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 most have already said, the pictures are terrible. Because it’s a new build and you’ve only been there 6 months the house doesn’t look new and it doesn’t look loved/lived in yet either. It looks like you’ve just moved in and shoved everything in a ‘that’ll do for now’ place.

As you can’t get the loved/lived in look yet, I’d strip it back to give it a more show home look. Start by getting rid of all the cat bits and pieces throughout the house. Many, many people are put off by any pets. If you can’t get a door for the cupboard beside the oven, empty the space and put in a wine rack or pretty jug or anything that doesn’t scream ‘no space in this kitchen’.

Put a pot of flowers outside the front door and get rid of the ones on the back patio. Better to have none than mismatched half dead plants. If you can afford to put a table and chairs on the patio, do it. If not, leave it bare.

Move the TV out of the living room window. Put up a blind or some curtains. Put the TV in the bedroom and the little chest of drawers it sits on away. The way you have you TVs scream of no room in the living room or bedroom.

Put some bright coloured towels in the bathrooms. Don’t use pink! You’re making the house look really girly. Any single bloke will scroll on by. You have to make people see themselves in the space and right now I’ve got a crick in my neck trying to watch any of you TVs and don’t know where all my clothes/ironing board will go.

Put the pink dressing table thing away too… it’s cluttered and looks like I have to squeeze past it to get into bed.

The house is small and with the stairs going straight into the living room, it has a layout that many won’t like. But it’s a good buy for someone!

Be honest why you’re selling. I’d assume a relationship breakdown or job move if a house goes back on the market so quickly but others will think of bad neighbours or issues with the house itself. Your estate agent should be calling everyone on his books who wants to live on that new estate but can’t afford it, telling them why it’s back on the market and offering them a nearly new home at a great price. To be brutally honest your estate agent sounds terrible! Awful advice and shocking photos. Have you spoken to the developer? They may have people waiting to buy?

I’m so sorry you’re in this position OP. You did a
good thing in buying a home so you could look after your mum and it’s not working out. I would listen to others who’ve already said that another move may not make it any better for your mum. How far away are family and friends? You may be better off staying put and getting more help where you are.

And finally, please take the death/trip hazard rug off the landing!

That's a nice home for someone, it's a blank canvas, which people often like. However it's over priced. You've paid a premium,so drop it.

I haven't read the full thread.

Really picky here but the black unit in the hall needs to go and I'd put the pink mirror in the downstairs loo. Pink rug on the landing is a trip hazard and makes the landing look small.

There are no pictures on any of the walls. Can you borrow some from friends to make it look a bit more lived in. Show homes have stuff on the walls.

Garden is very bland, where are the flower beds? All the pots are crowded onto the tiny patio, move one or two outside the front door.

Otherwise apart from the bedrooms being small which you can't do a lot about it's a pretty little house.

The wonderful original House Doctor (Anne Maurice) said to the same comment - if you were meeting someone new, would you not want to look your best and make the most of yourself? Even if they think it's staged, they would think it's respectful to be staged for them!

Now I’ve picked myself up off the floor at
how cheap housing is where you are…

The first photo is awful - it screams ‘look at this almighty slab of cheap tarmac that will need redoing in about 10 years.’ Get some planters, greenery etc and take the first photo with a lot less driveway in it.

Get rid of the aerial photo that just shows roads of houses crammed in. They’ve made no effort with layout, have they?

if you paid £147k for it and you’ve only been in it maximum six months, you’re pushing your luck trying to get 150k.

Get rid of all the cat stuff for the photos and stick it in your car for viewings. Open all the windows because it will smell (I say this as a dog owner who had to do the same).

Sort out the mess/clutter in the kitchen - has one of the doors fallen off already?

Is there a way you can get the agent to put something in the listing that it’s a sad sale due to family health needs? Otherwise I would assume the neighbours or house were terrible as you’re moving so soon.

Not sure if it’s the same on your estate but the new builds near me nearly always offer an incentive as part of the price- no stamp duty, no estate agent fees if you’re selling, part-exchange, free choice of floors/fixtures/fittings included. Sometimes a combination of these incentives. So you can see why somebody would pay more to have an un-lived in home with their exact choice of kitchen/carpet/bathroom with none of the stress of being in any sort of chain, and potentially with financial incentives on top of that.

So there needs to be enough price difference to make buying a second-hand nearly new build worth it.

Hes Clearly wrong.

I would never buy a new build second hand. Not a chance.

I used to LOVE House Doctor. When DD was a newborn, they showed the re-runs about 5am on 5, I loved them all over again. I still follow her advice now

Why so many photos of stairs?! Also the cat would put me off. Also the photos are cleared altered to make it look bigger as all the doors look far too wide. Makes me wonder why they need to do that. New builds sadly don't gain value, they lose it in the first few years.

Sorry OP but the photos look like they've been taken to mislead about the space and yet still make most of the house look tiny. A large person might need to traverse your kitchen sideways to lie down on your queensize ironing board.

From the front the drives are horrible but could be helped by a jetwash and some planters to give boundaries. Also, it looks like the builders ran out of the right colour bricks about 3/4 way up so what else was a Friday 4pm job?

My parents lived over 50 years in the house Mum died in. All through the middle stage of dementia she would be asking whether it was time to go home, and when she could go home. It was heartbreaking. As others have said, unless you can move back to her old home - and even then - she probably won't settle. It is the nature of the disease.
I second the pp who said move that rug at the top of the stairs or all your troubles will be over.

How much cheaper is your property than it's new price? Are new plots still for sale?

Developers will often offer to buy existing property of give big financial incentives to shift lots in challenging markets.

I wouldn’t panic. 3 viewings in 4 weeks isn’t that bad. As someone that lives in the South West I’m staggered that such a lovely little new build house is so cheap. That would be well over double where I am.

Yes slightly alarming that it’s being sold so quickly but it happens.

They should have been moved before the agent came round. You don't have pictures taken to sell your house with piles of clothes in the living room and a dining table rammed with stuff.

I think the issue is mainly that it's a 6 month old new build. If people want a new build, they'll want it new, not with someone else having lived in it for 6 months. They might as well get new for the same price you're charging, but theirs will be actually new?

Look at show home pics for the house type or similar.
You don’t need to do much just move clutter and cat stuff. Tv on unit not that weird pole blocking window. Move the rug.
2 pots by door - Morrisons had some nice pink planters.
We sold a 2 year new build but presented it nicely and had put in extras - fitted wardrobes, garden landscaping and patio, burglar alarm. Were told around 2 yrs is popular as you’ll have dealt with snagging. 6 months does scream massive problem with something - neighbours etc.

Could you afford some kind of featured listing for a week so that people outside your area might see it who didn't realise they could retire to the seaside so cheaply in NE? I know Hartlepool isn't exactly Cornwall, but you never know. Or post somewhere like er MN 😅

I understand your circumstance, but no way would I give a second glance to anything that was being put up for sale 5 months after purchase. My mind would jump to a major issue with property or absolute nightmare neighbours and I wouldn’t even bother finding out which.

Plants on window sills, a nice planter at the front door, maybe a picture or two, Mirror in bathroom. Get rid of folded washing, cat stuff needs removing for photos, and tidy up the storage 'space' next to oven, Move the bins and steps - have photos re-done. Is that carpet in the kitchen?

It seems a lovely house but the only thing that puts me off via the photos is the lack of colour therefore making it look a bit cold, especially as it's by the sea - even a lovely muted colour like sage green would make it look warmer.
I hope you have success soon x

Pic 1 It has no kerb appeal. The tarmac looks awfully untidy around the boundary and the man hole covers. The gravel path looks awful around the man hole covers too. Too many man hole covers is unappealing. You can make them look better but still they're going to be an issue. Are they all for you?
Plants in tubs that you can take with you are a really useful addition to the look.

Pic 3 - yellow boundary - is that all you own. In which case I don't like the gravel path even more and not having that garage is crap. Is the path at the side of your house yours?

Pic 5. The doormat looks silly there.

Pic 6 is just boring. It needs some colour in there.

P14 shows you have no storage space for boxes.

P19 Your bathroom focus is on a toilet brush. What's the tiny pink thing on the wall?

P26 Cat poop box?

My first thought was, what an amazing position next to the sea, if I was buying there, I would hold out for one of the houses that had the sea view from their back garden. That doesn't really help you though! If it doesn't sell, it's usually because the price is too high.

Yes, especially a new build. They're notorious. I'm sorry for your situation, but maybe drop the price again to ger more interest.
It'll be right for someone!

Also - as you are so close to the sea maybe have a picture of the nearest beach as that is surely a major selling point

The agent sounds useless. I have cats and have sold houses several times over the years, of course you move anything cat related for the photos, especially litter trays and cat trees. And you don’t leave piles of stuff on a dining table. You don’t want to make it look ‘uninhabited’ but you also don’t want the whole of Rightmove seeing your washing and cat box.

It looks a decent size house for someone who only needs two bedrooms, but I agree you need to reduce the price to under what you paid for it.

I also agree with those who say that moving house will not necessarily help your mother, as she has dementia she is likely to feel unsettled wherever she is now. But if you want to move so that you have access to help from family that’s understandable (I had a parent with dementia). Best of luck.

Photos arent good.
Messy with clothes, ironing boards etc.
One net chrtain pulled to the side in the small bedroom looks terrible. Get a better window dressing.
Too pink. Pink mirror cheapens the look (although I like it personally)

New build selling on pics I have seen tend to dress like a show home As people want it not lived in, or hardly lived in.

I’m so sorry to hear about your mum’s diagnosis. I agree with others that a move may not help her settle as well, depending on the circumstances, as you’d hope. Being back closer to family may well be a big help to you both though, if they are able to support you in caring for her.

I think it is not worth trying to make it look more lived in and putting up pictures etc. Given that it is so new and new ones nearby are still available, I think you need to price it a bit below the new one of the same type, and address the near newness in the listing.

Get the agent to put something at the top of the description in part capitals such as Unexpectedly available again due to change in family circumstances, chance to secure a home on the new development for an excellent price or whatever…

Then make the listings photos look as close to an empty new build as you possibly can. Take EVERYTHING apart from big furniture out, even if you stack it all on the driveway in bags for life! Have the beds covered, not bare mattresses, but very simple styling. Plain white or cream if possible. Have it pristinely clean. No rugs.

I wish you the best OP. It’s only been on a short time and things aren’t selling fast in most places at the moment, so I don’t think the amount of viewings you have had indicate a problem, but I think doing the above will help.