House not getting much interest

[EmRose123]

So our house has been on for 4 months now. With very little interest, although all the house around this area seems to be in a similar situation.
Although it's starting to get frustrating as we would really like another baby but just do not have the space in this house.
Looking for some advice I'll add the link to our house I do understand some part are a bit cluttered (just struggling to find the time to give it a huge clear out)
I think maybe the kerb appeal is lacking?
Any suggestions (don't be too mean please 😂)

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/164737892#/?channel=RES_BUY

It’s always price. Regardless of what estate agents say, of what something similar has sold for a year ago, it always that. If you put your house in for 100k it would sell in no time!

We just sold our dad’s house - every single estate agent said it would go for 600k, maybe more due to the location. We ended up selling it for 510. The market right now is not great for selling.

can you reduce the price?

it looks a lovely bungalow. Is the price comparable to other similar sized property. Surprised at the price considering the 2019 price of £150k. It seems a big increase.

re the photos - there’s a lot of clutter in some of them which make house look cramped and that you don’t have enough storage.

eg - the air fryer in the kitchen- take it off the worktop for the photos. It makes it look you have no counter space. There are some wicker boxes on the floor in one of the photos - remove them! Again, looks cluttered and like you have no storage. When we sold our flat we removed all the clutter from each room in turn for the photos (in fairness, your estate agent should have recommended this)

I think your house has kerb appeal, the plants etc are really nice. And it’s presented well. I would though get the photos re done and remove the clutter

Only being honest here but these are my thoughts…
Sorry but my immediate thought from the outside pic was ‘old people’s bungalow’
Your inside pics are absolutely terrible….you need a MASSIVE clear out
Does your child REALLY need all those soft toys hanging over the bed?
Clutter everywhere just says ‘no storage’ but I assume there’s plenty space, just far too many belongings.
Internal soft furnishings …e.g. curtains need to go. Invest a hundred or so on some ikea voiles to lighten the place up.
Can you spare a weekend and a couple of hundred quid to tidy up the garden…?
Im sorry if this is harsh but if you want to sell before winter you need to take drastic action.
Sometimes you need an independent and honest view…although I know from my own experience it’s hard to hear some things
Good luck & keep us updated.

The first photo of the front of the house is lovely and then I got to the one of the driveway and it seriously lacks curb appeal!
It's a small house with a large garden in the middle of nowhere which is only going to appeal to a limited audience.
There's quite a lot of clutter and stuff making it probably feel smaller than it actually is e.g. the patterned wallpaper in the hall, photos on walls, dark blue chimney breast wall, curtain over the front door.
The photos aren't great either and it drives me mad when they're all jumbled up and ones of the same room are 5 photos through the back.
I don't mind kids bedrooms being a bit cluttered, you can expect toys in those!

Price. You bought it six years ago for £150k – what justifies the £60k increase in that time? Prices rocketed in Covid – but only for properties that offered more space, which yours doesn’t – but have dropped again now.

The same reasons you want to move will be the same reasons someone else won’t want to buy: it’s not big enough for a family. The garden needs a lot of TLC. Kerb appeal in the front photo is fine, less so the later photos that show the fences and parking – fences are costly to replace. The tiny kitchen looks neat and uncluttered but photo 9 of the utility area reveals the truth – you can only keep the kitchen tidy by having an overflow room of mess.

You can either declutter significantly, sort the grass and garden, paint the fences at the front, paint the feature wall neutral, etc etc, or more easily, drop the price to something that reflects what you bought it for and the current state of the market.

@blankittyblank we recently reduced it. We had a few agents value it at 240.000 we bought it in 2019 for 150.00 and it was very very outdated so we've done a lot to it.
It's got solar panels and batteries so the house is pretty much off grid in the summer.
So I think we would feel like we're losing money if we went below 200.000 but I guess if it had to be done then we would.

What are those things in cages near the sink?

It’s a lovely bungalow but the photos make it look like there is no storage. You need to have new ones taken with everything stripped back as minimal as possible. Just move it out of sight as the photos are taken then put it back if you have to. The second bedroom is really cluttered.

I agree with @Gall10. Quite old people-ish, although that wouldn't be enough to put me off.

The driveway needs a big tidy up.
Also the garden needs greening up. Hard in a drought I know.

I really like the house though. I'd still view. Unless it was massively overpriced.

I'd say we put at least £30,00 into the house. New bathroom, kitchen, log burner, new water system, solar panels and batteries which are expensive and new water tank also the huge log cabin in the garden.

A huge down fall is that there is an excess path between the big garden and the house but not as far away as some of the other properties around here.

I definitely agree with the drive way park though and have thought about just pebbling this

I would just declutter the space OP and make sure the price is comparable to what has been sold recently.

Well I really like it.

I think its lovely and I would view it. The front of the house looks nice I think but then as a PP said, you get to the photo of the driveway and it seriously needs some time spent on it to make it look nicer. Its overgrown and seriously lacks kerb appeal. I think you should spend some time sorting that out, or pay someone to come and do it if you don't have time.

Also, as others have said, declutter. Some of the photos just show too much stuff and it does make people think there is a problem with storage.

So if I were you, declutter, much of the stuff you have out can be put away (all the stuff on your bedroom window!) tidy the utility space, and definitely get the driveway sorted then get the agent back out to retake the photos.

But other than that I think its really nice and I love your kitchen and bathroom and its great you have a driveway and a manageable back garden.

It will sell, but the market seems awful right now, so its important you do your best to present it the best way you can.

Good Luck

No idea about the price
internally the utility area could do with done doors on

sorry to be blunt but outside is terrible it give the impression it’s rundown
why is you gate a different colour to fence
a good tidy and declutter in the garden dirt the sweeps at front

What on earth have you spent £50,000 on to ‘not make a loss’?

I didn't even notice the log burner, just the dark blue wall and mahoosive TV!!
Could you paint that chimney breast and take the fireguard away for the photos?

No pics of the garden office internally?

The problem with putting money into updating the house, is this doesn't really increase the value of it (unless it was a literal wreck). The only money increase in updating properties is adding more bedrooms. Even adding another living room wouldn't really increase how much you can sell for. It might not have even increased the value by how much you put into it.

It's such a bad market right now - If you can't reduce the price, can you hang on one more year and re-market?

The style of house isn’t my cup of tea and I don’t know the area. But I agree that it looks a bit cluttered and I hate to say it, but some of the decor looks a bit poorly done. Sorry. It could be poor pictures too though. Some of the ceilings in particular look as if there might have been repair work?

I think you need better photos. But also to look objectively at the photos you have and see where your eyes are drawn and if that’s a good thing or not.

the picture of the washing machine area, the first thing my eyes went to were the huge laundry bags hanging up (I actually thought they were bin bags at first)

your child’s bedroom, it was the huge netting of toys above the bed.

it looks like the lights are on in all the photos which makes me wonder if it’s dark.

lastly the driveway really needs tidying up in some way.

Declutter. Declutter the house and the garden.

Do up the drive or at the very least weed it and put gravel down.
And if at all possible, remove the dark blue on that one wall in the living room. It makes the room look very dark and low-ceilinged.

But apart from that, nice house.

I’m a property investor. Get your photos redone. Contact me directly if you’d like my help to sell. I’d love to give you some advice x

I would trim the foliage at the front, it's massively overgrown. That driveway needs clearing. The inside people don't mind doing, it's a lived in family home. If the outside puts them off before they're even in it's not going to happen.

@Gall10
We've probably spent over £30.000 on the house. It's actually the agents that valued and we asked at least 5 and they all said 240.000 as a three bedroom house in this area goes 350.000 + I do think the market is so slow in my area at the moment as so many people are selling the buyers have a lot of choice but we're probably actually on the cheaper side as a lot of them.

I’m not sure about the neighbourhood but to me it looks like an ideal house for an older person so could you maybe trying marketing it for that demographic.
I agree with other posters re the garden, could you tidy it up a bit, even adding planters/raised beds so it shows it is an easy too look after space.
i know it is not easy with children’s stuff but it does look a bit cluttered. Could you get new photos with everything stored away

Sadly just because you spent X amount of money on it doesn't mean you make it all back. I have also put my house on here many years ago for people to critique.

Pack stuff up now and hire a storage unit so you don't look like you are bursting at the seams. We did this. Stip the house back to bare minimum. Clear counter tops at least for the photos, same for the top of the kitchen cabinets. Even remove all the things from bedroom one windowsill.

There is no dining table so it is saying you eat off your lap. Also watch some Youtube videos about how to style curtains, it is such a small thing but very noticeable in your photos. You wouldn't see a show home with wonky curtains. Very obvious in bedroom one and remove whatever is hanging on the end of bedroom 2 curtain pole. Clear the windowsills in there too. You have something hung or displayed on every surface.

Your house is your biggest asset, make sure you present it that way. Get proactive and use the original photo with the two cars on the drive showing you have off road parking for two. A lot of people looking for houses start with photos only and then quit out before reading the blurb about the house.