Why isn’t my house selling

[18Willow]

Hi my house is a bit unusual but we’re not getting a lot of interest, I’d be grateful if you could look at the link and advise on any improvements. Please note the outside wall has been painted since the photo was taken and a new photo will be done this week. The price is spot on for the area too. Thanks https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/150644813#/?channel=RES_BUY

Shouldn’t it say “formerly a B&B” rather than “formally a B&B”?

I'd put a door from the nursery room out to the top of the stairs, assuming there's room. As it is you have basically a weird corridor from bedroom one into bedroom two via the en suites and nursery - I wouldnt be too keen on that.

Box in the boxy thing in the annexe so it doesnt look so industrial. Also, why is the driveway painted as parking spaces rather than just a drive? It makes it seem like a business rather than a home. And is that the only vehicular access to the property? So you park there and go in via a side door rather than using the porch?

There’s a big contrast of older decorating style and new. So looks like different properties.

Newer kitchen and bathrooms just seems out of place compared to the rest.

This is going to sound harsh, but as an ex-local - it’s Elgin, OP. Who has nearly half a million to spend in Elgin? They can’t recruit doctors in Moray, the owners of Johnston’s and Gordon Macphail presumably all have their big houses. The industry just isn’t there to bring in people with that kind of money very often. You will just have to wait for the right person imo, and take the price down if you can. It’s a lovely home.

Wow! That's a lot of house for the money, I'm so jealous! Don't know anything about Elgin but it's bloody tempting at that price!

How many KwH are listed on your EPC for heating and hot water? Cannot find because not England.

Gonna hazard a guess that it’s an E and it’s over 40,000 PA. Which is massively off putting these days.

Ours is listed at 26000 but we actually used 39000 because they mis measured and we are at home all day. We’re in a modern house and it cost 3.3k in 2023 (also includes cooking and everything else). 2,240 sq ft EPC C.

When I looked into moving to Scotland, you pay about 6% more for energy (I was looking at Borders) than I do in NW.

Agents are struggling to shift anything over 300k too, but the size and age for heating is an extra intimidating factor.

Costs too much for the area?

The rocking horse gives me the creeps and makes me think a ghost lives there... can just imagine it slowly starting to rock one evening. All. By. Itself.

Having said that, it's a beautiful house and if it was closer to me I'd look at buying it!
But to mirror what others have said, the £16k thing makes me nervous.

I think the downstairs layout is awkward and could be off putting as it would need work to make it more practical.

Have you have viewings but no offers or no viewings?

I think its the layout and therefore the price really. The decor is ok but not a cohesive style. Those two downstairs bedrooms next to the garage and parking aren't very big and more like a study size. I think that back extension needs to be turned into some sort larger living space like a kids den or playroom. The photo's haven't been taken well abd have made it seem quite dark. The kitchen isn't big enough or wow factor enough for a 6 bed house....but really yours is a 4 bed family home size wise so the kitchen size is ok....but the price isn't right.

There's a similar looking 6 bed house on the market for £520 on Duff Avenue which has much more outdoor space, a wow factor kitchen diner extension and huge garden for only £51K more than yours.

For £44k less than yours the 4 house on Gordon street that is on for £469 has much lighter looking interior, more cohesive decor, a better layout and front and rear gardens and a driveway.

If I wanted 6 beds the more expensive one would be a way better choice because it has 6 big bedrooms and all that lovely kerb appeal. If I didn't really need 6 beds then the cheaper one would be better because of the layout and kerb appeal.

I think you need be prepared to drop your price quite a lot.

First impressions without reading the comments:

1. Too dark and dingy. If you need all the lights on in summer, what will it be like in winter?
2. Expensive to heat.
3. Modern minimalist kitchen not in keeping with period style house.
4. Not much of a market for a house that price in your area.

Overall it is a beautiful house @18Willow however a couple of things jump out at me;

1. the wall paper in the hall is very busy, it makes the area feel dark and claustrophobic. I would find a way to make it more neutral, it's quite a personalised pattern.

2. the dining room looks tiny on the floor plan and an odd shape, it might be worth looking at that. It's not clesr from the photos which is the dining room as there are 2 different dining tables set up.

3. the comment about it being 16k under market value is weird, it implies there is something wrong with the property

What has feedback been from viewings?

If you're not even getting people through the door then it's too expensive. Doesn't matter what any valuation report says, or what a similar house sold for six months ago, if no one's even looking then it's too pricey for the market right now. You either need to reduce the price or be prepared for a long wait.

If people ARE looking but no one's offering then that's what you're paying your agent to find out. They should be asking for feedback. For every person who says "it wasn't my vibe" there'll be someone who offers decent feedback such as about it needing more work than they anticipated or that the bedrooms were too small or the garden is too big or the house felt cold etc. And based on that feedback you either market the house differently, make some changes to the property yourself, or put the price down.

Fwiw it looks like a very nice house, albeit a bit dated in parts. However, there's a relatively small pool of potential buyers in Elgin (versus, say, Edinburgh) and the market is pretty depressed nationally at the moment. So I do think it's too £££ for today's market in that specific location. What you do next depends on how quickly you want to move and how much you can afford to knock off.

As a PP said, It should be formerly; honestly, is a good grasp of the language too much to expect of estate agents?

OP, we are visiting Banff this week, and coincidentally looking to move, so I’ve seen your place on Rightmove (curiosity, rather than planning, we need to be closer to London and south east England). I think it’s a terrific property, but the photos are rubbish - as others have said, cut about half (starting with the parking spaces one) and others really do need retaking. What’s with the watermark? It’s distracting at best, and on 27, it gives the appearance of the window overlooking a house roof. Very odd.

Some of your decoration is going to be polarising, but that’s often the case. That said, I would make some of the rooms more neutral (I hate blue walls with a passion) and lose things like ironing boards and tables and chairs where they’re really not needed. Less furniture in the bedrooms, and a few rugs to break up floor spaces. Let the rooms breathe a bit - I’d happily use a suitable bedroom as a snug, study or sitting room.

We also have an unusual property up for sale, and have accepted that it could take a while to sell, because there’s a very limited number of potential buyers. It might be a case of waiting, if you can, or dropping the price, if you absolutely can’t - but before dropping the price, consult other estate agents - your current ones are doing you no favours.

Good luck.

The floorplan makes it look like a good sized 4 bedroom with extra small bedrooms tucked into corners wherever they can be squeezed in.
The living room furniture is pushed back against the walls and gives nursing home vibes. It is a room that calls for some generous bowls of flowers on the table and mantle piece at least for the photos.
Lots of sad brown carpet to be replaced.
Lots of "personality" in the decorating choices and patterns.
I'd have made the beds with white duvets and pillowcase for the photos.

I would take out as many of the fussy details from the rooms as I could – knick knacks, pictures on walls, coloured lighting, coats hanging up on the pegs. Also would go for neutral duvet covers in ecru or similar. The wallpapers are busy and won’t be to most people’s tastes.

And agree with others, the bit about BMV pricing would make me question why. I’d just remove that bit.

It's a bit of a mish-mash of styles, clearly it's a lovely solid old house but it's facade has been ruined by horrible plastic windows, and inside looks like it fell victim to the fashion for stripped and varnished pine in the 80s (it would all look much more classic and 'original' if the woodwork was painted), and then it's had a 'modern' decorative facelift which doesn't quite sit right. If I was looking I'd be concerned about inappropriate modern materials and the cost to reinstate appropriate windows as a first priority.

@DappledThings exactly what I came to say! The entrance and some of the bathrooms have a really tied together style that are in keeping with the house…and then the kitchen and some of the other bathrooms are very drab.

To me it's the mismatch of styles sitting room period fireplace cornices skirtings then black modern vertical radiator it just jars and is very expensive to change. Unfortunately this reoccurs all over the house the clash of period features and modern. The market is slow in Elgin at this price point . Probably nothing to do with you but the two large upstairs windows that are single pane rather than sash and cash look alikes look very odd. The large south facing garden is lovely the parking is not a good look and the side wall by street is very low compromising privacy. The annex is weird I would re advertise as four bedrooms and turn annex into playroom home office etc but I think value is nearer 400k

It's stunning I just can't afford it. Personally I think the price is very reasonable for a 6 bed house but not many people can afford it and want to live on that area.

Dreadful gloomy photos.

Declutter quite a lot.

Plain bedding.

Lovely garden but entrance to front door is via a gate in the street which may put young families off.

Since covid people are living in smaller homes…..cost of living and all that….the market for your home will be very small…..could just be that you need to ride it out….my friend put a 5 bed on the market in my town in the NW for 699k ….even after dropping it 50k she had no interest…..,she finally sold it this summer for 640k after 17 months…..the EA said from the outset….it will sell in the end but it won’t be a quick sale

It's a very unconventional floorplan and it's not really particularly family friendly. Very few people need that many bedrooms or want that many bathrooms. I know I wouldn't want to clean 7 bathrooms. It also has interiors from at least 3 different decades in there and they all clash.

I think it would need to be marketed as a business opportunity rather than a family home. Having said that, I don't know the area at all and I don't know if it's a touristy place. From others responses though I can tell there isn't a big pool of people who can pay that sort of money for a home in your area. You do have two entrences though and two separate staircases, would it be possible to make it two semi's and sell each for less? Might open it up to more buyers.

If I had children I wouldn’t buy…..the garden doesn’t seem safe….people coming thru the front gate like the positive and Amazon delivery…..that big road next to the garden…..I wouldn’t even come for a viewing…..if I was you I would get different garden photos….make it look a bit safer for children

It's quite normal in Scottish property sales to say if it's under home report valuation. It's more unusual to go straight to fixed price but some people prefer it.

My main thought is lighting of the pictures. They all look very dark but it looks like they were taken on a sunny day so have they just messed up the lighting?

If it's not a dark house I'd be wanting them redone. In terms of the kitchen particularly, the first picture looks poor. It's much nicer photographed the other way looking out rather than in.

I'd be tempted to remove some of the duplicate angles. If it doesn't show anything different about the space then it's not adding anything.

I don't know Elgin so we'll but north east Scotland too and things have been slow here, especially the bigger properties.