No viewings at all?

[ThatUniqueCat]

We've been on the market for just over 2 weeks, and have had absolutely nothing - no viewings, no requests to view, apparently no interest whatsoever. I'm pretty sure the EA hates us now, as I've followed up repeatedly and asked to make some changes to the listing. EA keeps saying it's a difficult market, which we could understand, but we expected at least a little bit of interest!

We told the EA we wanted to sell quickly as we've found a property we would like, and we've priced at the lowest valuation we were given (£265k) and £15k under the exact same house, which is for sale next door. The last one for sale on our street, an end terrace (ours is mid), was up for £315k and we think sold (they changed the sign, nothing on RM yet) about a month ago.

Is the market just atrocious, or should we be expecting our EA to do more? I'm becoming unglued, I just want to be able to proceed with the property we've found! I know the photos aren't ideal - it was a drab day, and I've since touched up the paint throughout so there aren't any more swatches/patches - but the EA says they feel the photos represent the property well and wouldn't advise changing anything else for now.

The listing in question:
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/157713758#/?channel=RES_BUY

Yes, I can't wait to move so that I can have more than one loo... 😂

I think the problem is probably not specific to your house. You say you are cheaper than the exact same one next door that's also for sale - so you'll probably find lots of people will think yours is the same house as that one and just the price is reduced. It also immediately means your property isn't unique and even if people understand it's a different house they might already have looked at the other one and discounted the style, size, development, whatever.
There's just no sense of scarcity when there are multiple identical houses for sale, which will send you down to the bottom of people's priority lists.

This. I would wonder where the living room is, where do you spend most of your evening and spend time with friends and family. The rest looks lovely.

2 weeks is nothing... just saying. Someone will turn up soon😁

. I immediately thought, where is the living room? The pictures don't really show this. Nice house

There are several others like yours for sale and some of those are empty and been on for a long time.

If you really want to sell, I think you will have to drop the price

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/156627971#/?channel=RES_BUY

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/87063111#/?channel=RES_BUY

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/149505266#/?channel=RES_BUY

The floor plan looks like there are 4 bedrooms but no lounge. I think therein lies the issue.
Change it back to how it was when you purchased initially and the lounge was on the 1st floor. Dress it as a lounge. Put your dining furniture back in the ground floor kitchen/family area and dress as a dining area. Some people simply have no imagination and cannot envisage or work out how to use the rooms as anything other than a bedroom if that is the way it is marketed on the floor plan.

@ThatUniqueCat it's annoying I know but in fairness, a lot of people do base on how liveable it looks 'now' rather than use imagination- personally if this was my house I would have the kitchen diner with a small living area within it with TV , sofa, coffee table etc plus dining table and chairs and a plant and pics on walls, I would have a snug lounge upstairs with sofa, bookcase , TV etc, I would have an office room and 2 beds on top floor because that is what would suit me.

It's quite a flexible place - would be better if 3 foot wider but it is what it is .

Certainly though you need to get people through door so think you have to lay it out as most people would use it.

I've just browsed Rightmove and there's 5 almost identical properties for sale in the same area and yours isn't the cheapest. You're competing in a super-tough market.

It looks like it's on a shopping street so that would put me off immediately. The kitchen is tiny for a 3 bed family home and the living space is too small for the number of bedrooms. The decor doesn't put me off but the size of the rooms and apparent lack of storage would.

Dont take it the wrong way - but

1. kitchen is rubbish - it would need to be replaced
2. no built-in wardrobes
3. ugly garden loads of work here
4. outdated bathroom
5. horrible colors

I would do some small work before listing it for sale.

OP There seems to be very little kitchen for a 4 bedroom house, never mind the lack of sitting room.

This one is presented better.

Agreed on the check the dimensions and improve the staging of your house to appeal to more people.

That said, the location at the end of the pedestrian area next to shops and restaurants makes this (and any other house on the street) less desirable than even my friends house which is only a couple of hundred metres away.
Your end of the street is OK, but a lot of folk will look (and know locally) that the other end of the street is the shopping centre and cinema etc. They will then have concerns of noise and other antisocial behaviour. It is a difficult location.

I do think you need to compare to the other houses within a few mins of the city centre (so most of the town!) with your house.

If you do need to do any dressing with additional furniture etc FB are a good place to raid for some free or cheaper items that can then be passed on when you move.
There is also a bit of contrast between lots of blanker walls and then the odd more picture populated one.
Please ignore the EA about dressing the house/getting more photos - if it makes it more saleable!
Do you have any friends who are good at arranging furniture etc who could help out!

Your house looks lovely. Maybe the lack of a front garden and driveway is putting people off. Maybe it is the location.

It’s a great house but the photos are shocking.

It’s not clear from the photos which room is the living area. I’m assuming the mustard one which looks more like a library/office, and not the tiny blue one with the sofa squished in? The floor plan should also make this clear as it currently it lists 4 bedrooms and the living area as the vacant space in the kitchen.

There really should be a dining table instead of a church pew in the kitchen diner.

Get rid of the paint swatches in the hallway.

The parking needs to be made clear.

The EA really has to list all important info - council tax band, etc. There’s no excuse for that. I can’t abide lazy estate agents!

It’s a slightly quirky house which isn’t going to appeal to everyone so you really have to sell it to it’s full potential.

I think it's the lack of living room visually.

The space is the space but you have nothing in the back half of the kitchen/living room to make it look/feel like there is a 'proper' relaxing room with 'living room' furniture - sofa/coffee table/art/rugs etc

I thinks that is making it look like there isn't a space that does actually exist, but isn't fully illustrated. I don't care what agent says, I think you should dress the back part of the room and have that re-shot.

House is lovely. Mustard walls gorgeous
Good luck

@ThatUniqueCat whether yours is 3 or 4 bed is incidental. What is key is that next door is for sale, priced at £15k more and is showing as a 4 bed.
If someone filters for 4 beds, theirs will come up and yours won't.
If someone filters for minimum 3 beds, both will come up and yours will look expensive considering there's 1 less bedroom. The fact that they're identical floorplans will not be immediately obvious.

A way of describing the house as having the potential for 4 bedrooms is needed.
You also need to dress the family room as a lounge/diner as people will be put off at the thought of having to go upstairs to relax or have their dinner. Dressing that room is really important - and update what it's called on the floor plan too.

It looks a lovely place.

As others have said, you need to stage a proper dining area and sitting room.
You need a picture and map of where the parking is.
The big problems I would have with it (and I quite like the decor) are not changeable really - there is virtually no work surface area or storage in the kitchen. There is no direct access form the kitchen to the utility room. And the garden is tiny for the number of bedrooms.

No idea, but if I was wanting to move to Beverly I'd love to buy your house! It would suit me perfectly and I love your decor.

I'm no use to you as I think it's a really nice home! The only thing I did a double-take at is the rail of clothes on the wall rather than a wardrobe, but that wouldn't be a deal breaker for me.

Is the house a lease-hold? That could well put people off because of very bad publicity around ground rents. How long is the lease?

I think it's the kitchen/living room. It is for me, at least. I think the market for open plan is over.

Disagree with all of these. None of these things are stopping people from viewing.

Lack of an obvious place to snuggle up in front of the tv, or eat dinner with your family will be, though.

The yellow room is lovely - that's your cosy sitting room. Table and chairs, plus maybe a small sofa downstairs to show off your kitchen-diner. Sorted.

I live locally to you OP. It’s not your lovely house. The market is brutal here at the moment. All the new builds on the south side of town are saturating the market. The developers are offering massive incentives to buyers as well. So not only are buyers getting a brand new house but lots of extras as well including cash back. It’s tough competition. Only keenly priced re sale properties appear to be selling.

We had our house on the market in 2023. Only when we reduced to below asking price of comparable new build price did we eventually sell. It’s a horrible situation.

If you take a look at the site plan for the new builds in the town - they are mostly sold 🤷🏻‍♀️ doesn’t help that they are in a great school catchment area too.