No viewings on our house - would these things put you off?

[Wallawallawallaby1]

We've had no interest at all...is it the market or is our house just priced too high? We're in the South West (Salisbury), and I'm told by the EA the house is a tricky one to value. It's a 5 bed detached Edwardian house over 3 floors. We bought it for £675k just over three years ago, and it's on for £720k. Interestingly next door is on for £750k, and they've had little interest as well. Identical houses in build, but they have an added bathroom and a much larger garden (although their house does require a fair bit of modernisation).

I'll list a couple of the negatives - could you tell me if the following would put you off viewing?

1. 5 beds but only one bathroom (and a downstairs cloakroom). The rooms are large so there's plenty of space for an ensuite (or two), but my DH doesn't want to do it. I was hoping though that potential buyers would realise this opportunity. Would the 1 main bathroom put you off?

1. Very small garden. Large-ish patio that extends round the house, but grass space quite small. We have a sofa set and a small climbing frame on the grass, with a massive trampoline on the patio, so it's perfectly functional...just small.

1. No garage, and on-street parking (but very quiet road, so no issues with parking)

The positives though: very grand house, massive amounts of curb-appeal, large rooms with high ceilings, close to good schools, 10 minute walk into town.

I desperately want to move as I need more downstairs living space. I could also really do with another bathroom (DH just hates the idea of any work being done in the house).

Please help!

Thank you

The house doesn’t balance unfortunately. Most family houses have 2 bathrooms and a garage. 5 bedrooms with a v small garden, 1 bathroom and a downstairs that is too small for you doesn’t work for most families. Open plan downstairs, medium garden and 2/3 bathrooms is what a family needing a 5 bed need.

can you put in a bathroom? Remove outdoor and downstairs clutter?

I had a house with 3 bathrooms and deliberately chose the next to have one bathroom because I couldn't stand cleaning them all.

What’s the square footage? The floor plan images are blurry for me!

You just need to use Area360 .....

Most family houses have 2 bathrooms and a garage.
Citation needed.

According to the government’s English Housing Survey, 7% of homes have an integral garage; can’t find a stat on separate garages, but I’ve got eyes and most homes don’t have a garage, don’t be silly. If that were true we wouldn’t have parking threads.

ONS and Ministry of Housing both have some fun housing data reports, though they don’t count bathrooms, but you only have to throw a stick at Rightmove to discover that one bathroom is the standard, though a downstairs loo isn’t unusual. Two or more bathrooms is really only a new build thing – Graun had a piece on it calling them “status toilets” – but since 78% of the UK housing stock was built before 1980, I’m hard-pressed to believe “most” family houses have two (as well as the invisible garage!).

OP’s house is a standard Edwardian floorplan. The problem is the price, not her normal amount of bathrooms.

It's less about what the country has as a whole though and more about what the OPs target market would expect for a house of that price and size in that area.

To me it looks like an expensive house that a reasonably weathly middle class family with 3/4 kids would live in. So to me 2 bathrooms would be an expectation for this sort of property rather than considered a luxury.

Yes I agree with @GasPanic about that.

A 1 bed flat will have I bathroom, so might a 2 bed flat (or house) or a 3 bed.

A 4 bed house will normally have more than one bathroom, though the second may be a small shower room or en suite.

A 5 bed house definitely has the expectation of 2 or more bathrooms.

I also agree with @GasPanic - the detached victorian house we sold in 2007 had six beds, two decent reception rooms (both 6 x 4m/20 x 14'), large kitchen with space for table and small island, two bathrooms, one separate loo and a lootility.

It was bigger than @Wallawallawallaby1's house though, at 325 sqm/3500 sq ft. No garage or ORP, although there was a residents' parking permit scheme. I think most people buying at that price point/scale of property definitely have an expectation of at least two bathrooms and two/three toilets.

We've gone on to buy houses with only one bathroom and - with the exception of our current three bed cottage which only has space for one bathroom plus a downstairs loo - have always added a second and/or third.

Just to note that Area360 isn’t always an infallible resource. I live in an incredibly safe small city which is very attractive to tourists and day trippers. There is a small number of actual residents by comparison to visitors, and Area360 would have you believe that our crime rate is horrendous (10/10). The reality is that the crime is all Saturday night drinking, thieving, fights and minor drug offences around the pubs and clubs area on one side of the city centre. The residential areas within the city are quiet and safe as is the majority of the city itself. Salisbury I imagine may be very similar.

Nothing's infallible and as already indicated the OP's crime rating is abnormally high given that it isn't in the centre. Ones that are closer to the centre score much better. The score isn't homogenous for an entire town but work on neighbourhoods I believe. It's a good warning indicator and you'd need to be incredibly brave, foolish or well-informed to ignore it.

I’d suggest using the police.uk map as a far more useful indicator of crime hotspots, broken down by month and type of crime. It shows that the vast majority of crime is happening in the city centre and not outside OP’s front door.

www.police.uk/pu/your-area/wiltshire-police/city_centre/?yourlocalpolicingteam=about-us&tab=crimemap

It's academic because I'm not looking - just giving feedback. And when I'm scanning hundreds of properties in a RM list I need filters. I'm not checking a police map (flood map, noise map, etc) for each one. That's why I suggested OP challenge the data source if not happy.

I haven't RTFT, so apologies if this has been mentioned. You can't do much about this, but I would be suspicious as to why the previous of owner sold after four years and you are selling after three years. It's strikes me as the sort of home families move to for the long-term, so this would concern me.

Having said that, your home is beautiful.

I've only read half the thread but just popping in to say that not everyone is a gardener and that a small manageable space might be a plus to some .
If the artificial grass were removed a use of planters/raised beds etc could make a lovely courtyard .

Wow, it's definitely the price. What else is available locally for this price bracket?
Our house is in Stoke on Trent and going on the market for 130k it is a 3 bed with 2 extra rooms in the loft. Suddenly I feel very poor🤣🤣

My advice fwiw is do 3 property searches in your area. 1 What's available for the price you want to achieve? 2 What's the price of houses with similar specs. So search for 5 beds etc. 3 Search for what has sold in your postcode? Hopefully this will give you a better handle on price. I'd also consider taking more photos. Most people start their search online, so the more the merrier. I'd consider moving the trampoline too. All the best hope that helps.

It’s a lovely house but small garden and lack of parking would really be an issue for me.

Salisbury is expensive!!! A lot of housing especially within walking distance to the city is historic and old. The price is probably fairly average for the type of house and area! I live in Dorset and it's expensive too! In my area £130K would buy you a studio flat!!

I think if you could reflect the price of a potential buyer having to install a bathroom and maybe a downstairs loo, you'd be much more likely to sell.

Maybe even get someone you know who works in digital design to digitally design what the potential bathroom/loo looks could be on each floor. If you know anyone that works with blender, then you are giving viewers an idea of what they could create with the spaces you have. I know that would require a bit of time/effort but if you want to sell this could be an idea??

The garden sounds fine tbh, you say it's smallish but you have a trampoline and climbing frame, then that means for a more grown family, those things are gone and they could put a shed/barbeque.

On road parking on a quiet street isn't an off put. I say this as someone who lives right next to an allotment, where people parks like d*cks all the time outside my house.

My mum is selling in Wokingham at the moment and for a while the market was very slow. We've noticed things are now picking up but we did change agent recently.
Buying a 5 bed I would ideally expect 2 bathrooms but the agent should be pointing out the potential for adding another.
The lack of a driveway would put me off tbh as potential buyers aren't likely to know it's a quiet road and easy to park. Any way a driveway could be added? Not necessarily by you but if there is potential again this could be pointed out.
As for the garden I would point this out as a low maintenance garden and maybe put the toys and trampoline in storage for now and make sure you show it off to it's maximum potential. Small gardens do appeal to some people who don't want the expense and time of keeping a large garden.
Good luck and hope things are moving for you soon!

I’m used to only having one bathroom so that wouldn’t bother me after seeing you have a separate toilet downstairs. A small garden would probably bother me more as I do like spending time in mine. It would have to be well presented with no obvious work to do for that price though.

No I wouldn’t spend £720k on a house with no parking and a small garden. One main bathroom wouldn’t phase me providing there’s another toilet downstairs as I hate en-suites. A utility room and a garage would be non negotiable.

I think part of the problem is that you've got the next door neighbour's house on the market at the same time as yours, and though yours is in much better decorative order (I've had a look on Rightmove - it's a beautifully decorated house, with a lovely kitchen) - the house next door has a bathroom on every floor and an enormous garden. It needs some cosmetic work and a new kitchen but it's liveable as is and offers enough bathrooms and outdoor space for a family of the size that will be wanting 5 bedrooms. A buyer could gradually do the work over time. That house will probably sell for about what you've got your house on the market for, eventually.

Your house, in comparison, needs major structural building work to put in two bathrooms, and you've got a tiny garden. If I'm looking to buy a house like yours, I'm going to offer £710-720k to buy your neighbour's house rather than yours, as the garden is huge and I can make changes to add value in time while still being able to live comfortably in the house as is.

I wouldn't buy yours because until I could get a tradesman (good luck) and had saved the money, I would have to juggle sharing one bathroom with my DH and kids and I just couldn't bear the thought of it. Mornings would be a nightmare, and I could be waiting upwards of a year to get that situation sorted.

So for me the issue is the bathrooms - but it's made more problematic by the house next door being for sale with the bathrooms in situ. You're in competition with a house that's already done the work buyers would need to do on yours - and the fact that it hasn't sold either means yours isn't going to sell until that one does, in my view.

It's the price, It's always the price. Why on earth would you think the value of your house has increased by £50k in a mere 3 years?

Big houses are harder to sell OP....unless they are amazing value. A combination of interest rates on mortgages, running & maintenance costs, Council tax etc...all massive issues now...and the buyer based was smaller to begin with (not many people with that kind of money to begin with).

So don't be disheartened...just take the advice of your estate agents and research the area yourself eg look at local houses what has sold on Rightmove in recent years. What did they sell for? Also look at their size and condition. Then consider the price yourself....does your price represent good value?

Good luck OP 🤞