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 a beautiful house but I wouldn't go and view it because I would be too terrified to go up those stairs and therefore wouldn't be able to look at the first floor.

It’s a beautiful house, but I can imagine viewing it, being enthusiastic, then going home and thinking about how much it would cost to put a bannister in and re-turf the garden, and wondering if I’d trip every time I walked out of the kitchen, and whether the floors would be cold in winter etc. And I’d end up deciding to keep looking.

Maybe you should get quotes for bannisters and a lawn, so you can tell people how much it would cost them. Because the uncertainty would put me off for sure.

Your house is lovely. The fake grass though...and so much of it. Very weird and not in keeping. People will find it unattractive. I do.

Another Bristolian here. I like Bleadon and looked at a couple of houses there when we were house hunting around a similar time you bought. Those new houses you mentioned have been on the market for absolutely ages since before they were built. We didn’t end up buying in Bleadon in the end and went elsewhere pretty close by.

Yours is very nice and I saw it come on the market as I have a bit of a Rightmove addiction still. My first thought was that there wasn’t much space for sofas and I wasn’t keen on the garden at the front plus it seemed an awful lot for a terraced house and the Astroturf isn’t a good look. I also thought it was a lot of money for it.

The other thing you have going on is the new development in the quarry that has planning I think. It’s not going to be that far from you and I think might make people a bit twitchy about noise and disruption plus the recent road closure won’t have helped .

The market is very slow currently and Bleadon I think suffers a bit compared to Uphill where you have the beach and it’s more popular choice when people think of villages. It’s slow there still but things have been selling this year.

With the market as it is currently you are unlikely to get what you paid for it so I think you are going to have to be realistic on price. I’m not a fan of Saxons to deal with , Hobbs and Webb and Harris and Lee were good from a buyer’s point of view.

Although Bristol is more buoyant it’s nowhere near as mad as it was . I would just focus on getting yours sold then negotiate on what you buy.

Really would get the banister sorted. I have someone working on mine currently for the next couple of weeks but then I think he might be available if you are stuck.

I think a lot of people answering dont really understand old properties and unusual layouts

Having said that the astro turf is a real shame and its likely to just need coming down in price.

The photos are terrible and make it look like you’re under power lines.
Install a bannister with a top handrail up the stairway - the lack of bannister will put off buyers with children and the elderly. And would prob get pulled in a survey as doesn’t meet building regs.
Borrow a larger dining table & chairs for the photos. This looks really small for the space.
Get an armchair/accent chair or if there’s space, 2 armchairs for sitting room just one sofa makes it look as if it’s really small with no space for socialising. Nothing big/chunky just something for someone else to sit on.
Take up the kids flooring in the boot room - it looks untidy and suggests it can only be used as a playroom.
Light the bedrooms better - remove the shadows. Having the lights visibly on in the photos suggests the rooms are dark. Just don’t have them in the photos. A professional photographer will avoid this.
Install a glass shower screen - shower curtains are no-no’s. Remove the storage unit next to the bath - it makes the room look cluttered & small.
The entrance from the kitchen to dining in looks like you have to duck under a beam/low ceiling. Again, this is probably due to poor photography.

Choose your estate agent based on which one takes the best photos or, pay to get professional ones done yourself. It makes a huge difference on rightmove.
I know some of these things will be a pain and involve a cost, but you’ll get the investment back in the sale price. In the meantime, withdraw it from the market.

I thought I was going mad reading everyone else's comments till I got to @MillyMollyMandy01s post. I think it looks dark and unloved and gives me the sads. Which then made me feel bad when I read your post OP. I love the bedroom and the bathroom but the other rooms need some much better photos taken on a sunny day and ideally some light bright paint. Your little ones things look kind of plonked there like you are temporary staying which you are. Can you take it off the market for a short period, make it looked more homely and cared about them and get some proper photos and remarket it? And definitely put real grass down. I had a house (ironically in Bristol) which took time to sell and it was because I couldn't stand living their post a breakup and was desperate to sell. It was like you couldn't see the love (and possibly because I refused to repaint some mustard and terracotta walls 🤣). Once I made myself more patient and comfortable there and it was a busier time of year it sold

Don't pull up the fake grass! If someone like me bought it, we'd keep it for less garden work. If someone wanted to regrass it, they can crack on.

OP, it's clear lots of people have no concept of the house. I live in Cornwall where many many cottages have open staircases and a similar layout to yours.

This thread does, however, illustrate how niche your market is. For me your home is 95% perfect and the compromises for me are ones I could live with.

Other people are making it clear how little of the house is their bag and that they would basically prefer it to be flattened and a modern box built instead.

I don't think the house looks at all dark! It looks lovely, comfy and homely to me. You can't raise the ceilings downstairs, but it's a cottage of a certain age, rather than a Victorian home with high ceilings and grand staircases. I think some expectations here are unreasonable.

Why are you moving so soon after buying?

You've barely unpacked and settled in.

That'd be a bit of a red flag for me.

I’m saying this gently (though it doesn’t read that way) but maybe you can’t afford to move right now? Sounds like you bought close to the peak and prices have fallen in many areas since then. The length of time you have spent there isn’t long enough for the property to have appreciated in value, especially given that you bought when prices were artificially inflated.

Rather than spending lots of money on moving costs, maybe it’s better for now to accept you need to stay for longer & spend some money on child proofing your home by making the stairs safer and swapping the astroturf for grass so it will be more saleable in future.

@mumda She's already explained why.

Yes and some people don’t know how much it would potentially cost to fix the staircase and jobs like that always seem more expensive than you think so would be put off any property that has obviously work needed to make it safe (especially if they have young children).

I would not get past your first photo, sorry. You have power lines running right down the garden? If not I suggest retake those photos at the very least.

To me it looks really dark and a bit unwelcoming. The garden looks depressing too. The living room looks very cramped. I think I you need a bit of colour and a lot more light. The photos are awful. Also no shower curtain in the bathroom?

It's a beautiful house but only 1 bathroom would put me off, also no downstairs loo?

Not at all true to say that just because people are pointing out the possible reasons this property isn’t selling, it follows that they would prefer to buy a modern box.

I always prefer to buy properties with character and have already said this cottage is lovely. I think the flooring for example is gorgeous and goes with the character of the property. BUT it isn’t selling so we are helping @rosemarycait96 to understand why.

Agree completely. The outside pictures show no kerb appeal, very hard to see that it's pretty and hard to work out the layout or size of the rear garden, have no idea from images what sort of space there is.
Some of the internal images just make it look so dark , the picture looking down onto the dining room from the kitchen make it look so pokey. Agree with someone else's post about the garden room and adding details about that.
Important to remember that often people will look at the images first and go no further if the property doesn't jump out to them, so they won't read descriptions giving more info or check dimensions written in the description.

Does it appear to be potential flood risk ?

OP how long were you in your previous property before you sold?

when we bought it in early 2022

you completed on this property in October 2022. that is not “early” and will likely trigger questions from anyone looking at the property listing

you are in your mid 20s

and so far

you bought in 2020
you sold in late 2022
you bought in late 2022
you are now selling in early 2024

Op… you need to pause.

You bought at peak time when properties were selling within days, if not hours after being listed, so the inflated prices reflected that. The market is totally different now so your price needs to be realistic. I’m selling my late mother’s house and the price has dropped considerably during the same time period. (We’ve had a lot of bad luck with buyers pulling out for personal/financial reasons, hence why it’s only just being sold now, several price drops later.) I’m looking to buy somewhere else and I’ve been tracking prices over that period and the market is very different now to 2022. It’s annoying as we’re used to automatically making money on houses in this country, but that’s just the way it is at the moment unfortunately.

I agree with this. And the low ceilings. The AstroTurf would bother me the most I think. It’s not just ripping it up, it’s the time it’d take to get the garden back to a natural state after the damage from all the plastic. I hate plastic grass!

As for the house, I love it, but would regretfully decide it wasn’t a practical purchase.

I'm currently looking at houses to buy, and I 100% scrutinise every single photo trying to pick uo on every single thing I think may meed to be changed immediately or in future so I can work out extra expenses (all the small expenses add up) and the effort needed.

What I get from looking at yours is...

They are not great pictures, I can't work out the living room scale or angles at all. It almost seems that you jave moved the sofa about from picture 1 to 2 so that it appears bigger. So I would get better pictures done and Improve the layout.

It looks very small.

Lack of storage l, that would be a massive concern for me.

No banister for the stairs, and there is something about stairs leading directly i to living areas that bugs me. Which I think in this case I could overcome if was paneled or had a nice banister. The lack of banister gives me 70s house vibes.

Difficult to judge where the main entrance is. I would be put off it it was stright into the dinning area.

To many different levels. Not great for young families and rbh would annoy me. I love the charm and would find it quirky if I rented the place for a week but as my home it wouldn't work for me.

The ceiling in the living room puts me off, something I'd need to change. It looks 'cheap'.

The skirting has not been finished

I'd need to install a shower panel

Need better photos of the garden its difficult to k ow the size. And if like you said the garden is the front that would put me off.

I'd need to take the fake grass up

I'd also want a down stairs loo.

The price is far to high and wouldn't make my shortlist for that reason and it is not a practical or big enough family home.

These are all my own opinions and just how I'm looking at it as a buyer. Aside from that the kitchen is lovely so is the boot room and master bedroom. The entrance to the house is inviting. And it looks clean and well looked after.

I would also change a few things to make the photos more appealing, such as removing clutter from under bed. Take out the free standing unit in the bathroom it makes it look cluttered or small. If you are removing the shower curtain remive the pole as well. Or even add a glass screen. Finish painting the skirting. Remove the children's playmats in the boot room. Get better photos of the size of the outside building.

The trouble with Astroturf is that it can be used to hide horrors. Eg maybe there’s concrete or builders rubble underneath it that would be a bigger job to get rid of.