, looking at other local houses

Well, it's not is it, as those two viewers clearly have a reason they didn't put in an offer - what was the feedback?

Exactly.

There is no way this is a "renovation project", even a cosmetic one.

All you'd need to do is clean the carpets (they're used, they're not threadbare or ripped) and either wash the walls or repaint (they're a bit grubby and tired, they're not peeling or chipped).

As it is, you could move in tomorrow and live there just fine.

i have asked 3x

and op doesn’t want to tell us it would seem

@Whywontitsell not sure if you saw my message but please take note about what I've said about redevelopment in Salisbury and the traffic issues it's causing. Another road and roundabout near Wilton are going to be shut for 2 weeks in Feb causing more carnage!! Once the river development in the main car park and works to Fisherton Street are complete the whole area will hopefully be more attractive to out of towners.
I would disinstruct C&M immediately. Adam Budd and Oliver Chandler both do video walkthroughs of houses and seem to actually be able to sell property!

I’ve not read it the whole thread, but it says guide price. I don’t even consider anything with a guide price as I assume it’s an auction and I’m not willing to buy a house at auction. Could you change to OIRO?

It's price. I hadn't realised at first that it's a new build - it's a lovely looking house in terms of kerb appeal - but the kind of person who likes a new house will presumably also be looking at brand new, pristine new houses. I think the fact that it has been a rental hasn't done it any favours - tenants can't put any kind of stamp on it or make any of the tweaks and improvements an owner might make and have no investment (or maybe they are not allowed to) in making the garden look more mature. So it looks like you did when you bought it, except now it has a load of tatty curtains falling off the curtain poles and less than pristine carpets (I can see they've been cleaned by the lines on them but they are no longer new which is something you might be looking for if you were going for a new house) and a kitchen and bathrooms that have been used. The initial cachet of the house as a new house has been rubbed off and it hasn't been replaced with anything.

The pictures Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain posted make it clear that is actually a good sized kitchen and a lot lighter than in your agent's photo. Sack the agent and take some pictures on a bright day.

And I wouldnt consider the other 3 bed someone posted as comparable to yours, looked smaller to me even before you said it was.

@Flickersy completely agree. We rent nice roomy family houses in nice places (by the time we earnt really good money we were too old to get a large mortgage) we have rented a couple of places that looked plain like this but as soon as we put our nice stuff in it, rugs, pictures up , injected some colour they looked lovely- they certainly didn't need renovation - and anyone buying can do far more than we can - the garden for instance is somewhat uninviting . What needs emphasising is little but positive things like walk in wardrobe and 3 proper double beds . It's actually got quite a big garden too for a new house. Not having a floor plan with sizes is nuts. The problem is price- if you can get a nice 4 bedder looking cozy for same money and on the same development - chances are you would go for that if there are few buyers around - so there has to be a differential- but to imply it's some kind of Reno project is really daft- it's a 'pretty it up' project.

I think the problem is low height as the roof slopes on that side - a picture would help assure people that you could walk into it without being hunched over!

How urgently do you need to sell?

Imo, best thing would be to take it off the market, wait until early spring and then relaunch it with staged furniture and better pictures.

It's a good house, but empty its plain enough that, if I had limited time to view properties between work, kids etc, I'd choose the ones that were more visually interesting, and probably not even consciously. It's just.. Forgettable.

Thanks for sharing your local knowledge- I think I might consider renting again for 6 months…

Yes, you’re right- it’s under the eaves. I can’t remember how low it was but it def had a slope.

You mentioned a walk-in wardrobe, but I can't see this on the pictures. Is it a separate room? Could it be repurposed as a small office?

the photos are awful quality like a terrible phone, the carpets look dirty and have furniture marks. i would have gotten these professionally cleaned. some photos look like they've got a filter over them making the house look old and dated. Curtains look awful because they are all so short! i would have removed those