Help! House on market, little progress, feedback needed!

[IcyCoralMaker]

So, my house by the sea has been on market for 4 weeks, had 3 viewings, no offers.
The house was built December 2024 and I'm selling to move into a detached house, closer to my family.
House has been reduced by £5k to bring it down to the search point on Rightmove and to attract first time buyers.
I think the photos are good and agent says they'll continue to push it but when asked how they were doing that, they didn't answer my question.
Any suggestions on what I can do to attract more views?
Thanks 👍

As is the whole 'this is our delightful, spacious kitchen' nonsense. OP, please don't do this unless your viewer is Hyacinth Bucket.

The road and driveways round here have yet to be completed

Can you get estate agents to add that to description. As it does look poorly finished. Maybe first pic more house less driveway. Although a nice big drive for 2 cars is a plus.

Just read entire thread
and I can’t recall ever chuckling out loud at a post

you guessed it… @BigFatBully ’s post about staging a garden party for the listing photos

oh to see the EA’s face when @BigFatBully suggests this when sells her property

Another move
just 4 months after a big move
for an aged dementia sufferer
is a bad idea

I am guessing there’s more to this

It’s very nice, BUT you are making it look small and a bit untidy.

Get rid of (by which I mean hide for photo purposes):

pile of washing
litter box
ironing board
put a couple of bottles of wine in the open cupboard in the kitchen and get rid (hide) the kitchen roll and pop or whatever it is.

Create an impression!!

Could you rent it out until prices increase?

It is a new build right next to new builds and right next to the sea…
you haven’t lived in it and it shows. It is super new but just weirdly new as you are indeed living in… you paid the premium and as you lived in probably people don’t want to pay it instead of you…

Your reason is understandable but there is not a lot of appeal for new house at the moment…except if new and in your chosen location.

Excellent point 👍

This. And the new build premium is normally much more than 5%. There are probably houses in the development that the developer discounted by more than 5.
% to get off their books.

You’re probably looking at at least 10-15% to clear it.

OP, on a personal and informal level, I think you're going through a very difficult time. I see that you've not made many personal touches to your property and I can see that as a sign of it.

I really don't agree with those saying that your house is too highly priced. Hartlepool is becoming quite gentrified and the proximity to the beach, coupled with the fact that it's a decent size and no apparent issues, such as mould or subsidence. I acknowledge that moving so soon after purchasing may be seen as a red flag but perhaps this could be mitigated with a notice on the listing that you are only moving due to personal circumstances.

Also, it can take several months to sell a property. Your listing has only been on since April. I wouldn't worry too much.

But do you think that it's the right thing to do to move? I appreciate that your mother is ill but surely moving places again would only cause her more distress? The house that your mother lived in before will have surely been sold now, so it won't be the same and they do say that home is where the family are.

Could you make a stable, familiar home for your mother at your current address? Your children (who the move would also unsettle) and you could provide her with re-assurance and familiar face and create happy moments there.

The more I think about this thread, the more I wonder if the sale of the property is an issue or if it's actually the OP not being sure of what they want to do.

OP, please read the Alzheimer's Society website for advice and support, for you, your family and your mother. There are ways to help people live with Alzheimer's and live good and long lives. Medication helps. Music helps. Playing your mother's favourite songs will bring her joy and also help her to stay clung to who she is and those around her.

I can't believe I didn't see this before, but given the thread title, I looked at it with my business brain.

150k???? I live in the south. What an utter bargain!

And you “business brain” told you to suggest the Op stage a garden party for the listing photos…. 😦?!

Having sold houses for over 18 years I've seen thousands. There's nothing about your property that sets it out from anything else. It needs some character, some colour, some kerb appeal and a new agent! Any agent that hasn't given you that advice and took those photos needs retrained!

Clear the washing, the kitchen table, the ironing board etc. add some colour in your soft furnishings so you're not wasting more money, you can take them with you. Same with some plant pots along the front of the house. First impressions always count.

I can't advise on price as I'm in NI but you need to make it stand out, especially if there are others at a similar price or cheaper!

Good luck!

Did you mean to be so rude?

Well I meant precisely what I wrote

to be clear, your idea to stage a garden party for the property listings photo is the funniest thing I’ve read on mumsnet 😂

There are lots of other staging that could be done, other than just a garden party scene!

-1 bedroom could be staged with lights and fans and shown how many marijuana plants you could have growing in there
-Another room could be staged as a sex dungeon with whips and chains
-It could be staged with multiple bunk beds to show that 14 adults could squeeze in there as a group house!

I don't think you need such staging though OP, nor the garden party pics! 😆

Please stop. This "advice" about Alzheimers and playing music is absolutely not helpful. Your business advice was hilarious, this isn't funny.

If the OP didn't want advice, then they wouldn't have asked for it. We don't attack other posters on this forum, go and troll somewhere else and take your negativity elsewhere.

To be fair, she asked for advice on selling her house. Not on how to deal with her mother’s health issues.

We're in the property forum.

Never heard of new buyer premium, in fact I see the complete opposite. We’re on new build number 3 and they have all gone up straight after purchase because the first owner has to start from scratch, all the flooring, built in storage, landscaping…there’s some on our site selling 10-15% more within 2 years. If you have done all that work and then someone comes along and gets another 12-18 months on your boiler warranty and about 9 years on the NHBC, that all goes in your favour.
We do live in your region, there’s quite a few new build sites in Hartlepool and your are super close to the water so it could be off putting and there’s a lot of choice for buyers and builders are always dishing out incentives especially when buying off plan.

They absolutely should be doing your drive.

The roads are more understandable because of construction traffic etc but your driveway should be done before you complete ideally. Most large house builders will do that.

But anyone who understands dementia can help.inform her that she might not achieve what she is setting out to achieve by selling.

It looks like the downstairs toilet is actually off the small hallway/lobby, as opposed to off the living room.