Any suggestions to improve our Rightmove listing after 12 weeks?

[nonwonderwoman]

Feeling brave and hope fellow mumsnetters may be able to give some thoughts about my house listing on Rightmove. It went on end of Feb, right before the Iran war started and since then had about 18 viewings but only 1 offer that fell through within two weeks. We are now at week 12 and feeling a bit stuck...

Photos were taken on a sunny day in Feb, but I've asked if we can update for some sunny May photos.

Anything else that stands out that I could update / tidy / clean / remove? I know you will all say the issue is price, and we could drop it some, but I thought it was a pretty decent price to start with.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/172706036#/?channel=RES_BUY

When the bond market crisis gets under way they will be scared and see sense IMO. You have to remember that there are people who if they went to Uni for four years after leaving school would be 40 now without experiencing historically normal interest rates in their working/house buying life! Okay, most big expensive houses are being sold by people well over 40 but the brainwashing and complacency about "rates low forever!" has affected older people as well.

I think your house is lovely. Detached, charactful, decent garden, lovely kitchen and great bathrooms.

Agree with PPs about a new front photo, but the drive needs cleaning and trees need trimming first. First impressions are a little unkempt.

The lack of top floor bathroom is almost a deal-breaker for me, it essentially still a decorated loft without a loo at least.

For new photos, the house could be 'dressed' better, for example some plants in the bathrooms. I'd browse Instagram for inspiration.

Finally, the price. Looking at local sales, it seems around 150k over what if might be.

Stunning house but I wouldn't even view it because of the bus stop, especially with its position right at the bottom of your steps. I would worry about anti social behaviour, litter, people waiting sitting and smoking on my steps, noise like people talking on the phone or teens playing.music while they wait, having to walk past people as I move from my car, especially at nighttime. It would be a red line for me and especially for such an expensive house.

The front just looks wonky to me. Is the stairs to the front door curved? Between that and overlapping trees, the house looks odd. Which is not what you want for picture 1 at over £1m asking.
Chop the trees back hard and retake the picture.
On a second look, can you paint the white section at the bottom of the house? Something to match the brickwork? It draws the eye in a bad way.

Generally speaking, a house on a pleasant road doesn’t get rowdy people at a bus stop. My in laws had one by their drive and, as it was a very pleasant road, it made no difference to anyone! It did help older folk with no car get to the supermarket. In London multi million £ houses have bus stood outside sand they sell. Maybe Surrey has more rowdy types and the steps could have a gate! Where do people live where there’s so many people who find bus stops collect anti social people? It’s never occurred to me when an area is expensive! It’s not a city centre drinking zone!

You can't do anything about the external steps but it will reduce your already small pool of buyers even further.

The listing would be improved by making the photos more linear - they jump around far too much. Plus you can add descriptors on Rightmove so you know which room it is. One photo of the view is enough. The description is a wall of text and needs paragraphs.

If you had 18 viewers and only 1 offer then something is putting viewers off from making an offer (as long as the estate agent is screening them correctly and they are actually in a position to make an offer). What is the unseen basement like? I would be thinking about damp.

The house is lovely, not without its faults and some compromises to make, but that's probably true of virtually any house.

The reality is for most sellers at the moment is that prices have dropped and what might have been achievable just a few months ago is no longer possible.

The original list price of £1.35m was probably fairly optimistic anyway, and a small reduction of just over 2% was never likely to make any difference.

In order to really make a difference a reduction to £1.25m should probably be considered, and be prepared to consider offers above £1.2m.

This isn't likely to come as welcome news, but if you're upsizing then no doubt the place you might want to buy is probably experiencing a similar journey.

12 weeks??!

Price price price. Dont tinker around the edges. Just cut the price substantially.

Gorgeous house its really stylish and light on the inside but the front pic is letting it down. You need to replace the front pic and get rid of the pic of the wine. That's an irritating trend.

Driveway does not appear to allow for two cars now that your second pic is up. Even if it does, unlike your neighbours the rear car can't get off the drive without moving the other car which if you live in an area where most people use two cars, will be annoying. The planting is blocking the view of the house but is obviously lovely. Amazing how many people want really sterile driveways though so a bit of judicious pruning and a clean up might help. The ends of the palm leaves can be a bit vicious in my experience so if you need to trim off a few lower leaves I would do that rather than risk viewers and their kids being stabbed in the face.

If it were my house, I'd redo the driveway and consider a door into the basement so that buggies and bikes can be stowed, or heavy shopping deposited.

If you want to sell this year then I'd redo the pic, drop the price and proceed on the basis that you can only move if the house you are interested in buying also sees a substantial reduction in the current market.

This photo is much nicer.

The only thing that stood out to me was the second garden photo, looking back towards the rear of the house.

The garden is in almost full shade, so if you could swap that for a photo in full sun (or as close to "full" sun as you do get), I think that could help how the listing comes across.

Other than that, I agree with others. It looks like a lovely home, and comes across well. My comment is more of a nit. I suspect these kinds of homes are just moving slower right now in the market. You'll get there!

Oh and one last though, for the first photo at front of property. Consider getting the drive power washed and weeded etc, I think that would help first impressions.

It may be worth having a look around to see if other houses have tackled the step issue or getting an experienced hard landscaping firm in to have a look - those steps will really limit your pool.

if the garage is under the house with access to the driveway AND would fit a modern car then really sell that. If it’s not then sell opportunity for a home gym or something.

but mostly it’s a bad market

Yes, I thought the front could do with some landscaping and replanting.

You can't do much about the need for steps, but those ones somehow make me think of them being all wet and slippery on a grim and blustery November afternoon - a kind of final insult after battling through the rain and traffic!

Some lighter stone and more "intentional" planting (maybe topiary type formal planting since it is the street side of the house) could make the steps seem more welcoming. They are a bit forbidding right now - sort of steep and slippery looking and the planting looks as though it would be brushing wet droplets against you as you navigated them!

I'd speak to a landscape design person and perhaps invest a little in "dressing the front window" as it were. First impressions, street appeal and all that! Brighter and chicer would be my brief.

Only comment on inside was is the living area essentially just the kitchen area? If there is another, you need to show it - or possibly dress one of the bedrooms as a cosy sitting room? I'd probably wonder how I'd get away from it all in a family home.

@Calliopespa - Picture 5 is of the separate sitting room at the front of the property.

Oh so it is! I missed it.

Looking at the steps again op, they have quite a nice "sweep" and I don't think it would take all that much to turn a problem into a feature. They just need tarting up - maybe even some clever lighting, not that that will be on during visits, but you can see the existence of wall-embedded spots or similar. Just an overhaul to freshen them up and bring in some better materials and smarter planting.

It’s a lovely house. I love your white sofa. I think it’s just the market atm at that price point-a lot of uncertainty. I personally would never consider a house with those steps at the front but not sure what you can do about it?

Is there a garage? I'm confused as I've seen several posters mentioning one but can't see a photo or a reference to it in the EA blurb?

Talking of the blurb - and we've used EAs previously who are guilty of ridiculously flowery copy, which often goes hand in hand with more interesting properties - I'd actually rather see a list of rooms with their dimensions and a brief description of their features than a big old wall of text.

A few posters have said they don't bother reading these anyway, but for those that do (me included), wouldn't it be more beneficial to have something useful that helps potential buyers understand the property better?

You’re right. No garage - it’s an unused cellar which would offer conversion opportunities. The listing does say room for two cars but the driveway really doesn’t look big enough so maybe add driveway dimensions

There’s no garage but there is a basement. The head height is just about 6ft so not for tall people and is stacked full of 6 bikes, golf clubs, cricket bags and gym kit so not great for the photos. It does have good potential for the next owner though - maybe a den? It’s not damp but does need a refurb.

I’ve spent today cutting back trees and to be fair to everyone who suggested it, it does look much better!

You can’t really fit 2 cars side by side. I’ve tried! But the angle of the stairs makes it too tight unfortunately but there is plenty of on-street parking which is what I’ve done for years.
I got a quote today for a drive / stairway revamp and it would cost £26k.

I just love it when people make suggestions like 'redo the drive'

Our short driveway in a cheap area on a cheap house was about 8k, and that was years and years ago
Then someone upthread breezily suggesting 'put a toilet in, the pipework will be easy'

Oh really? Hardflooring then needs to come up, boarding underneath that, plumber needs to get under the floorboards.

Not to mention the upheaval of getting it all fitted in, decorating.

It's a beautiful house but how many people these days can afford to take on mortgage payments that will average £6 to £8k a month! Young people can't do it, older people haven't got the time to pay off such a massive debt before retirement. And the thing is people aren't forced to pay that kind of money because across the country similar houses can be bought for a fifth of the price.

Well it would be people that already have property and have a lot of equity, perhaps around 500k and so can easily borrow another 550k or so.

Use of paragraphs in the description would help. One about the living area, one about the bedrooms, for example.

A small selling point about Reigate is I think that you can pay for travel by Contactless on the train, a recent development.

Bonus but you cannot use is that Crispin Blunt is no longer the MP.

Driveway work is not as intrusive, there is no plumbing.

Once a house is in OP's price bracket, the cost and inconvenience of targeted improvements can be worth it as a small percentage increase on the full value can absorb costs for changes.

Personally, I think without the revamp it could quickly drop in a negotiation by quite a bit more than the 26 grand.