House not selling - what can we do to make it work better for us?

[TinyHousemouse]

I am donning my hard hat a bit because I’m posting a Rightmove link but hoping that by doing so we can get some inspiration and help.

We have lived in our terraced cottage for 12 years and have loved it. We love the setting, we love our neighbours to bits, we are close to friends and work - all great. It’s a really special community where everyone looks out for each other and gets together in summer and at Christmas. We have done various improvements over the years, garden, new roof, new windows, loft conversion being the main ones. When we bought it, we thought we wouldn’t have any children and would be here forever. We now have one 3 year old DD (who loves it here, loves all the outdoor space and is often in and out of neighbour’s houses 😂) we can’t have any more children so it will stay the three of us plus two (in the next year likely one as our boy is old 😢) Labradors.

Made the painful decision to put the house on the market for the following reasons:

• all open plan downstairs, so no separate living area
• No spare room for elderly parents to stay
• Can’t walk to school when DD goes next year
• No rear access without going through other people’s gardens, and no hallway so coming in with bikes/wet dogs/wet child is a PITA
• More storage would be great

We have had a steady stream of viewings but no offers. Nearly every single one has said bedrooms too small, bar one who said kitchen too small. I know that suggests price is wrong. We went with what agents recommended and it seemed reasonable based on what a smaller cottage in our row went for in 2023, and prices in the area in general. It also reflects what we would need to be able to move to something bigger. I would rather stay put and find a way to make a house we have loved so much work better for us, than drop the price by loads just to sell it and end up regretting it forever because we couldn’t get something much bigger round here anyway and the grass isn’t greener.

I do not want to do an extension to the rear under permitted development. We were dicked over by cowboys in the past and it took forever to sort, plus the extortionate cost of it for the negligible amount of extra space doesn’t seem worth it.

What else could we do?! Our minds just don’t work this way and we could be missing some clever things that would help.

I think it’s lovely. I definitely wouldn’t move or even extend. It’s nicely in proportion

I'm glad you've got a new perspective. What really stands out to me is how happy you are there. And I don't think that's something you can easily recreate. Even down to wondering if you could use the field to store bikes. How many people have neighbours that you could do that with

Also your daughter is a peak toy age. As she gets older her stuff will most likely get smaller (more expensive though!) and the house may start to feel bigger.

I think a garden room is a great idea. You could have that as office and a space to stay for guests. Longer term Id probably try to rebalance the kitchen and living space, you could do as a pp suggested and take some space from the lounge. That probably does mean a builder in any case.

Seeing as you love the house so much and seem to have such a happy life there, I’d stay. Neighbours like you describe are rare. There’s some great ideas here from PP. I know exactly where you are as my sister lives in Reigate. That’s a lovely location. Really nice homely house too.

Also it may be that your parents and in laws don’t stay over for much longer. I wouldn’t build a whole garden room just for this purpose.

Agree, things with parents can sadly change quite quickly. Also you’ve got the lovely Skimmington Castle pub on your doorstep. One of my favourites for lunch when I’m visiting my sister. 😊

In terms of having a spare room for visitors, here's what we did: Put DD in the second biggest bedroom, in a double bed, and take the smallest room for your office. When guests come, they take DD's bed, and she sleeps on a camp bed in your room/the office room. It has always worked really well for us.

We feel quite excited now. I think we got so bogged down in maybe “having a bigger house” we lost sight of what we actually have and what we actually need 80% of the time. I’m so glad I posted this because we have been feeling so disheartened by all the “no”s that I think we’ve lost sight of what we have here - yes a small house, but a house surrounded by people who love our DD like their own family, a beautiful view, and walking distance to a lovely town.

We’ve had some hard times here too - that annoying small en-suite in the loft (that I didn’t really want 😂) was invaluable when I was having chemo and didn’t have far to go from bed to bathroom. DH fell on the stairs due to a seizure from a brain tumour he didn’t know he had. We had been thinking maybe a new start would be nice, but if we look at it another way: I found my DH on the stairs, shouted, and two neighbours came running immediately. They all looked after me when he was in hospital. When I was ill (just after DD was born) the pub brought us food, neighbours did so much for us, and since DD could walk she’s been wandering in neighbouring houses and doted on ❤️ we got married in the windmill over the road and had our reception in the field here, we had the child we didn’t think we would have here. Maybe the house not selling was meant to be.

Goodness what a gorgeous home you have and what a truly idyllic setting.

The history you have together there and the fabulous neighbours would be so hard to replicate elsewhere.

See the Estate Agent contract out and then pull the drawbridge up - just enjoy being there in what would be almost everyone's idea of the perfect 'forever home'

You'll make it work - garden room/extension/families staying over in hotel/Airbnb. You never know - maybe the pub will open a few rooms!!

Wow what a lot you’ve gone through. I would seriously stay. To have found support & community like that in such an idyllic location definitely outweighs an extra room and a few other issues. Feeling the loss of this community would hit hard I think and any advantages of moving would soon be diminished

It's a lovely home,beautiful garden and outlook. If accessing the rear is the least of your worries then I'd seriously throw money and fixing the space issue. Lots of good ideas here, I'd definitely reconfigure ,living ,kitchen space to open it up and create private space at the front of the house. Also , I feel your neighbours extensions have really compromised your home (you must love your neighbours) ,so I would build into this space despite the hassle.

Oh this brings back happy memories. My last house was a 2 up 3 down terraced house with a lovely community, and we raised DS there for 21 years. It wasn’t nearly as nice as yours with no loft conversion and although it had a lovely garden there was no outlook like yours. We were very happy there both before and, eventually, after Dh died.

I know exactly what you mean about death trap stairs! We started to think about rebuilding the staircase at one point but it would have meant essentially rebuilding the house. Could be worth looking at though.

We had a beautiful extension done with cupboards) to make a kitchen diner, which meant more living room space and a bigger (downstairs) bathroom.

I did eventually move out after ds went to university and am happy where we are now (I could only bear to move 2 miles away and a walkable pub was a dealbreaker) but the joy of raising ds in such a helpful community was worth the irritations of a small house.

don’t compare house prices from 2023 and now. Completely different market. If a house isn’t selling it’s over priced.

We’re in the sort of same position our little girls room is tiny but if we swap her we’ll have no spare room really!

Were considering a loft conversion and extension (our kitchen is smaller than yours) but there’s some questions over the suitability of the loft so if that doesn’t work we’re probably going to box off the front part of our open plan living room and get a decent sofa bed in there for when elderly in laws come to visit!

We hadn’t thought of this but had an architect come round to have a look at the loft and they suggested it!! Could you get someone out to have a look? I’m awfully bad at imagining what it’ll look like really it drives my DH to deposit but thinking if we do the work it’ll be our for we home as we don’t really want to move from our location as it’s got everything we need!!

Just read your update, neighbours and a community like you describe is the absolute dream. No way would I give up that! Your house is absolutely gorgeous and clearly loved.

Build a gorgeous cabin in the bottom of the garden, with access out of the back as well to a lovely secluded fire pit area and views over the field. The cabin can be an office/spare room with level access for those who can't do stairs or who have dogs. In later years be a teenage hideaway, garden party space or little reading nook.
You could extend your kitchen the same as your neighbours, that would be lovely. You can easily separate your living room space with a stud wall/double doors across where your sofa is. Investigate bike storage at the back of front if you can.

It's a beautiful house that you describe so warmly. Even the tough times you describe warmly. And a community of people like you have is absolute gold dust and the key to a long happy healthy life. I wouldn't risk losing that for a bigger kitchen, and I really love a big kitchen! And the cabin in the garden would be idyllic

Don’t move!! What you have is so hard to find, good neighbours great community. I think you’ll massively regret this, unless you’ve seen something you love?

I'd get a downstairs loo in there somewhere if you build an extension ,it will future proof and make your house easier for parents.

We viewed a house with one out the front and it was quite compact, like a big green metal box rather than a shed shed. I didn’t pay much attention to the brand as I can barely ride a bike but I was impressed by how space efficient it was!

We have similar future-proofing issues (enough room now but not when DS is a teenager)

We are getting a garden room to use as an extra reception room (you can get them with bathrooms but we don’t want to - but if you did your parents could sleep there, if they would cope with a sofa bed?). Cost would be about £50k for a 6x4m garden room with air con, bathroom etc, vs more like £150k for an extension.

We are also putting a bike shed in the front garden because although we do have rear access, it has to be unlocked from inside and that is a pain. They are about 2x1m so not massive. You could put one in the back if you don’t want it in the front (but you do look like you have space)

You have a lot of space in the garden - what about a home office type garden room which could be used by parents when staying?

Is there space in the loft to add a bedroom?

I think your house is lovely and the garden looking out onto fields is ideal. So many are 'overlooked' these days.
Id want the kitchen to be bigger and to add a decent sized bedroom. If this is financially viable, go for an extension.

Agree! It was a game changer when we did an extension in our terrace, when my elderly and not v mobile parents visited it made it so much easier for them

Also super-handy for getting teens out from under your feet… Anyway OP wants a separate reception area, and if they aren’t extending, a garden room would also tick that box.

Bathroom 1st floor is too large. Needs a galley style. Shower at the end near the window (which will.need to be reconfigured to a tall narrow design) then sink then loo, or loo then sink, all.along the outer wall. Move the inner wall.over to make the bedroom next door larger if its not load bearing. You may also be able to move the wall to the smaller bedroom back a bit -it all depends on load bearing. Murphy bed in smaller spare room regardless of any changes.

Downstairs I'd extend and level off, the stairs into the kitchen are putting everyone off. Add a small wc. Everyone here will.have loads of ideas.

Loft has too little bedroom and too much bathroom. With a bathroom reconfigure you'd have enough bedroom and space for your desk.

Garden offices come now in lots of easy kits.
Its lovely -don't move.

It’s price OP. There’s nothing wrong with this house. You bought it despite the weird rear access business (which my ILs also have and is not that much of a big deal) and things like this didn’t put you off and won’t put buyers off…for the right price.

I don’t know your area bur £650k is a LOT for a small house. And I think really your house isn’t really a three bedroom house - it’s a 2 bedroom house with a loft conversion and needs to be priced accordingly. There’s no storage at all.

So yeah, nothing wrong with it apart from it’s too expensive