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

I hate to say it, but we went 3 times to see a brilliant house that I really loved, and in the end I just couldn't buy it because the garden was tiny and paved. And we're now buying a smaller, not nearly as nice house but perfectly fine enough and with a much bigger and better garden.
Bathrooms can be added, lack of parking can be tolerated, but a tiny garden is and was a deal breaker for me no matter how nice the house.
But that's me. Maybe for some it really won't matter?

I don’t think the house next door is helping you at all. The garden on it is massive compared to yours. And even though the decor isn’t a nice as yours, the utility room extension, and the layout of the kitchen diner, makes a good use of the space. Plus of course the extra bathroom. I’d think there is more than £30k of difference between the two, sorry!

Oh and it's costing us more than the bigger better house 🫣

Has it really gone up by nearly 50 grand in three years op? It seems unlikely in the current climate.

I think it might be the parking , I don't know about that area but parking has become more and more of a pain .

We're actually looking at houses around the size of yours, not too far from you! The things that could be changed wouldnt put me off, for example the bathroom wouldn't put me off as we'd be happy to do put another one in. The biggest issue for me would be garden. We've not looked at lots of houses because the garden is too small for the size of the house and unfortunately yoy can't change that

It’s a beautiful house, and looks like it’s had some money spent on it with the nice kitchen and decoration that someone could just walk into it in that condition. However I think people who want a house they don’t have to do anything to would want another bathroom or en-suite.

for me, the size of the garden would be the biggest thing. 5 beds would assume a family with kids so I’d want a bigger garden and certainly not fake grass.

on street parking wouldn’t be a deal breaker in this location, and surely that comes with the territory with being a central location.

if I was looking in this location and this kind of house, unfortunately I’d go for your neighbours one and just do the work in exchange for a bigger garden.

Does yours have new windows? If so I’d say this on the listing.

Yes, you have a few dealbreakers there for me sadly. One bathroom would rule it out right away, but a small garden and on street parking would also do it. You need to find people for whom these things are less important - and price accordingly if you are struggling.

Price is too high for what you have in the current market.

I look at any potential house as some sort of project.

I've added ensuites, bathrooms, conservatories etc. Some with builders some DIY.
Every house has a buyer - but it needs to be priced right for the area, person and competing properties to lure that buyer.

Not everyone wants to do work on a house and many newer houses already come with a better ratio of bathrooms/ensuites to bedrooms.

Are there newer houses in the immediate area? We tried to sell our 1970s house but were in competition with new builds with the same number of bedrooms, choice of kitchen and a guarantee etc.

For me your lack of a drive would be a big negative - camper, trailer and lack of a charging point.

But good luck to you.

Only one bathroom is a tricky sell with a 5 bedroom house, plus a very small garden.

Artificial grass is also a big turn off!

I'd turn the bathroom into an ensuite for bedroom 2 and convert bedroom 3 into a really nice large bathroom

I think it’s a great layout - the en suite would be good in the master bedroom. But it wouldn’t put me off if the price reflected it.

The issue for me would be the small garden - everything else can be resolved. How small is it really?

I think this is the crux of it. Houses have become harder to sell/buy at your price point since summer 2022 (I know this as we bought and have subsequently sold). You will be unlikely to realise a gain.

We had actually done work to the house we bought, spent £20k plus (I think £25k give or take) and had to take only a £10k increase when we sold despite having added a fifth bedroom - which reflected house prices dropping. We part exchanged ours and the builder actually sold for £30k less than they paid us (last summer).

I'd be ok with one bathroom and a downstairs loo, I wouldn't of I was expecting to fill all 5 bedrooms. I think the largest bedroom needs an ensuite.

"I think you should take the trampoline out, and get rid of the massive garden furniture set, maybe replace it with something smaller on the actual patio, then the lawn won't look as small. Maybe put some plants in pots in, round where the trampoline currently is to make that look more like part of the garden"

This is excellent advice

People who want a big Edwardian family house will want/expect a big garden. I think that's the primary stumbling block here.

A subset of people who want a big Edwardian family house will also really care about parking or not having to do work or both.

To be honest if I was looking for that style of house at the £700K+ mark and saw the difference between the gardens I would wait it out and see if your neighbours drop their price.

No those things would not put me off, price would though as its out of my range (but also my area so I don't know how it relates to your area).

I would LOVE an Edwardian 5 bed with 2 toilets and a big patio.

I have finally after 2 years in hell trying to house buy got myself an edwardian (but it was renoed around the 20s and then the 60s/70s so you wouldn't even know its edwardian) 4 bed, 1 bath with a small patio... we are simply going to add a second bathroom.

I think 2 toilets is enough though, I hate en suites and they wouldn't be a selling point for me.

It's still a buyers market at the moment, so buyers can be picky. I moved last year and had no chain. Our requirements were at least two bathrooms, garage and medium low maintenance garden. Also bonus was detached. We got all of that. You are asking a lot for a niche house (which I am sure is lovely ) at a time when cost of living is very high and construction costs are very high. Bathroom conversions are not inexpensive. Either hold off until the market recovers, which will be a while, or lower your price.

No way in hell i’d spend that much for one bathroom in a 5 bed house. Cannot imagine having less than 2 in a 5 bed house. On street parking and small garden for that price would be an absolute no for me too.

I would say the bathroom and the garden and the area, if you are the house I think you are, you are within spitting distance of the ring road and the roundabout which would put me right off.

It's not just about space but the difficulty of fitting an en-suite. All the water etc facilities are towards the back of the property making renovations more costly to install. Sadly that would put me off - especially at the price!

Is the kitchen and bedroom/bathroom in an extension? The kitchen looks as if it might be quite long and thin (though it might be fine in real life). I'd expect a utility room in that size house.

I would also want/expect at least 2 seperate loos. Even with one teen in the house, the amount of time she and her friends can spend in our main bathroom is extraordinary. It's easy enough to juggle bathrroom access with young children; less so with older children when you all want to be out the door between 7-8am.

If you have sufficient spare rooms and you do decide to stay, you could put a main reception room up in the main bedroom and make the lounge a play room/study.

You bought at the height of the market and the market has since dropped due to interest rates increases. That would translate into selling it if youre lucky for what you bought it for, but maybe less. Can you afford this?

Trying to sell it for 51k more than you bought it is crazy. I would guess the price is exactly why youre not getting interest.