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’m looking to buy (a 3-4 bed) in Worthing. There is just so much on the market at the moment in that price bracket, both newer builds and 30s-50s semis. I know your house is a 5 bed, but as others have said, the living space is very small compared to the number of bedrooms (which are also on the smaller size). I think you’re probably also struggling because Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey have only just finished building your estate and there are other new build developments in and around Worthing.

Honestly, I think you're just using mumsnet to advertise your house.

Sorry I haven't RTFT and I'll be back once DC are in bed for a thorough look, but absolute gut reaction first impression....

Why on earth and some of the key living room pictures taken in the dark?!?

Just going through the messages. Thank you for your feedback. Unfortunately we can not do much about the size of downstairs. The pictures were redone by ourselves and we can change them. We have the desk downstairs for the kids to do homework as they ask for help constantly and running up and downstairs is awful haha. We are a family of 5 and does suit us and fits our family well but we just need to relocate due to our kids schools change. The pictures of the kitchen do make it look small but it's not as small as it looks in the pics as we have a double American fridge freezer taking most of the space and viewers need to ignore that as it won't be there when we move unless they have one.
We extended for our needs, each child has their own room and a home office. Regarding the garden I would believe we have a good size garden.

I don’t think the bedroom is big enough to make it look like a sitting room. People can see the floor plan, they’re not going to be fooled. It’s not a townhouse.

I think you just need to drop the price in line with a 3-bed.

This might be impossible but I wonder if you would be able to take the big fridge/freezer out and perhaps put it in storage? I think the kitchen would look much bigger without it.

As pp's have said, you are treating (valuing) it as a 5 bed house, when its its an extended 3 bed and it shows.

Realistically your price point needs to be looking at properties with comparable downstairs space and not the number of bedrooms.

The size of the kitchen and lounge/diner arrangement will put a lot of people out off.

Kitchen/diner arrangement- great. Lounge/diner - not great especially how you have it laid out, with the dining area squashed in the corner.

It presents as a home without any dedicated space to eat a meal at the table.

So I'd suggest you look at the layout of the lounge to make that more balanced and you need to be realistic about price - especially in comparison to other properties.

"Would anyone help us get our house out there and help a mumma move.?"

This was what the op asked.

She didn't ask for any feedback about the house.

The first picture of the front of the house is unappealing.

The internal pictures need to be staged and improved - you can have a desk wherever you want for day to day living but move some furniture out and make it look much clearer, lighter and brighter for the pictures.

But really it will be the price.

The photos need redone. Especially the lounge, kitchen, the darker looking bathroom and the bedroom with no visible window. They look dingy and some of the angles are weird. I'm sure they are nicer in real life but first impressions count.

The pictures of the kitchen do make it look small but it's not as small as it looks in the pics as we have a double American fridge freezer taking most of the space and viewers need to ignore that as it won't be there when we move unless they have one.

If a fridge freezer is taking up most of the space in your kitchen then your kitchen is small!
Its basically the same size as mine in a 2 bedroom flat, I couldn’t imagine cooking and chatting to a family of 5 in there.

It’s also struggling to sell because you’re doing the photos and marketing yourself. A good estate agent is there to sell your home. Their fee will be more than covered by the additional price they get if they are any good.

For £25k more, someone could have this. No idea what the area is like, but the house is much more usable.

@Ossoduro2 we are a family of 5 and does work for us. @0psiedasiy no we didn't convert the middle floor we converted into the loft with two bedrooms and a shower room.

What has Christmas "spirit" Easter and Halloween got to do with this?

OP, your living looks like a doctor's surgery waiting room. Declutter and get rid of those huge chairs.

That's much calmer. I felt stressed looking at OPs photos.

OP, I know that your house is set up for how you are living now, but you are selling a lifestyle, not a house. So I think I would redo a few things to sell the lifestyle (appreciating that that downstairs / upstairs space is very real).

• take the desk out of the lounge and move the dining table to more of a centre focus of the room (dining / lounge layout). Your lounge looks large but everything is pushed to the edges so doesn't look big if you see what I mean?
• declutter everywhere, I know you need all your kids stuff somewhere but there's just so much stuff on display that it's distracting.
• retake photos and improve lighting (it is very dark).
• I would consider taking out some of the larger furniture (in your master bedroom; flowery wallpaper, it looks very full!).

Op where are your wardrobes. In what I think is the master, with the floral wallpaper, there appears no wardrobe, I can see one small wardrobe in the whole house, is it thr way it is photographed?

Absolutely. It's too top heavy. Imagine a growing family, 3 or 4 children - and when they're teenagers where will they all fit in the communal living space? Can you revert it back to a 3-bed? You might have more success with getting folk through the door.

Also the bedrooms all look quite small because the beds are all pushed into the corners and up against the walls, even the doubles. Double beds need room to walk around them, that might help someone visualise a bit more space, even if it's just staged?

I think the descriptions are missing the mark , things like floral wallpaper adding a touch of elegance and ‘ there are mounted cup racks for easy access to mugs, adding a practical and charming touch ‘.

It’s your opinion that these things are elegant and charming - for others they would need changing and not usual to draw attention to

She also said "how to attract more viewings".

The thing is OP, unless there are glaring problems with the pictures, it's always price. People obviously think they can get more for their money elsewhere. I agree with PPs that there are some improvements you can make to the pictures, but I don't think you can change the thing that is putting people off - which is living space for the price.

The photos are so much better on this , lights are used to good effect and not as cluttered - you can see they have a lot of stuff but it’s got a home

The living room and kitchen are too small as previously said. The bedrooms are also quite small and the whole house looks short of storage. You state that the table is in the living room so the kids have somewhere to do their homework, saving you running up and down stairs, can you make one of the middle floor bedrooms a snug/study freeing up some downstairs space?
I also think that some of the flooring and kitchen/bathroom looks poor quality.
It is overpriced for the size/layout and quality of fittings. Sorry but I am not trying to be rude but stating what I see.

I think, as others have mentioned there seems to be quite a lot of furniture in each room. It is all very tidy though so that’s a good thing, but would it maybe make it look as though it is not very spacious?

I’m currently looking for a 4 or 5 bedroom house, and I have considered Worthing. For me, this wouldn’t even come up in me search criteria as I am selecting only semis and detached properties. I’m not intending to sound rude at all, but what I mean is… who are you trying to sell to. What type/ size of family.

Would it be better to market it as a four bed property with a sitting room on the first floor, such as many townhouses have (just an idea).

Or, again, market as a four bed but call bedroom 2 the primary bedroom with (effectively) and en suite and dressing room (bedroom 4). I suppose it would also mean staging bedroom 4 as a dressing room which might be particularly inconvenient for its occupant! I think it would be ok to stage it one way for the photos and then change it back to a bedroom for viewings. The space is the same, you’re not changing anything really.

I agree with what others have said that the downstairs seems too small for a five bed house. So, does it make better sense as a four bed house?