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

Photos seem poor quality and blurry to me. I see these occasionally when the flat has stains on walls on carpets as if it’s intentional!

The house looks fine if that is the sort of house you are looking for an in the area you want. I don’t mind the lack of furniture at all and most people would decorate anyway. It looks spacious and light. Maybe the garden looks a bit bleak so a few pots with shrubs might improve both front an back and maybe some garden furniture but I don’t think there is anything wrong with it all. I don’t know the area of course. I wouldn’t spend much on improving it personally.

I expect people have mentioned it but I would put the two pics with furniture on the listing for those who need that sort of aid to their imagination.

I’d want to see a picture of the utility. If the cloak room is just a cupboard they are confusing things as most people think that means a downstairs toilet, but presumably it’s not.

It’s quite unusual to have no downstairs toilet in a house this size. I’d want to see the “cloak room” to work out if I could put one in there.

Also, if the estate around about is all just finished is it possible that people want to buy the newer houses?

I think for the price you’re asking for, you’re going to have to spend some time/money making it look much nicer than it currently does.

It looks quite old and dreary despite being relatively new build, it doesn’t have any “life”, all the walls look to be the same colour as they were when the developers left, it doesn’t look very “homely” at all, it looks a bit abandoned! When in comparison there’s another house up for 450, detached, 3 bed, done out lovely and you can really see that it’s been “loved”!

I don't know where everyone lives but that is a fine looking house and anyone with some imagination can see it's got loads of potential to be a wonderful home . It's got so much kerb appeal !

I would stage it if you can with a company . I think it it was you would get the money back easily !

When we hd no viewings recently, the agent had it in the wrong category / area on rightmove. When I pointed this out they made excuses, changed it and we had an influx of viewings.

Could be something like that at all?

Ours isn’t sold yet though, tough market at the moment I think

Estate agents aren't doing a great job of selling it. No description about why this property is wonderful, straight to specifications. Check price is right as others have said.
Wouldn't worry about staging it but would retake the photos, ensuite door closed. Do sort the carpets and curtains.

You need to just change the carpets - stained carpets automatically make people think of urine ect. (Pets to be fair)

I like it but it looks very cold and uninviting. Maybe a bit of colour somewhere ?
photos are awful though . Sorry

Pay for staging, you are dropping chunks off the price so pay to get it staged. You would be amazed at how many people cannot imagine furniture in a space. We taped out a 5ft bed on the floor of Ds1's nursery so people could see the second bedroom as a bedroom rather than a nursery.

Once staged have the photos retaken. Also one of the en-suite as you cannot see the shower, just a lonely toilet in what looks to be a small space which it probably isn't.

I’d buy it as is if it was nearer to my location!

I think it looks fab - lovely and spacious, bright and airy. Lis I like that it's 'blank'

< sorry, not much help here >

If it's priced correctly, I'd just paint it in a neutral shade and put in some new carpets. And fix the dodgy curtains.

There's actually nothing wrong with it.

If people can't see beyond empty rooms, I'd say that's their problem.

Get room dimensions on the plans.

I can easily envision this house done up and furnished, I think it's lovely. I've recently bought a house, I viewed a lot of places and saw hundreds of house listings before buying and this is honestly better presented than many more I've seen in the price bracket.

I do think you need a lot more photos though, it looks like you're only showing a few of the rooms? I'd probably want to see most of not all the rooms before I get interested enough to go see it in person.

OP was asking, why no viewers, I wouldn't view for that reason, you can't change it either like things like dirty carpets, it's probably not as bad though if the side bit belongs to the house rather than next door.

The cloakroom is a downstairs loo. Definitely no new houses for sale.

Back of the house needs something to lift it. Front appeals, but the back is almost offputting. Nice house though.

It's a really beautiful house. I'd view it if I wanted to move down that way. No expert but just my view. It's really attractive.

I don’t think the photos are the best, the way the first room is split in half for the photos seems incorrect. The angle, quality and colour of the photos aren’t great, for example the grass looks very mossy, it might be, it might not, but I can’t tell because the photos aren’t clear. Agree with some staging needed as it’s got the potential to be a lovely house.

I can't see what the problem is with the house. I actually like it. Yes, it needs a little bit of an update but nothing major.

I don't think it's the house, I think it's the market. We sold last year and had to reduce by £15k to sell.

That gate does belong to next door. We have a tall gate to our garden on the other side.

The two first pictures are not the best start
Id lay a rug in the middle to avoid seeing that the carpet has faded.
The garden looks uninspiring
Plant some shrubs, put pots out, garden furniture if you have any to hand.
Other than that it’s still early days for the market, things start to pick up nearer Easter

Needs some furniture I think

The kitchen is a really lovely size though and the Bathroom looks fine

Looks bare is all

It looks like a loo behind a door in a bedroom

If it was my house I would convert half the garage into a study or bedroom. Can you add that to the description?