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

having had a few houses, I wouldn't ever rely on having lovely neighbours to solve a skimpy parking problem. My current neighbours are lovely and there is loads of give and take but have been in circumstances with a previous neighbour when it was a real headache. I think the house is lovely, the location not so much.

OP, take it off, wait a month or so, get a new agent and then launch it again with better photos and floor-plan.

We found that actually slightly under pricing it worked really well for us. We got lots of interest and viewings then and because people felt they were getting a bargain, there was a bidding war and we got the price we wanted in the end.

Really minimal feedback tbh from either EA ...

Unfortunately that in itself tells you they're not doing their jobs properly.
Maybe after all this time they're starting to lose interest, but if that's the case you're on to a loser anyway and need a new one - preferably with a much lower price to reflect all the issues folk have mentioned

Thank you! Really appreciating so many of these comments. My partner is actually 6”2 and since babies came along this went from our spare bed to primarily his most nights 😂 and he has no problems so we’ll definitely look to angle this better in pics.

havent rtft but reality is - if people say they wish it was bigger - it's priced too high. Because that means the people looking at that price range think they can get more elsewhere for same money.

Here is what I did to sell my house - I wrote a personalised description explaining why we were leaving but MASSIVELY bigging up the area (v specifically our road/ what was nearby etc why I loved living there) - ie. I said things like - we have loved living here and are only moving to leave X city - this neighbourhood is incredihbly friendly, we have street parties - I said things like 'there are incredible parks witin 10 minutes - X place for pubs/ x for cafes - this area is XXX

It REALLY helped - we had multiple bids. Remember - people are buying a lifestyle and a dream of the future! When you choose a home you are choosing a place to bring up your kids, to make friends for life, to walk about daily

There is just none of that here - you need to sell your dream to people

I also think you should give info on why you are moving so quickly - my thought wld be its too cramped or bad area if you didnt explain.

also on first glance at street view it looks like its right on a main road - what is the safety of coming in and out of the house with toddlers? That would really put me off - so if that's not accurate you need to explain .

I'm wondering the same thing. @Veebie86 I understand it's difficult, but unfortunately it's the only way you're going to sell.

I thought this too

I have 3 pieces of feedback:

1. As PP have said - needs a floor plan
2. I think the external photo needs to be redone after the green moss is power washed off - it was raining when the photo was done and all that green stuff looks very slippery (back but especially front). It would put me off.
3. Tenure - just says "to be confirmed" I think it's important to state "freehold" if it is.

Lovely house but I agree with most of the comments.

Not sure if it's already been said but I would also get rid of the mossy algae stuff out the front on the pavement and up the wall. It would concern me that there would be a damp problem otherwise.

Power washer and soda crystals are good for this and environmentally friendly.

Beautiful house. I looked at others in your area and most at a similar price have 4 bedrooms, though yours has the advantage of being detached. There seems to be another 3 bed detached that has sold for the same price. Yours is a quirky layout though and I think that won't work for everyone so it narrows your target market. You may just need to wait for someone who loves period houses. I agree with taking it off and remarketing in a few weeks with a floor plan and better photos.

OP has said it's a small mews road. Maybe this could be made clearer in the marketing.

I feel really mean saying this but you have asked for feedback & opinions.

for me, it has no kerb appeal. It actually looks like it could be a solicitors or a some other company building.

You really need to make the outside look homely and pretty, after all, that’s the first impression people are getting. ( lots of tips online for this )

good luck!

The principle thing for me that puts me off about this house is the bedroom with the mezzanine. The room would work much better without it, the bed is now squashed under a beam without enough headspace. If workspace is needed there’s plenty of room in the garden for a pod. It would cost a lot of money to fix.

People don’t not buy houses on the basis of pot plants outside. If they don’t own any of the pavement they can’t put anything on it.

I would ADORE this house!
Just for the entrance!

I don't think it would be £700k. There's a couple of four bed terraces up for sale off Burton Road for around the same price; they'll have similar parking issues but they're bigger.

And I think that's another point. I said upthread DP and I probably fit in quite well to the type of buyer of this house. But if I'm looking to spend £600k on a house that is similar to the OP's, I would spend it in Didsbury.

OP, I think if you take it off for a couple of months and put on at 495, you'd be likely to have much more success.

I haven’t read all the replies, so apologies if this has been mentioned. From the map, it looks as if your garden is south facing, and it seems you have pedestrian access from the road to the garden, both of which are big plus points for many people (sunny and no need to lug garden materials through the house, can just chuck any muddy dogs directly into the garden to hose down, etc) I’m surprised neither are mentioned in the description.

As a gardener, I don’t care that your garden needs work - love a blank slate - but at that price l, I’d expect some garden storage space: decent shed at the absolute minimum.

Agree about floor plan, room sizes etc, and dislike the mezzanine being called ‘a bed platform’ - other people might imagine different uses for it, plus it suggests a very tiny space (which makes be the case, but you do not need to highlight it).

If you have on street parking only, the description should not say that you have off road parking. It's not a private road and there's no residents only parking restrictions (as far as I can tell), so you don't have guaranteed parking. If one of the other houses had lots of visitors arriving by car they could take all the available parking and you'd have nowhere left.

yes, says it all really

A beautiful detached house like this in the centre of Didsbury is going to be £700k.

you have pointed out terraced houses in west Didsbury and as you say they are the same price. Detached in the village will be more expensive. A terrace isn’t comparing like for like. So you kind of proved my point?

I don’t think thr floor plan is the show stopper folks are making out.

its price, it’s always price. How much did you buy it for, it was marketed at 475? And that was about 3 years ago? That’s a large increase you are looking for on a short period.

Hs anyone said a floor plan would be a show stopper?

People are just saying it needs a floor plan so people can see what is where!

@Veebie86 You need a jetwasher on the front paving. It looks terrible. Also, as pps have said, new pictures - and one of the front without the garage as it's not yours.

Sadly, you did pay over the odds, and are probably going to lose £50K on this. It's overpriced IMO.

OP gorgeous house! As someone previously said you will need to wait for the right sort of buyer. I understand your wish to move closer to family for help but if you can cope the house is big enough for 3 little ones for a while - so maybe wait for the housing market to improve?

there is an estate agent that specialises in ‘beautiful’ houses - link here.

https://inigo.com/about

dont know if they cover your area but it might help to go with someone who understands period properties and who will attract buyers looking for something special.

you can also ask a good estate agent to quietly market your house - so go low profile, take it off rightmove to stop it looking stale - but if they speak to buyers looking for a period property like yours they could send them the details and arrange viewings.

i wish you all the best.