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?

But to have three offers fall through or pull out in as many months?

And did all 30 viewers that didn't offer go in thinking, "Well [that's] an issue, but maybe we could live with it"?

Make yourself a nice cup of tea and stop being so touchy.

ODFO

I like the house (not nearly £600k like but it’s a cute cottage style home). What’s the purpose of pics 14 and 15 but no bed 2 pics?

The metal strip around the sink is often used if it's a chipboard worktop, to hide the chipboard inside when it's been cut. I think it looks clumsy and I'd doubt it's something you'd ever find on a deVol kitchen.

lol, well I wouldnt know our kitchen is Wickes

However we have a solid wood worktop and of course around the butler sink it does get more wear and tear so I think it looks nice and is a good idea

I wouldnt have thought someone would have a laminate worktop and a butler sink, but if they do, and this is the solution I think its a neat one

out the back we have another butler sink in laminate but its recessed with its own lip, so there is the problem.

I mean, there isnt a problem

@Twiglets1 I know SA really well as have lived there twice . Personally I actually preferred south west London ( have lived there in the past too and still go a fair bit for work ) - more to do close by, better shopping, the river and parks rarely come better than Richmond park and Hampton court etc - also has good schools and has the bonus of being in zones for similar house prices. I think younger couples in particular are weighing up the costs/benefits and young families too - I don't disagree that SA is nicer than Enfield- but it is in zones , isn't bad and you can't totally take cost out the equation if any commuting at all is involved given the size of mortgages needed- as I said below if SA was £200k cheaper and in zones, then I'm sure it would be a prime choice for many. It used to be when there was a clear differential on London house prices . It's kind of priced itself out I feel

I didn't say they couldn't afford to buy in St Albans. I said it makes poor financial sense once you factor in travel.
It's not an assumption on housing stock. It's a fact that there are a lot of properties on the market in many area. A quick Rightmove search shows that this is the case currently for similar properties in St Albans. The point I'm making is that things may be changing in terms of the demand for very small, starter homes in places like St Albans. That theory appears to be backed up by the fact that there are a lot of similar properties not selling/ being reduced. The fact that the OP has had three buyers pull out in a short space of time is more than bad luck.

I don't know how you can say SA has priced itself out @Crikeyalmighty the prices for property there are what they are, which is very expensive.

Plenty of people are still buying in St Albans despite the high prices though I appreciate it isn't the place you would choose to buy in any longer.

You need to be more detailed if you're going to say that.

'Poor financial sense' is subjective.
If someone commutes only part of the week, why not live in SA?
Or they may work from home or run their own business.

Houses are not bought purely on financial costs. There are other factors like being closer to family, or access to motorways, good state or private schools, clean air.

I've had a look at all the properties in St A from £550K to £650K.

The OP's is actually cheaper than the others (older style) that are all over £600K.

There are plenty of other houses such as semis and newer homes, but they aren't so close to the station.

fact that the OP has had three buyers pull out in a short space of time is more than bad luck.

You're implying there is something wrong with the house.
Maybe it's the fact it's listed?

Lenders get very twitchy over Grade 11 houses. And buyers may not realise there are restrictions on what they can do with it.

It's more likely that as they had a viewing day with 30 people there, two put in offers without much thought just to try to secure the house.

This is what these 'open for viewing days' do.
They create pressure, make people panic, they put in an offer, and then withdraw.

@Twiglets1 maybe priced itself out isn't the best choice of words- but I think it's no longer an automatic 'let's move to' for young couples looking for smaller homes and still needing to commute a fair bit and they are looking in other places often within zones ( not always) after factoring in commute costs. One friend of mine has bought something similar to the OPs in central Guildford - but for £420k . Those that no longer commute or rarely commute I think are maybe also looking at a lot further out to get a bigger place for non London prices. We live in Bath but there's an awful lot of London couples and young families here buying 3 bed big terraces and semis for about £550k or 10 miles over in Frome and corsham buying roomy 4 bed detached modern houses for about £475k or 3 bed cottages period and modern with upstairs bathrooms and garden for around £380k

Ah well everyone’s different.

Guildford & Bath are very desirable places too.

I just think St Albans prices are what they are whether we (or other people on the thread) would buy there or not.

@TheBoldHelper The one on Lower Dagnall Street is definitely not DeVol - the proportions and joint lines of the shaker doors are wrong; the joining strips are wrong; the baseboard is wrong. It does look a bit like someone trying to imitate DeVol - the handles and door knobs are similar to DeVol. So maybe OP meant "DeVol-style". Not a big thing ... But odd to specifically mention it. I wonder, if it is indeed the house, whether other details might be fudged or made out to be better quality than they are, and the buyer only found out after offer?

Anyway, I don't think OP will be back

Yes, I agree. Neither of the houses linked have deVol kitchens. It's possible that's a detail the OP changed, but it would be an odd one considering that can be a real selling point.

@Alldressedupnowheretogo

No great advice, I'm afraid, but sending you good sale dust!

I made exactly the same point initially.
Obviously, a small house near the station may still make sense for some buyers and obviously people's circumstances vary. I'm simply making the point that it may be desirable to less buyers now, for the reasons given, and that there are also lots of similar properties currently on the market, reducing demand even further.

I haven't implied that there is something wrong with the house. I detailed what I thought were the likely reasons for 3 buyers dropping out in the initial post. I don't agree that it is likely to be all the pressure of the open day. There were masses of these sort of open days in late 2020-22 and falls throughs were much lower. Something has clearly changed. Having had a look at RM myself, I can see lots of similar, slightly cheaper properties. Some have already been linked to on this thread. Anyway, the OP hasn't engaged with the thread at all so I don't think we will find out what the estate agent told her about the 3 buyers dropping out.

There are a lot of detail faults with the installation visible in the photos - probably more obvious in reality. It's a fitted kitchen that doesn't fit.

This is what I was about to say. Looks a lovely little house but past the dressing, it's a bit shabby.

Tidy up the missing skirting and the paintwork, remove the random abandoned radiator valve, and if you can, get rid of the floor divide between the living and dining room. You could probably get that price, but it needs to be breathtaking and perfect example of what it is, and at the moment it isn't.

Buyers won't waste their time viewing if they don't want a downstairs bathroom.

Thing is, young buyers wouldn’t necessarily give the inconvenience of it much thought. We did a second viewing of one we liked, the positive of which was 2 enormous upstairs bedrooms. We eventually rejected for location. It is only later that we realised what a faff a downstairs bathroom would be. Viewers probably have a few lined up when visiting St Albans the weigh up the pros and cons afterwards. Also for London commuters, they have probably got a few locations to look at.

Just in case the OP is still coming on, I just wanted to also mention that from the photo below both sets of stairs look like death traps- even worse if you’re coming down/ up to use the bathroom at night. Anyone who has kids/ grandkids would be worried about the stairs going down the hole, and there’s no bannister at all going up. Plus chipped paint. And does this show that the den downstairs and the kitchen are open to the whole house, as I’d be worried that the den would be freezing and the kitchen would be a fire hazard.

Sorry I am not trying to put the boot in I promise but I just saw this on the photos.

Sorry OP, just in case you are coming back to this thread I just wanted to let you know that I’ve also seen the photo below. Both sets of stairs to be honest look like like death traps which is especially worrying if you’re having to either come down or go up, and vice versa, to use the only bathroom in the house.

Anyone with children or grandkids would be worried about the massive hole going through the floor and looks like the paint and the paintwork is quite badly chipped. I promise I’m not just trying to put the boot in but I did just noticed this picture and thought it might be helpful.

Also, does this mean that the kitchen is effectively open to the entire house (I’d worry about a fire) and the den doesn’t have a door on it (so difficult to use as a bedroom as I imagine it would be fairly cold/ noisy).

I've got to ask @rainingsnoring ..are you an EA? :)

Some of the points you make sound as if you are. Like the number of fall-throughs etc. How would anyone not in the business have those figures? Or even IN the business?

There are a few similar houses in that location and Sopwell St but none is under £600K. Most are over , more like £625 and £650.

Open days create pressure. And as anyone can make an offer that's not binding, it happens a lot when people want some 'claim' while they ponder the house afterwards.

IME of friends and family (on the receiving end of houses falling through) it's usually finances where the buyer hasn't done their homework on their loan, or the lender doesn't like a Grade 11 house and the mortgage isn't available. Or they made an impulsive offer and had 2nd thoughts.

I thought a basement always had to have a fire door?

Okay, you don't have to walk through the kitchen.

Thats the point, the same as with a flat. In many older houses, the downstairs bathroom is tacked on at the end of the kitchen; in this one it is more or less in it.

Me too, and a kitchen. But there’s no door at the top of the stairs to the basement and from the floor plan at least it doesn’t look like there’s one at the bottom either. I’d not sleep or work down there, you’d never get out in a fire. Plus obviously in a new conversion stairs would need a bannister but I know sometimes things are different in older period buildings.

I wouldn't take a listed property as a gift.
Basically OP, that and the lack of parking are your issues IMO.