No viewings/offers since failed open day - What would you do?

[rosemarycait96]

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/144690626#/?channel=RES_BUY

Here's our listing ^^

A fairly normal house for our village which has a lot of cottages of a similar size or bigger. The ones that are on the market all are priced £385-£450k ish.

We started on £425k with an open day as per recommendation by our EA. 3 viewings. 2 of the parties were extremely interested and gave good feedback saying it was well presented and lovely etc. But no offers.

Thought the price may be the issue, so we reduced to £415k. No offers and not even a single viewing since then.

Other houses in our village seem to sit on the market for weeks too, and our house had been on the market for a month when we bought it in early 2022 when homes were flying off the shelves in days! So I wasn't expecting a miracle. I was, however, expecting at least some viewings.

Anything we can do to help speed things along? I'm getting a little impatient now - we're viewing a lovely house tomorrow that, if we had sold already, I'd be very confident putting an offer in on. I'm thinking we could reduce to 399k to open up a new band of buyers on rightmove, but it would feel so demoralising as we'd barely make any profit then!

it is now. yes.

OP you did get building reg sign off for the updates?

@Rosesanddaisies1 As we are currently living in the house with a walking 12 month old, I can confirm that the stairs gave me nightmares while pregnant!

But, as with all things, we are just used to it now. I'm always with DS helping him up the stairs and he's grown up in this house so is very nimble/used to all the steps and odd bits.

Good point re: dimensions, thanks.

@AbeSimpsonsWhiskeySour I mean, Fishponds was on our shortlist of areas.... 😆Our budget is significantly lower now though so we're looking to downsize/down'price' rather than a direct swap.

@FunnyFinch Yours made me giggle. I loathe this village but it's because, fundamentally, I'm a city girl. Which is why we're moving.

Escaped to the country but didn't realise how much I'd miss civilisation after having a baby. I got hit with PPD and the doctor basically told me I'm too isolated (socially and physically) and that's why I wasn't coping. The fact that our mortgage is about to shoot up past our affordability was the kick we needed to get back to Bristol.

plastic grass for a country village cottage was not a good idea

Is it the village? Is it not very popular?

* I loathe this village*

it would appear you’re far from alone if properties tend to languish and yours was on for some time before you offered on it

I find the first two interior photos confusing and on closer inspection it feels like the sitting room is a corridor. I wonder if you can rejig the layout or have better photos.

Also a non-negotiable for me was a second loo, which I can't see on the floor plan and would hope for in a 3-bed house.

Those stairs and steps from kitchen look lethal, would put off anyone with young kids

and me, cos I am old and doddery

Building Regs only apply to new things being built. If that's an old house, the staircase may be the same age and therefore predate the building regs by many years.

Any new stairs would have to comply with the current Regs at the time of construction

The things that leapt out at me were the death trap staircase, the plastic grass, the fact that the rooms with the sofas look like corridors and the two tone skirting in one of the bedrooms (which is really picky of me 😂).

it's usually is price though and it sounds like th market isn't good where you are.

Photo 8 makes it look really, really dark in the house.

I think if I had the choice I’d go for this property as it’s closer to the village, greater sqm, and enough land to build another house on. I’d also be saving £120k and could make this place really nice for that!!:

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/144372215#/?channel=RES_BUY

It's the price.

Interest rates started to rise at the beginning of 2022, so if you did buy it early 2022 then you bought pretty much at peak market, which IMO was somewhere between start 2022 and mid 2023.

If you bought then and are selling now expecting a profit I think is unrealistic in a lot of areas.

People will also be suspicious of the short time you have lived in it and whether there is some problem with the house that makes you want to offload it.

Estate agents will generally tell you any old BS to get the instruction and then "manage down" your expectations.

no that is not correct at all

says someone living in a turn of the century property who just had work done

oh i got the impression that this was the op or previous owner that had done this

certainly older style properties would have had a bannister. it’s a modern style of the nineties to go bannister less

I don’t think the photos are doing you any favours. They make it look pokey. Photo 2 with its lack of windows is particularly bad and the ones where there is a mixture of floor coverings with furniture half on, half off a carpet add to a sense of smallness and clutter- maybe try removing some of the rugs for pictures. It doesn’t look as pretty in the exterior photo as you are describing but I am sure that’s just something about the angle.
Your love for the house is shining through in the way you talk about it but it’s not coming across in the pictures which make it look rather bleak.

that staircase is nothing short of terrifying

I think it’s charming, but there are a lot of people who don’t like villages, so I suspect that you have to wait longer for a sale in any case.

I also would like to see measurements on the floor plan (never read the blurb) and better pictures all round. I can’t get my head around the space available in the garden (don’t like the astroturf either, and would need to change that immediately, so would offer taking that into account) but I’m really totally puzzled by the ‘boot room’. Isn’t that the hallway that the front door opens into? At the very least I would rename it, but also try to make it a better, more welcoming space.

The dining area needs to look more "homely". It looks quite cold and bare in the photo I think.

In 2020 RoSPA published its ‘Safer by design’ guide, to highlight the importance of home safety and to help reduce accidents in the home. The guide indicates that over 60% of all accidents are because of falls.
Falls on steps and stairs are a leading cause of accidental death in the home, with at least 700 people dying as a result of falling on domestic stairs every year. Falls between levels tend to affect young children the most. Each year, they account for more than 80 deaths and more than 54,000 visits to A&E, 4,000 of which are likely to result in hospital admissions.

😦

It's a really lovely cottage (except for the terrifying stairs!).

What confuses me about the listing is the garden, I can't work out what's at the front v back and how big it is. This could be pretty important to potential village buyers. The plastic grass and outhouse look really dark and dingy too, if they're not, I would retake pics when the sun is out.

I think I need an aerial picture of the whole plot, showing the parking etc.

But ultimately, if you want to move, reduce the price. Prices in my area are down on 2022, despite small home improvements.

I wouldn't even view this property with no banister on the stairs let alone buy it. Nice house but no...

It looks like a lovely cottage. My thoughts are the photos seem quite dark. I wonder if they could retake them on a brighter day to show it's full potential.

Also make sure you provide a reason you want to move so soon to the EA as people often worry when someone sells within a few years despite there being lots of valid reasons.

Good luck, I know it gets disheartening.

I think older type houses (which i personally far prefer) are always going to struggle more than your average new build to thirty year old on a housing estate. Lots of people would expect more than 1 bathroom for £415k for example.

Same with a village location- if that's what you're after then great but lots of people need (or highly prioritise) good access to public transport so if you dont have that the house could be the best presented in the world but a large proportion of buyers wouldn't even consider it.

So you're targeting quite a small market of potential buyers compared to the "average" 2/3 bed houses on the market.

I completely understand the frustration at not making a profit or even making your money back after inprovements, but unfortunately 2022 was the peak of a crazy year or two of very high prices- i had mine valued then but didn't sell - have just had it done again and the recommended asking price has gone down more than 10%, so you're lucky if you dont make a loss.

It’s beautiful 😍

My comments are that I’m unsure how the outside areas relates to the house, I would also get rid of the Astroturf. I think it’s just slightly overpriced although looking at the area not much is selling.

But if you compare it to the ex-LA housing that needs work for £295k I’d probably do the work for the bigger plot.