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

I think this may be where the problem is. People don’t buy on floor space, they buy on number of rooms.

You can’t charge a 4 bed price because a 3 bed house has big rooms unless you are selling as a total renovation with the expectation the house will end up with 4 bedrooms in the end. Instead, it should be a 3 bed price (whatever that is in the area) with a premium on top for the big rooms.

If you have had no viewings, it’s the price.

I wouldn’t market it at a similar price to 4 beds. Yes it’s a similar size but people will prefer a small 4th bedroom that could be a WFH office over a walk in wardrobe that only has appeal for 5mins really.

the photos just seem to predominantly show grubby looking carpets. They need to be retaken to show room size, don’t bother staging it, just reduce the price to be more top end of a 3 bed.

People tend to look at house values “by the bedroom” not by square footage. There’s another three bedroom place on the market round the corner for £450k. There’s a four bedroom place on your road up at £500k.

If my budget is £475k then I’m going to try and get the one with the extra bedroom. I’m certainly not going to spend another £25k above and beyond the other three bedroom one which is in much better (move in) condition.

I think you could get away with it if it was in immaculate condition and properly staged (by a company, not just your furniture). Versus what else is on the market on the same estate, it definitely looks overpriced.

I think it looks fine. The photos don't do it justice. They look like someone has taken snaps of empty rooms from the doorway.
I'd remove the curtains or hang them properly. The ensuite photo is dreadful. Get one of the bedroom and one showing the ensuite as an en-suite not a bog in a broom cupboard.

IMO your 2 big issues are your EA and the fact it's empty.

The EA has done one of the worst listings I've seen.

Floor plan
it is totally crap. Like unacceptablly crap - no square footage, no concept of room size.
It's close to pointless and your EA should be ashamed. It actually makes me angry...

Photos
Quality of pictures is diabolically bad and low Res.
Pic 9 makes it look like the room has mould/damp issues.

Can't comment on price but the outside is nice the house is solid and I'd have the vision to for this property of I was buying.

Don’t bother staging it. It’ll be obvious and seems very try hard. I think you need to have it marketed as somewhere that does need some cosmetic work. And get room dimensions in the floor plan. That location would totally put me off, looks so out on a limb. But you can’t change that.

I hate that pic too. The agent has swapped it for another which was fine - it showed the garden from the house which looked better as it is walled and has a tree growing in the corner.

Your estate agent is really awful, the photos are rubbish and have cost you £25k already. You’d have been better using that £25k to dress the house and get decent photos. Also the back of the house looks rubbish so I’d look at the garden and put some furniture in near the house to break up the lawn a bit and house wall.

I wouldn't mind it being empty when viewing, in fact I would prefer it. I wouldn't waste money on staging. The photos are awful, the estate agent has done a crap job with lighting etc. Also, I tend to look at floor plans in detail and if there is no measurements I would assume it is because the rooms are small, it's needs total square footage and measurements by room.
Also, looking at those for sale around you, if I was looking to spend £495k I would be buying this house before yours - https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/141493625#/media?channel=RES_BUY&id=media12&ref=photoCollage
If I would looking for a three bed I would also buy this before yours (same square footage I think)
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/143994860#/?channel=RES_BUY
So I wondered if you are overpriced?

I'd buy that house, it has exacly the right layout for me. The garden's a bit small, but I can't see anything else wrong with it.

People don't seem to like unoccupied houses though, and the price might be too high.

Otherwise it's fine.

You might want to get a carpet cleaner in to spruce up the carpets.

Hmm. I must be weird because personally I quite like seeing empty rooms, visualising where my stuff would go and not having other people's decor cloud my judgement. Unless you have the cash to splash don't bother spending loads to stage it- I can't believe people are suggesting to change the carpets! We moved to a house where the carpets were pretty newish but not to my taste at all (office grey, bleurgh), we are going to replace them this year but I feel a bit guilty replacing perfectly good carpets, I would rather they had been ones that actually need changing. Someone buying this house would buy it knowing they will be changing all the flooring etc. Maybe get them cleaned instead to make the photos look a bit less grotty.

Virtual staging is a really good shout though.

I think it's a really lovely house. I'd take down all the curtains, show the garage and utility, take up the long bathroom mat. Definitely spruce up the garden, I think that's where a bit of tlc will go a long way.

Nothing in that listing would put me off. I can only assume it is too expensive.

At first glance the lounge curtains look like they are covered in mold. For some-one with bad eyesight that might be enough to put them off.

Totally agree! The windows are actually quite nice for a new-build as they have a slight bay and fake lead.

It's spring. Put a dozen pots of hyacinths and daffs in the garden and take new photos. The garden is terrifically bland. Also furnish the sitting room nicely and get more photos of that done.

The three bed in your link is actually much smaller than ours in sq footage, but you just can't tell that from pics.

We hate fake lead windows.

Truthfully? I'd remove the curtain that's falling off the track completely if it can't be fixed, and I'd get professional carpet cleaners in (if you haven't already from the end of tenancy). Otherwise I wouldn't change anything. If you paint it, is it really going to make much of a difference? It's all neutral at the moment. If, on closer inspection, the paint is really scuffed, you could repaint, but your problem isn't people walking away when they view, it's getting them through the door.

The kitchen isn't as up to date as many people would like nowadays, but no matter what you spent or put in, you can't please everyone. It's functional and new enough to not need replacing imminently.

It's a nice house with 3 decent sized bedrooms. OK, so the en suite is a little small, so what (I do agree to maybe put a cool white/daylight bulb in there rather than the warm/yellow white).

Your biggest issue is the market. London is still bouyant, but other parts of the country have just stalled. There are other properties in the area that have been on the market since October/November/December.

Also, it could just come down to price. There's a larger 4 bed detached online (sold) listed at £485k and the one listed in November is a 4 bed for £495k.

The closest 3 bed in price is £450k, which is more modernised.

I agree with what others are saying about the photos (yours look like the estate agent's taken them with an old iphone 7 or something!) and floorplan. This property from the same agent has much better pictures and floorplan. I'd get them back to retake them and redo the floorplan to something that doesn't look like it's been put together by a 10 year old using Paint.

The carpet looks stained in pictures 2 & 3, also at first glance the curtains in those pictures look as though they are mouldy (I looked again and it was the pattern). Picture 6, the curtains look as though they are falling down.
You could gat stagers in as other pps suggested then get new pictures or sell as a renovation project and price accordingly. I have to say that I don't think it is a project, it just needs new flooring and decorating

I think it looks ok as all that’s wrong seems to be carpets, curtains, lampshades and it’s needs a lick of paint. It’s not a renovation job. I’m in the north and not a cheap area and that would sell.
It is hard to sell a house without furniture and you really notice every other mark and flaw in an empty.
Some flowers in the house and something flowering in pots in the garden would help.

I would remove the curtains too OP- would rather see bare windows than grim looking curtains. I realise that's totally superficial- but many people are.

I would insist then the photos are retaken- show your walk in wardrobe -

Don't let them focus on slightly grim floors ( you might want to get the carpets spruced up) and I think it's still too much in comparison to others - empty houses unless brand new will always be a harder sell for some. Personally I would prefer 3 bigger bedrooms over 2 ok and 2 poxy- but plenty of others are obsessed about 4 beds- so you need the floor plan to reflect this and a pic of the walk in wardrobe

For me, the photos are ok but the house doesn’t stand out really. What makes your house better than the other ones for sale? You need to advertise the selling points better. It looks like there’s a garage, utility room and en-suite? Show those off. Stage a room or two to show how big they are too.

If that house was near me I would buy it! It looks exactly the house I want to buy! I've been stuck on the market since end of July and we have had lots of viewings and one retracted offer 😭The only thing I can suggest really is to add a few pictures, a few house plants and make it not look so empty (but totally understand why it is). It's a beautiful home and I would've loved that had I lived around that area!

You need a different estate agent who can take decent photos and give you a more realistic price to market it at.

It's a very nice house but at the moment it looks grey and dirty, really grimy.