Another why is my house not selling post

[Alldressedupnowheretogo]

I have a mid terraced house on the market in the most desirable street in St Albans. Priced at £600k which exactly fits (sold) comps and reflectsw we I spent renovating it + average valuation gain in the area since i bought it.

Must have had 30 viewings. Two offers on the first open house day at £5k below asking. Both fell through. Another FTB then offered and pulled out.

It’s all freshly decorated and staged. It’s a cottage like most in this area - disadvantages of these structures are downstairs bathroom and no hallway - but with the addition of a fully tanked basement with spare room/reception and home office. The moisture levels are the same on each floor so no damp in the basement. The doors and windows are beautifully re-done. The kitchen is De Vol.

It’s been on for three months. What do I do?

I think it’s my target market (FTBs, divorcees) not being able to get their mortgages as they all keep coming and people are offering and then pulling out.

But these are the things that maybe make it hard to sell?

Lack of parking spaces for residents (city centre issue).

Extra 300 ft of basement space not worth much?

People freak out about basements even when fully tanked?

Can’t do the loft as it’s Grade II listed.

Price??? Not sure about this one as the fallen-through offers were v close to asking.

Viewer feedback is mainly that they think basement will flood (not in flood zone) and the stairs need repainting (yes but srsly??)

Help?

Probably because all properties are just too expensive. You have to be on top dollar, massive savings, helpful family. I was able to buy my first property alone, in my twenties on an average salary thirty years ago (and a fifteen - twenty min train ride to the centre of London). Couldn’t do that now. We all have to be lottery winners or all the stars need to align.

Because you can't earn as much in the North. If you work in an investment bank in the City earning £200k a year there wouldn't be many equivalent jobs.

That's why the South East is so expensive. More jobs, more opportunities, more facilities.

Well as you won’t link to the property I would say no parking , downstairs bathroom and price .

But the front door is shared - there’s a communal hallway for the two half houses which I wouldn’t like.

I mean some people do that. But for some people, their work is in London or the home counties. Lots of jobs are pretty much only available in London. Publishing for example. Or national journalism. The place I work at is very unusual for not being in a (the) big city. Not every job can be done remotely.

And lots of people like living in or an easy commute from London. The cultural offer is so good. We often go to London for theatre or music, so much more amazing a range of options than in the other cities that we live nearer to. Tho we use them as well.

I mean to say @Alldressedupnowheretogo please tell us which house is yours? Otherwise all the comments about the decor and the space are total red herrings. I mean I assume it is the one that ppl have found as "basement with reception room and home office" and "downstairs bathroom" and fairly major details to obfuscate. And if they are not in your actual home then we can't advise in any meaningful way.

If it is your house, then I agree with much of what ha been said. The stairs up and down are a real issue as it's not super obvious from the listing that they are open to the rest of the house – I imagine some may not like that.

I am also not a fan of plastic lawns or bathrooms off kitchens tho those are clear so the number of viewings is odd, I agree. But I would certainly add a pic of the second bedroom and the home office as otherwise I am wondering what is wrong with them.

I think the other houses linked that are on for less or have sold for less are nicer, sorry.

If it is the 595k one it looks nice. I would never ever buy a downstairs bathroom. I helped my son buy his first property (end of a tube line but prices are about half St Albans, which is a 2 up 2 down terraced and we rejected every one with downstairs bathroom and got one with upstairs but they are hard to find as those tiny terraced houses were often built in times when people didn't have bathrooms).

if it doesn't have real grass then I hate that but that'sis not big deal as it takes about 5 minutes to pull up the plastic grass and put down compost and then grass seed so that would not put me off.

Some people like living in London or nearby because their families live there. Or because of the better career opportunities, or because of the cultural opportunities. Or because every time they venture north it seems to be raining & colder than where they live. Horses for courses @nosmartphone
Also people have historically made more money on property by buying in the South compared to the North so it has been a good financial decision for people like me to live here as well as London being where my family are from.

It’s very similar to the house I bought year’s ago, I was single with no children. It suited me perfectly. No parking but I didn’t drive. So it really depends on each person’s wants and needs. Only difference is I couldn’t possibly buy this house as a single person in 2024.

Honestly, I wonder this myself a lot!? Me and DH are earning average salaries, nowhere near these London salaries mentioned on posts like these! But our families are here, we have kids now, parents are getting older... it's hard to pick up and move. I worry about how my kids will ever afford to buy.

I wouldn't live somewhere without parking in a busy area, and I wouldn't touch a listed home, too many restrictions and everything costs more to do because of them..

I'm pretty sure there are a lot of people like me on that.

Genuine question - why don't people just move up north and have a better standard of living?

@nosmartphone The simple answer is lack of work.
Unemployment is greater in the north.

All the top earners are in IT, banking, private equity, big law firms, commerce, top 4 accountancy, etc and they are based mainly in London.

Some are living out of London now, as far north as York and commuting in if they only need to be in the office 2 days a week.

Everyone saying “i wouldnt buy anywhere without parking”… do you not realise that places with parking in the south east cost an absolute bomb? It’s a luxury that with the cost of living in this part of the country, people have to compromise on. There’s always parking on the street and in London and commuter towns we tend to be used to that.

If it's one like this OP, surely it has to be price?

It's a LOT of money for tiny rooms. It's beautifully decorated but people aren't silly; in normal life it would be cluttered instantly from the lack of storage and space.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/153911216

I know it's a nice area but there are lots of other nice areas in the commuter belt where you'd get a 4 bed detached for that money.

I can't disagree with you @BunnyLake. At some point the house of cards will collapse.

@BunnyLake I agree but I do think it's particularly bad in certain regions/areas ( and not all of them 'down south' - I've just been back to my original home town Mansfield for a few days to see my son this week -and whilst I wouldn't pick to live there and it's not considered'nice' - it does have some extremely nice leafy areas for housing ( and I'm fussy) where you can still buy a very big house in a good area for £300k and a modest semi for£180k and a terrace or 2 bed flat in an attractive modern development for £130k to £160k . Where the problems are affordability wise relative to income mainly relate to all of down south including south west, and 'desirable' and sought after areas in midlands and north.

Why?

I have had a downstairs bathroom for 13 years and its never once been an issue.

I have lived as much of my life with upstairs bathroom and down stairs bathroom and honestly there is no difference 'function' wise.

In fact downstairs is actually easier 'pros and cons' wise: no running up and down when your getting ready to go out, toilet training toddlers its right there when you spend most of the day, don't have to keep going upstairs to use the toilet, right there for guests without them having to wander through the house, more accessible to those with mobility issues etc...

Most of the living portion of life is downstairs and since your far more likely to need a bathroom when awake it just makes more sense.

Ok for me downstairs bathrooms are a nightmare with kids (bath time downstairs then having to trail upstairs to get changed/ trying to manhandle kids down and back upstairs for a sleep wee before you go to bed), embarrassing for guests who have to walk through the kitchen in a towel for a shower or do a poo within earshot of the entire household, dodgy for toilet smells (especially when straight off a kitchen rather than a hallway) and more than once I’ve nearly fallen downstairs when going for a wee when half asleep! Most of the time it also means that there’s also only 1 loo and the positioning (like with the OP’s) compromises the kitchen in terms of the size and access to the garden. Obviously the ideal is a loo on each floor but if I had to choose I’d definitely go for an upstairs bathroom and no loo downstairs.

downstairs Bathrooms are very unpopular due to the slightly uncomfortable issues they cause, as a pp said, coming down the stairs at night for a pee, having to trail through thr kitchen for a shower etc, the benefits you mention are resolved in most homes with a loo downstairs and the bathroom upstairs.

Downstairs bathrooms are a huge issue if you're elderly or disabled and need to navigate the stairs in the night. They're also an issue with small children who need to the toilet in the night and can't safely navigate the stairs alone.

We have one off our kitchen and it's a real PITA to be honest. There's very little privacy if there's someone using the kitchen and it doesn't feel all that hygienic, I have to say.

And vice versa... an extra upstairs toilet fixes those same issues.

Are they unpopular? theres literally millions of houses with them, I have been house hunting 2 years and majority of house we have seen has had a downstairs bathroom.

Are people really getting young kids dressed in their bedrooms?

I have young kids I can't be supervising all of them getting ready in different rooms at the same time, wildly unpractical. Also adds the joy of extra chores of having to cart the laundry downstairs from the bathroom and cart clothing upstairs to put away... sounds like a bloody nightmare and also a danger given my mobility.

I also have never wandered through peoples houses in just a towel upstairs or downstairs and especially not if people are sat there. Go in dressed, get undressed, washed, dry yourself and put clothing back on you don't wander round naked as a visitor.

I don't think anyone with actual experience of being severely mobility disabled would say a DOWNSTAIRS bathroom is the problem, if anything an upstairs anything is the problem.

There is nothing unhygienic about downstairs bathrooms at all, that been proved to be an outdated view with no basis.

It doesn’t really, you still need to trail through your kitchen for a bath or shower. Which is a considerable issue for many people.

There is nothing unhygienic about downstairs bathrooms at all, that been proved to be an outdated view with no basis.

It may not be unhygienic but it still feels it.

Personally, I don't like using the bathroom a metre or two away from where someone is cooking and equally, it's not particularly pleasant to be cooking your dinner while someone is on the toilet a door away from you.

A disabled person would likely prefer to have a bathroom/toilet on both floors.

Maybe it’s just different ways people live, I get my kids bathed then they go to their rooms in a towel and get into PJs there. If I dressed them for bed in a downstairs bathroom I’d be having to cart PJs/ nappies etc about.

I never get dressed back into my clothes in the bathroom after a bath or a shower, I usually need 5 mins to get dry, plus the bathroom is steamy/ damp so I don’t want to be getting changed in there. I usually walk to my room in a towel and get changed in there.

I agree- for some people with mobility issues a downstairs bathroom might be a good idea, but in the OPs house there’s nowhere to sleep downstairs either, plus with the cellar/ steep stairs it seems much more likely to be of interest to younger professionals or 1 child families who I imagine might have similar issues (small child/ family & friends visiting).

It’s not necessarily hygiene as such, it’s more embassment/ smells doing a massive wee/ fart/ poo next to someone making dinner/ watching TV. Feels a bit too “call the midwife” circa 1955 for me. Of course I’d live with it if I had to but it would absolutely be a big down point for me, and I’d also be looking to change it asap (and I know moving bathrooms is a horrible and expensive job).

Yes there is a permit system. Most people seem to find parking reasonably near by but that might mean not in you road.

Lots of good points made by the impracticability of a downstairs bathroom. I agree with all the points and just to add my own - in the case of illness it is highly inconvenient to need to rush from your bed all the way down the stairs to the loo to be sick / have diarrhoea (sorry, I know that's TMI but it's a reality when people are unwell). I also have IBS and an unpredictable bowel that often wakes me up at night, so I personally need to know a toilet is close by when I get out of bed.

We live in a 3 storey townhouse with a toilet each floor, so that suits me perfectly (and is ideal for toilet training a toddler as it doesn't matter where you are in the house!). But if I had to choose a floor to have a toilet on, downstairs would be my last choice I'm afraid.