House has been on for sale for nearly a year with no offers. Would love some feedback and advice!

[Veebie86]

We bought our 1850s 3 bed cottage in 2021 and although we absolutely love it, we got pregnant last year trying for our second and ended up having babies 2&3 in January! We have no family too close by (my parents are an hour away) so we sadly put our house on the market in early August last year to move closer to my family for support and to have more space than what we have currently for 3 under 3. In 9 months we’ve literally had just a handful of viewings with no offers. People constantly tell us how beautiful our home is (and we honestly love it, just wish it was bigger and closer to family)! We’ve tried two EAs who have both said it’s priced right for the area and the market and we can’t afford to drop any lower anyway to avoid making a loss (we’ve done work since moving including adding a downstairs toilet). We’re honestly getting so down about it now as our babies are just getting bigger so quickly and starting to feel like we’ll be stuck here forever. Link below and if anyone has any tips or feedback I won’t take anything personally and would just appreciate the help!
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/146014529#/?channel=RES_BUY

As lovely as these suggestion are, they're not going to help sell the house.

It's been a year, the only thing will lead to a sale is reducing the price.

Street picture could be better. It looks like it could be two houses. Easy to retake with all lights on.

Exactly. I doubt any buyers have held off making an offer because there wasn’t fruit on the table or flowers in the bedroom. I think it was Sarah Beeny who said the ONLY reason a house won’t sell is because of the price. She is absolutely right.

It is a beautiful house, but if its on a B road, with lots of traffic, I wouldn't contemplate it. Maybe a price drop and then it may attract a buyer not bothered by the road. If its on a quiet road, then I'm stumped because it is gorgeous, unless it is overpriced. Good luck OP.

If your house has been on the market that long, it must be partially if not fully due to the price. Dipping it below £600k is worth a try. Can you take it off the market for a few weeks and during that time

• change your EA
• sort out the price (ridiculous putting £600 -£635k - who's going to offer the higher amount if the lower amount is shown!)
• take newer photos
• do something low cost with the garden, remove the children's toy from the middle of the lawn, it spoils the appearance. Add some groups of nice Spring pots with pansies and primulas for a splash of colour and remove the dead/dying palm tree, it's awful. Also strip away the ivy, that's awful too (sorry!), mow the grass then immediately take the garden photos.

Why hasn't the EA emphasised you're in the catchment to CHHS? People will do anything to get their kid in that school.

Definitely agree with this.

take the photo of the house and (if the garage is yours, take a separate photo of it).

why do estate agents always take such shite photos!

It doesn’t help me because I’m not looking to buy it. OP is asking for advice on what would help sell it.

the floor plan should help op sell, and help prospective buyers know the layout. But it is only helpful if op can get the estate agent to add a floor plan to the listing.

floorplan or video walkthrough
picture of the front without the pavement or next door’s garage
better garden pictures showing how large it is
better pictures of the lower mezzanine level again demonstrating size
change the baby pink everywhere - dated in a cottage and divisive. House otherwise looks ready to move into.

It’s a beautiful house! I agree with other points about the floorplan etc but ultimately the market, particularly at that level, is stuck at the moment. I think you may be better waiting it out unless you’re willing to make a significant drop.

Some of the photos are really poor OP, especially the bathroom ones. I would be wondering what you are hiding.

Not always.

location, location, location.

if you're property isnt in a reasonable location with benefits such as a good school, or near a train station or close to an area of open countryside, some beneficial feature to attract a buyer, then it doesn't matter what price you set, it may be slow to sell.

it depends on the type of buyer demographic you're likely to attract, and of course there are some who will compromise due to affordability. In this case the OP will be attracting someone with deep pockets who can be choosy and will expect those immovably features. Getting them through the door is the first and the biggest challenge.

I would scroll on if I saw the first picture. It looks like the photos were done on a wet miserable day?

it just looks like the area is damp and needs a good scrub.

but if you took the photos on a brighter day - it would look much more welcoming and balanced.

(I lived in an old cottage that had rising damp and lots of green / dark dingey areas around the outside)

Looking at a street map it seems there is a house to the left then there is a B road. I don’t know the area but looking at the map I’d expect it to be a town centre busy type of B road. So there is quite possibly road noise and that would put me off. When there’s bigger, cheaper houses in quieter locations in the vicinity i wouldn’t be looking at this one even though it looks like it has nice character.

These photos are a lot better (warmer colours and the rooms look brighter and more homely)

Firstly, I want to say that you have a lovely home.

Having gone through the house buying/selling process earlier this year, I know what a stressful situation this can be.

As others have said, a lack of a floor plan would be my first issue. During the seven months that we were looking at properties, I instantly dismissed those online without one.

Secondly, I cannot see anywhere where the measurements of the rooms are given. This again would make me question why?

The EPC is a low reading. I found it interesting when ours was done that this figure isn't necessarily weighted towards the 'big' items that I thought it would be (boiler, insulation, etc) but in fact the sort of light bulbs that are in the property make a difference and that is something that can be easily and cheaply addressed! Could this be the case with your property?

The estate agents ask for feedback from potential buyers after a viewing. Have the comments been of a consistent theme? If they have, is that an area that could be easily addressed without a lot of additional time and cost invested?

I think a few additional photographs of 'wow' areas of your home would help to attract the attention of potential buyers.

I have no idea about the price as I do not live in the area.

I also think people are, understandably, cautious at the moment, with the cost of living crisis, upcoming general election, general uncertainty about so many aspects of life.

However, there is someone out there who is going to buy your house, and sometimes these things happen when we least expect them to! Best wishes to you and your family for a move as stressless as possible!

It's a lovely place but overpriced for the location with no parking. It's the same price as my Victorian 3 bed cottage in the London suburbs. Lack of floor plan suggests a quirky layout and small rooms.

It is always the price. If the location isn’t ideal then the the buyer is making a compromise. However if the price is low enough to reflect that compromise then it will still sell. If the price is too high then no one will consider it worth making that compromise.

@Overthebow that’s not really true for a lot of Manchester. We are selling our house for 20% more than we paid in early 2021 and we have extended it or made structural changes

It's absolutely beautiful OP I love it :) :)

Kindly pointing out what I think may be issue:

1)The floor plan as others suggested

2)The outside front of the house : it looks too plain and the big dark building to the left catches your eye. Get some nice little bay trees for the outside and some potted plants, it will make a huge difference

3. parking is unclear what is it like around there for parking aside from the garage?

4. is there any history to the house people are looking into or any past issues

How do you find that? I clicked on sale history but didn't see it.

Ignore that - saw the link above

I hate guide prices! £35,000 is a massive range. It would put me off. You are getting people to select the house within the range of 600,000 and then they see the guide price. Normally people search for a house a bit more than they can offer. I'd remove the guide as it's been on so long

Having looked in detail through the photos again.
It's like they were taken by the work experience kid. Who had seen other property photos and thought that's what they were supposed to look like.

The angles are terrible
No lights on
Gives no sense of the flow through the house.

Is that a rangemaster cooker?
Why have the outside photo taken after it was raining?
Definitely list the distance to the school if it's a good one.

Change the price to 595 to get a wider viewing public. Then hopefully it will sell for over 600

Im not an estate agent but I live not too far away from you and we’re currently buying. I think the price is too much.

Don’t have much advice but solidarity! Exactly the same here, though ours is much cheaper and 500yrs old. Loads and loads of viewings and no real feedback other than ‘a bit smaller than what we need’ or ‘ceilings a bit low’. I think people are very risk averse given the current climate and unwilling to take chance on an old property.