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

It's the downstairs space.

I always look at floor plans first. 4 bedrooms - lovely. Nowhere near enough living space to match.

It would be far more desirable marketed as 2 bedrooms (one on each upper floor), plus first floor lounge and top floor office imo.

That's not a reason there's no interest. That's small fry crap.

The reason is: the garden is tiny.

I think its a gorgeous house. Why doesn't the floor plan show that there are windows in the rooms on the top floor? I'd get that changed.
Hold your nerve OP, it will sell. Ask EA if they emailed it out to all who are registered with them for similar properties. Also they ought to tag a viewing on. "I'm showing you a 3 bed house so let's also go and see this one too." They sound sleepy.

I'm sorry, but I can't make head or tail of the listing. The photos don't seem to match up with the floor plan at all. You have one large room downstairs according to the plan yet there seems to be absolutely nowhere to eat apart from a couple of stools at a breakfast bar. Why is the whole rest of that room at the front empty apart from one uncomfortable looking Church pew? Are there enough wardrobes and storage space in the house? One of the bedrooms has a rail suggesting that you can't actually fit a wardrobe in there. The listing says two parking spaces, you have said one allocated parking space yet neither is photographed.

I think there are too many things - furniture, clothes etc, which together with the camera angles makes the rooms look smaller and cluttered, like there isn't enough space for everything. Definitely, clear out stuff in every room and stage the photos

It’s lovely but I think your pool of buyers may be smaller due to location directly on the street, no bathroom window etc. I would just give it a bit more time.

DRFT...but this post stood out as resonating with me.

The whole place looks like a scrupulously clean, beautifully decorated, very well looked after shared house (I won't say HMO).

The uncertainty that it's a 4-bed, or a 3-bed with an upstairs lounge is coming across very loud & clear from the photos, and it was only due to the floor-plan that I could piece it all together. At the moment, it looks like no one knew how to make the family room work as a lounge, so gave up on the idea & used an upstairs bedroom as a lounge instead.

You absolutely have to bring in some formal eating space and a lounge area to that kitchen / "family room" so that people can see that it works as such. Added to which, while the continuous wooden floor is fine, it totally lacks the ability to define floor space as "zones", so a rug in front of a sofa for example would fix that, as would the two stray appliances which have no worktop over them, don't match each other, look as if they are creeping into the "family" area of the room from the kitchen, and above all make it look like there's not enough room in the house for them (which I suspect is probably true).

Upstairs, the open clothing rails simply make it look like wardrobes would never fit, and it ruins the otherwise beautiful decor.

Fact is, the whole "is it a lounge / where is the lounge / how do they use it now"? is coming across to me very loudly, and I couldn't imagine living there as I don't know how I'd use the space - the rooms all need to be furnished and dressed for how a buyer will want to see themselves using them.

Presumably a large fridge/freezer could go where that little breakfast bar is. Maybe better to remove it and put the small fridge there? What is that other appliance; can it go n utility?

Then put table & chairs, even if it has to be your patio bistro table, in the lounge.

Gorgeous cats ❤️ Pretty looking exterior and the back garden is fine imo. The interior bright/dark walls aren’t to my taste (I’m more a pastels/neutrals person for houses) but nothing that would put me off too much. Though I must admit I much prefer the way your neighbours have decorated the kitchen/diner/family room - imo most people would want a proper sofa and/or dining table in there and it can be hard to visualise how the space would work without them.

But I think your main issue is just finding the right type of buyer - with the typical town house layout of smaller living spaces but more bedrooms, 2 sets of stairs, being right on the pavement, parking not right outside etc, you are unfortunately limited to a smaller section of the market (as it’s not ideal for either young families or older couples/downsizers).

🤞that someone looking for a modern town house in your area comes along soon. Personally I’d give it a few more weeks to see if the market changes in the Spring and then if there are still no viewings: stage the kitchen/diner with furniture, consider lightening the darker walls and take new photos (of the exterior too in the hopefully brighter weather).

Did you actually bother to look at the property details OP? This property has a double garage and 4 double bedroom and that’s just for starters!

It’s a lovely house but having to pay stamp duty over £250k would put me off.

Has your neighbour had any viewings?

There’s no lounge!!

The photos are really poor quality and highlight the issues like lack of storage in bedrooms, no where to sit and relax as a family ,the upstairs living room looks like a storage room, space with no purpose in the kitchen/living area. Also the outside photos on a wet, dark day making the street view unappealing. The estate agent blurb is uninspiring and doesn't read well. At the moment I wouldn't think this appeals to anyone who doesn't already know the area . The street at the front looks desolate and uncared for from these photos. I'm sure it's a lovely home and it's frustrating the EA hasn't done a better job to show it off. We've recently had a really poor experience with EA so sympathise with you.

I don't know the area, but effectively opening straight off a public footpath would be a bit off putting for me, particularly with the downstairs loo (with a massive window) right by the path.

Also I am no fan of open plan and particularly not where the kitchen is part of the living room.

I don't mean to be offensive OP but It's not a very well designed or laid-out house IMO.

Agree about the lack of storage and a loo/bathroom on each floor in a house this size is simply overkill.

There is, just no sofa in that room. If you look on RightMove the next door property with exactly the same layout is laid out as a living room.

The seller needs to show the lounge either as a lounge or the whole house vacant.

Agreed. The OP says she originally listed the house as a 4-bed, but changed to 3-bed on advice from Reddit. However, the floor plan still says that all the rooms on the first and second floor are bedrooms, the larger room at the front on the first floor which you would think might be the lounge actually seems to be a study and their living room is actually a very small room on the top floor. All very confusing. OP, that may be how the layout works for you but no-one looking for a new home is interested in partaking in the property version of the Krypton Factor to work out what is being photographed. Neither should anyone need to look at the next door house for sale to work out the usual layout of the houses.

As mentioned before I think it's a lovely house and I would never actually buy a house based on present decor and furniture arrangement.

A careful look at the plan will ensure you know what will fit. Same as buying a new home off plan.

Any more interest OP?

The house inside looks great and well kept in my opinion.

I agree with some other posters, you probably need to present the living room area with some seating to show how to use the space.

I would say that potential buyers are put off by the tiny rear garden - which also backs on to some industrial buildings. It's not a great view.

It’s a nice house, OP, I don’t know the area at all so I can’t advise on price. How does it stack up to similar townhouses locally. The only thing I would say is that townhouses can do difficult to sell as they don’t appeal to everyone. Also the market is a tricky one right now due to the economic downturn.

Haven’t RTFT so sorry if I’m repeating. Townhouses are always a tricky sell as they only appeal to certain buyers. There’s quite a choice of other 3 beds within a 1/2 mile radius in the same price bracket including new-builds with more conventional layouts and more neutrally-decorated townhouses. You have a lot of competition so need to be prepared to drop the price a touch, or be prepared to wait it out. And definitely add a picture of the parking.

I don't know if anyone else has mentioned it but the measurements on the floorplan are glaringly wrong. The kitchen family room is shown as 22ft x 8ft 11. People will think it is a terribly skinny room. The width seems to actually refer to the kitchen area whereas the living area must be around 12ft 9 wide to be the same as the room above it. Also one of the first floor rooms would be best to be shown as a lounge.

Otherwise, from the photos the house looks quite appealing.

How was the weekend for viewings?