What’s wrong with this property…

[MellowMint]

Looking for some advice…

We’re interested in buying a house from a developer (only 5 houses were built in total, high standard, great area etc.)

Two bigger houses are at the front of the plot, three smaller ones at the back – the two large ones in the front and two of the smaller ones at the back were sold a long time ago, only this one is left. All of them are detached and very similar (the differences are only cosmetic, e.g. the color of the front door).

What makes us wonder is that this particular house has been on the market for almost a year, even though the others sold quickly. Recently, the listing was taken down and reposted (same photos, just arranged differently). This has happened twice already, and now the developer has also added another agent to sell it.

I called today and tried to ask the agent what’s going on with this house – he said that supposedly there are interested buyers, but they first need to sell their own properties. It sounded a bit like an excuse and an attempt to put pressure on me, especially since I’ve told him that we’ve been watching this house for almost a year. But in the end, I don’t really know what else he could have told me, certainly not the whole truth 😂 I know the market is slower at the moment, but still, the situation seems suspicious.

Tomorrow we have a viewing scheduled. It’s not our first purchase, but it’s the first time we going to see a house tha that hasn’t sold for so long. Honestly, I’m confused – houses that stay unsold for a long time always made me think of old ones, in need of major renovations, requiring a lot of work and investment, etc. But here it’s the complete opposite…

My question to those with more experience: what else is worth asking tomorrow apart of the obvious questions, what are we missing here?
Something feels off here, but I can’t put my finger on it 🤔

It's usually outdoor space, or a change to the internal layout that made the other properties more appealing. Can you get the listings to compare plans and plot size? If the price was relatively close but the garden size quite a bit smaller that would certainly put me off as rightly or wrongly [as most of the cost is in the actual house build obviously] I'd feel a bit ripped off.

After that it's the market. It has been super slow even for new builds, it may be just over a stamp duty threshold or similar.

Is it the middle house at the back by any chance? I'd also prefer not to be overlooked on both sides given the choice.

It may become obvious when you look at it... we have similar group of new builds near us and all the online pics/layouts look similar (standard show home pics I think) but in reality the one at the end has the tiniest dingiest garden with no light and just isn't worth the money... but you would only know that when going to view in person

Thank you for responding - here is the link. https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/161965280

Yes it is the middle one actually. This one has been actually reduced, the houses around sold for much more, I’d say gardens are more or less the same, visually don’t look like huge difference in size (looking at aerial view on goggle maps) old listing not available and I think some of those houses got sold off plans

Overlooking on one side and at the rear. The others are only overlooked from the rear
The garden is tiny
Those are the only obvious negatives I can see

but more than enough for a lot of people I think

That en suite is horrific! Plus looks like the back neighbour can look right in your master and in turn the shower 😬

Garden is definitely smaller. I think the house to your left of the front door is wider with an extension for the kitchen, whereas yours is probably the same number of bedrooms but an L shaped house in a smaller plot. Not a huge drama, but depends how much outside space you need or want to look after.

The shared access road to your garage and the house on the right might mean you can only park two cars unless you park outside your front door assuming that's possible? That might be an issue for families that have frequent guests/teens/adult children with cars.

The house looks lovely albeit virtually decorated. I couldn't deal with a full glass door to an ensuite !

Yes the garden is not the biggest in the world, but it’s bigger than your standard gardens in mass build new builds, although currently we got 60ft long one and it’s a lot more maintenance than we expected when we bought our current house 😅 so I think subconsciously we looking forward to downsizing it, although not a deal breaker.

I with the the point of being overlooked but being there in person seems like every garden is overlooked in some capacity from the houses around, but yes it’s a valid point :)

The wall of glass in the ensuite is truly one of the worst interior design features I've ever seen!

Yeah I can’t imagine too many people would like the greenhouse en suite look. It’s a bit odd to say the least.

We actually like the bathroom haha 🫣🤭 but yes, it’s a personal choice, I mentioned the bathroom to my husband that perhaps the bathrooms is a bit much more some people and wouldn’t be an obvious choice and that could be one of the reasons people don’t really like it.

The door opening into the family bathroom looks like it hits the sink on the plan.

Don't like the diagonal wall in the master bedroom/ensuite.

It looks like half your driveway is access to next door's property.

Apart from that, the colour scheme is really depressing and there is no front garden to speak of.

Personally I would be put off by the neighbour’s access drive at the side, the small overlooked garden and the monstrous glass front to the en-suite. Not only is it really weird it limits the way you can fit furniture into the bedroom.

The gap/lines around the downstairs flooring looks odd to me - is it functional or a design feature?

You mean the black lines? That’s just the border around the floor, so just a design, no gaps :)

You can buy pre-grown hedges about 2m high which can give privacy if used around seating areas etc locally
Trees also can be bought quite mature and I’d definitely recommend a willow and a cherry as they grow quite fast.it took less than Ten years for ours to grow quite high

There are always ways to get some privacy from the neighbours

Agree
Id be asking the developers to change that to solid. It’s not modern if that’s what they’re trying to be

Do you know what…. It’s not bad, there are a few oddities and compromises…. But nothing that a low offer couldn’t negate!!

I would be wary that you have essentially asked a public forum to find fault with this house so we may totally put you off !

I'd love to hear how the viewing went. It says on most of the pics that it's virtual decor so is the place essentially a white canvas with cash towards the bathrooms and kitchens of your choice to be installed? The other nice thing is that if it was finished a year ago, all the plaster will have settled and dried out so your snagging could get any niggles finished and the walls painted in your choice of colours before you move in.

Looking at photo 12 - is there an older property right in front of this one?

If so - I suspect there’s the problem - it must block the view and light.

Thanks. Definitely few things we could change like the glass wall, would have to see how practical that is. And yes like I said earlier I knooow it’s not everyone’s design choice but nevertheless just don’t understand why it hasn’t sold for so long.
The batnrooms has been the same in all properties, the fit out of the inside was the same as I seen the listing for one of the larger houses which went for over 1mil, so can’t be just the design that putting people off. Someone made good point about share drive which we didn’t consider, we got two cars and occasional guests but there are spaces in front of the house where people could park. I guess we find out tomorrow how’s the inside looking in person 🙈

Bathrooms and kitchen are installed, the virtual decor is just the furniture. We could change the fronts if we really really want.
The original listing, that now been deleted, had only empty rooms, I guess they are trying to make it look more attractive by putting something inside 🤷🏼‍♀️ we could change the glass wall if it’s absolutely horrendous to live with although we don’t hate it enough to make immediate change.

I noticed photo 12 too. It looks like there's an older property within touching distance of the front door as well as the new builds round about. It looks like this house has been squeezed in the remaining space after everything else has been well thought out.

That will be why it's the last one to sell. But I think it should sell all the same for the right price to someone who doesn’t mind being overlooked and only had one car. There's nothing truly awful about the inside apart from the en suite door and you can sort that easily enough

Yes there is, but that property can see into two large houses at the front as their fence is directly with that house, we already looked at it when we went for drive around there. So in case of blocking light those houses would be even more affected yet they got sold already 🤷🏼‍♀️ hence me wondering why this last house didn’t

I don't actually see anything wrong with it. A lot of sq footage for the price, not my style of decor & house but it's inoffensive. I would prefer a house set back from the footpath/road & bushes/trees in the garden but I'm not a fan of new builds. If you are, then it ticks a lot of boxes.

It's a nice house.

1. This big issue is access. Your neighbours have access via your driveway. You need to find out more about this.
2. I wouldn't want to pay new build premium for a bathroom that would cost me money because I would want to change it.
3. The garden is small for the size of the house.

If 2 & 3 don't bother you then they aren't problems. But 1. needs further investigation and I suspect probably the reason why people aren't buying.