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

You can see that they are still building houses on the opposite side of the street and that is going to put people off

If you're getting that from Street View I think that's out of date - what you can see from the windows of the front rooms looks like they're finished.

Honestly, my thoughts were from ‘oh wow, what a lovely house from the outside’ to ‘bleugh, this needs a lot of work to bring it up to scratch’ and I say that as someone who’s just done a full reno on a Victorian property stuck in the 60s.

Do you have any budget to do some work on the house before selling? New carpets, staging with furniture?

Once you’ve done those jobs, I’d get a new estate agent, one who sells a lot in the area, and relist.

I too would be pissed off with the EA. They haven't even bothered to properly put the kitchen and bath room units into the floor plan. At first I thought it was a four bed and couldn't find the bathroom!

And the curtain hanging off the rail looks crap.

I disagree that it looks rubbish! The bathroom and kitchen look modern and fine which is a big plus. Externally it looks really good. The need for new paint/carpets wouldn't put me off. An empty house appeals but it suggests no chain! With that in mind (I have viewed about 20 houses in the last year and have just sold my own) I would say it's simply the price. As a mum of 2 kids I desperately wanted a 4 bed so I can have an office/spare room. For a house that size you'd expect 4 beds, or a separate snug/study. I think you need to factor that into your pricing.

Definitely not still building - Google maps just don't seem to have ever updated.

I don't know the area but I thought Salisbury was fairly highly priced? What are prices the new houses being built on the estate? You could gage price from that. Most people should not need more than a coat of neutral paint through out (if walls are in a poor state) and carpets cleaned of some replaced.

You can pay for a company to “virtually stage” a house. Take a look at this example near me. Virtually staged home

I agree, take the curtains down and get carpets professionally shampooed.

I wouldn’t be concerned about the presentation of the house, but I would be concerned about living on a building site which is what it appears from a street view. This would also mean you are competing to sell with housing developers and their deals. If you really need to sell now I would just drop the price, someone will buy.

Why does the agent think it's not selling?
October to January = not many people buying
Current economic climate = not many people buying
Cold wintery days and your house looks cold, empty, bleak.
Lots of competition furnished and looking cosy.

But really - price. It will sell at the right price.

that is a good example!

You can get the house digitally staged. It works out £600 but will need the dimensions of the rooms. Might get people in the door if the pictures are nice.

It looks lovely from outside, inside needs some work but isn't terrible and you could move in and slowly decorate. Wilton is quite small, so there may be less people interested in living there and the market is slow at the moment. Could lower the price again and see if that helps but I wouldn't say anything wrong with the house.

It looks fine to me, bit I can see room sizes and spaces quite well and can also see past tired decor - many people can't.

I suspect it's priced a bit high for what it is - a minor renovation project not a ready to move into. Go and look at some new build show homes to get an idea of modern spec and you will see what I mean.

Your house has lovely kerb appeal. I think the photos are bad and they need to be redone. Too ,much light coming in from windows. Perhaps it would be better to take the old curtains down altogether? The issue I would pick on is there are no built in wardrobes? I also don't like the colour of the carpet so buyer would face maybe having to re carpet. Having said that it is a lovely house.

I hadn't even noticed that! We have a floor plan that does have the sizes so I'll give that to the agent. I think it's about 115sqm.

From the outside it looks beautiful and full of character but the inside doesn’t. I’d say get someone in to stage it or reduce the price,

I was going to suggest the CGI route to fill it with virtual furniture. I think it works really well. Well worth it as people lack imagination (we once had a buyer who left saying that the carpet on our stairs wasn't to her liking, and the green bedroom wasn't either..)

From the front I love it..but the back garden looks like a new build..which I hate.

Over priced for the number of beds. Floor space doesn’t matter, people want more rooms for their money.

Styling will help sell quicker as people don’t tend to like buying empty houses but it’s not a deal breaker. It’s over priced for a 3 bed.

Ah. Novichovk. V hard hard to sell in Salisbury since Putin's friends came to visit.

The bathroom looks grubby and the garden needs a lot of work, for the price of it it wouldn’t be worth investing in when you need to spend another £10-20k redoing the bathroom. The garden could be fixed by hand but it’d take many months to make sure the lawn looked pleasant again - did the tenants have dogs? Only time I’ve seen grass look so shoddy is when there’s been dogs using it as a toilet area (not that they shouldn’t!)

Edited to add - the en-suite only has a toilet and a basin in what looks like a cupboard without windows.

It looks grubby and shabby.

I would get it all cleaned and anything dirty looking that can't be cleaned, replaced.

As a very very simple thing, get rid of those curtains. That length and type of fabric is what you see in old people’s houses that haven’t been decorated since the 80s and they immediately made me think the house was older and in worse condition than it actually is. The windows are pretty unremarkable already and the curtains just emphasise that. Curtains need to be floor length unless in a kid’s bedroom.

I think the house itself looks perfectly fine. I certainly wouldn't consider it a complete reno! 😂Gosh, it's in much better shape than our house was when we moved in and that was recently renovated at that stage and about double the price!

I think you just need to make it look more homely, warmer, lived in and also show off some of the features that aren't obvious from the photos - like the utility room, cloakroom, the attached garage, make the garden look a bit more lived in and mature (pot plants, outdoor furniture).

If in new build estate, how is it priced relative to actual new builds that are selling? I think that is your angle - you are offering a better deal on a 'new build' ish house that isn't so new that all the kinks haven't been worked out yet.

It looks like what it is - an ex rental house. A bit un lived in. I would go and see it for yourself, it could be something that is not obvious from the photos ie a bad smell.