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

100% this.
Please don't touch those beautiful beams.

Hi, it’s deceptively bigger than you think and fits two cars width. We park outside our front door. Don’t think I’d cope with 3under3 otherwise!!

If only they would!! Unfortunately there’s a lot more of them there to move than there is just us 5 here.

@Veebie86 the other tip fkr future photo's and viewings is to replace energy efficient bulbs with ones that are as high a wattage as possible. It makes a huge difference.

Oh fair enough.

I had a look on Google Streetview and it looked like I'd struggle to get my Polo down there....

Must be deceptive.

Yes we get it a lot. I would have thought the same when we first moved here! To give context there’s currently two cars next to each other outside ours with still room to drive in and out of the mews next to them - by something the size of a Sainsuburys van etc. if needed.

Overall, I think your house is lovely, it has lots of character and is tastefully decorated inside.

However, I personally wouldn’t even click past the first picture of the house in its current format to see the inside. I suspect that is your biggest issue at the moment (other than possibly price, available parking and floor plan that others have already mentioned).

I would personally suggest the following, relatively cheap changes, to see if it draws more people to look at the listing :

1. Buy some ‘Wet & Forget’ or similar, spraying it on the paving and cobble stones outside to get rid of all that slimy looking green algae. It’s amazing stuff and makes everything look nice and clean. Currently the algae on show is rather off putting and distracts from the front of the house, making the surrounding area look dirty and unkept.
2. Get a new picture taken and uploaded cropping out the black property on the left and garage on the right that is not yours. Just focus the pic on the house and state the available parking in the listing.
3. Get rid of one or both of the alarm boxes if not in use as it makes the front of the house look tired and in need of tlc.
4. Put some rectangle planters against the front wall with some pretty flowers or plants to make the kerbside view more appealing in the main listing image.

Otherwise, sending you good luck, I hope it sells soon!

At the end of the day you have a 3 bed, 3 reception (albeit a bit open plan) house with a shower-room, bathroom and another loo.

A different suggestion but, since you love the house, could you stay put if you switch the upper floor around a bit?

Get rid of the mezzanine double bed and make that part a playroom (stairgated, obvs). Put the older child in a bed below.

Put the twins in the long, thin bedroom.

Parents/inlaws can stay in a Premier Inn/Travelodge (or swap a sofa, for a sofabed in the lounge).

Nobody else has commented, but I also found it odd to have a roof gutter at the front, just spilling water onto the pavement.

If you don't want to drop the price by £20-£50k to find a buyer or pay for a better estate agent (I have no idea about your local prices), would you spend £1k getting an architect to suggest how to remodel some of the spaces to make them work for 5 of you?

Op I feel for you, we were in the same boat. Changed EA three times and all said 600k was a bargain price and don't reduce. Last summer we insisted and reduced to 575k, accepted 550k and are now ready to exchange.🤞It's taken forever and very disheartening. Your house looks lovely, hope you get an offer soon.

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this but EPC is also quite low.

its a three bed hose and the 3rd bedroom has a mezzanine floor within it

I love your house @Veebie86 .

I have to say though, ultimately it’s the price. Sorry.

I'd reduce to £585 - not a lot less but psychologically well under the £600k threshold.

Also - decide on your target market and dress the house for that. Eg if it's retired couple focus on the orangery/garden.

Could you get featured in one of the magazines?

Declutter, kerb appeal and other points above.

Having looked at other houses in the area on at 600k, they all seem to be set back off the road and have off-street parking and/or a large garage. Repeating what everyone else here is saying, but you need a floorplan or people will assume it's an odd layout. Window boxes or something to brighten the front of the house will attract viewers. Street view shows quite a bad bend in the road at the exit from your street onto the main road, which wouldn't necessarily put me off but it depends how fast people drive down it! The house beside you (with the dark wall) looks poorly maintained and it's not clear who owns the gate/passage to the side. You need a better photo of the outside of the house, but the indoor photos are fine to me-- beautiful interior and beautifully presented.

@Madcats post has some good ideas. Unfortunately you may have overpaid for the property back in 2021 and this is now coming back to bite you on the bum as you want to sell so quickly

The thing about the parking for me is that if the agent lies about off road parking (which they have - ‘usually easy to park on a public road’ is not what is meant by off road parking and the estate agent must know that), I’d be worried about what else they (and by extension the OP) were lying about.

There are two main reasons I won’t book a viewing of your gorgeous house, OP.

a) The building next door on the right, with the black wall facing the alley. It looks like this might be a pub\club and the soil pipes are right next to your front door.

b) On viewing the map it looks too close to a railway line.

Sorry to be so horrible.

Your house is beautiful and so tidy!
It mainly for me is kirb appeal because if you get people through the door they will see how lovely it is inside. Sort your kirb appeal and maybe drop to £597,500 to bring you under the £600k psychological and search barrier.

I was thinking similar. I'm in a one double bedroom flat with 2 kids and I'd kill for this beautiful house. Even without the floorplan and even if I had to have another kid 😭

Yes - I'm a property developer in the NW and we market a lot of ours through Savills.

I lovely, but agree with everyone here. I always look at the floor plan. It helps to understand the space.

@Veebie86 I love your house, do you really have to move?

When our twins were born we moved closer to family, but that’s still 75 minutes away. We see them weekly and they help so much. Closer would of course be better, but this distance is very workable. My twins are now 5.

Also, yes I always look for a floor plan, but I think you’ve got that message 😂

Goodness, whoever took the pictures or arranged them shouldn't be an estate agent.

Beautiful period house and tidy overall, but just get rid of the first picture where you see the black building on the left with ugly waste pipes and choose the 2nd picture (taken slightly from the side, perhaps crop to get rid of the mossy/algae - ideally retake on a dry day! - and house on the right).

Ideally get photos retaken for a day that is perhaps not wet or overcast; taking pics either earlier in the day or later in the afternoon provide a 'warmer' light usually.

I'd get rid of pic 1 and 8, declutter from pic 10 (retake), same with 11, 14 (remove toys or whatever is in the open fire space), 17 seems very cropped!, declutter pic 18, get rid of 19 (or ideally retake remove kids paraphernalia), pic 20 better for the garden (but annoying that you see part of the slide - maybe crop),

Definitely need a floor plan but you know that. I just don't look at houses unless they have one.

Good luck!

Look, the issue is the price, I know you probably don't want to hear it but it is.

We had the same, bought at the peak of the market in 2016 just before Brexit hit and tried to sell in 2021 in the covid boom. Unfortunately the place we were selling a flat without garden and post covid no one wanted those. We ended up selling it for about 30k less than we paid for it which was annoying but we'd never have got rid of it otherwise.

Sorry but it is the price. If you want to sell it then lower.

in that case, I think you need to add a photo to the listing that shows this.