House what should we do to sell

[Vs123]

Hi,

We want to sell our house. We have been there 15 years and the house has lots of good memories. We now want to sell it but not getting a lot of traction. The houses in the neighbourhood have sold for similar price or more. Any suggestions of where is it We are missing the trick here?

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/159203675

Thanks
Vanya

I don't necessarily think it's overpriced, especially when you compare it to what else is available in the area. It's an expensive area.

I personally wouldn't buy any house backing directly onto the A404, but this doesn't bother everyone.

My two penny's worth, depending on how much you want to spend.
Paint front door and garage door to match window frames.
Replace kitchen floor.
Re seal kitchen work tops and tidy up edging under the cupboards, you can't see it but looks shabby in pics.
Lose the weights.
Regrout bathroom floor and replace the extractor fan.
Good luck op.

Everyone has different views on astro/grass, what is cluttered/what isn't, weights/non weights. People are so flipping fussy these days. I'm in a similar position and can't afford to do any work pre selling so hoping someone sees the potential
I would view your house if I had the budget. I wouldn't go to too much trouble working on it.. Somebody will come along. Be patient
I would switch agents though , just foe a fresh approach

I think if you are wanting to sell and haven’t had much interest I would drop the price. I always cringe when I sound like my own parents but the saying ‘something is only worth what someone is willing to pay’ is accurate.
We are in a different area, but house prices for 5 bedroom houses are not that different to what you are asking and when we were looking last year we saw all sorts, things that would make me think a little harder is: The bedroom ceilings either look artexed or papered, interior throughout does look a little dated but not massively, but it doesn’t look particularly homely.
Some of the angle of the photographs are poor, I would ask that the agents do a video walk through or some better pictures.
The kitchen does look a little small, and I’d probably want to rejig the layout a little.
There are so many people looking to buy at the moment, all the open days etc that we attended had lots of people attending and houses that were priced to sell were snapped up quickly, we offered the asking price for one and someone went in with an above asking price offer.
We gave up and extended our own in the end, which I think a lot of other people are doing now.

Remove all the creeper from the front of the house. It's just damaging the brick and roof tiles.

Retake the photos of the back garden to show the neighbouring trees in leaf now, as you didn't plant up your own garden. It also looks like the house has been hanging around on the market since winter as the trees were bare.

Artificial turf is a massive turnoff.
No luxury feel to bathroom and a house that size really needs three.
Declutter.
More photos. Where is second bathroom? Garage? Any storage cupboards or options?
The ornate furniture and draperies are very dating.

1. The motorway
2. The internal kitchen. It looks like there's no direct natural light in a room that many people will want to spend time in??

Those two things would stop me booking a viewing.

I can’t believe something like this would go for £800k. It’s insane. Granted, I’m up north but that would be about £290/300k up here.

We’re currently house hunting and wouldn’t consider something so expensive that needs extensively modernising.

The floor space is very small for a 5 bed - I would prefer the master bedroom to be larger with a good quality, spacious ensuite. It all looks a bit dated so that would need to be reflected in the price (which it may be - I don't know the area)

First impressions and very much my own opinion.

Plant creeping along the curtain pole in the dining room - cut it back.
Get rid of the weights in the lounge and open the curtains fully.
Pic 2 - it looks like half the cupboard rooms are misaligned. Adjust hinges so they all sit straight. Tidy up the stuff on top of the fridge.
Pic 7 - room looks too small with bed shoved against the window. Can you not move the desk so the bed can be pulled into the centre of the room.
Pic 8 - ditto. Bed against the window again.
Pic 10 - ditto.

Pic 11 - bathroom floor looks like it needs a good scrub. Black grout around corner of bath.
Pic 12 - garden is completely unloved. Sweep up the leaves and uncover the furniture. Set the table as though you are just about to eat. Not sure what you can do about the dodgy astroturf but that alone would put me off the house.

Finally, I'm a bit surprised that your Agent only took 14 pictures. Presumably they are going to earn a packet when your house sells so get them back to take a shed load more photos and make them work for their money.

I know people have said this but internal kitchen, astroturf, lack of second bathroom upstairs.
Basically the house has been ‘done’ in a very peculiar way and is a project.
The price needs to reflect the fact that most buyers will need to completely renovate.
It always comes down to price.

The kitchen isn't internal - it's the agent's poor floorplan and photos that are making people think it is. The other agent has a photo of the windows and also includes the door in the floorplan. But it shows what an impact a bad listing has.

Is the floor plan wrong or is there no access to the kitchen?!

The floor plan is wrong.

The kitchen runs through the centre of the house, as the rear three receptions have been added on. The natural light comes from the side door and window at one end, a glass door into the living room at the other end, and a window which now looks into the middle of the three rear reception rooms. It’s not great.

Yeah, definitely not ideal. But the floor plan and photos do make it very unclear what's going on there.

The grass out the back looks plastic to me and honestly that would put me off but honestly I agree with the floor plan comments.

Have you had much feedback from viewings? Maybe try a different estate agent, get some better photos and take their recommendations. We switched state agents and sold very quickly.

Floor plan from the other listing is much better.

The kitchen still looks tiny and squished in. The people that designed this extension really didn’t think it through. Sorry if that’s you OP.

To be honest I wouldn’t view it as I wouldn’t want to deal with removing all the astroturf. It also needs a lot of money spending on it which is fine if the price reflects that. I also would feel misled by it being called a 5 bedroom when it’s clearly a 4 bed house with a dressing room/home office. If you drop the price to reflect the money that needs to be spent then it’ll sell

The smallest bedroom looks like it's all storage looking at the plan. The kitchen size for a 5 bed is off-putting, I'd be calculating in refurbishment costs to knock rooms together. The decor is looking tired, yellowing radiators, bathroom looks like it has grubby grout.
I would do a tidy up of the essential areas, get some more photos and reduce the price, taking into account that downstairs needs remodelling.

I don't think the house is overpriced. If you look at other houses in the same area with the things other posters have said they'd like - ie and extra bathroom/ensuite and a bigger fifth bedroom - all those properties are on for £900k+

So £800k seems reasonable. I think it needs some decluttering, tidying up and a repaint - then it'd sell. Decluttering makes a house look so much better for viewings (and you'll need to do it anyway when you move)

I don't think the house is overpriced. If you look at other houses in the same area with the things other posters have said they'd like - ie and extra bathroom/ensuite and a bigger fifth bedroom - all those properties are on for £900k+

So £800k seems reasonable. I think it needs some decluttering, tidying up and a repaint - then it'd sell. Decluttering makes a house look so much better for viewings (and you'll need to do it anyway when you move)

Definitely speak to the agent. IMHO they are not great at their job, the floorplan surely must be missing doors downstairs and I think they should've advised you to declutter your kitchen surfaces (I think it's an air fry or similar but it makes your slightly narrow kitchen look much smaller than it probably is, hide all appliances in cupboards for viewings and photos) and regrout/grout pen/clean the bathroom tiles, and tidy up the garden, and pop some pot plants in for colour before all the photos were taken.
It's a lovely family home. I think major issues you will find;
It's not actually 5 bed it's 4 bed plus office/dressing room
1 bathroom for that big a house will put people off, new bed 4 beds tend to have 1-2 en suites plus the family bathroom
The back garden looks a bit uninspiring for those who like a nice garden
The kitchen is probably a bit small for a lot of people imagining a large open plan kitchen/dining/family space
That's me picking all the holes in it! Themain thing is to get the floorplan and photos re done and make sure the photographer or agent advises you in advance how to set the rooms so you get the best pics. Ultimately, you say similar houses go for that price, be really critical and check things like bedroom size, layout, bathroom numbers etc - are they like for like, maybe they are, but if not drop the price.

Get your photos redone.

Take the boxes off the top of the fridge and remove the item visible under the bad (can't remember what photo, maybe main bedroom?)

Put a lot of the appliances that are on the kitchen counter into storage. They make the kitchen look cluttered and lacking in storage.

Take photos and art that is close to the ceiling off the walls. Art/ photos lower down are fine.

Remove the art in the children's bedrooms and the blueish picture or photo beside the curtain in the main bedroom. The bunting is ok.

Put a rug on the floor in the bedroom with the wood floor.

Remove the weight rack from the room where the sofas are.

Cut the grass in the front garden and have the edge trimmed.

Put some attractive garden furniture on the back patio and some large potted plants (bright colours) both front and back.

Is that astroturf in the back? Lots of people are very put off by that.

It's a nice house and clearly well cared for. The size of the front and back gardens is a plus imo. Nice driveway too.