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

Just to add that living on a road in general can be problematic now, I lived on a main road in our town for 16 years and it was ok for about 13 years until boy racing and noisy car and bike adaptations became a trend, oh and of course the pathetic bang bang exhaust pipes! I moved to a cul de sac in a quieter area and I'm sworn off living on roads for life! Along a lot of main roads in my town you see quite a few houses on the market and all because the government doesn't do more to stop these anti social parasites. We need more speed and acoustic cameras about to get the idiots off the road, especially when they are screaming around late at night.

We're looking in an area where house prices seem to be comparable (but a different area so I don't have local knowledge). Our budget is similar to the price of your house, and we're under offer on our house which is a (comparatively!) cheap 3 bed terrace which there is still a huge market for here. We are selling in a hot market but looking in quite a "slow" one I think, and we've found that estate agents are desperate to show us stuff as there are so few buyers like us who are proceedable and able to buy something with that budget. As a result, we've not bothered looking at anything which has an overlooked garden or is on a busy road - there is no need. Because these are things I can't change. I suspect it will be the location and you need to significantly drop the price to bring in another tranche of buyers.

Also, I don't care about anything like quality, order of photos etc. before visiting a house I just look at the floor plan and the location! I maybe I'm unusual but I often think all the comments on these rightmove listings are a bit pointless.

It’s a beautiful house. Your second picture should be on the listing. I think it’s just the market at the minute. People seem to buy at certain times. There have been beautiful sea view homes near here that have been up for sale for a year and the cheaper ones needing much more work at the back going like hotcakes. You need a specific buyer ie one who can afford a million pound house. It will sell its all about right person right time.

Similar here, I'm 47, partner is 52. We'd been considering moving to a slightly bigger house in a nicer area but we'll pay our mortgage off in September and my appetite for taking on another mortgage right now is non existent.

On top of interest rate rises there's also the job market uncertainty. Often industries that pay well can also be quite volatile.

Me too, ridiculous going on about curtains, the EA waffle, put this picture first etc etc, its what the house is, the price of it, location, floor plan.

I was more writing that in light of what she'll probably put it on for in the end, probably just over a million, perhaps a tad more.

You're not the target market for this sort of house though, you, like me, do not have the money for it probably. We live about an hour and a half from OP, in the south east, our house isnt even worth about 280 I reckon, ball park figure, 3 bed semi. Of course we couldnt afford her house!

I do have friends in their late 60s though, who live in OPs neck of the woods still paying mortgages. Its not uncommon.

Yep I was made redundant from the steel industry in 2024 and I was gutted because I wanted to be in that job til I retired. I now work more hours for money although thankfully from home 3 days a week. I look at job ads for my field which is health and safety are just so full if pitfalls now for much more money than im on and most of them expect you to drive around the entire country and have no home life. If you want big salaries and big mortgages nowadays you've got to live to work.

I'm not saying I am the target market but the issue is who is the target market. Young people can't afford it, young families won't want the stairs at the front and again will not likeky be able to have that kind of mortgage. People in their 40s don't really want to take on mortgages that size, people in their 50s don't tend to want to upsize and the massive mortgages on, anybody older than that doesn't want a 5 bed house up 3 sets of stairs or actually 4 because that's a big flight of steps just to get into the house. It's an awkward house at and awkward price.

I would discount it due to the stairs and the bustop.

If I could afford it!

Completely agree. Generally these threads are just an opportunity for people to slag off other people’s curtains while feeling helpful.

It is bloody gorgeous, except for your grubby block paving, get a jet wash on it immediately 😁

Other than that, stunning.

Indeed, it's a lovely house, but in today's world about 10% overpriced, that's why it's not selling.

it looks like a different house in this photo, definitely get it changed! The first photo is the weakest link in your listing.
The only downside for me would be the two bedrooms on the top floor don't have a bathroom or even toilet. That view though!!!

Not very helpful but the property market is very very slow. I’ve been trying to sell my parents property for 11 months now. I’ve reduced the price, changed agents. I have had far far fewer viewings in all that time than you. It’s bad.

There’s a myth on here that houses don’t sell when “overpriced” (which usually means more than that poster would want to pay). They do they just accrue offers under ask and ultimately sell under. A list price doesn’t preclude anyone from making an offer unless it specifically says “offers over”.

Exactly. It’s the market right now. Even reductions don’t lead to sale.

That is true, however, what you often find is that say the true price is around £1.2m, for argument's sake, and you're listed at £1.32m, a prospective buyer may not even see the listing - as Rightmove have a search band cut-off at £1.25m - or they may assume the vendors are not likely to drop over £100k.

The people who have got £1.3m+ to spend aren't offering because it is not meeting the threshold of what they want to buy, so they're not interested in buying whatever the price.

Getting the list price right, and not being overly ambitious, particularly in today's market is incredibly important.

[Source: work for an estate agent who sells this sort of house in another Surrey town]

Absolutely beautiful house OP. I have no criticism to make of your curtains or your driveway, and I would be delighted to have a view of the Surrey hills from my bedroom.

A friend of mine was selling her nice, big house on a busy road around my way (north Surrey) and it literally took her a year and several price drops. The feedback was ‘busy road’ every single time. It drove her nuts — she’d asked the estate agents to make it clear before viewing, but people just didn’t seem to understand the phrase ‘busy road’ until they drove up to her house in person.

I don’t know if it’s the road in your case, but I suspect it’s something similar (bus stop, steps, on-road parking, some combination of these). My friend ended up dropping the price by about 15% (in several increments) and then it sold. If it’s an external problem like that, something you have no control over, price is the only thing you can change. But then she was downsizing, and was happy with what she could get with the reduced price. If you don’t think you can get what you want as your next home, maybe staying put for now is the answer?

@nonwonderwoman

Your house is gorgeous. And your new front outside is much better, more so if you take another after the trees have been trimmed.

No one is really mentioning the photos. I think your house is lovely but the photos are terrible. The photos of your beautiful kitchen/living area do nothing for what is likely a stunning space. And, the buyer gets zero close up or understanding of the kitchen itself which should be a selling point! I can replace sofa and dining, sell me the kitchen!

Pic 2 - 25% of photo taken up by the face of the dining table, terrible angle.
Pic 3 - move basketball hoop out of view. Why is the parasol up casting the table into shade? If shade was needed for the photo, take photo differently or at different time of day. You just see a dark parasol instead of your lovely garden.
Pic 4 - again, angle bizarre. Majority of photo taken up by ceiling and sofa!
Pic 5 - I need to see more of the room! Wider angle/take 2 pics
Pic 6 - dark parasol is once again taking over the pic. Why not take a wider pic? Put parasol down/out of view
Pic 7 - remove
Pic 8 - change height angle of photo. Stage to be less cluttered. Light fitting looming overhead should be out of shot or different angle.
Pic 11 is fab. Promote to earlier in order
Pic 13 - remove rug for pic
Pic 14 - i can't see anything in the room properly. In trying to fit everything in pic, we get a pic of the blank space in the centre
Pic 15 - remove or retake further back so we can see the inside setting
Pic 16 - remove
Pic 18 - again, we get not the bed head setting, not the lovely fireplace nor the lovely window seat. 30% of the pic is protuding bed. Remove rug when retake pics
Pic 20 - make more of fireplace
Pic 24 - experiment with different angles

Good luck!

They've had 18 viewings, the photos aren't putting people off coming to look.

No such thing as a true price - a property is worth what someone will pay for it. Market, seller and buyer circumstances impact what people are prepared to buy/sell for.

No-one looking to buy at 1.2 would set 1.25 as a filter - unless they’re very naive - it would be up to 1.4ish (particularly in this market). 1.25 is simply a 10% below ask offer on a 1.4 property. You also want to see what you can get for more to know what’s good value at your price point. Equally naive would be an assumption a seller would not drop 100k on a million+ property - depends on the market, the circumstance and the agent, that’s only 10%.

Your point about 1.3 threshold is not true either - a buyer looking to extend/renovate or specifically for a doer upper will be looking at significantly below that.

Source: 30 years in property

Source: 30 years in property

Same! 🤗