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.

It is gorgeous. This is the house for you. It is entrenched in your bones and seeped in your history. The open aspect, the neighbours, the community are priceless.

Because that immediately screams 'Im too small, someone who buys me needs to do a load of work'

More even so than if you dont have the PP

It looks like a lovely cozy house, but it does seem very expensive for a mid-terrace one up-one down.

It's all well and good going on about the lovely community, close to work, etc, but buyers know nothing about that. Nor will they care.
When I moved into my new house, I was told about the yearly carol singing the street does at Christmas, and the annual summer party... I'm 11 months in the house, and have either of those things happened? Nope. It only takes the old "heart and soul" neighbour to move away/die, and these things collapse very quickly.

Something else that jumped out at me, was the untamed wilderness out the back. I'd be a bit concerned about vermin, and just a general lack of security at the back of the property.

OP, like many others, I think your home is beautiful. It’s going to cost you at least £50k in fees and taxes to move to another property, and a HUGE amount of stress.

take that £50k and use it to:

• makes changes to this house
• arrange other accommodations for family (why are you upsizing to accommodate infrequent visitors anyway.)
• sort out some sort of transport to school (even if you have to share costs with others, buy a runabout etc)
• organise some offsite storage for stuff?

id get a really good architect whose specialities is in re-designing small spaces. Even some interior designers do this. If you have a specialist to help you, there should be solutions.

good luck, be prepared to be ruthless with clutter, do a ton of research, spend money on cleverly drawn designs (this is an important skill and worth paying for).

If our kids are anything to go by - by about 8 the clutter of their toys disappeared and they wanted very little. You wouldn't be living in clutter forever.

Agree with this . It doesn’t actually last long. Our craft cupboard is the biggest thing we have in our house now toy-wise, plus outdoor things like trampoline

Flowers , plants needed and a lighter sofa ( throw) as well as a bit of colour

You’ve already done the big jobs, so I’d look at smaller changes to make the house work harder for you. You can zone the open-plan downstairs with glass doors or partitions to create a snug, and rethink storage with built-ins under eaves or in awkward corners.

Sometimes, lofts can be tweaked further, too, with a dormer or reconfiguration to make an extra guest room for parents. Buyers often say “too small” when it’s more about layout and light, so lighter décor and fitted furniture can make the rooms feel bigger.

You have to remove every personal photo and leave spaces blank or replace with generic pics.

Remove anything surface that is extra and takes up floor space eg side tables, ottomans.

I'd probably paint over the nursery paint and make it as generic and airy looking as possible.

I appreciate you have to live there while house is on market. It's a cute house for you and your family. But, you have to stage it as cute, and liveable for someone else, if you want to sell.

Hope that helps!

It's a lovely cottage OP and with the history and neighbours etc I would stay put.

I know the area very well and property is expensive around there. Fabulous to walk into Reigate ... I can't do that sadly. One of my fave pubs is the Black Horse.

I really like your house.

I think I'd want to reinstate the original wall. You could try putting up cardboard or a big curtain between the living and dining room to see how it feels with light etc as a separate room. Or ask your neighbours.

Unfortunately you'd still need to go through it because of the lack of hallway but you'd have more walls for furniture etc.

Then you'd have the dining and kitchen at the back.

If your parents stay then you could get a decent sofabed for the living room. Again, it still has the walk through issue but it's only occasional.

Gorgeous house. May I ask what colour the paint is in the lounge/dinning room and 2nd bedroom/study please? Reallly like it.

I know I'm not being helpful at all, but I have to ask...

'I have a Brompton in the cupboard under the stairs...'

Is that a euphemism?

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 it wasn’t but it is now 😂

Thank you! It’s F&B Elephant’s Breath 🙂

House off the market as of this afternoon! Thank you to everyone here for the ideas, we are really grateful (and excited! Lots to think about and look into). Our neighbours are happy too. We’re all going to celebrate at the weekend with a meal out 🙂 this was absolutely the right decision and everyone who commented here helped us reach it ❤️

I was going to ask this! It’s fab.