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

did i say “no family”

or did i say that it won’t rent out “easily”

and “not many would want”

see the difference?

@shewasrooting it would not rent easily anyway
Of course it would, unless the rent was prohibitive.

@shewasrooting you would be suprised how many are coming back for all kinds of reasons all the time from all over the world- there are huge amounts of 2 and 3 year assignments. Quite often people 'have' a house but it's tenanted out so they need a fill in- also many people sell and then rent for a short while before buying again to avoid chains- you would be suprised- that house will let quite easily I'm sure!

OP has already successfully rented out the house, so the "it would not rent easily anyway" isn't true

Look what a difference a staged photo makes (AI generated)

Or this one

To be honest, I wouldnt waste money on staging it. Its a perfectly lovely house but the market at the moment is quite stagnant. Looking at what has sold recently in your area, there are only two properties in that price range that have sold. Most sales have been for properties under £375k. There is a similar detached 3-bed property however, that has just come on the market near you that's £450k and updated interiors so I think that one would probably go first as it is cosmetically up to date. Its uncertain which way property prices will go and I would either reduce it to £450k to price-match the other similar property or sit it out and hope things improve in the market.

it looks fine to me, but what are the prices for similar in the area?
what did you pay for it?

will be interesting to see if this is what the op decides to do and how it pans out then

op paid £418k in 2016

we don’t know how long for? 6 months is tricky. not for a bed sit or studio or corporate let but certainly to a traditional family property

added to which we don’t know the condition of the property when it was first rented out to previous tenants

so they would want a long term rent if on a 2/3 year assignment

of course there it will suit some to rent

but…. to quickly get in a state to rent out? and then to market, ensure all legal obligations me, credit checks performed etc for 6 months? not worth it for the Op and i suspect sitting there for sometime unless priced very well. Which is the problem with the sale. It’s languishing because overpriced

and as for all these european families returning to the Uk for 2/3 assignments…. in salisbury?

I disagree with that - the rental market has always been strong since we've had it. We've had tenants move in the day after the day after the others moved out every time - never had a day empty.

in the current state?

Yes, no mention of the school, but it's in the catchment for two grammar schools in Salisbury.

Given the military base and government sites in the area, there may be families moving into Salisbury for one to three years. Some might be coming back from Germany or similar if posted out there. The healthcare sector also sees a lot of transient people moving between places - research as well as hospitals etc. I would imagine it is reasonably easy to get a tenant in. Where I live there is a huge demand for rental housing and hardly any available, the local hospital has had to build extra staff accommodation so that they can recruit people as it’s prohibitively expensive to live here.

Yes, the tenants only moved out in Dec and they'd been in it for a year. It hasn't changed much since we bought it - just a bit tattier, but I'm only judging by the rubbish pics as I haven't been to visit yet.

That's ridiculous as well as unnecessarily insulting. It's neutral, not gross. It's a nice house, and anyone put off by that decor is such a visual snowflake that they ought to stick to buying new houses (they would deserve what they'd get by doing that, & I can say no worse).

I'd be tempted to splash out on new carpets in some of the rooms where they look differentially faded, that's about all. In the usual light grey the visually conservative amongst us really love, of course. The kitchen is nice and modern, so is the bathroom. If you think otherwise, you are also waaaay out of touch of most kitchens and bathrooms out there.

Anyone who thinks that house is 'cosmetically awful' can't have seen what the majority of houses for sale look like. As for the one we bought, if you describe the OP's as you do, you would totally run out of evil words for ours. And there are plenty far worse even than ours.

Salisbury/surrounding areas is a super-Garrison - over 20% of the entire army is based there.

ok so you planning on renting it out?

Thanks for answering on my behalf, but that's not my house.

31 oakley road?

apologies 37! will zoopla….