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

Reality is, the long period of depressed interest rates inflated house values. Houses are no longer worth what they were, if a buyer offers the same price at 5% rates that people were paying when you could get a 1.5% the monthly payments are utterly unaffordable.

It always fundamentally comes down to price if a house isn't shifting. I live in a very popular area outside london and there's a real trend of people putting houses on too high and failing to recognise values are dropping. The fact you can't afford to take a loss sadly does not mean its worth what you want for it.

Op, look at the other detached properties available in Cheadle.

You aroud 150k overpriced in my opinion. You can get so much more for less where you are.

It’s an absolutely beautiful property (obviously) but have a few thoughts. As you know, size is important, and the first thing people look at to see if it would fit their family is a floorplan. Second is parking.
Were you given comparable properties when the price was agreed? You should have been give three of similar size and with the same number of bedrooms within a half mile radius. I can see that you bought it for quite a bit less and the pics from the previous sale look almost identical to the ones you have on now, which makes it look like you haven’t done much.
Also the nearest three bed in lovely condition went for £440k. That’s quite a jump, even three years ago.
Basically if something is priced correctly, people will buy it in good time. The fact yours has been on a year makes me think the work you have done has probably not added much value and it must be overpriced for the area.

Your house seems a good enough size for three children so I don’t think the house is a problem if you stay. I can understand wanting to be nearer family though.

I think the inside of your house is lovely. Initial thoughts would be lack of front garden and parking though if I was doing a drive by on it.

It's the price. You can tell from how few viewings you've had. That tells you that the majority of people who want a house like yours either aren't seeing it or think it's too much. People search in price brackets on Rightmove. I can see that you do live in a pricy area. However, I would guess that in the £600-650K bracket the vast majority of searchers are looking for a 4+ bed house, based on what others have said about what else is available at that price. People looking for a 4 bed are almost certainly not going to view a 3 bed no matter how beautiful and quirky the house is (and I do think your house is beautiful).

For a lovely character house like this, in the right price bracket, at least one buyer will fall in love with it.

This area has two excellent secondary schools, also good primaries. It is therefore very much a family area & families are more likely to want the bigger gardens/room sizes that other posters have highlighted are available locally.

It’s a lovely house but I think most buyers looking in that area won’t want it for the same reason as you-it’s not an obvious choice for a family home when most other houses in the area are. While the price doesn’t immediately seem entirely out of kilter when you take that into consideration it is. You’ll either have to wait for the buyer who wants something a bit different for the area & is prepared to pay for it or drop your price a fair bit. Previous advice re floor plans etc also important.

It looks lovely but I think it’s massively overpriced (and I do know the area well) for a house without parking. Having a price range will put people off and make them think that you are going to be difficult with the price.

floorplan is a must.

needs more kerb appeal - two nice pots outside the front door as a minimum and a phot taken on a sunny day (easier said than done at the moment!).

A bit of a declutter and hiding the baby stuff for photos wouldn’t harm. I think this is a house that will appeal to a couple without children (younger or much older) so promote that lifestyle in the photos.

Pots at the front door will not sell this house.

We were looking to buy at the same time as you and in the same price range. One of the areas we were considering was Cheadle Hulme, so I have some knowledge of the market there in 2021. Sadly, I think you overpaid then. It’s understandable you don’t want to make a loss, but I think you are asking too much.

We ended up buying close to Cheadle Hulme in an equally desirable and expensive area. We paid slightly less than you for a four bed with a garage, utility room, and better energy rating, so better suited for a growing family. I think we also slightly overpaid, but the market was insane that time. Houses similar to ours are being marketed at just under 600k now.

It’s a very nice house, but the usp is its character. You will have to wait for the right buyer for that price, as not many people are willing to pay such a premium for character in this economy. The other option is to reduce the price, add a floor plan and emphasise it’s close to CHHS (schools were the main reason we were looking in the area) and hopefully appeal to more people.

The garage in the photo with your current EA makes it look like it’s yours and comes with the house (due to the angle of the photo and the garage door being open). If I was interested & I contacted the EA only to find that it belongs to your neighbour, I probably wouldn’t be interested in viewing the property.

Yes, it's going to take much more than plant pots and fruit baskets. Pots at the front door are only going to sell the house, if the house they're sitting outside is priced to sell.

I would get the agent to redo the front phot and chop out the neighbour’s garage, as that is only going to cause disappointment when they ask and find it isn’t part of the house.

At least you are getting lots of viewings which suggests it is priced about right.

500 year old properties are niche, people find them appealing visually but on reflection they aren’t the most practical for modern life, plus people worry about hidden costs.

You will find the right people eventually to buy but they have to be the sort to have a natural affinity with very old houses. Heart over head types.

You do need to reduce it if you want to sell any time soon but the issue will be the pricing tiers on Rightmove. Your current price means everyone who is searching for up to £600k (snd I assume £650k) will see it. The search tier below £600k is £550k so if you reduce the price to a small amount under £600k you will still have the same audience who have already seen and dismissed it.

Probably worth coming off the market for a couple of months, asking to have all the previous listings removed and starting again with a new agent and listing and lower price.

This. TBH I’d never use an agent who didn’t provide good floor plans, with dimensions, as standard.

Former estate agent here so here goes…

1. new photos, the rain in the ground tells me the blue sky is fake. You also can’t make the inside lighter on a rainy day which is a whole new can of worms if your photos have the lights on
2. floor plan - lazy agent, is he even going to contact me about a viewing?
3. new agent, get the high end ones round, I don’t know your area but Savills, Fine and Country, Knight Frank etc. These sorts of agents are going to have people on their books wanting to spend in that price bracket.
4. change the price - having it from £609k just tells me you’re desperate and that’s how much you me mortgage is for so if I can only afford the £600k listed I’m put off

hope these don’t sound harsh! Personally it’s a beautiful house and I’d snap it up if I could afford even half of it 😍

Sorry ignore the price bit, I’ve re read it xx

I think the house looks lovely but if you’ve been on the market that long and not sold I think it becomes a vicious cycle that people start to think ‘what’s wrong with it’ and don’t view.

If I were you I’d take it off for a bit. The market has been awful this last year and you could have just been unlucky to start with and now it’s become a ‘stale’ house that hasn’t sold.

An hour isn’t actually that far to be from your parents - I am about that from mine and consider us to be living close! We’ve seen them roughly weekly since my children were born (oldest now 7). Maybe make more of an effort to make plans to see family now.

There are usually things you can do with furniture and room layouts to make the space work better for you in the short term- better storage, more or less chairs, different beds etc. Objectively your house is a size that is big enough for three children. Houses on my road are a similar size to yours and I can think of at least three families with three children that have been there since they were little and are now tweens/ teens:

A year down the line the market will be very different, will have refreshed, and you could be in a really different position and sell easily. Why not relaunch then, bearing in mind some of the tips you’ve had here?

I wouldn’t consider a front aspect window to be a plus in a downstairs toilet, so I wouldn’t highlight this in the particulars. (I’d probably be fine with it at a viewing when I could see what the privacy is like.)

Thank you! I hope you’re right.
we moved here just the two of us from a new build after 5 years of failed IVF. Within 3 months, I was pregnant. Now we have a two year old and rather than the dream house it was a few years ago, there’s danger round every corner 😂

It's a nice house but I'd be put off by the exposed brick hearth and the lack of any front garden. I would not pay that price for a house that opened straight onto the street. Or one with no dedicated parking.

Is the garage attached to your house?

It’s lovely!

I think ‘off street parking’ needs to feature in the list summary before the description, as does ‘secluded mews location’

I bought in 21 and am having to come to terms with the inflated prices then due to the SDLT ‘holiday’ and general frenzy. I am reminding myself that if I sell at under what I paid then, my onward purchase will be similarly down in price.

Hi Op, I love the house! But, I find the presentation of the property confusing. It's not clear which room is what and where it leads to. Your agent needs to take far better photos, the outside photos aren't complimentary at all, the upstairs photos are not clear as to whether rooms link to others? The garden needs a bit of TLC. Do not change the decor. Look at other properties nearby and see what's selling? As a lovely of older properties, mine wouldn't meet half the requirements on here either. You either like and old property or you don't!

The house is a "quirky", house I bet lots of people love it but will not buy it. Sorry
Quiet private street does not help. Especially the small,entrance from a bend on HH Road doesn't help. Also having The Hesketh vacant close by since Covid doesn't help.
Ultimately though it all down to price. Anything is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it now. What people paid previously is irrelevant to the price of a market today.