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

It’s way out of my league, but at that price I’d be put off by the one bathroom, small garden, and the fact that it needs a fair bit of modernisation (which you say at the beginning but don’t mention as a reason for no viewings).

Either drop the price or stay and modernise.

You say you need all the bedrooms, but you’re using one for storage which is a poor use of a bedroom. Do you have a loft for storage? There’s a lot of “stuff” in all the rooms in the photos - a big declutter would free up space, and give a cleaner, more spacious look in the photos.

I'm reasonably local to you OP. I think one of the issues with Salisbury is that as it's so small, you can drive 10 minutes out of the centre and find a house with much more outdoor space, generous driveway parking, garage etc in one of the villages for that price. So your pool of buyers is small as it's limited to people who specifically want to be able to walk into town. For me the parking is the deal-breaker as you can get into the city centre fine but public transport to go further afield is not great.

Also the property market got really hot in 2021-2 and prices have definitely flatlined/reduced since.

from the floorplan it's not quite grand (sorry) but a bog standard period terrace/semi.

you need a shower room on the top floor.
and potentially separate a toilet out of the middle floor bathroom so that you have a full bathroom, incl toilet plus a separate powder room.

but all that is moot if you and your dh don't want to take on the work.

guess what, neither do buyers.

so you are left with price being too high for what it is. plus you have only been there a short time. I would question that you want to move because the house layout doesn't suit you.

good luck with whatever you decide to do.

It's a really beautiful house op, and I don't think the garden is too small, that's something the buyer decides. It's for the estate agent to suggest a buyer can turn a bedroom into a bathroom or extend to put one downstairs. Likewise with no garage or off street parking - that's for the buyer to decide if it is required or not. So really you're then down to whether it's priced right, and since you've not had any viewings this may not be the case. Odd that no one has viewed with the idea of offering lower.

Google image search of the floor plan takes you to the Rightmove link.

That tree outside the front would put me off. There’s no grass at all - looks like astroturf? The garden is completely overlooked and tiny.

The house is beautifully presented, but garage/parking/garden/bathrooms means the price will surely need to come down.

£720 is a strange number. Presumably you’d take £700k, which means that people searching with a £700k budget are currently missing yours on their Rightmove search.

Have plans drawn up for an additional bathroom/ensuite to show viewers. You’ve a small garden, remove the trampoline and climbing frame, as you need to maximise the outside space! At the end of the day a house is only worth what someone will pay!

If I needed 5 bedrooms I would definitely want a second bathroom/ensuite. Off road parking is a dealbreaker for my husband but we only have/need one car so a single driveway is acceptable. Garden doesn't have to be huge but we do like to use ours a lot for relaxing and entertaining so need at least space for hot tub, bbq, dining area, extra seating and guests. I would think the parking issue is a big problem for any prospective buyers, I imagine people looking for a 5 bed would have children, so a second car is essential and if the kids are older they may be only a few years off a third car. I am also aware the jobs market in the south west is not great if not commuting. My brother lives in Wiltshire and he is unemployed after his latest workplace closed down and he was unemployed for many years before that. We are in the midlands looking to sell in the next few years and have spent quite a lot tarting up the house. Only thing that isn't new within the 7 years we've been living here is the bathroom. Ours wouldn't be worth anywhere near as much as yours, but if you are expecting buyers to see potential for work they would be looking to knock down the price to cover the cost of the work.

Yes all of those factors would put me off a house of that size and price, especially just one bathroom, closely followed by lack of off-street parking. Also “I desperately want to move as I need more downstairs living space” - others viewing the details have probably thought the same about the living space. Change the house or change the price!

Price, I live in Salisbury, a friend recently sold something like yours after a year of trying for £625K, prices are dropping here at the moment, my house was worth £400K approx a year ago based on sales of identical ones (60's bungalow) and there is currently an identical one not budging for £375K.

Also location, some parts of the city are much more desirable than others, but there are these kind of big houses in all of them. Manor Road or Bouverie Ave probably no worries, but if its off Wilton Road say or Wain-A-Long facing the council houses not so good in terms of selling....

3/4 of a million with no off road parking, garage and a small garden. Yes I would expect those for that price. Look at if the same money in the surrounding areas would include what you say is missing and price accordingly.

I would put a small shower-only ensuite in the master and a nice full bathroom on the top floor. The other two issues are not really solvable and not such a barrier for most, I shouldn't think.

It’s not big enough for 5 beds in terms of living space.
Id drop a bedroom on the top floor and turn it into a bathroom and dressing rm or study. A nice adult space.
Id add a shower room at ground floor next to the WC.
If you stack all the bathroom facilities you won’t have a drainage issue or the need for a macerating WC ( which you would need if the WC was remote from the drainage. Unless you want to fork out ££ in digging and installing new drains to connect up )

Then I’d de clutter the garden.

Also bear in mind the city is on the decline, half of New Canal is empty, the former Woolworths building is going to be retirement flats, many independents have closed, bugger all to do. Slightly too far to be a reasonable commute and no big employers any more since FP and Capita moved.

Very good hospital and 2 very good grammars is about all we have going for us now!

Right, found it on Rightmove, the neighbours would put me off - ie psychiatric care homes and the residents that roam, hang about on the corner by the roundabout drinking.

By my reckoning you face the homes, also proximity then to Churchill way - the school sold 2 of those houses in the last 10 years or so, that's another factor, that site will possibly be re-developed, just changed hands.

I've found your house on Rightmove, it's absolutely gorgeous, ignore all the people saying that it would put them off, they probs cant afford your house anyway or live in boring identikit new builds miles away from living in a bustling town. It's a period house so you will never have a traditional layout, downstairs space is always more limited, bathrooms are often not in the expected places due to changes to how houses have been lived in over the years, and for what it's worth I think your house has a good layout. The garden is not very small, I was expecting a tiny courtyard. There are defined areas of the garden and okay it's not massive but again..period town houses rarely have big gardens as standard. My suspicion is younare competing with other 5 bedrooms which will have more bathrooms, but I haven't scoped your area out enough to work the market out. The market is very slow currently, how long have you even been on the market for? You're right to be frustrated and perhaps a bit impatient, the house is gorgeous and beautifully presented so you were likely expecting a good launch. But for a house like yours you are waiting for the right buyer, someone with taste who likes a period house with a few quirks who is willing to accept some compromises. There will be a buyer but you'll have to wait longer
I advise against lowering the price yet unless it's been a long time. If i was buying your house i would personally convert one of the bedrooms to a bathroom, perhaps the top floor for a gorgeous master bedroom with en suite. Itd still be a fantastic 4 bedroom house but again I don't know the area to kbow how much that would devalued. But don't do it to sell the house as that would be a waste of money.
Good luck and be patient. The right buyer with the same taste will buy.

The top floor needs to lose a bedroom and have one of the bedrooms split into two rooms, a storage/walk in wardrobe and a bathroom.

Off street parking will hugely reduce the price.

A small garden isn’t necessarily a bad thing if the space is used well. The trampoline must go.

On street parking ^

For that money I'd want at least another bathroom and parking. The small garden wouldn't bother me. But at a reasonable price and I'd do the work

The price is too high. And it looks like you haven't done very much to it to warrant a higher price

Every house will sell at the right price.

To add also, the market peaked when you bought, you may not get as much as you are hoping for but you should still be able to move. How long was the house on the market for when you bought?

Across the road is a group of properties which are specialist care homes licensed for "Caring for people whose rights are restricted under the Mental Health Act" and which failed their last inspection - that will have a bearing on it I'm afraid. I'm a Salisbury Resident and wouldn't buy there.

It’s really irrelevant what would put buyers off, especially if you can’t or won’t change it. You can’t change garden size, driveway or location. You don’t want to remodel inside - fine. I get why it would be a massive hassle when you want to move.

So then you get to price. If that’s the only variable you can shift, then you’ll have to shift it if you want to sell (or even get people through the door).

Ps
Id get rid of the plastic grass in the garden
and
warm the property up a bit.

It doesn’t look very lived in

Ahh yes I guess this will massively not help OP. 😩

I think it's beautiful and a bargain compared to where I live where that would be closer to £1.5M

The downside is that 2 bedrooms in the loft have no bathroom. That would put me off unless it could be changed or even a loo added to the landing.

The other thing is you have a school (private school) on the doorstep so I assume there will be a lot of traffic, hence the parking notices.

I suppose the question is, have you found that only one bathroom is a problem? Do you use all 5 bedrooms?

Could it be marketed as 4-bed plus study/ office room/ suitable for conversion to an en suite?

So you don't want to do any work on the house that would make it more saleable (ensuites, modernised, garden work) but you want a £45,000 profit just because you lived in it for 3 years? In a stagnant market?

Read that back to yourself.

It's over priced. Your probably paid too much in the first place and then didn't even want to do the work to make it worth it.

One bathroom for a 5 bedroom house spread across multiple floors is insane these days, frankly.

Lack of living space downstairs will also be putting off buyers, just like it's putting you off.

Small garden not developed to it's fullest potential isn't great for families.

No garage.