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

How do you get your garden waste bin from thr garden to the front? The side access doesnt look ideal. Plus living space etc.

Where do you keep your christmas decs and general things that need storing - the basement? I havr loads of shit so need a big attic 🤣🤣. Is thr basement door that secure? We've had loads of issues with people breaking into garages recently of people who hsve expensive motorbikes

Top floor window is amazing!

It's very lovely, apart from the first picture. Despite not minding the steps I'd be wishing you could walk into the basement from the from with pushchairs etc.

Agreed! I don’t feel like I could ‘see’ the house at all. I’m sure it’s the photos OP.

I didnt say a driveway was intrusive or involved plumbing!

You would be right about spending money if everything else was perfct. However, this is next to a bustop, a much lowered level of interest due to that alone, plus the steps, which even if revamped and prettied up dont change the fact of needing to get up the steps into the door.

Therefore, why put yourself through all the stress of any work (and finding someone to do the work within any reasonable timescales, cant get a tradesman round here for love nor money, they're booked up for months and months), plus the cost when you can just reduce the cost.

I'd reduce the price but I don't think op wants to and I think to get noticed it needs to move downwards by more than the driveway cost.

So I'm just trying to help with her question, which was what CAN she do.

Fair enough, one or the other is going to need to take place I agree, although I would simply spruce up, a massive clean up and pretty up rather than spending that money. She is going to need to drop nevertheless in my view.

That second picture of the front is much better. I think the house looks great. I don't know the area or the market there so don't know how ur stacks up to similar in the area but something must be holding it back if others in the area are selling.
It might be the bus stop or the road because the inside/garden looks perfect to me.

You can't change the negatives so it might come down to price. A small reduction might encourage a buyer to overlook these things.

Good luck with it all.

The problem is that those with a lot of equity are generally old or middle aged and don't want or need a 5 bedroom house on three floors with steps up to the front door. There are a lot less younger people who can afford this sort of price because rates have risen significantly in the last 4 years and the job market is already poor. The pool of potential buyers is smaller than in 2021 and the sentiment is currently rather negative, compared to extremely positive back then.

The pool of buyers is less at the moment due to current affairs. But in that area, in south London, particularly south Westish of london would easily have that sort of equity if they had bought in zones 1-3, a maisonette or flat and are now moving out, perhaps in their early to late 40s, still needing a family sized home, young kids or teens.

Plenty of those people, perhaps not as many wanting to move due to rates but plenty of money around.

Yes, 'current affairs' has caused the recent increase in rates, on top of the rises that took place in 2022, and helped to reduce sentiment even more. The job market was already shaky long before the Iran war and not improving. As I said, these things have all reduced the pool of buyers of expensive homes.

Of course, there will some people who have good equity, are able to sell and prepared to take on another large mortgage and others who have a lot of family money. The key points though is that there are less of them and that sale prices are falling in many parts of the UK. This house would have flown off the shelf a few years back but now is a different time and a price reduction is likely needed.

It's a gorgeous house with bags of space and no sense of being a bland box.

The stairs will put many buyers off. You can't change that.

The market for a house in that price bracket will be relatively small. You can't change that.

I found the photos in the listing confusing, jumping from one room to another then back again.

Exactly, and with a bus stop at the front door 1.3 million just isn"t realistic, sorry.

It was 300k cheaper a few years back, when base rate was at 0.5%.

It’s overpriced. At 1.2 you’ll get more interest but you’ll need the right buyer who is willing to overlook the stairs and the bus.

If the money is "equity", i.e "in the house hoping for a buyer" that isn"t really money that is "around" because as less people move, less people can release equity (and a lot has evaporated due to higher rates) and demand drops.

There are quite a few fundamentals that put me off that you can't do anything about

• The middle bedrooms are odd shapes. The pictures look OK but the floorplan looks hard to place furniture.
• How do you put curtains on that gorgeous window with the amazing view?
• No gas? So fully electric heating of a Victorian solid walled house with a loft extension (presumably low insulation levels in the roof). What are the heating bills like?

I like the house but it has a lot of downsides which limit the potential buyers.

Who are the agents marketing at?

The house isn't greatly friendly to a young family or older less mobile folks. That's due to lots of stairs generally, and the fall hazard from the back garden wall / steps.

So the target market is late-primary aged families to empty nesters in their mid 50s. That's quite narrow. Plus stamp duty is killing £1m+ house sales in general.
At that price you are probably looking for people moving out of London for secondary age and commuting. That market has reduced with back to office mandates.
Is the agent advertising via London branches? That could help.

Whoever wrote that description needs to be fired. Its horrible. The superfluous wording, the lack of proper grammar, the run-on sentences...😟

However the house is brilliant. I don't think there is anything significant you can to improve it - it's all about price. You'll need to keep dropping if you want it sold, or just hang on and hope a buyer emerges at some point.

I agree. A posted a couple of comparables previously, which sold for 1.25 or so. However, that was before the Iran war started, rates rose even more and confidence was hit even more.
It's a lovely house, despite the couple of issues mentioned, but it hasn't sold in nearly 3 months so likely needs a reduction.

I'd have the drive power washed. Spruce up the undergrowth/ bushes by the steps.

Apart from that, it's a beautiful house.

Yes to this.

People with £1m and up to spend are not likely to be impressed by a semi literate description.

My friend couldn't sell her house for the price she paid for it as the bus stop outside. Luckily she didn't need the money but every time the bus stopped out side her house the shower in the ensuite dripped.

I can attest to how much of a pain in the arse it is to have two cars parked single file and differing work at home / office days to a partner. We live on a cul de sac and it was a nightmare swapping cars about, it would be even worse with a road and traffic in front. We were able to get rid of our grass and have a new double drive put in.

But that's still nowhere near the 1.35 price though is it, on a £500k equity, they'd still need to find another £855k and imagine the mortgage interest on that! It's a frightening amount of money to pay back still and it's what age would somebody have that equity and still be young enough to have enough years ahead to pay that mortgage off before retirement.

I'm 46, my partner and I are paying our mortgage off, our detached 4 bed house in the north is worth maybe £300k, there's no way we'd take on a 3/4 of a million pound mortgage plus interest at this point in our lives, my partner recently turned 52 and intends to retire in his early 60s, can you imagine the size of the mortgage payments we'd have to make to get rid of such a huge debt before retiring! People our age who have teenagers wouldn't do it either because teenagers leave home, they go to uni. You couldn't have them under that roof once they've passed a driving test anyway because they'll not be able to park the cars.