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!

On the contrary, I'd suspect it's precisely the people who have lived in old properties who are wary about the downsides. I grew up in a house that was partly pre-Tudor. That's why I now live in a a nice, warm, modern property 😀

This thread has just made me remember years ago when viewing a house, one of the bedrooms was an attic room but there were no stairs up to it, just a bloody small ladder, which was right next to the stairs over the landing😐

Talk about a death trap, I had young kids then, didnt even go up that ladder to view that room, just made excuses and left😂

Lots of great tips above. Some you can change and some you can't. Certainly get that floor plan updated with dimensions.

I'm also suspicious when EA's hide the Property Price History section on RM.

Houseprices.io suggest that you could get out with a small increase over your purchase price, but I think that you should have made the price tempting at outset. We can also see that previous owners haven't lived in the property too long and that can be a red flag.

That photo 8 isn't helping much, where the room behind looks too dark.

I have spent my whole life in old properties, most still coal powered and some listed etc... that exactly WHY I'm seeing all the red flags of things that could be very problematic not just 'theres mess under the bed' or 'I don't like astro turf'.

Honestly as an person experienced in old houses I wouldn't even go look at this one.

Not a sale house but someone posted a house on a 'old houses' group on Facebook that had something like that. It was an instant 'hell no' to ever going near ladders like that.

If you misbalanced on the flimsy ladder with no banister only held in place by 4 screws you would have fallen 2 stories... talk about a death trap.

We are looking at getting the loft done (not a full bedroom conversion but made a usable space for storing clothes and a little office area) and moving the hatch comes as part of the package.

I think you were naive to think you could make a profit on a house you have owned less than 2 years AND have spent money on.

As a buyer I would be concerned why you were moving so quickly (i know you've explained here). The astro is a big turn off who anyone who wants an actual garden as the work to put it right i huge. Lack of bannister means immediate work to be done before i would move in etc

I've lived in old cottages with all the quirks and agree with the above poster that my experience would make me avoid this one.

That staircase is illegal as there's no handrail. If stairs are under 1m wide they have to have a handrail on 1 side. If over 1m wide they need a handrail both sides. A wall doesn't count as a handrail. As well as the danger of the stairs, I'd worry about building regs being ignored in other ways. If you can't fit bannisters, you need to put a handrail on the wall.

Uneven stone steps to kitchen leading to a stone floor. Nope, I'd crack my head.

Awkward layout with regards to doorways/furniture/fireplaces. I'd look at how the living room is arranged to see if there's a better way.

AstroTurf an immediate no over that much area as it will cost a lot to remove it and fix the land.

Over priced compared to local properties.

Sorry, I know you can't do a lot about all of these, so price is probably your best route to selling.

There are photos on Zoopla from when you purchased in 2022 which are a lot clearer and make the rooms look a lot lighter/brighter. Just positioning the sofa in the lounge differently it looks much more of a room than a corridor. The outdoor photos too are more attractive and tie the grounds to the property.
Perhaps change to the agent that was used then - after all their advertising persuaded you to buy!
@XVGN have a look on Zoopla to see the previous listing history.

for me it would be that all the ceilings look to Low and it looks too compact and also i hate fake grass and you can see the edges of the fake grass/astroturf as well

I’m in a similar village in a similar area - I’d hope for 425 for our 3 (2 bed really) detached cottage with workshop and garage, better secondary school catchment so perhaps yours is priced a little high. Having said that our garden is at an angle and our access is bananas…and your bathroom and kitchen are much nicer.

We also had open stairs and had a carpenter fit some simple plank-style bannisters for £400 - this was a few years back though. I would definitely look into this! I think your house is sweet but I do feel there’s a shift in Bristol commuter areas…nothing’s moving in my village either compared to 2021-2022 when our neighbour’s house sold in 3 hrs 🤣

Hi.
your floorplan doesn't show doors to the kitchen.
As lovely as the house is, we would have to pass it on due to low ceilings (lots of tall people here). So might be some proportion of people who it will put of.

It's a lovely house and will sell.

It's amazing how small aesthetics make a huge difference to people coming to view it, and that's the key. I had a very quirky flat, it was empty and I barely got any views. I staged it, had better pics taken and had 3 offers in a week....

Get a different estate agent, and new pictures. Make sure it's really "selling the life" there.

Tidy up the driveway, get dims put on the floorplan and get a better description written.

Good luck!

I thought I'd post an update as a few things have happened - haven't had a chance to read all of your replies yet but thank you so much for the tips, encouragement and advice. <3

After a few days of waiting, we had 1 more viewing, they turned our house down in the end because it's too small for them. Fair enough.

Another week passed and we eventually called EA to ask them to reduce our asking price to 400k. Also had a bit of a moan at them because their communication and non-existent proactiveness has meant we feel a bit forgotten about to be honest.

Following the price reduction we've had 4 viewings booked! 1 cancelled so in total we have 3 viewings in the next week. My fingers are crossed.

(FYI the reason for their cancellation was because they found out that there is an alpaca farm behind our house and that meant they couldn't chop down all the hedges blocking their views at the back as we don't own that boundary😆I for one love the alpacas)

We weren't in a massive rush to sell at first, but since listing I've become pregnant with our 2nd child and I'm now mad with determination to move as fast as possible!

Congratulations on the pregnancy. Did you sort out a bannister on your stairs? 😁

Honestly, if I lived in your area, I'd nearly call around and sort it out. It would be so quick to do and would prevent people being put off by a job they might think was difficult.

@rosemarycait96 oh my god, OP. I thought I couldn't love your house anymore and then you mentioned alpacas. Why can't you just keep your house until I sell mine?

I don't think you reduced enough the first time round - a reduction from 425k to 415k is simply not enough. You have done the right thing in now reducing to 400k though it's a bit worrying that you had to suggest this not your EA. Your EA should have advised you to reduce to 400k weeks ago which suggests they are not proactive enough.

Maybe it’s moving in 2 years? People will wonder what’s wrong with it.

{posted on wrong thread]

Previous poster hit the nail on the head. The open staircase with no rails would be dangerous for a DC. Your garden looks a bit soul less too. I like the majority of the house though. I'd reduce the price again to try to get a sale.

I'd be getting a banister and sides to the staircase. It shouldn't be very expensive if you can do it yourself i'd say about £200.

I agree - we had a moan at them a couple of weeks ago because we haven't had any calls from them at all apart from to arrange viewings. We can't afford to reduce much below 400k unfortunately so we are going to stick it out a bit longer.

A viewing took place today. All of our viewings so far, including todays, have been middle-aged couples relocating or downsizing from towns in the area. Younger families are definitely not our audience!

Any update since you reduced to 400k @rosemarycait96 ?

For me it would be the open staircase and the fact that there are no windows in the lounge. However this doesn't seem to have bothered any other posters so maybe it's just me.

Haha, about a quarter of the replies have mentioned the open staircase!