Why has no one viewed my house?

[CinnamonSwirlLatte]

Previous marital home has been on Rightmove for a month. Thousands of clicks but not one viewing.

Already reduced by 15k.

I'd love to know what's going wrong - although it's going to be very difficult to amend/improve anything as my controlling ex husband lives there!

Thanks

4 bedroom semi-detached house for sale in Maple Avenue, Keelby, DN41 (rightmove.co.uk)

sorry I thought you were replying to my comment about a downstairs room not being a bedroom unless there was a downstairs bathroom.

I wouldn't have taken a penny off him if he'd left me and the kids alone. Oh well

Ah okay no worries

I am so sorry OP because that house really does tell your story doesn’t it and I think that seeps in through the pictires

i think some relabelling could help because at the moment the labels still reflect that story - very few with that space upstairs would want a playroom lounge/living area/dining room is much better

same with the 4th bedroom highlighting it as a 4th bedroom/office space is much better

Whilst some of the feedback about the room / dimension / floor plans and the photo quality etc are what I'd call constructive criticism, I do think people should hold back on the comments about drab, dated décore etc. If people can at least read the OPs comments they'll see that there is absolutely no option to change any décore, the exH is living there and @CinnamonSwirlLatte isnt going to gain access to the property to change any of that, so it's brutal making those comments when this whole situation must be really painful time for her, and being powerless to even access the former marital home.

@CinnamonSwirlLatte if you are 50% owner of this property can you get a solicitor to represent you to be able to appoint your own estate agent, so you can control the way the property is presented including floor plan and photos. They will need access to do all the measurements, which may need your solicitor to be involved. It means you won't have to deal with your ex directly.

our last property was being sold as a consequence of a divorce and it did take quite a while for one party to cooperate with the other and to stop blocking the sale, even though the other party was keen to accept our offer to move on with their life. It took a solicitor to step in and make things a bit smoother as the property was the main marital asset.

No it’s not. It’s 4 and one is very small.

I agree @daisychain01 there is no real need to comment on the decor as that is unlikely to be causing the lack of viewings. The room dimensions are way more significant, in particular the 4th very small “bedroom.” I was responding to a post about that with someone else getting upset that that the tiny room got described by some people as a cupboard. That is a little harsh in my opinion but the size of the 4th bedroom will be off putting to many potential buyers.

Most people re-decorate anyway. I can only think of one person who didn't but it was an almost new house and the decor was very tasteful.

"c. in order to provide 1 bedspace, a single bedroom has a floor area of at least 7.5m2 and is at least 2.15m wide"
The 4th bedroom doesn't meet this criterion. It's 4.86 sq. m.

source: Technical housing standards – nationally described space standard - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Maybe it could be described as a study.

Don't use pb we had same issue

I always find this odd on mumsnet, everyone keeps saying it; however I have actually never known anyone who buys a house and redecorates it fully throughout immediately. It gets done over time, possibly a number of years.

I dunno maybe mumsnet is full of supremely wealthy individuals like this poster who buy houses and have them fully redecorated immediately.

👏

Is it on with PurpleBricks? That would put me right off imam afraid!

Yep! We were supposed to agree on estate agents, but he went ahead and did it anyway

I've done it twice (though we did it ourselves rather than paid someone) ... both times it took months 😆

If I moved into a house that had just been painted in a neutral colour, I'd take much longer to repaint.

I dunno if it's been mentioned above, but I like precision, and the drawings "not to scale" of the layout automatically make me think there's something to hide. Put me off wanting to view if there are similar properties that I can picture better. With digital instruments it's really not that hard to draw to scale (for your agents obvs). I agree about the darkness, the light being on in every photo puts me off. Could you ask the agent to take better photos (as you've said, you can't go there yourself). Even if the photos are a bit gloomy, photoshop can help brighten them up, but it just looks bad needing the lights on. Good luck with the sale, I hope it goes through soon and you can move on.

For me it's the triangular rooms. I would pass in favour of houses with normal shaped rooms.

@whiskeyarmadillo My first thoughts too. I,m not put off by bad decoration or ugly furniture as none of that matters. I always look at room sizes and function. That weird wedge-shaped bedroom is a massive negative. I cant imagine what use it would be if you cant even put single beds in it without having to climb over them to get past.
You are paying for a 4-bedroom house and half of the house isn't really useable because of the weird extension.

I agree with the people saying to market it as a 3 bedroom because anyone looking for a 3 bedroom will be impressed with all the extra rooms and think they are getting a bargain for their money. Just put it in the description that there is a box room and a playroom that could be used as a 4th and 5th bedroom.

Good luck!

KirstenBlest

this means many post and pre WW2 homes are actually only 2 bed as the box room doesn't comply with these regulations as rarely as the 3rd bedrooms more than 6ft wide by 6.8 long - yet constantly they are labeled as 3 bed semi

Agreed but OP is asking why she is getting no viewings on the house & we are telling her this is very likely to be part of the problem.

Obviously houses with a box room upstairs do eventually sell. But they are less desirable than houses where all the bedrooms are a decent size so that affects the price you can ask for & how long they take to sell.

I think it's the bedrooms. They look irregular/awkward spaces and some are quite full. Perhaps remove some furniture.

People saying the downstairs bedroom/playroom can’t count as a bedroom as there’s no bathroom on that floor confuse me. Loads of houses (particularly 3 story ones, or those with loft conversions) don’t have a bathroom on each floor - are those rooms not bedrooms?! Strange take. We have a downstairs bedroom and it’s brilliant for a teenager - they can make as much noise as they like without disturbing the rest of us! It’s actually really good.

OP I hope you get it sold asap. I think it looks like a great house for a family, loads of space, and although I don’t know the area I’d imagine there aren’t many places you can get a house of that size for 200k so I’m sure you’ll sell soon. All the best to you.

HRTFT and I’m sorry to hear about your situation OP.
The internal photos have no redeeming features, harsh though this is. You’d be better off listing only external photos and focusing on the location and the nice village that you mentioned. The photos unfortunately are acting as a deterrent right now.

I don't think it's something to hide, I just think the estate agent, Purple Bricks, have done a rubbish job of the plan. The one from the last time the house was sold was much better.

Thanks guys. The previous floor plan is loads better!