No viewings in two weeks

[Boleynforsoup]

My house has been on the market for two weeks and I've not had a single viewing- one was booked but he cancelled 10 minutes before he was supposed to come.

It's on at 20k less than I had it on for 15 months ago and I had loads of viewings then but ultimately it wasn't the right time for me to move so I took it off market.

I've added a rightmove link:

www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/150332717#/?channel=RES_BUY

The others at that price seem to be semis. I don’t know the area but it doesn’t look the best value for anyone with that budget. It’s a nice house though.
August and July are low in general.

Downstairs bathroom puts a lot of people off.

Also the very dark walls makes the rooms look very small.

For me it's the garden, it either gets no sun, or it looks like it from the photos. Also looks like there is no storage and the bathroom looks like it needs a refurb. De clutter. Repaint white and better photos on a bright day will make a big difference

The photos are just awful sorry. I'd be really annoyed if that's what my estate agent had come up with

I like your house! The photos are not good though.

Bathroom is less than five years old and has been kept spotless, so I'm not sure why several people have said that. One I viewed at the weekend had a bathroom that looked ok, nothing special but clean and white in the photos. When I went to view it had black mould in the sealant and looked really tatty. Really put me off so I get a bathroom needing replacing would put someone off but mine is newish and super clean. I've repainted it twice since being here to keep it looking nice.

Garden is a total sun trap so definitely better photos needed there.

There is storage, huge cupboard under stairs and in one of the bedrooms and space to build one in the other bedroom if you wanted, plus back porch and small brick shed in the garden.

That’s not picky just embarrassing, what’s her coffee table or cat scratching post got to do with not getting viewings, she didn’t post asking you to critique her furniture,

You see, those are actually good selling points, and the photos definitely don't show that!

Just to add it was one of with the same agent with the same photos before and got loads of viewings. So nothing has changed in the listing it's just 20k cheaper now.

The photos are terrible, they need to be retaken. I wouldn’t view your house because it looks too small with no storage, I think it’s beautifully decorated though, the photos don’t show the potential.

Can you rearrange your sitting room to put the sofa the other way, off the wall to create a walkway from the front door to the kitchen and close off the sitting room from the front door. Put the cabinet in the alcove and your lamp to the side of the sofa. Turn the coffee table round. Remove the photos from the fireplace and put a vase of fresh flowers. Could you borrow an armchair to put against the wall to give more seating options?

You need better photos of the kitchen and include one of the dining area, can it fit a table? You need to show this.

The bedrooms need decluttered. While open hanging takes the same space as a wardrobe it makes the space look cluttered but if you remove the boxes it will look better and I think people can look past that but at the minute it looks like there is nowhere to put anything.

Can you stage the garden with seating and bbq for new photos?

good luck!

I would discount it purely because there doesn’t appear to be a garden.

Storage appears to be an issue. Like PP my eye was drawn to the open wardrobes, as well as to the strange white cupboard in the sitting room.

Kitchen/diner doesn’t look as if it has been designed to maximise the space, plus I also noticed the crooked door.

Bathroom pic focuses on one corner. I need a sense of the whole room.

I know it sounds daft but the angle of the TV and the light in the living room pic makes the whole room look crooked.

pics of the front are not inviting. The first one looms and the second features a lot of car. Makes me think that parking would be an issue.

It’s not necessarily the price itself, but the house currently doesn’t look as if it’s worth that price. I’d get the photos re-done, complete the listing (EPC etc) and then have a good hard think about whether it’s really worth that price. And remove the ‘offers over’ tag. That makes it look as if you’re not open to negotiation.

Maybe it was a different market before. But it didn’t sell anyway.

Something has to change and we are suggesting what.

It’s overpriced.

I think you need to focus less on what happened 15 months ago. Unfortunately right now, you can get 3 bed houses for the same price within 0.25 miles.

It is not a great time to sell - both time of year and in general. Given the lack of interest, if you can't lower your price, I would be re-evaluating if I need to sell.

Can you paint your front door? I think it would look more inviting than white. And perhaps hanging basket?

When we were selling a flat it was amazing what difference time of year made. We had zero interest in July/August, started picking up in Autumn, nothing December and then Jan/Feb was a good time. So I'd say be patient :)

The dark grey is hideous, gloomy and would be an instant no for me as it’s such a bugger to paint over. I’d also sort out the kitchen cabinet doors - a few of them are coming off their hinges. Bedrooms look fine but the pictures are really poor, sorry.

It's a well presented house in turn key condition. The main issue is the price. Even £20k under the asking 15 months ago is too much. The market is on a downward trajectory which means if a similar property to yours sold at X two months ago, it wouldn't now.

Id be looking to bring that down to £225, hit the new bracket on right move and compete against the larger properties on the market in your current range.

If you're not getting people through the door it's predominantly price and then pics. Start off with a picture of the frontage, always.

August is always a hard sell. September October should pick up.

So definitely get better photos of the garden and bathroom (but house generally looks nice).

actually I think it may just be the time of year to be honest - combined with a lowering of interest rates (so people waiting to see if they can get better deals).

The photos make it look small

Why can't we see the garden properly?

For me it's the downstairs bathroom. If I can find a similar size property, similar asking price but with an upstairs bathroom I would prefer that TBH.

We have recently sold and I was honestly amazed at how the smallest thing can put people off and we hadn't even considered it when we bought it.

It could well be the price but it depends how quickly you want to sell or whether you are willing to wait for the buyer that will potentially love it enough to pay your higher price .

I really love the dark walls so does appeal to me but I do agree, my first thought was why are the photos at such a weird angle

There is storage, huge cupboard under stairs and in one of the bedrooms and space to build one in the other bedroom if you wanted, plus back porch and small brick shed in the garden.

How is anyone supposed to know that if they aren’t immediately obvious the photos? You mention spending money on plantation blinds, cast iron radiators but those don’t stand out in the photos. I didn’t notice them. If you think it will appeal to people, do separate closer photos showing these features.

I also think the garden photos are dreadful. The garden doesn’t have any chairs in it, so looks like the current owner doesn’t use it. Looks like a small square of yard for putting the bins out, and nothing more. If it’s a suntrap, wouldn’t it have garden furniture and potted plants in it?

I also think your photos are rubbish. Can you ask the agent to reorder them so they at least feel like a walk through of the house? As well as getting better ones taken?

Particularly of the garden. Empty, it's hard to gauge the size of it, but you say it's big enough for furniture and entertaining, so can you get your garden furniture out and stage it as that for new photos? Atm the weird split garden photo looks more like an advert for the flags you've used.

The bathroom photo is also awful.

I think you probably need to let go of the £20k price difference. It doesn't matter what it used to be priced as tbh. I'd ask a few agents about their thoughts re August Vs September listings and consider taking it off until then or whether price is an issue. Did all the agents who visited give you a similar list price? Or did you go with the highest?