No offers after months on the market, are we house blind?

[Dandelionkiller]

Been on the market for a few months now, loads of viewings but no offers! I honestly can’t see the problem and I’m worried I’m house blind at this point.

this is the listing: https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/88856211

i honestly don’t think it’s the price. There are unextended, unrenovated houses on for £20k less the next road over.

it’s also a fair price - we paid 550k in 2017, based on inflation it would be 750k now but that just isn’t supported by the area.

weve done lots to maintain it in that time - new boiler, washing machine, dishwasher, fridge. We replaced the laminate floors downstairs with wood. We changed the purple vinyl bathrooms to nice tile. It was meant to be our forever home so none of this was to make a profit.

bits I know are of; we’re a bus ride away from a train station, but I think this is reflected in the price. The carpets upstairs need to be replaced - this was the case when we moved in but we kept putting it off as we were planning a loft conversion.

tbe feedback has been perplexing - one viewer said we’d made the house too traditional and they would have to redo the kitchen / bathrooms to modernise, but I think they are pretty neutral?

what can I do? Is the market just a bit rubbish at the moment?

I would seriously consider knocking the wall between the kitchen and reception room as most people want an open plan kitchen with an island, especially in london. It would probably not be that expensive and would sell more quickly.

I think the issue is that in London people have sms houses but spend a lot to make them really nice, ie a really good quality kitchen is achievable because it's not that big.

It's not irrelevant and it's not rude to say some posters are naive. You took it personally and it wasn't aimed specifically at you, anyway.

I too have experience of house buying.

The exterior would be relevant if there were no viewings.
She's getting viewings.

Who said anything about buying based on photos and not a survey?

Of course a house needs a survey.

come back to me when she has an offer.

you directly quoted me before saying posters were "naive"

if that's not specifically directed at me, I'm King Charles

You're joking.

Unless you're called Kirsty LOL

You are getting rather worked up over someone saying they disagree with your comments and others.

How odd.

take your meds

If a house isn’t selling, it’s always down to price!
The house is underwhelming, tired, narrow kitchen, same design house in the north would be £200-300k with a kitchen extension, extra bedroom and bifold doors included.

Actually open plan is old hat now as it's so problematic, people are looking for broken-plan.

OP the house looks like it's been renovated to sell rather than a home. I think that's partly due to the lack of love outside front and back garden. Get some massive pots and beautiful trees or plants to break up the front.

And clean it all up outside, it looks grubby. Maybe think about changing the colour of the door to a softer colour.

The outside is the problem.

It looks a lovely home. I would though paint the garden fences. Cuprinol silver copse would look smart and will make the grass colour pop.

I don't see much that would massively put me off but externally i see jobs straight away that would need doing. Front step looks grubby ane maybe needing replaced. Your plants are sorry looking and make the house look sad. Back garden fence is a job needing doing straight away, if you cant replace, could you paint it a nice colour or even charcoal grey? Add some plant pots to give it some life, keep grass cut short. Hallway is really a bit depressing tbh.. a big vase with colourful flowers, a nicer mirror, some colourful art? The white everywhere whilst good for selling is a bit stark. I just think you need to stage a bit better with some colourful art and flowers.

I like the house and think on the whole, it is well presented inside but I think from a quick look at recent sales, it's overprced, and prices seem to have fallen slightly in the area.

Also agree with other comments about the kitchen, the large dining room with a handful of kitchen units in looks a bit strange and it feels like a massive missed opportunity not moving the kitchen into the new extension and creating storage/ utility space. Also, the smaller bedroom needs a bed, we live in a similar 1930s house and we bought an IKEA Brimnes day bed from Facebook marketplace to go in the small room/ home office which is great, although they are a real PITA to put together.

Also agree with the comments about outside, painting the fence, jet washing, mowing the lawn and adding a few plants would really lift it.

Can you change agent? Yours sounds a bit shit! We were on with 1 agent (big chain) for 4 months but had only viewings, changed to a much smaller local firm and the (admittedly amazing) agent sold within 2 weeks- he then sold another property for me within a week and was an absolute diamond in sorting buyer queries/ getting things over the line - you need someone dedicated to getting yours sold

We recently did a lot of house viewings (we just bought one - growing family) and what has put us off the most, which I can't tell from photos (same with yours):

• Pricing a house with a small box room the same as other 3-beds
• The neighbourhood/area
• Potential reno jobs that will cost extra
• Being possibly on a busy road
• Not being in walking distance of high street/station/park
• One bathroom for whole family
• Not near any good state schools

We now have actually bought a small house with just one bathroom, in a grubby street, which needed a reno lol, but the price VERY MUCH reflected all of the negatives and it has 3 spacious bedrooms and is next to an outstanding state school and in catchment for great secondaries.

It's all about the math.

Your house is too expensive.

It's a lovely house. They only things I would say are jet wash your patio and driveway. Re-sand your block paving at the front. It does lack kerb appeal. Get a few plant pots (nice ones) with something seasonal in by your doorstep. I'm wondering whether colour internally would be useful. Is the trend now for colour drenching? Currently, everything is white, pastel colours. Maybe introducing a bit of colour in your kitchen would change the look of it a bit? It's a lovely kitchen, but maybe a bit of a dark colour, or a bold colour on one or some of the walls might modernise it a bit more? Have a look on things like Pinterest for ideas for how a room could look. Your back garden sort of reflects the house; functional, neat and tidy, but a little bland. No colour, borders or interest. I get not everyone are gardeners and low maintenance will appeal to some, but as it's not selling you might need to change it up a bit to see if it works. Good luck.

"I'm really shocked TBH at some of the rather naive posts here where many people seem to want a show house and don't want to do anything to themselves."

The thing is, imo, buyers are often also like that - they want to see the dream, the nice lifestyle they'll have in the house, and can't cope at all with blank canvases which give them freedom to do what they want. Its daft, but true.

I had a house on the market for 6 months, then put in a new pale, cheap carpet and removed some furniture (which obviously would have been going anyway when it sold), and it sold in a week (I made the changes thanks to a new blunt estate agent who didn't just tell me it was great!).
Imo, OP, it IS worth adding about half a dozen planters along edge of your back patio after power washing it, with some flowering plants (go to tescos, they have loads of plants cheaper than garden centre). Make it an area that looks like you just love entertaining out there. Out front, put one of those square planters either side of front door and add some small flowering things in them too. Remember to water all of it morning and evening til it sells, and you can take the planters with you, so its not money lost. And if you can paint that side gate easily when u do the fence, that'd brighten it up.

I noticed scaffolding on a neighbour’s house - has this been mentioned by any viewers? The noise, dust, multiple contractors coming and going etc. could put off potential buyers.

Hi @Dandelionkiller
Not RTFT, just wanted to say your home looks lovely, nothing stands out to me that would put buyers off, you're getting them through the door so that proves there's nothing putting them off.
Ditto price - if they are coming, the price is probably ok, & they can put a lower offer in if they want.
It's a horrible time, waiting to sell, I wish you luck & a speedy sale!

Once more- no one in the SE can jet wash anything at the moment.
There is a hosepipe ban.

It’s the outside that’s letting you down, and the third bedroom bed looking like a sofa bed.

It’s the market, your house is lovely. Back in 2013 the market was pretty crappy, it took a year and 41 viewings to sell. I had some silly offers but I held my ground and sold it for a £1000 below asking price. The madness that we all witnessed during covid could never last, it’s inflated prices to being ridiculous, the market had to slow down, 🤷‍♀️

Can you change agent? Yours sounds a bit shit

100%. A good agent will be advising you properly on pricing strategy and reductions etc, not just saying vague stuff about selling a lifestyle. The days when you could put a bowl of lemons on the table and add £50k to the price are long gone.

Definitely don't spend any significant money on it.

The other 1200sqft houses locally seem to go for around £600k when rennovated so I think it is largely price. To get upwards of £650k the houses tend to be 1500sqft ish. Look at the sold prices on Rightmove.

In as few words as possible lol

It's just a small cheap addition to add kerb appeal. Buy a new letter box and door handle. Maybe in a metal finish rather than white. Easy quick DIY fix and costs v little to do. Will give the impression of a new front door.