Help with advice selling please, it's been almost sold twice with people dropping out art the last moment.

[Justreally]

Property photo 1 of 30.


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Braehead, Avoch, IV9

Offers Over
£575,000
Monthly mortgage payments
Added on 14/10/2023
PROPERTY TYPE

Villa
BEDROOMS

5
BATHROOMS

3
SIZE

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TENURE

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1
+24
Key features
Detached Period Property
Sea Views
Seven Bedrooms
Basement
1 Acre Mature Landscaped Gardens
Garage and Carport
Oil Fired Central Heating
Close To Amenities
Well Maintained
Inverness Approx. 11 Miles
Description
This fantastic Grade B listed period property was built in the early 1800's and has been sympathetically modernised and extended whilst retaining many original features.
It sits in a quiet, elevated position offering extensive views over the Moray Firth and beyond.

This large family home is laid out over four floors and the bottom of the garden has been previously looked at as two potential house plots:
Ground floor, consisting of the kitchen, living room, dining room, and the sympathetically built 20 year old extension with hall, cloakroom and shower room.
1st Floor, split into the front and back areas with five bedrooms, and two bathrooms.
2nd Floor, two large attic bedrooms, and a box room.
Basement, which is mainly used for storage, split into seven rooms with an external door.
It has a gated entrance, lock and block driveway, the one acre mature landscaped grounds surround the house giving it a private feel, and are laid to lawn, and with the South facing fruit terraces leading down to two small paddocks.

The property has been well maintained and retains many original features. It benefits from oil fired central heating and a wood fired boiler, modern bathrooms and kitchen, and a double garage, workshop, and large carport.

The village of Avoch offers a good range of local services, primary schooling is available in the village with secondary at nearby Fortrose Academy, and Inverness is easily commutable.

Like this sort of look

Bedroom ideas

Home report guy said he was dreading the visit as so many houses of this ilk have been poorly maintained but he commended ours. It figured in the Times too but remains unsold. We're unsure whether to take it off the market but I think it'll be difficult to rent. We could always move back as the kids are complaining the house we have downsized to has no room for them. Hey ho
It hasn't been a good investment money wise but it has been the most fantastic place for our kids to grow up

Why don't you take it off till spring, do some repainting and have your furniture for the photos?
I think the combination of stamp duty exemption ending in March and at least two cuts to interest rates should hopefully make market move.
Although budget is due in few weeks, so maybe wait till then.

I’d do this. In reality viewings in Winter are more likely than not to be cold, damp and perhaps emphasise the slightly negative things about the house. Whereas a decent spring/ summer day with a few windows open to those gorgeous views would be a totally different experience.

Have you bought your new place? Could you rent the new place out?

I’d move back in, spend a couple of months trying to make it cosy/ neutral/ a bit more modern and have a fab family Christmas there, then put it back on the market in Spring.

By the way, is there an original floor under that green carpet in the hall?

I tend to agree with this , it's beautiful but my first thoughts also were it looks dated and every room needs painting /new flooring.

Although you're saying it's been well maintained and renovated the pictures just don't give that impression. It's an amazing house but I think people will think 'money pit' and not even bother to view. I think a lot of people wouldn't mind 'putting their own stamp on it' with paint and new carpets but you really need to highlight that it's only cosmetic changes, maybe get some new photos done?

So you're not living there and have bought somewhere else with this unsold- is that right?

Maybe you need to drop the price.

The outside needs attention and that will involve scaffolding to paint the rendering. A lot of £££. The garden is perhaps a bit neglected, from the photos.

It looks unloved, being honest.
Some of the bedrooms are empty (in the photos) and it does look like a 'probate' sale as if it's been cleared, partially.

Some buyers will see past that and be willing to make it their own with new decor. Others will not want all of that work and will find something else that's newer and more up to date.

Sorry I said the kitchen was pine. But it is dated even as limed oak. Most kitchens now are very simple, painted, or white.

The biggest issue for me (and sorry to keep repeating this) is that it looks like two houses in one. The beautiful cornices in some rooms and the dated knotty pine in others. And if the window frames are soft wood (pine) they will need replacing as they rot very easily.

Someone with time, energy and money can change all of these things but you need an enthusiast and someone who likes gardening.

It's great but I'd paint the walls and kitchen units white and replace the brighter carpets with a neutral colour to make it more sellable.

@Justreally no help whatsoever but my God I wish I could afford it, beautiful house!
Best of luck whatever you decide.

We had two move out. to clear the clutter of both sets of grandparents stuff and 6 grown kids accumulated clobber. Believe me the house looks so much better now. Bikes, kayaks, dinghies, rowing machines, lathes, bandsaws, god knows what other tools, camping kit, an MGB being converted to electric, you name it, we had it - because there was room. We moved in with no kids and no furniture - it just needs someone with the vision we had back then.

We’re in the process of buying/selling ATM, OP, and as a result, I’ve become a property expert (aka Rightmove stalker) in my area. I’d say at least 25% of homes — possibly more — go under offer then, several months down the line, are suddenly available again. I know that doesn’t make it any less frustrating for you, but it clearly happens a lot.

My friends recently bought a very similar home in Oban. It’s stunning, I’m sure you have the exact same bannister. Also love the massive front door! They have been decorating a room at a time with the intention to become a bed and breakfast in a few years time. Like you they have kept all the original feature and they are honestly eye catching as you walk around the house. Something so special about the detail in these things!

I agree 👍🏼 Plus the kitchen is just right. Definitely stick with trying and don’t go down the Omaze Home route of destroying the character or the Made in Chelsea Oligarch makeover decor set up. I think I also read about inauthentic paint colours - can’t get worse than white and grey, so your choices much better.

I guess the only thing might be to dress it it a bit more.

But that person might be hard to find- just look at the responses on this thread. You need to be appealing to the maximum number/ type of viewer, not just a very small subset. Quite a few people I would imagine might be worried that they couldn’t live comfortably there without doing work first.

I don’t think anyone is recommending moving rowing machines/ kit cars back in but surely there’s a happy medium where you can move some of the nice furniture back in and make it look more lived in any cosy.

What's the floor like under the carpets? Those are the things that would put me off the most because I know I'd want to rip them all up and floors can be a total pain to re-do if they're in bad condition.

I appreciate you say you have redecorated etc but it honestly doesn't look like it. It looks very dated and uncared for.

The white end wall having black marks all down it screams damp...I know you say it isn't but it will give people the wrong idea.

Grt it painted in light neutral colours

Tidy the garden. The banking pic with the steps looks bad compared to the rest

Get better pictures done and a better write up. State the dates the roof/damp cloth course/ electors were done. It will reassure buyers

Its a lot of house for the money and will scream huge bills amd costly repairs. CoL crisis will be playing a part at a guess.

I would assume that if you hadn't bothered to paint or change the carpets since the 1980s, you have probably not completed any work on the house and therefore it would be a massive money pit. I don't know if you have changed the carpets or painted since then but the colours used would make most people guess you haven't. I also expected more period features.
Painting, carpets, new kitchen and new bathrooms will be expensive and im not sure the house ia priced to take all that into account

I’d take it on as a project as it’s a great house, but the coloured carpets will put many folks off, as will the black/dark marks on the side wall, and what appears to be greenery growing out of the chimney stack.

I’d bet it on being the running costs - EPC rating is not great. Is the house single glazed? Costs to bring it to a C rating would be very high. I’m in Scotland further south and large houses with poor EPC ratings are not shifting.

Chimneys attended to with scaffolding since photos
Hey I was in a 2 bed terrace in England in the 80's and I like the carpets on the ground and first floor. The red makes a warm welcoming entrance. Repainting the outside would be £30,000. The garden is becoming unkempt but the hedges are very tidy and the walnut trees and huger acer are all stunning this month

Whether you like it or not is irrelevant unfortunately, it all adds to costs that buyers will have to pay on top of the purchase price.

You need to lower the price but 50-75k imo before anyone is going to seriously look at it.

You can if the missives have not been signed.

This.

Redecorating several rooms would really help. Get rid of that lilac as it's doing the house no favours. As someone else mentioned, Farrow & Ball have lovely paint colours and they are posh like the house so would be a better fit. Choose nice warm colours, if you go to a F&B shop the sales people will help you choose if you show them photos of the house.

It would cost more than £100k for a new kitchen and bathrooms, to decorate and replace flooring and reinstate period fireplaces and radiators.