For sale no views

[SusanNov27]

We have our three bed semi in rural coastal Somerset for sale and is described as most attractive and well presented, which it is. The house has been on the market for 5 weeks and we've not had a single viewing. The estate agent called me to apologise and day they didn't understand why, as it's a lovely house. The house price is £300,000, which is reasonable as most people usually put in a slightly lower offer. What's your thoughts? Is 5wks not that long?

If it is the house I have found from your OP @SusanNov27 then I would say that the pictures make it look very busy, I am sure your things are lovely, but the rooms have a lot of furniture and ornaments and other items which doesn't look so appealing and it looks as tho there is not much storage space. I know that the buyer does not buy your things, but a lot of people cannot see past what is in the pictures. Can you declutter and retake the pix? Put somethings into storage maybe? And dress the second bedroom as a bedroom? People need to see themselves living somewhere to come and look.

If I have the wrong house many apologies!

Minehead is wonderful, but the property market there is VERY slow.
It has an older population and buyers with money to spend are often older people downsizing. They'd generally prefer a bungalow.
They like a property that's completely renovated, especially now it's so hard to find tradespeople and getting work done is very expensive.
They want a parking space with room around it for access should they become less able.
They want level access to the front. Steps could be a future problem.

In my experience of the market around Minehead many sellers have an overinflated view of what their house is worth. They hope someone will fall in love with the price and aim high. The price then drops slowly over a period of many months, often even years.

People looking for a semi in Minehead at the moment have a choice of 44 properties on the market. Many marketed at less than £300k. Lots, in very good condition, in nice positions marketed for £285k are not selling and have been on the market months.

You are either going to have to be patient or lower your price - possibly to less than you hope to achieve.

If it’s the house with geometric wallpaper, totally agree.

If it is the house mentioned above I would remove all the photos of the garden room because it's not great and the rusty coloured ceiling is off putting. I would also remove close ups of the pink patio slabs as a lot of people don't like them.
But I'm sure it will sell after the budget at the right price. Good luck.

I think it might be the other semi (rather than the one with the geometric patterned paper in the kitchen) - that’s the one described as “attractive and well presented” as per the OP.

If it is, it’s a really lovely house but really badly presented. That living room with all the brown chairs looks like a day room in a care home. The kitchen is tiny too and that’s going to be putting people off.

Theres not much to be done about the kitchen size but the other rooms could really use some work on presentation.

I can see the potential past the presentation and might look at it if I was looking in that area, but so many people don’t seem to be able to do that and need to visualise themselves living somewhere. The first thing I’d do is get rid of all those chairs and make it look more like a living room.

What's the target buyer and is house presented to sell to them? Such as is there a garden suitable for children?

The one I saw does not have geometric wallpaper or a garden room - but as @TwinklyStork says, it is described as attractive and well presented.

I agree with pp about the small kitchen being off putting in a three bed, but appreciate there isn't much you can do about that.

Also have to go hunting in the description to confirm off street parking - which is not visible from the photo's.

Agree with others that this is not a great time to be selling.

From my guess on which property it is on RM, the price is some way above the ceiling price of the road which was set during covid. Prices if anything have dropped since then.

IMO it is overpriced. But you probably guessed that.

There is nothing really that wrong with it, IMO, apart from the fact it lacks a second toilet which would be a dealbreaker for many.

OP has said it is in Minehead

If it’s the house I think it is, it is overpriced and dated. Your price seems high for the area and that is before I factor in the cost of replacing the bathroom and kitchen. Also a 3 bed home is typically a family home and the garden does not appeal to families with children

I agree with pps to get a friend to call the agent.
The absolute disgrace some of them are is fascinating. I tried to book viewing numerous times for one house. "someone will call you back". No one ever did! House sat there for months and months.

Have you looked a similar properties to yours on Rightmove, in the same area and compared the pricing? Minehead is lovely, went there a few years ago. The housing market is stagnant at the moment. In most areas (including my part in Dorset), landlords are selling up, and it's flooded the market with properties. You also have economic uncertainty, an upcoming budget and an unstable job market - all of which effects the housing market. Plus we're now in the autumn and properties don't sell well at the best of times during the autumn/winter months. Around Spring, is usually the best time to start to sell, the evenings are lighter, and people want to do more. Most people don't want to be moving over Christmas and New Year. Unless you are desperate to sell, I'd be tempted to wait until Spring next year, and start again.

Wow, there are some really weird stalker people about on this thread. Surely if the OP wanted everyone to critique her listing she would have linked to it.

So assuming it’s the semi with the small kitchen on RM, it’s also very close to the community college which is not everyone’s cup of tea. I can’t really tell from the basic map where the entrance is but if it’s the same side as your house then that could also be putting viewers off.

Nothing at all you can do about that of course, just another factor to consider.

5 weeks isn't THAT long. In my village, some homes sell within a week of going on the market, and others have been for sale for 3-4 months before they sell. One took 6 months to get an offer. The reason why (I think) that some took longer was the price. Nice houses, lovely area, but a bit overpriced for what they are/the size etc... Most have to drop the price by 5-10%, maybe even 15%. But 5 weeks isn't long @SusanNov27

@Stinkhorn

In case you weren't aware, apologies if you were or this doesn't apply in your situation, houses left empty after someone has died are not charged council tax until probate is granted. That can continue for up to 6 months after probate is granted, as long as the house has not been sold/rented out or someone else has moved in. If you have overpaid then maybe you could get a refund ?

5 weeks without any viewings is very different to 5 weeks without an offer being accepted though. As you say, those homes that took longer to sell were over priced. No viewings at all suggests that the over pricing is significant.

If I have found the correct house, no previous houses on the road have sold for a figure starting with a '3'. All similar houses sold for several tens of thousand less. If this is the correct house, it looks as if a price reduction is needed regardless of budget fears. As I said earlier, homes are still selling when well priced but many sellers don't seem to accept that the market is generally falling and are pricing too ambitiously/unrealistically.