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 also found on Rightmove. The fake grass is what kills it for me. The outside looks hot, dry and clinical. I'd want it to look far more natural and to get it back to feeling like a garden rather than a plastic mat will take effort.

The house also looks too clean but maybe that's just me. I prefer the neighbours because it looks lived in albeit a bit darker.

I would be put off by the lack of bathrooms and the small garden. The parking would not bother me, we have a garage but it's just used as a glorified shed, not for parking a car.

Even if there was an additional bathroom the small garden would probably put me off. And looking at the floor plan, for me the house is top heavy. Too many bedrooms for the ground floor living space, and no opportunity to extend the ground floor as the garden is small.

Lack of outside space and storage is off putting in a house that size.

Bathrooms - depends on competition.

Yes - the one bathroom issue would be it.
No matter how gorgeous a house is - having one bathroom would definitely put me off.

Also for the price - I would expect some sort of off-street parking.

@Wallawallawallaby1 what don't you like about the house or area? Is that why you are selling so soon or for other reasons (you don't need to say).
I know the road and area well and although your road is quiet it is right next to a very busy roundabout and at the end of your road is a school so I imagine that can be very busy at least twice a day during the week.
I can't remember which one but I had relatives who lived in one of those houses in the 80s, it was rented then but I remember them being very nice and homely.

A house being too clean is never a problem.

Ours was extremely clean when we bought it but we managed to give it that "lived in" look (messy) with no trouble at all.

It's a beautiful house but above anything else I'd get proper grass laid.

Think I've found a house meeting the description. We're eventually looking for a house in the 700,000- 850,000 price point in another town in your area. It's beautifully decorated but I'm going to give my honest feedback on first look and why I wouldn't go to view it:

1. No garage. That automatically means ~300sq ft of floor space will be taken up by stuff I would have put in my garage.
2. Loft conversion - no storage space that I can see. I would have to then also put the stuff I store in my loft somewhere else.

As I can see it, one of the bedrooms would have to turn into a junk room for my Christmas decorations and bike.

1. Not enough bathrooms.

1. No driveway parking.

Without a garage or loft space, the usable floor space of your house becomes 1475ft instead of 1925sq ft as the stuff from elsewhere needs somewhere to go.

Would I buy a 1475sq ft house in your area for £720,000? No, I wouldn't. If I'm buying at that price point (we live in a similar price point town), I'm looking for at least 1900sq ft of usable space not including the garage or loft space or it's not worth moving.

Small garden and lack of garage wouldn't put me off. You pay the price for living close to town: small gardens and troublesome parking. Is there a basement or cellar that can be used for tool storage? Make sure it's on the description, maybe even get it added to the floor plan.

Bathrooms are more problematic. Essentially, in selling a 5 bed house you are selling a large family home, and only having one place people can shower or bath at once is problematic for families. For that reason, I wouldn't have considered your house - not because I need those facilities, but because it makes it a resale liability, which is what you're now experiencing.

I've looked at your neighbour's house and it has a vast garden. It has a lot of original features that I personally value. It also has a more workable kitchen with a lot more cupboard space. But, it's terribly, terribly dated.

I'm afraid I wouldn't buy either house.

I am buying a 4 bed house with 1 bath and 1 WC and that also falls in the resale liability bracket for families, but it has a basement to make up for lack of garage, you can park in the yard (at a push) and it is exceptionally close to town; these houses are mostly owned by older folks and the bigger ones with the better gardens by families. And mine's less than half the price of yours, so I considered the 'resale liability' aspect alongside its reasonable asking price in comparison to others nearby.

TL;DR - in order to buy a house with resale liability issues, the price really has to be right for me. I sat and waited for mine to have two price drops before I even booked a viewing.

I agree...as nicely done as @Wallawallawallaby1's is, I actually prefer the feel of the neighbouring house. Not to mention the huge garden!

I won't say that the negatives of the OP's house would necessarily deter me from buying (we once purchased a house with two bedrooms - one ensuite - on the first floor and five reception rooms plus kitchen, conservatory and two bathrooms on the ground floor, which had a tiny, wraparound garden 🙄 When we sold it was to a family with several DC who I'd assumed would never buy it), but I would be factoring in how much it would cost to add a second bathroom and I'd definitely be more interested in the 750k house.

As well as the bottom-heavy house I referred to above, we've also owned a few more 'hard to value' (aka characterful or niche) homes - including a six bed Victorian detached with bedrooms over several floors including a mezzanine (not liked by viewers with small DC - it went sstc within two weeks to an older couple with 16 yr old son) and on road parking - and they are definitely harder to pitch at the right price/potentially take longer to sell. Although, with the exception of a couple, we've usually found a buyer in a week or two (guessing we priced too low!)

Our last place was a converted two bed mill with half an acre of garden that we'd fully renovated from a repossession. The EA valuations in late 2023 were wildly different (from 275k to 500k) as they were just clutching at straws. But, tbh, I wouldn't say the OP's house was that hard to value as it appears to be in a street of similar properties.

I was also wondering what @Wallawallawallaby1 had done since purchasing to increase the value. My personal experience of selling a house that hasn't been 'improved' since purchase, in a falling or stagnant market, is that we struggled to get what we paid three years previously, let alone make a profit.

I’m really surprised at the number of people saying the bathroom situation is an issue. That’s a fixable problem. The parking would be an absolute dealbreaker for us. I’ve had on-street parking for many years and it’s awful. I’d never do that again. We bought our house as it had a drive, garage, and a big garden. Old fashioned house with no curb appeal but that can all be dealt with.

It isn't hard to find!

Definitely take down the trampoline. Having it on your patio area, would most likely make it look squashed in.
Also from your floor plans, I would guess the reason previous owners haven't added in an ensuite / extra bathroom in the front bedroom on the 1st floor is that the plumbing is all towards the back of the house where the w/c & bathroom are.

The top floor really needs a bathroom as you have 2 bedrooms there . If you do end up staying in the house, I would take some space from the bedrooms there to add in a small shower room.
Otherwise I would reduce the price of the house.

What extra room do you actually want, it looks huge but I can't really see on my phone how big the rooms are from the floor plan. Is there no way you can make where you are working so it's cheaper than moving?

It’s beautifully decorated and fitted out but it’s not a ‘grand house’ with a ton of original features. You could style one of the first floor bedrooms as another reception room though. Might help the feel.

Have a look at some of the competitor houses on Rightmove.

This house https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/161294084#/?channel=RES_BUY very close to yours has just sold. It also has a tiny garden, but it has more bathrooms and a driveway. It was reduced to £550k.

Your house looks nice, and much better than your neighbour’s! (Their utility room extension is an eyesore)

Nothing you have mentioned would put me off, but I would always expect to have to do some work on a house. A second bathroom would be nice to have but not essential. I also wouldn’t expect a massive garden or garage/parking in the centre of a town - if that was important to me, I wouldn’t be looking in central Salisbury but somewhere more rural.

I’m not sure prices have risen by 5-10% since 2022 though - around here, that was the absolute peak of the market when people were in bidding wars, and prices have stagnated since. Halifax thinks mine has gone up in price by £10k since 2022, which is about 1%.

I think a lot of people bought at peak prices. Lots of landlords selling up now, lots of competition.

oh, i've just google street viewed it! Sandwiched between a major roundabout and a school (with the associated school drop off traffic twice a day) would be a no go for me too.

Absolutely this

If I wanted to live in Salisbury I would not be put off ( … if the price was right)

Best of luck

I would want another bathroom (not ensuite) with 5 beds. The small garden would put me off too. Assuming the loft has been converted so it's basically the footprint of a three bed hence the lack of room downstairs.

Use https://houseprices.io/?q=salisbury to look at what the most recently registered homes sold for (deals done last year). The ones in red show where people have sold at a loss. Many of these were Covid purchases at the peak around 21/22. It isn't universally true and won't tell you what is happening right now, but you should look at it as a useful guide.

It seems most of the Edwardian character has been stripped from your house unfortunately and now it looks like just any other house. The plastic grass, bifold doors, modern kitchen and modern bathroom would put me off together with the lack of parking. Looking at your neighbours house you can see in the last picture in their listing that their garden is 3-4 times as long as yours as your boundary is also shown and it's a natural garden with living grass. I think that, along with the additional bathroom and period features would be worth lot more than 30K extra for most people.

FYI, your house is lovely

That is on a hideously noisy busy main road which would knock a considerable amount off the price