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

My money is on you spending £3k staging the whole house and garden and you getting the full price you originally wanted. It's well worth investing in property staging. Take a look at @homenipandtuck on insta for more details

I much prefer to see an empty house but I would get rid of the carpets and curtains and get it all painted in white throughout. Then if it's not too expensive, I'd get a staging company in.

Agree there’s no point in paying money for staging if when people visit in person it still looks tired. Unless you’re billing as a cosmetic renovation and pricing accordingly. However, the pictures that have been taken are really not good. They could be very much improved. Then spend your time/money on cleaning or removing carpets (if they’re really bad and it’s not just bad pictures/lighting) and sorting curtains out.

It looks like it should be a 4 bed to me, I thought it was from exterior view (no idea why) then when I realised it was only a 3 the price shocked me. Obviously I don’t know what houses are going for round that area as it’s no where near me, but can you get 4 beds for a similar price?
things like carpet/curtains etc wouldn’t put me off at all as kitchen/bathroom look good enough and it’s got a nice exterior look.

Completely agree with this about the pics, and yes, the rooms are a good size (all double beds). The house has about the same floor space as the 4 bed houses, but the bedrooms are obviously more generous as we only have 3.

I can't think of anything nearby that would put people off. I think it's a nice area and has park & ride a short walk away for Salisbury.

how long on market?

Since Oct.

The curtains need fixing or removing completely, at the moment they look awful.

The main issue though is likely to be price. If you were getting zero offers at 500k your EA should have advised you to reduce by 5% to 475k. If no interest at 475k then reduce to 450k. There is no point reducing by such small amounts each time, that is just long winded and a property ends up hanging around so long that people start wondering what’s wrong with it.

On a more positive note, it looks like a nice house. I wouldn’t bother spending money on staging it or replacing the curtains or carpet. Just take the curtains off or repair them, get new photos done, consider changing your EA as they are not helping & reduce the price to 450k.

The photos do not look nice and the carpets look stained
Dont know if the price takes into account the fact that the house needs some cosmetic work.

I’d also recommend getting a staging company to come and transform the house. I did it when I sold mine and the difference was astonishing. It’s worth the money.

The price x

It's a fabulous house but the photos are so half arsed. Can you take a step ladder with you and take pics yourself (you need to get up high).
I was going to say the exact opposite! You want low-level, horizontal pictures (that don't angle down nor up) so they don't feature acres of carpet (nor ceiling) like The Modern House have.
The current photos are over-exposed so all colour is drained out and they have over-done the wide-angle.
Get some furniture (maybe locally off Freecycle or a charity shop), inject a bit of colour / personality and re-do the photos.

Thank you 😊. I believe the development's been finished for quite a while. It's been a fantastic rental property for us, but we're moving to a more expensive area and need to sell to afford to buy.

IMO there's nothing wrong with it would prevent people looking at it which means it will be down to the price.

Yes, 4 beds are usually a similar price as they have about the same floorspace - mine has bigger bedrooms and walk-in wardrobe.

You need to stage it.

People find it really hard to imagine what something will be like with furniture.

And better photos.

If you are desperate, I would shampoo the carpets and sort the curtains.

Your problem is that it's overpriced - sorry, but it's just not a strong market.

• The pictures all need to be retaken as the quality of the current one is quite bad
• You can see that they are still building houses on the opposite side of the street and that is going to put people off
• As it is empty some people will be put off because they lack the imagination to see its potential so you might want to put in some basic furniture
• The carpets don't look great.

It looks quite spacious though and if it is in a convenient location hopefully someone will be interested.

Maybe you could think of renting out a bit longer while the market recovers or at least waiting until the Spring where hopefully you will get more interest.

It's a lovely looking house - I don't agree with comments that it looks tatty and rundown. The curtains should go and the carpets look as if they might be a bit grubby (that's just second-hand carpets for you once you take out the furniture), but otherwise it looks as if you could move in and live in it without having to do too much. IMHO it must be price (it's always price!) and I don't think starting high and then dropping it does you any favours - it means it looks like its been hanging around for ages so people wonder what's wrong with it.

I hate floor plans that don’t have dimensions for the rooms. You need to get your estate agent working harder here - better photos (lighting and focus are appalling in the current ones) and dimensions on the floor plan and proactively marketing your house. You need to adjust your price expectations in the current market.

I’m not convinced the carpets look stained, but they look faded where the sun has been on them and the darker patches have been covered by furniture.

The curtains certainly need sorting and I suppose there’s a reason why there are show houses, so that people can imagine themselves living there. It might be worth staging it in that case.

It's the photos - they're really dreadful. I've just had my house on the market and would have sacked an estate agent who produced those!

Get a good photographer (or another estate agent) and they'll make all the difference. What were they thinking?

I normally shy away from any suggestion of staging or decorating for sale, but I think your issue is that because it's empty and there is no furniture to distract, all a viewer can look at is the state of the carpets, curtains and light fittings.

It's also very hard to get a sense of scale from empty rooms, and there is no warmth or homeliness to it.

I think as a minimum you need lounge, dining and master bedroom furniture in to get some decent photos to get people through the door. You don't need to show photos of every room.

There’s a curtain hanging off one of the rails… so it looks unkept and uncared for. I actually don’t think the general decoration is too tatty but it’s boring. The seals on the bathroom are noticeably dirty from the photos. Take the curtains down. Retake the photos. Put room sizes on the floor plan. Drop the price.

I’d buy it !! The decor looks a bit tired but it’s mostly neutral and being largely empty it would give viewers a good idea of room dimensions. Maybe have the photos redone after cleaning the carpets and rehanging some different curtains. My only criticism is the kitchen - it looks a bit soulless. The large unit next to the patio doors looks a bit bulky so might be better if you could remove this - if that’s possible.