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

Floorplan (with measurements in metres & feet)

Price

Parking info

I live in GM and am really surprised this is what 600k buys in cheadle hulme 😬😬 I think for that money people are getting a lot (like A LOT!) more for their money in other nice and trendy suburbs... Sorry thats probably not helpful when you say you cant go lower 🤷🏽‍♀️🤷🏽‍♀️

Prices have dropped for larger houses since 2021 and I was really surprised a 3 bed is 600k in north west. It looks abit cold to me and hard work with the log burner. Is there a time of day that sun floods in which would be better for photos

Wow those previous photos, floorplan and video are like a different house!

With your listing I would scroll through the photos and think it's quite a nice house, but I would completely dismiss it without a floorplan or details of parking.

With that previous listing I'm tempted to put an offer in right now. I'm not even planning on moving and I don't know where Cheadle is!

The listing(s) aren't helpful. There is far too much information missing.

No floor plan, no room dimensions.
Where is the "off-road parking"? Is there a way to access the back garden from the front of the house? One side is bricked off and the left side...is that your neighbour's? If it is your access, is there a deed of easement for all their pipework/drains?.

At some point somebody has joined two little homes together. There are odd bits of wall where a staircase has been removed. I'd need a hefty survey to convince myself it was all fine (having had an extension in my current home mostly demolished by hand, rather than a sledgehammer, for much of the structure).

Can you flip some of the room layouts around? I see one small double bed hard up against a wall and another under a low sloping roof, with big bedside tables either side. It might be the camera lens, but neither bedrooms look too easy to sleep in as a couple. Could the "study" go up on that mezzanine and the bed down in the room?

Floor plan, floor plan, floor plan! I'd never bother viewing a house I'm not able to picture living in before hand. I usually look at the floor plan first before pictures to see if it would work for my family. If no plan I'd assume there must be some major layout issue. How have 2 agents not done this for you? It does look lovely though, lovely big garden! Good luck (and get a floor plan!)

I didn’t realise it was in the North East. £600k is the kind of price a 3 bed like that would get in my area of the South East.

It's not, it's the North West (Manchester).

It’s not.

Cheadle Hulme is south Manchester/Cheshire (North West) and is expensive due to excellent schools and being leafy.

I’m going to reply before looking at the other responses so I’m not influenced by them.

I don’t see that many properties with guide prices where I live, so I’d be unsure how to negotiate. Do any offers have to be within that range, for example?

The external photos are OK - the light looks good and the sky is blue. Shame about the soaking wet ground, though (yes, I know you get a lot of rain). It looks a bit stark to see no green space outside the front of the house - could you add a few planters with colourful flowers, or trees in pots?

The interior is very tastefully decorated and looks fresh. A buyer could easily put their own stamp on it or leave it as it is. If I’m going to nitpick, I’d say the sofa looks a bit big for the living room and may be making it look smaller. Also, the room in photo 10 would look better without the baby stuff.

Photos 12 and 13 look OK, but a bit bland. Maybe a few distinctive accessories would help show these rooms off to their best advantage? You have excellent taste OP, so you probably don’t need any help here.

Gorgeous house!

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/86856978?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=buying&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard#/&channel=RES_BUY
Same area, three bed semi, £495k

Lots of areas in the North are expensive.

How is the access to the house, and is there any room for visitors parking etc? It looks a little tight for space out the front. Is there damp on the wall/ceiling in the mezzanine bedroom? I'm another floor plan addict, and the fact there's not one, nor any room dimesions, is really irritating. It's got a nice flow to it, so why the EA hasn't bothered to include either is beyond me.

It looks lovely, a beautiful home. But ultimately, it's only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it. What you already spent, or what you need to achieve is neither here nor there. No offers in nearly a year will only suggest it's the price, or some very costly changes that need doing which makes the price unrealistic. Have you had any feedback?

It's overpriced. The market is very slow at the moment and only houses that are priced very competitively are selling quickly. You might end up having to sell for less than you paid for it. It sucks to have to do this but if you really want to sell, you'll have to reduce the price.

Our vendors had to sell at a loss to move on. It was only £1K but we genuinely didn't have any more to offer, so it was that or nothing. They sensibly accepted that and were able to proceed with their own purchase. It's life I'm afraid. Appreciate that you might have to stand more of a loss than £1,000 but I'd say you probably paid over the odds - not surprisingly as it is a lovely house.

Wow that's beautiful.

I don't know the area well, but google maps says it's only a 2 minute drive away from the OPs house. I know even a small distance can make a difference, but if this is what's on offer just down the road I can see why the OP is struggling to attract any interest.

More than £100k cheaper!

It's very nice but I would
Never buy a house that didn't have room for wardrobes and it looks like from the pictures that the eves prevent tall furniture. Is that correct? If not get pics done that show this. Tall people might also be put off. My husband wouldn't want to to be stooping upstairs.

I don't know the area well, but google maps says it's only a 2 minute drive away from the OPs house. I know even a small distance can make a difference, but if this is what's on offer just down the road I can see why the OP is struggling to attract any interest.

Personally I think that's a strange comparison. Not like for like at all.

I like inter war architecture myself, but there is a lot of it about to choose from. Especially semis. An early Victorian cottage of decent size is a different animal altogether.

It's lovely, but it's not detached and the living space (not including the out buildings) is nearly 40sqm smaller...

I live in a different party of England, but the market has definitely changed here. Houses that would have sold within a week in 2021 aren’t moving, and prices are coming down.

I bought during the post-Covid bubble and I now believe I paid too much. It’s gutting, but it is what it is.

There are built in wardrobes in one of the doubles pictured, but floorplan a would help to holiday things like built in storage.

I wouldn’t consider a house without a floor plan…..always looks dodgy

My point is that if you were looking for a three bedroom house in that area, you could find a nice one, significantly cheaper.
If your preference is an off street cottage, that's fine, and it is lovely, but most people have to think about space and cost.

The photos could be much better - the one from the dining area looking out into the conservatory (sorry - "orangery"...) is dreadful - the light doesn't help at all.

Floor plan is still available following your purchase in 2021... I would suggest you change estate agent. They're lazy.