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

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/139232690

I would say this is better value for £600k.

I don’t see that approx £40k in 3 years is a reasonable expectation of return as the msrket is softening and you bought at a high point sadly

Floorplan, parking, odd layout and what looks like some damp would put me off coupled with the inflated price. It looks pretty inside and I like the garden but again, the price is too high

My honest impression: I do like the house and I like the wood features. I wouldn't paint over those! It would be a negative to me if you did.

If I wanted to downsize and I saw this and it was in my price range and compared well to others in the price range, I would come and look in person because it could be of interest. I would consider this property.

I would like to know if the garaging is part of your property. If it's not, that could be a deal breaker for me.

What I would change: If buying this I would need to change the grey carpet. Not that there's anything wrong with it, it's just not my colour. So I'm looking at changing a whole house of carpet.

I would definitely visit though, even without a floor plan, because I can judge for myself. It's a lovely home.

The photos are terrible. None of the photos gives any idea of the size of the rooms.

The street view looks grim, with paving that should be power washed, and some sort of potted plants are needed by the front door.

A photo of the front of the house should be taken on a sunny day.

There's no floorplan.

Parking?

There is clutter in the kitchen, the bathroom, and the baby bedroom. You need to clear your counters and all related kitchen surfaces. Bottles of oil, baby stuff, rubber duckies, etc. need to be put away.

The dried vegetation over the fireplace needs to be put away.

It’s listed as medium flood risk. That would put me off, but then I’m paranoid due to previous unfortunate experience. Not much you can do about that, but it might put some off.

Also clutter in the photos. Your wood bucket is practical perhaps, but not attractive. Remove it for photos and viewings. There’s a white side table with loads of bits and bobs on it.

My recent estate agent told me remove all clutter, with the exception of a few, high-end features. It looked like a cosy show home and sold immediately after languishing on the market for six months before I bought it, one year earlier.

A Mumsnet tip for viewings - massively declutter. Remove everything. My car was packed to the gunnels with washing baskets, bins anything that hinted at real life!

Good luck.

Move the bed in the double bedroom out from the wall - as everyone has said, noone wants to sleep in that mezzanine bedroom, so this one should be dressed as the master bedroom and the bed is shoved against the wall - look at how its positioned in the previous listing, its much better

The mezzanine needs work, either new photos with less stuff in that space from a different angle so make it seem roomier, or move the bed downstairs and make The upper level an office instead

Reorder your photos

Get a floorplan

Lack of floorplan and measurements is an obvious issue.

It's expensive (and council tax band E).

It's very small for the price; rooms look small and so is the garden. And you know it's small - that's why you want to move.

The first photo was obviously taken when it had been raining; a better one in sunshine (if you can find any) would help.

I like the beams, but hate the bare brick walls (except where the original oven was).

The conservatory (or orangery as the previous agent had it) will be expensive to heat.

No garage. Is the off road parking actually the wide bit of pavement in front of the house?

The photos are terrible. None of the photos gives any idea of the size of the rooms.

This, the photos seem to capture larger furniture pieces you can’t tell the room sizes. It looks dark in some pictures and light in others. I would expect more from a professional.
Even the bathroom photo is awful, where’s the bath/shower etc

It really is bizarre there’s no floorpan…

as others have said new photos and pots either side of the front door…. Olive trees or lavender something like that… and when the pavement isn’t wet from rain??… fresh and bright iyswim ;)

The photos from when it was previously listed look much better!

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/details/england-138708086-93431262?s=ac7b91be6407900f0053a0b56530a6c1ed43d30af63bc398adc145cb8610df14#/

Your house is lovely but the listing is hard work. People flick through listings and important details need to jump out at them. Things that confused me or I had to work out : -

1. Is it both sides of the house looked at from the road?
2. What is the floorplan?
3. Is there parking? Is that garage belonging to the house? If not where do I park?
4. Why is there a shower room and bathroom? Is one of them an en suite?
5. Why is the master bed on a ledge? Does a bed not fit in the downstairs bit? If I have kids that seems like I'm a long way away from them? Why isn't the second bedroom without a mezzanine the main bedroom?
6. Is it on two levels or three levels?
7. Can I get to the garden round the side of the house or is that someone else's path beside the front door?

Floor plan.

Drop the price.

Does that conservatory have inside doors or is it open plan? It looks open plan and that’s going to be a heat sink. That puts me right off.

Is that silver toilet the new one you’re trying to recoup costs on? It is horrible. You’d have to pay me to have that installed.

I don’t like all the dark exposed wood.

Please don't paint the beams white! Terrible advice. It's beautiful house.

It's too expensive for how quirky it is. Needs to be about 400K perhaps less.

powerwash the pavement at front of the house to get rid of the green stuff. If budget allows I’d paint the exterior

I've got to be honest and I don't think it's what you want to hear.

The market has been dropping off. I live in an upmarket Manchester surburb and houses over £400k or so just aren't shifting quickly; perhaps interest rates, cost of living etc.

The houses on Rightmove around Cheadle that have gone for around £600k are 4 or 5 bed.
Lots of 3 bedroom ones that price are being reduced.

Putting in a downstairs loo isn't generally something that adds huge value to property, though it might make it more attractive to some.

I think your previous agent marketed it well but unfortunately it comes down to the price - it is only worth what someone will pay for it.

Apart from the issues with no floor plan:

Front of the house seems very green with algae. Pressure wash or use that spray and walk away stuff. It makes me think it is damp.

It looks like two house originally and now one from the front, so doesn’t quite look as it flows internally nicely. It also looks a bit green at the bottom of the render, again damp.

The view of the back of the house looks much better than the front. How can you make the front look cohesive?

Beams mismatched colours and are dark. Look up the Frenchic Beam Hack.

Otherwise a lovely house.

It's a gorgeous house!

But the worst photo is the first one of the outside from the street - can you get your agent to retake it at maybe a more flattering angle (and definitely on a sunny day)?

I think people may be scrolling on because of this and the lack of floor plan.

This, basically. You can't buy in a peak time and then sell in a low and expect a profit, or at least not quickly.

I think it's an absolutely gorgeous house, ticks loads of boxes.

But it's a 3 bed - there will be hundreds of other 3 beds in the local area, many less than £600k and not opening straight onto a through road with a railway line close behind.

Adding to my post to say there looks like there are two burglar alarm boxes on the front of the house, so it looks like two houses.

Change the outside light by the front door to something more exclusive / modern take on period look.

Definitely add a floorplan as PPs have said There aren't even floor sizes for rooms given in the description which would massively put me off. I have in mind a rough area of house I'm looking for as stage one of my shortlisting houses criteria. In omitting this basic info, I can see how your house could be getting overlooked. Also I'd get rid of the 'key features £600,000 - £635,000 if it's listed for £600k currently on Rightmove and hasn't sold in a year. Honestly, I would look at listing with a different agent as you have nothing to lose.

I would change the first photo to the lovely one in the lounge looking out into the garden. The front of the hone doesn't would also be much improved with some pots maybe a seat to make it look more welcoming and less sparce.

Not for me.

I've seen a lot more wows for a lot less money too.

This house doesn't even have a front garden. The front door opens up onto a throughfa. That's not a wow for me, and nor is the size of the rooms.

My DSis said the other day that the value of a property is only what people are prepared to pay for it.

So maybe it's overpriced?

The fact that there isn't a floorplan always makes me think there is something to hide. Have you got a bedroom off a bedroom for instance? The EPC could be better, that's a concern for me. When I clicked on streetview it wasn't easy to find the house, so I gave up. The price does seem high to me, if you compare it to semi-detached properties in your area that probably have as much space as you do and are cheaper. Sorry but that's my opinion.

I only love down the road and whilst your house is lovely, you’ve done it do well, I can buy much more in the surrounding areas so I do think it’s the price x