How to attract more viewings on our property

[Elzebelz]

We put our house on the market in November and didn't get much views at all or they were a cross sell.
We went off the market and reduced our house and extra 25k and went back on market on boxing day to encourage more people genarally interested in our property to put a offer in. We have had more viewings but feel they are not in a proceeding position. We don't want to reduce again as we are below our middle average and wouldn't be able to proceed with our dream home if we did.
We were a 3 bed house converted into a 5 bed house and good sized bedrooms. We use one room as a home office. It's a lovely area and very popular for Halloween and Christmas spirit even Easter events.
So many people are so keen to come to the estate on Halloween, Easter and Christmas for all the displays and events that are run. They are close to primary schools and high schools with a little park near the back of our house.
I have attached the link for some advice on how to get more people through the door and get us sold! We have found our dream home a really don't want to lose it and are so desperate to move closer to our children's schools as I do not drive and the travel becomes to much some times.
I found this property on the Rightmove Android app and wanted you to see it: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/154682705
Would anyone help us get our house out there and help a mumma move.?

I don't think "popular with visitors at Christmas and Halloween" is the big sell you think it is.
But at the end of the day, like all house sales, it comes down to price.

My initial thoughts is that as it's a 5-bedroom, that's potentially a lot of people for a small downstairs space. Both the lounge and the kitchen look quite small. All the space is upstairs, and that's not always what people want. A lot of people want space for the whole family to be together, cook and eat together. Not all be up in their rooms.

A re-do of the front photo might be worth it as well. The parking was very obvious, and for no clear driveway and no garage, it might be worth minimising that in the photo. Including cutting out the neighbours 2 vehicles.

Inside looks fine. Nicely decorated etc. I'd just change that first pic.

I'd say too expensive as looks like there's a 4-bed detached not too far away for not much more, snd the small amount of living space for number of bedrooms. Most people like a living room/kitchen so the whole of the downstairs as that and one of the rooms on the floor above as a lounge.

It looks so dark. The downstairs space is small for two people, let alone a family. That what would put me off, it just doesn’t look like a family home and if it was just 2 people, you probably wouldn’t need 5 bedrooms.

The neighbours seem very close in terms of the back garden.

Sorry OP, it’s not something you can change, but again it’s upstairs vs downstairs space.

Our first home was similar, but only 3 (big) bedrooms. We had a small kitchen, and then an open plan lounge/diner. It drove me mad as young children’s toys were all downstairs. You couldn’t have children of different ages doing different activities in the same space easily (and they were young enough that I didn’t want them playing on a different floor whilst I was cooking etc).

We moved to have more downstairs space- with a kitchen where you could eat/room for a decent size dining table, and then a separate living room and in our case a second downstairs room as a playroom/kids tv room.

Sorry. I don’t know what the market is like in your area, but to me, your house is a compromise for a family of 3+ kids.

The lack of dining space would put me off. For that many bedrooms there does not look like there is space for a dining table for the whole family to sit at.

Sorry, edited to make it more constructive.
Could you change the layout of the living room to make a clear space for dining?

I think you need better photos - I thought the one of the lounge was a basement room until I looked at the floor plan and they don't look very professional, which would put me off totally. I do also agree with the others about the balance of upstairs vs downstairs.

I think your house is fine but i dont think the photos are doing it justice. For example, why have some of the pictures been taken when it's dark outside? Those really need redoing in daylight because it makes the rooms really dingy looking.

Picture 9 has storage boxes. Remove all the stuff like that and put it somewhere else because it suggests there isn't room for "proper" storage.

The first line of the advert says "substantially sized" but it's really not for a 5 bed? Probably is for a terrace so maybe that could be reworded?

Same as others, the downstairs space is very small for a 5 bed house and garden not big enough to meaningfully extend. Kitchen also quite small.

I think price wise you should be expecting to compete with 3/4 bedroom houses rather than 5 beds.

Very small downstairs for 450k the kitchen is really disappointing too. No where to entertain or have a big family dinner at a dinning table. 5 bedroom house but downstairs looks like a 2 bed semi.

People will be factoring in cost to modernise living room and kitchen too so that’s more money for them.

Were some of the photos taken at night? It looks as though it’s dark outside in the downstairs ones.

Essentially, five bedroomed houses are usually detached or at least semi and the council tax band is pricy.

It doesn’t matter to prospective purchasers if you need to sell for that figure to secure your onward purchase. People will pay what it’s worth to them. It’s a question of whether you really want to sell, or only want to sell for a dream home you can’t buy if you don’t get top dollar for yours.

Its what others have said. You have over extended the bedrooms and compromised the living space. No one who needs 5 bedrooms would fit in the lounge and kitchen as a family.

Our 3 bed semi has a much bigger lounge and we have a great conservatory for the dining room (well insulated and not freezing and boiling) so has a lot more family space than yours and we only have 3 beds.

You need to reduce in price to those of a 3 bed house personally.

The photos of the living room immediately put me off. It looks like it's very dark and cramped with too much furniture. The desk also makes me think the house isn't really as spacious as the description because you need a desk in the lounge. I would also redo the frontage photo zooming in on the house from a different angle.

Hi OP, I think you could do we retaking photos during the day. The downstairs looks dark and dreary. I’m sorry I agree with others that downstairs is tiny for a 5 bed house, but I don’t suppose there’s much you can do about that??

Can you take the desk out of the lounge and then ‘rename’ one of the upstairs bedrooms as an office? Perhaps on the highest floor

Or you could turn the lounge into a ‘family/breakfast room’ and put the dining table in the centre of the room and make that a focal family/ eating spot and then turn a bedroom into a lounge? More in the style of a three storey townhouse. I think the house has definitely been over extended

I think the lounge is the issue. I'm not sure what you can do about it though. It looks small for a five bed. It's also dark. There doesn't appear to be a lot of natural light, one small window and the door to the garden I think

Maybe you could have the photos taken and remove a sofa for the photos? Get brighter light bulbs too

As other posters have said, redo the photos of the living room in the day time and remove the desk from the living room and make that side of the room look more like a family dining space.

The living space is what lets it down and you can’t change the amount of space you have - it’s hard to see how a family who need 5 bedrooms would live there - possibly a family with 2 kids where the parents need wfh space so two bedrooms become offices.

On the plus side, you’re showing it at its best in terms of it being clean and tidy and uncluttered. I’m house hunting at the moment and I’ve viewed so many family homes which are genuinely filthy and untidy it seems almost like the sellers are trying to put people off!

If it’s still not selling then the price is still too high.

Just because you need a certain price for it to be able to afford your dream house, doesn’t make it worth that price.

I think it's far too too heavy. The kitchen is tiny, the lounge is soulless and the dining table has been squashed into the corner. Could you turn the biggest bedroom into another lounge area to make it more like a town house?

The two bedrooms on the middle floor facing the back- did you convert this into two bedrooms from a lounge (our house is similar) ?

You could also use a rug in the living room where the sofas are to delineate that space as living room and then have a dining table in the ‘dining space’ so it feels like there is some separation.

It’s overpriced. A 5 bedroom home needs fi be in proportion, one time living room doesn’t work.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/156372008#/?channel=RES_BUY

Here’s a listing around the corner with better proportioned bedrooms, more mass appeal styling and 10k less.

Some of the photos have been taken at night and others have the lights on in the middle of the day. I'd assume there's zero natural light and not be interested.

The downstairs space is tiny for a 5 bed house.

TBH the bedrooms on the top floor are only a good size if you're 1m tall and don't own clothes that require a wardrobe.

IMO the mistake would be to compare against other 5-bedrooms.

Where are the viewers going? Maybe put up a search of the surrounding properties that have actually sold and see how it compares.

I'd imagine a market like this would be relatively illiquid, driven up immediately after covid as people escaped cities, but that effect has worn off now.

The photos could be redone professionally IMO but apart from that it seems nice, I'm sure they will be people along telling you need more plants, cos that always works.