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?

Just seen your reply about the poles. My concern would have been that they're exhaust vents for some underground gases! 😂

It's the kitchen for me. You can change decor and don't live with the sellers furniture but you can't change the kitchen without spending money.

You've (or someone has) obviously built an extension to house a dining room but it's like the kitchen is an after thought.

This. It's lovely inside the outside paint on the house and on the fence looks a bit scruffy.

The extension appears in the RM sold details from when the OP purchased, so it was there when they bought the house. Imo, the OP missed an opportunity when replacing the kitchen to relocate it into the much larger, better space. We've done this a couple of times (including at our current cottage) and whilst it's not cheap and a bit of an upheaval, it's so worth it!

Legally, it absolutely can be classed as a third bedroom.

I was talking to someone recently who sold their house in a different part of SE London last year. An estate agent had told them houses were selling quickly if they were either in tip-top condition or do-er uppers, and the middling category took longer. (They then spent a year doing up their house to tip-top condition and yes, it sold quickly.) Unfortunately your house is in the middling category.

Maybe OP's not coming back now everyone's trashed her house..

As there have been plenty of viewers it can’t be the price. My first negative as I walked through the door would be the lack of the second bathroom specified on the details. Then I would probably look at other things with a critical eye that I might not have done had there been the second bathroom.
Can we stop with the ‘it’s only a 2 bedroom’? All 3 bed semis built in the 50s and 60s that I have viewed have the same size 3rd bedroom. Anyway, good luck op

But people viewing look at the floor plan.
Mumsnetters say it's always the first thing they look at.

EA are a bit sloppy, and will call a cloakroom a 'bathroom'. Maybe it's an import from the US where anyone using the loo says 'I'm going to the bathroom'!

Maybe she just went out to buy a cot and some Ottolenghi books.

The property has now been removed by the agent.

New agent in line?

The OP has asked people to be blunt. It’s in their second post.

Maybe an offer has been accepted - hopefully the Mumsnet ‘publicity’ helped!

Your house looks lovely.

The market has changed in the last 18 months. If you want to sell then you need to be realistic about the price. A house that is priced correctly will always sell. Don't be influenced by your EA on price, do your own research and look at the Sold prices of similar properties, that have sold near you in the last 6 months. Land registry will give you that information.
We sold our house in February, priced it correctly. We priced 20k below the EA's valuation. Out house sold in 2 days for £13k over our original listing. We had competing bids in the end. We also offered the EA a higher fee 0.5% over their original fee if they sold within 28 days, we refused to be tied into any contract. It worked for us and we could afford to take the hit. We had 10 viewings and several offers in the end. My advice is look at your price and good luck x

The outside needs attention. It has no curb side appeal.
The layout of the kitchen will put buyers off.
The garden could be spruced up a bit.
The third bedroom is very small.
buyers with that kind of budget will be looking for a good sized kitchen and third bedroom.

Things like the box room, galley kitchen etc are noticeable from the photos and floor plan so I think if these were things that would put people off then they wouldn’t be the same people that are viewing the property in the first place. I think if you’re getting lots of viewings but no offers then there’s something that prospective buyers are finding that’s drastically different in the photos than in real life, or something about the area/location that’s putting people off that they only find out about when they get there.

For example, when we put our house on the market, the estate agent’s photos of the garden made it look quite long, when in reality it wasn’t, and we had feedback that this style of photo was deceptive.

Similarly, we went to view a property that on the website looked like it was lovely and peaceful, set far back from the road and with a massive driveway, when in reality you could hardly fit two cars on it and the house was right on the corner of a busy road that gets even more rammed during school drop off and pick up times.

Another house we really liked that we thought would be far enough away from the motorway that the traffic noise wouldn’t matter, but when we got there, the motorway traffic noise was really loud and intrusive.

Another house we really liked was at the back of a relatively new build estate and the roads were still private so whatever address we put into the satnav for it, it was really difficult to actually find and get to, and when we did manage to find it, we realised there would be no space for any guest parking if we had visitors. I didn’t want to have to be constantly directing people to my house and having couriers not be able to find us and not be able to have family come to stay without them having to park really far away, so that was a massive “no” because of that.

All of these examples are things that the photos don’t tell you and you only learn about/notice when you go to view, so I think it’s most likely to be something like that

Good post @Solibear it strikes me it must be something like that.

The photos of the kitchen maybe make it look bigger than it is; or yes, the bus stop outside or maybe the location?

Otherwise the price based on what the house looks like in person I guess.

so why do buyers waste time viewing it and sometimes twice?

Because they’re shopping around… same reason why people add things to their favourites on Vinted but don’t buy. They’re considering it, but for lots of reasons aren’t proceeding with buying or making an offer…

That’s true. It could very well be location or the road it’s on!

I can see you have taken it off now but on first look there’s no kerb appeal- needs some work done on the front of the house- new matching fences, jet washing, nice mat/ flower pots. The bathroom paint colour doesn’t match the theme- I’d go for a lighter colour. The floor in the kitchen doesn’t also match it appears to clash with the tiles- maybe get a runner to tie in with the tiles?. The carpet in the 1st bedroom appears to have a stain/ look worn. The back garden again needs some tlc, neatly cut grass, some plant pots and re arrange the furniture and her wash the stone- also needs either new fences or repaint the current ones. It needs to feel more homely I’d say.

If you’re still reading op I think your house is lovely. What I’d do apart from the garden sprucing others have mentioned is get some estimates and plans drawn for costs and a decent ai visual design for moving the kitchen to the extension area - that really will be the issue for many. A lot of people cannot visualise these things and become overwhelmed at the thought of costs . It really won’t be a big job if you incorporate induction hobs into the design ( moving the gas point may be a step too far) and although you like the gas cooking many of us who have moved to induction find it cleaner and just as responsive. Leave it with the estate agents to show people. Just a thought x hope it helps.

I like your interior style.

Style is all very subjective, though. I personally like the bright, open dining space. I hate those massive kitchens with islands in the middle. This one looks like a calm and relaxing space for a family meal.
If you live in London, you're almost certainly used to galley kitchens!
If that's not someone's thing, they won't look at the house, and she's getting viewings.

Again, obvious from googling street view.

I think you can think the pictures are nice and maybe the galley kitchen isn't as narrow as it looks, or maybe the big dining area will make up for that. Maybe if we love the house we can live with the bus stop, maybe the scruffy frontage does just need jet washing. Any house is likely to require some compromise afterall.

Then you see it and find the compromises are just a bit too much, or rectifying them will be more expensive than or not as easy as you thought, especially at the price.

Yes, I think that's fair enough and we've probably all done that. Think - this house looks nice and worth a viewing, then on balance found one which suits better.