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 👍

Is there a ground maintenance payment due for the estate?

If so, what is it per annum?

Are you required to be on a neighbourhood committee to manage the grounds maintenance?

A lot of these types of setups are putting buyers off because of the increasing annual charges.

This is the price the agent said it should be marketed at and it would do well

Yes I've paid £218 for the year for the estate fee. No neighbourhood committee.

It's a pretty house inside and your pictures are good. Hard to tell exactly from the photos but it looks like a flood risk. I would skip it, too.

it always comes down to price
also the pictures aren’t good - everything is taken with a wide angle so I’m guessing the house is small
the house screams no storage - piles of clothes in the lounge, dining room table stacked and the ironing board leaning on a wall
the garden - the picture is not good with random pots
you aren’t going to make a profit on a new build you bought for a premium six months ago so I’d price it lower, get some better pictures and stage the garden - it’s summer and a better time to try and sell

Well it isn't doing well so far. Apart from that, surely people know that new builds come at a premium and that you can't realistically expect to make a profit if you choose to sell after 5 months. That would only happen in the very rare circumstance that the market was shooting upwards as in 21/22. Now, the opposite is true in many areas.

I don’t know the area, so can’t comment on price, but it appears to be well presented apart from;

The ‘cat gym’ (if that is what it is) in the Living Room and the pile of clothes on the living room sofa together with the pile of bits on the Dining table.

That probably sounds really picky, but I am highly allergic to cats, so would immediately stop scrolling and wouldn’t view and would question whether the pile of clothes / bits mean there is no storage space in the house.

I am surprised your photographer didn’t move those things when photographing and even worse seemed to make a feature of them in the photographs.

Sorry no advice, just astounded you can get a 3 bed for £150K. Tempted to move there myself.

Gosh I think it's lovely and exactly what I want but not in my location! I think I would remove that photo of the whole estate though.

Yes that was a two bed terrace.
The agent knows I'm selling due to a change of circumstances, I didn't go into any detail with them.

It’s a really small house. The third bedroom isn’t a bedroom at all and should be marketed as a 2 bed with an office - this will be putting a lot of families off. The kitchen/diner also isn’t really a proper kitchen diner as it is so narrow. You could market this better though and move the table out from against the wall.

I don’t like the downstairs toilet off the living room but not much you can do about that.

I think tbh 3 viewings in 4 weeks is pretty decent in this market - you haven’t had an offer because houses are moving slowly so buyers can afford to be picky and, with respect, this house isn’t anything special.

As others have said you are trying to sell for more than what you paid for only 6 months ago when you bought it for new. You generally need to hold onto a new build for at least 5 years. Drop the price to Offers Over £140k and people will probably bite but you aren’t going to get away from the fact that people are going to be suspicious of the fact you have literally only just moved in.

Yeah, so some estates have started off at this amount per annum and the amount has shot up quite quickly (3-4X the original). People have tried to challenge costs and been met with problems.

It can be a problem for some people as its a potentially unknown annual cost that will only increase.

It can be a red flag with new builds.

I agree with pp that selling so quickly after moving in would have me asking lots of questions,
Bad build ?
Bad neighbours?
Bad commute?

It's quite possible that people often buy then sell up quickly without future prospective buyers knowing this but with yours been a brand new build they will know.

Also - is the garage yours? It isn’t clear from the photos but I wouldn’t want a house next to someone else’s garage.

I also think you should rearrange your living room so your TV is in a less odd location - it being next to the window on that stick thing makes it look like there is no sensible place to put one which would put a lot of people off as well.

Why did your mum move in with you? Physical health issues, memory / dementia, grief / loneliness? You can't keep upping sticks because your mum can't get used to somewhere new quickly. This could continue to be a problem if you are her carer.
Are you a lone parent?

Agree with this - your mum hasn’t really given it a fair crack of the whip. Presumably you moved her for a reason - I would make an arrangement to wait until the year mark and see how you both feel

I too would be put off seeing the cat scratching pole, toys and what I assume is a cat toilet, because I'd assume it would stink! The pile of clothes and other bits just look messy, but otherwise, its a nice little house.
I too thought about flooding and if that is an issue.

I agree with you. I did say to the agent should I get rid of these but my reply was, well i would leave them in because you don't want it to look like you've gone overboard with moving stuff and you want it to look like a family lives here.
I thought that was strange.

Dementia diagnosis

She’s not settling somewhere new - this probably impacted by the dementia which means unless you can buy her old house back any move is unlikely to solve the problem - you may be rushing this - the emotion of it all is a lot to handle

It's not a small house. The viewers I've had so far have commented on the house being bigger in person than what the photos seem online.

Your agent is bullshitting you!

I would include a proper picture of the beach - that’s what I would buy the house for! To be that close to a beach would be amazing.

If your mum has dementia then unless you move back to her previous property, another move is not going to solve the problem.

I'd scrap the idea of moving and start thinking about what kind of professional support your mum needs

New builds often drop in value within the first few years. You will need to factor that into the price.