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.?

@CatrionaBalfour maybe but Op is getting a lot of negative feedback and I wanted to give her hope that actually it WOULD be a great house for someone.

My DH bought a 3 bed that was actually a converted 2 bed. Two bedrooms were teeny tiny and with only one toilet/ bathroom. Lots of families wanting three beds turned it down as a joke and bought new builds that at least had an en suite.
He uses one as an office as he's self employed and one was his DD when she stayed ( lived abroad). It suited him - 2 parking spaces ( rare) and close to a late night shop for when he's been away. He paid full 3 bed price and it's increased massively in value as he's made it look lovely and it "works".

It’s not really a 5 bed so you’ll have to come down on the price, unfortunately. The downstairs space is not that of a 5 bed house, and the loft rooms are very small. Maybe market it as a 3 bed with attic rooms?

Re-take photos in the daylight as they are in the virtual tour. It makes the house look brighter and fresher.

Before you re-take the photos have a serious and I mean serious clear out. There’s a lack of storage and the clutter in corners and on top of things makes it even more obvious. Also make sure that things like washing baskets, clothes horse, potties, fans, etc are not visible. I’d remove the plastic mat in the bath as well as it’s quite badly discoloured, and the wall mounted loo brush.

@AndThereSheGoes no doubt it would suit someone, it's a nice enough house and people have different needs, but I think there are basics missing in this house, and it's a problem. No space for a dining table, wardrobes, a double bed you can get in from both sides etc.
It's a tricky house to sell, but everything sells at the right price.

Hey @Elzebelz I can see it is a well-cared for home but sadly I agree with others – just not enough downstairs/reception space for a family of three DC.

You say that it works for you – wll that may be, but I think from the comments on here you can see that most would say it wouldn't work for them.

I have three DC and we have a four-bed house with a lot more living space. Before we moved here we were in a three bed, but even that had more living space than yours, with a bigger (longer) kitchen and a dining room. And we moved not just for the extra bedroom but for the big dining (and living) kitchen which is what a lot of ppl want.

Your kitchen is too small to eat in and I would struggle to see myself eating a family Christmas dinner – or even a Friday night tea – in the living room.

Obvs there is not much you can do about this but two things that suggest themselves:

• Stop pricing it as a five-bed house; the space is not enough and yy the bedrooms seem to have no room for wardrobes (where do your clothes go?)
• Dress an upstairs room as a separate living space – maybe make the big room a dining room with a side sofa and then have a snug/living room upstairs (would have to move a DC for the pictures at least).

Also yes you could retake the pictures – downstairs is dark and the bedrooms esp the double look rather cluttered (which just says "no storage" to me).

But in all likelihood it's the price. Sorry but I think you need a rethink.

New photos for every room (in daylight)
Rent/borrow a smaller fridge to make kitchen look bigger
Rent new living room furniture that is slightly smaller and sleeper
Get rid of the computer in the living room and table/chair for photos and until you sell so it's more attractive to viewers
Set up dining room table properly M, it being squashed in highlights the room is too small to be a multi-functional room
Declutter storage boxes under bed etc highlights how little wardrobe space there is
Video is poorly shot, need to give more of a room to room tour effect

Sorry OP but the house should have been extended downstairs too to mirror it being "5 bedroom". Downstairs is just far too small. It needs an extra shower room/public room to suit a family of 5. My house is a 3 bed and I have 2 living rooms, downstairs WC, en-suite for mater bedroom and a large kitchen/diner with much bigger bedroom sizes.

I think you need to be realistic and drop the price plus do the above.

Your priority needs to be making the house look its best for the photos and all viewings, if need be the kids do homework supported in bedrooms until you achieve that

Also have you asked the EA for viewer feedback?

I'd agree with what everyone has said about lack of communal space. Based in Google street view you've done this conversion in the last couple of years and I doubt you will recoup the costs of it. It's a 5 bed house but looking at the virtual tour all I can see is a total lack of storage

Other people have suggested how to zone the downstairs space so I won't repeat their ideas. But definitely make a "dining area".

I assume your children are still quite young based on toys and decorations which means it works for you right now but you need to think about how it potential buyers can make it work for them and their kids who are unlikely to be the same ages as yours and will have different needs. .
If this was me I'd do the following in the bedrooms:
Switch the bedroom 1 from being a childs room to the master bedroom which presumably it was before the loft conversion. If you can't do that, take out the mismatched units from the room with the double bed so you can access it from both sides. Most people don't want to risk having their legs pressed against the radiator. Get rid of the brown Amazon boxes off the shelves. In the child's room get rid of some of those role play units, there's a cafe, a shop, washing machine, kitchen and an ice cream parlour. That plus all the soft toys and bench and toy box plus dolly things is just too much clutter.

Switch the office space to the loft and move a child into the room that is currently an office. if you can't get rid of the two additional monitors on the shelves and snake the wires in front of the shelving unit to behind it . Get rid of the plastic drawer unit too and see if the little pedestal unit will fit under the desk. If not get rid, it's making the room look much smaller and more cluttered

Loft space, get rid of all that marvel stuff and the shoe rack in front. Again it's screaming this house has no space in it and the mismatched furniture types just add to that feeling. The shelves with doors aren't full of booms so get rid of one and put all the books into a single shelf unit and arrange it centrally
Fox bedroom. Again get rid of the plastic drawers. Can you move the chest with the name on it to underneath the TV and then the unit twith the blue boxes o in front of the door to the eaves so it's next to the chest of drawers.

Tiger bedroom. Are those tiny desks used? Get rid of at least one if not both along with the plastic drawer unit. Move the unit with the name on to understand the TV and then the square pink drawer unit along the wall next to the bigger drawers. Not sure what the third low table thing is but do you need it? Get a small white bedside table next to the bed.

Shower room is fine but hide the potty!

Get all pictures retaken and a much better description.

Ultimately I don't think you'll reach the asking price but the upstairs space will flow better and feel less cramped

Poor lighting in the photos makes it look gloomy.

Get rid of the patterned wallpaper.

Lower the price.

The way it’s decorated will put people off, would need to be all redecorated and for the price it’s an added expense. Having said that price is the main reason houses don’t sell.

Hi OP, developer here.
my suggested action points below:

*Get new professional pictures asap with a wide angel lens, it all wants to look light and bright.
*Declutter all the rooms before the photographer come:
take out extras from bedrooms (fans, washing basket, wires to windows, any smaller bits of furniture, boxes on top of shelves etc) - it all draws the eye and you’ll be amazed how much better the photos are with just the core bits of furniture and soft furnishings.
*remove desk from living room. When the photographer comes get them to photograph the living room in ‘areas’, so the sitting area and then set up the dinning area so it looks appealing.
*you need to utilise the outdoor space to balance the smaller downstairs, currently it’s a major missed opportunity in the pictures! Open up the patio door and photograph the outside table as an alfresco dining area - take one picture in the day and one at night (candles, fairy lights etc).
*the garden looks pretty cluttered in the photographs, again as the photographer to take photos of the different areas. It’ll make it look much bigger.

personally I’d list it as a 4 bed, but that’s up to you. good luck with the sale!

@Rosieposie200 taking out the "extras" from bedrooms won't sell this house. It's very clear that there's a lack of storage space.
It's the price. Have a look at others for sale in the area at a similar price. There's a difference.

Do people really set a maximum bedroom limit on their property search though? It's doubtful.

It needs to be priced closer to a 3 bed but can still be listed as a 5.

Yes the bedrooms have been carved up too small; so now none of them are sufficient. Would have been better to designate the entire top floor to one bedroom suite rather than two shoe boxes with no storage. Same with cutting in half the main bedroom to make way for stairs. It was a wild decision to try to turn this house into a 5 bed without adding any extra square footage. It simply isn’t a 5 bed; it’s not even an adequate 3 bed now after the butchery done to the main bedrooms. You’ve got to reduce price to a 3 bed and factor in that the buyer is likely going to have to take down some walls and completely renovate inside so that will need to be worked into the price.

i suspect Op has not come back on here as is realising that the house they want is not going to be achievable given the realistic value of this property, so it might be back to the drawing board. Sorry if that’s a bit depressing, but better to know rather than sit in limbo wondering what’s up….

Tend to agree with this.

I think part of the problem as listing as a 5 bedder is a lot of people looking for 5 beds are going to want more space and will not consider it.

Anyone searching for 3 or 4 beds won't see it.

Which leaves you with a fairly narrow purchaser demographic as basically someone who wants 5 beds but can't afford anything bigger.

I would probably market it as 3 or 4 bed with potential, because the number of people looking for those types is going to be higher.

The place itself looks in good order and well done, but beating the current ceiling price for the road by approx. 130K even with the mods is ambitious, especially if there are lots of new builds nearby.

Anyone searching for 3 or 4 beds won't see it.

Why won't they? If it's in their price range, they'll see it. People don't enter a maximum bedroom limit, there'd be no reason to.

I agree.

We're looking to move at the moment and in our area our budget will get us a 3-4 bedroom house. But I set a max price, and a minimum number of bedrooms. I don't bother setting a maximum number of bedrooms, there's no point, it's just an extra filter to set, and sometimes something is listed as 5 bedrooms, but it's 4 bedrooms upstairs plus an office downstairs, and a different seller/estate agent might call the same thing a 4 bedroom. So I don't want that ruled out. I looked at something listed as a 6 bedroom, but it wasn't, it was an HMO where two downstairs reception rooms were used as bedrooms so it wasn't out of budget.

I do use the filter to set a max bedroom limit. Need three, four would be great but as the radius I set includes a lot of uni accommodation I cap it at 4 otherwise I see loads of houses converted to cram in as many bedrooms as possible which I have no interest in. Probably doesn't apply in lots of the country but it is really useful.

I agree with others that the downstairs space is a real issue for a 5 bed house. I would remarket it as a 3 bed with upstairs snug and office.

I'd knock the front bedroom on 1st floor open to the hallway and stairs. Make it a living room.

Then on the ground floor, turn the old living room into a proper dining room with a small sofa.

Then, it's a 4bed with 2 receptions.

I'd never recommend marketing with less bedrooms than a house actually has (unless any are downstairs) anyway, but the issue with this house in particular is that if it's listed as a 3 bed, people will assume the bedrooms in the loft extension don't have building regs.

Why does the floor plan have the dimensions of the shed? Is that included in the overall square footage? If it is, it shouldn't be.

Fair enough! In that case I would keep the listing as 5 bedrooms but dress one of them as an office and one as a snug.

@Blarn I agree with that - if you don't have a maximum you often get loads of HMOs

It does not work as a 5bed. 5bed houses are usually for big families but yours does not have enough reception room space and the garden is too small.

The top two bedrooms are suitable for small children only and what parent wants to be walking a flight of stairs when their little ones wake in the night.

I think that it needs marketing as a 4bed with 2 reception rooms and the price dropping £25k-£40k

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.

This is my ideal of hell and bad taste. It's not a selling point for everyone.

I think as others have said you need to focus on the basics like the photos, staging, neutralising wall paper patterns, and then ultimately if you are keen to sell and in a hurry dropping the price is the only option if it won't sell

I think you have to market it as 5-bed, because that's the number of upstairs rooms the property has. How you then dress them will give an indication as to how the property 'could' (but not necessarily will) be used. But to me - 5-bed just says there are 5 rooms upstairs and you can utilise them as you like.

Realistically, you have to continue to live in the house as a family until you move, and it's clearly working for you in its current format. I'd focus on getting new professional photos and making the living room a bit more cosy with rugs / cushions if poss. If that doesn't work, drop the price (price reductions are very common right now as lots of stuff is getting overvalued initially by the EA).