House not selling

[Swx]

My house has been on the market for just over 5 weeks. It’s had 2 price reductions and still we’ve only had 1 viewing. Initially it was listed at 425,000 we then dropped to 399,950 after 2 weeks and now we’ve been almost 2 weeks at 369,950 with one viewing at this price but no offer.

it’s a 5 bed detached house in Ammanford. It’s fully renovated with just under half an acre of garden space.
the only down side is that it’s on a busy road. Should we reduce the price again or just wait? Estate agents advised us not to reduce twice but we feel we are more competitively priced at the moment.

thanks in advance.

You seem to be dropping the price a little too fast to me. As someone who is currently viewing houses it would make me think either you are desperate to move and I would question why (something wrong structurally or very bad neighbours), or you might imminently drop it again soon and I would hold out for that.
In a nutshell I think dropping the price twice in a short time period could be causing you problems rather than enticing people in.

Thank you! We had seen the house of our dreams and really wanted to get it and they reduced their price so we felt under mad pressure to try and get in there before anyone else did. However unfortunately they are now under offer :( so we now are not in any mad rush to sell funnily enough. But I just don’t get why people aren’t even requesting to view!

Did you get any feedback from your 1 viewing?

Would you feel comfortable sharing a link so people can give you some honest opinions and feedback on here?

Is yours the one with no room sizes? The photos make it look pokey and it's not clear if it's the pics or actual size
I HATE listings with no measurements

The road you cant change, I personally would not want to be on what looks like the main thoroughfare between the two towns if I was going to live in Wales

But the lack of measurements would put me off as it looks lazy

Yes they said it was the road being too busy. They have small children and it was too much of a risk for them. We also have 2 small children and hasn’t been too much of an issue for us as we have a big enough garden. They loved the house tho which is a positive i guess.
yeah here’s the link.

Oh I love it, but do you not nearly kill yourself on that little step going into the bathroom?!

I suppose the road, and perhaps the slightly unusual stuff in the garden (for animals?) might put people off, but it's lovely, just hang on.

Looks gorgeous. I think anywhere that isn't massively busy is struggling to sell. We have an expensive house in the countryside where the average wage is not that high and can't sell. Probably fairly similar for you. Like you we have dropped and dropped but if there isn't anyone buying at all its not necessarily the price it's that there isn't anyone to buy. (And regardless what MN will tell you you can't keep dropping and dropping without it having serious implications on your future standard of living at which point there's no point)

When you get the measurements done I would also measure the driveway. It looks like your car just about fits on and it looks like a small car, it doesn't look like my estate car would fit and it would be a faff to only discover on viewing,

I guess people know the road so they are either fine with it or not. I would not be but I assume houses not near the road are more £ so that's fair enough

I don't like pics with the light (a) visible and (b) on during daytime, it just screams " this room is dark" to me. There's waaaaay too much ceiling in all the pics.

I like your garden!

So a couple of things would put me off- although it's a gorgeous house

1. The patio not having rails (in my job having small children or elderly who might fall would really put me off!!)
2. The photo with the yard/drive- get them to remove it or retake it without the pallet in there

Remember it's a very slow market at the moment

I would
put a railing around the patio.
Measurements on the floor plan.
Remove the glazed door to the bathroom and replace with a solid one.

Nice gaff.

I guess I'm not sure how liquid the market is for large houses round there? That might be the lack of people in the door.

I can't really comment on price as I don't know the area.

Also - the lack of a railing on the patio wouldn't put people off. That's such an easy fix that they should do it themselves, if they want it. Don't be anticipating what people might want - just a waste of time and money.

Personally -
The floorplan shows no doors to the 2 main bedrooms, so now I don't know how to get into them.
The kitchen doesn't actually look likes its open into the family room, it looks sparse and like a renovation rather than a family home, which can be offputting.
The photos don't give you any flow of how the layout actually works.

I'd also be quite wary of a £50k reduction in 4 weeks.

Well I have to say, I think its a stunning house. The only reason I can think that people might not view is its location being right on the road. But as it doesn't, and hasn't bothered you, there will be some people that it will also not bother. I don't think there is anything you need to change. I think you just have to be patient. Your buyer is out there, you just have to wait for them.

Like others have said, market is slow. We are in Wales (mid) and it took us 9 months to get a buyer for ours. We had about 9 viewings in total, spread out over those 9 months, and all said the house was fab. Most of our viewers didn't like sharing access at the back of the house with the neighbours. It never bothered us, and we knew it was a matter of just waiting for someone else who were also not bothered by it. We eventually did.

Good Luck x

Good house but high council tax band and missing EPC put me off. Also looks main road so youd have to deal with a lot of noisy c* who have took the silencers off their exhausts

Doesn't sound like you want it listed any more, anyway.

I think this is a nationwide issue. We are trying to sell our house at the moment to and are yet to have a viewing. I spoke to our estate agent this week who said he normally does 40+ viewings a week and last week he did 3. He said he's never known it this bad.

Your house is lovely. I think the kitchen and new bit look a bit sparse so you could add a few bits to make it feel more lived in.
The lack of railings on the raised patio would also worry me. But personally those things wouldn't stop me from buying it if I went to visit.

I actually love your house and if it was near me I would snap it up!

The patio issue is very easily solved and a buyer who really liked the house would simply put that on their to-do list. And the road does not look very busy - is it very noisy? Is there a bus route going by the door?

I can't think why there are no viewers and it has to simply be price. That is the bottom line. If you are not in a hurry any more then I world bide your time on a further drop and see what happens.

The listing is terrible.
Some photos are practically duplicates but don't show rooms from the other direction e.g. your play room looks like it only has a tiny window but from the floorplan there's also one at the front.
No room dimensions on the floor plan and no doors into some rooms!
Is there any built in storage cupboards as that's not shown on the floor plan.
Road looks quite busy.
Minimal parking based on the photos.
Location on googlemaps doesn't seem to be right as I can't find your house on streetview.
The patio looks like a death trap.
Bathroom "marble" tiles are horrible IMO.
Bedrooms look quite small and cramped.
Is the utility room only accessible from the outside or is that floorplan error too?
The kitchen looks like a tunnel and no windows in it would really put me off.
The size of garden could be too big for many people to manage.
It just looks a bit tatty and soulless and the area doesn't look very nice on streetview. I guess maybe £350-400k is a lot of money in this area and has a limited audience of buyers?

The dark kitchen and the main bathroom would put me straight off.
Sorry

Do you need to go outside and around the back of the house to access the utility room?

Do you need to go through bedrooms to access the other bedrooms?
The floor plan is very confusing

Dont want to sound harsh
But you messed up listing for significantly higher than it was worth.
First 2 weeks are key to attracting buyers online. Your listing will be far down the list now for new properties and listed as reduced.
My advice would be take it off the market for a few months then re list at an appropriate (saleable) price with new photos and/or a new agent.
Buyers currently will be perceiving you as greedy/desperate and/or that you have a crap agent who cant value properties

The play room isnt on the plans either

It's a lovely house @Swx, although I don't think the photos do it justice.

I vaguely know the area as for six years we lived not too far away (in Derwydd, next door-but-one to the mansion) till we sold and moved home to England last September.

I can see from the historic details that you have hugely improved the house from when you purchased. So the price you're asking now doesn't seem too ridiculous, although some people won't see it that way/will want to make their own improvements/won't want to pay for someone else's choices!

We also bought ours in 2018 (February) when we paid 160k as a repossession. It was an old mill - detached with just two beds in 0.5 acre of garden - in need of complete renovation. The previous owners paid 232k in 2006 iirc, so we got it for a steal, although it really was in a terrible state (eg, rain gushing through the extension roof!).

We totally transformed it - as you seem to have done with yours - over the six and a half years we owned it and put it on the market in late 2023 for 450k. One EA valued it at 500k which we found ludicrous!

It took us two months to get our first two viewings (neither proceedable, although one made a derisory offer) and a price drop to 425k before we had a 'flurry' (EA's term!) of viewings and a couple more offers at 400k in May 2024.

We accepted one of those and - after a few septic tank issues - sale went through at 390k last September.

Our location was arguably better than yours (peaceful backwater, although further from amenities/neighbours), but after the pandemic rush for rural properties, things had slowed and were taking longer to shift. I imagine in the current stagnant market it would take longer now. I think the road will definitely be deterring some potential buyers and I guess you might have to drop to 350k to reflect that/accept an offer between 330-340k.

Regarding your listing, I think the photos could definitely be better - we chose John Francis as they used a professional photographer and their floor plans had room dimensions which is a plus as I hate having to keep flipping between description and floor plan when I'm looking.

I also want to know the overall square meterage/footage which I'm struggling to find on your listing.

I've never come across your EA - I'm guessing they're a small local one? We preferred to go with a larger EA who had contacts outside of the area as we guessed (rightly as it happened) that our buyers wouldn't be local.

I think you just need to be patient - it's hard, I know - and I agree that several quick price drops is not advisable.

Personally, I'd remove it from the market till September now, then change EA and remarket at 350k. Good luck!

I think the play room on the photos is the "Sitting Room" on the floor plan @ForgottenPasswordNewAccount but it would be helpful if the photos were labelled to match the floor plan.