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 am begging you, show us a photo of this purple bathroom vinyl!!

Nice light and bright.
However

1. A galley kitchen - oh dear. I suspect the buyer will alter both the dining room and the kitchen. you say you have maintained the house - however white goods i.e. washing machine do not count. New boiler, good how old is it now, is it still under warranty ?
2. Lovely to have 2 windows in the bathroom.
3. What is that huge pole thing in next door's garden - photo 5
4. and yes get all the fencing in the back garden painted / varnished or whatever one does to back garden fences. They need to look the same and in good condition.
5. Photo 7, the front - def get the whole frontage power washed / jet washed / whatever
6. Photo 9 - the 3rd 'bed'room it's tiny. Floor plan says it's 7' 5" x 6' is the ' bed ' going across the 6' or the 7' 5" I guess it's going across the 6' thus is not actually a single bed as one would be 6' 3"
7. I wonder which year the textured wall paper was put up in the hall ?
8. Photo 12 - the paving slabs need jet washing too and you could do with trimming the bush thing to the left of the photo. And what is that bush/tree at the bottom right of the garden ? Is it yours, or is it so over grown from next door ?
9. Photo 13 - is that a bad dose of dandelions you have had in the garden ? Whatever it is it's not all grass on the lawn
10. Photo 15 oh ! the toaster kettle and microwave are all in the ' dining ' room Is that not inconvenient ?
11. It is not a 2 bathroom property, it has one bathroom and a downstairs cloakroom/WC.

Still works for me 🤔

You've misunderstood her point. She's not comparing it to selling to for £1.😂 She is making the point that any house that does not have a negative value will have a price point at which it will sell.

I’m not missing the point at all! I understand fully! I’m not stupid. Still silly.

A property is only worth what someone is willing to pay for. Your view on the fair price based on inflation is totally irrelevant. People don't have money in the UK right now. I sympathize, I am stuck with a property I cannot sell myself.

In terms of feedback, the inside is lovely but the outside is hideous. The garden needs some serious work to make it look nice. The front isn't much better either.

I totally agree with this: "I think the house is lovely and realistically priced for the area, but a lot of potential buyers like myself are nervous about buying in this economic climate - interest rates and job insecurity."

OP, it's a beautiful house. I sincerely mean that. I wish I could have seen more houses like yours when I was viewing last year. And regarding galley kitchens: It might be a deal breaker for some but this won't be the case for many viewers. A galley kitchen wouldn't put me off, even if an eat-in is my preference. I had people hate on my house last year because I didn't have a kitchen island. Others loved that there wasn't a kitchen island. One person even complained that my 20 year old loft extension was too old (it was in pristine condition, not at all dated). I just wanted to roll my eyes and remind them that the Edwardian house they were viewing was, in fact, itself 'too old'.

I'm with the above poster on the whole offers in excess of bit. This is fine if your house is getting loads of viewings and you've had an offer or two. But I'd have a chat with KFH. I think, in this market, they need to read the room a bit here. The market is pants. And I know that for me, personally, whenever I saw offers in excess of, it told me that a house was out of my budget (even if the actual selling price wasn't). It didn't always stop me from making offers but it did give me pause.

If it's of any comfort, I bought my house last year (after selling our family home). There are now three houses next to my 'new' house which are on the market and aren't shifting at all. My neighbour behind me put his house on the market in April and hasn't had one viewing. And their house is similar to yours- just a really beautiful house in good nick. Honestly, the condition of your house is great. It's been decorated really tastefully (I had to swim through a sea of houses that hadn't been decorated since the 90s and that was tough.. lots of purple walls and burnt orange furniture).
Yours is a turnkey house and it's a great price. I really think the market is just not brilliant right now. But that doesn't mean it's hopeless. Your buyer is out there, somewhere. The timing just needs to line up.
I think the two things I would do is: Put out some framed family photos. I honestly got a lot of feedback about my photos when I was showing my property. People liked my dog. I had lots of questions about my dog, according to my EA, which was funny and sweet.
I think photos breathe real life into a place, the lived life. And people like to see the lived life. It helps people see how their own lives might play out inside that space.
And the other thing I did was green up my exterior. My front of house was similar to yours. I just added a few palms, hydrangeas, and potted plants and made it more lush and 'garden' like to detract from all the paving and brick that sort of dominated the front of my house. It's a really lovely house, OP. I can't reiterate that enough. There's a lot for a new buyer to work with and it's a perfect first time home for a young family.

It's a lovely house. My only negatives would be that the kitchen is on the small side and the outside could do with a sprucing up.

This. Ask the agent to rearrange them to give a better sense if the flow.
But being blunt, the galley kitchen would put me off. It really doesn't match the description of an open plan kitchen/diner. And the 3rd bedroom is more the Size for a nursery/ office, could you dress it as such?

That huge desk in the bedroom window is very off-putting. Can you remove it?

I think a lot of people prefer the 'buy the worst house in the street' and spend the saving on renovating to their own taste than spend more on a house that has been done but isn't to their taste.

I'm not sure that would make a difference as they are getting a lot of viewings but no offers.

It’s definitely the front and rear gardens. The rear garden is massive for London, and should be a major selling point! You need to add some nice curved borders and plants, paint the fences (front and back), jet wash the front and back drive/patios, paint the old wooden furniture etc. In the front, remove the plants by the front window and add two large bay trees/olive trees for impact. It’s a good price for London, I think, but the outside presentation sadly lets it down. You could spend a smell amount to bring it up to standard. Would get upstairs carpets professionally cleaned too.

OP, I’m not in the Uk but recently sold my house and we eventually got asking price.

The main issue for us was also the garden/exterior. Like you, we’d only lived in apartments and had no idea how to properly maintain a garden or plants. I ended up paying a gardener plus calling in a favour from a friend for 3-4 hours of gardening work. They planted ‘fool proof’ plants that lasted about a month, which was all we needed for it to sell. I paid about 300€ but it was well worth it. That included the labour, and a few planters. My friend also loaned us some large planters for the outdoor staging during the sale period.

Your house is lovely. Good luck!

I'd be put off by anywhere in London that was a bus ride from a station. How long? Is it not walkable, eg 1 mile or less? How frequent are the busses?

That would be my issue. The house looks really nicely decorated.

I'm going to agree with everyone about the "offers over", I really dislike that. Just put a price on it.
Someone has just mentioned dogs...do you have one? Dogs make me nervous and I hate them jumping up on me. I left one viewing early once because of this.

Get all the fence panels stained the same colour, but for Christ's sake use a plain brown, not grey. That is not a normal colour found in the great outdoors unless you are staring at a rock face. Grey looks so depressing in the winter months too.

A lovey house but your fencing and outside space is not used to show the house to its best. After the summer so far you are not making the most of a huge selling point! I would glad the fences in vertical wooden slats presuming the posts are sturdy enough to take it and that instantly modernises the back. Smarten the garden and furniture and stage it. Put your garden into chat to and it will give you ideas - non will include stained cushions and random bits and bobs - people can’t see past the most random things that is why viewer feedback can be so odd. They say something that sounds sensible while thinking something else! Have a look at the list attractive house on the street and copy its front styling. Get some great tress in pots and you can take them with you when you go.

We're right outside Cambridge in an area where houses usually get snapped up.

Nothing is moving right now and there are a lot of homes languishing on rightmove...

I think the feedback from a would be buyer that the layout is too traditional and means they would have to redo the kitchen is because they feel the dining space being vast is a wasted opportunity when the kitchen is a galley. Plus there are two large living rooms.

Kitchens and bathrooms sell properties because they are the most expensive to renovate. The galley kitchen is in good condition but has to overcome its’ layout somehow. Or has to be priced so buyers will overlook the galley.

You haven’t answered @Dandelionkiller, did the majority of your viewings occur during the epic roadworks on Shooters Hill Road? Am asking as this would have presented any prospective buyers regardless of where they were coming from with real hell. Your road is not really close to much, so this would be very offputting.
Please be mindful that there are more works scheduled over the summer from the top of the hill right down to the Sun in the Sands so you may want to time viewings accordingly…
Don’t underestimate the relevance of traffic as people need to imagine how feasible school runs & work commutes are going to work out for them.

Try Gardening Express, they often have great deals and the plants are good. They have pot trees that would look good at the front.

www.gardeningexpress.co.uk/

Pressure wash the front and back. Tidy the back garden. Couple of pots out the front.
I have a small third bedroom. Make sure it looks like a single bedroom.
I had a galley kitchen in my last house- no issues
Other than that your house is lovely. 🙂

Scruffy garden, bus stop right outside, kitchen is awkward, narrow and dark most people want open plan. It’s also a crap time to sell. It does seem overpriced sorry.

It was probably a silly choice - we host loads and I’ve cooked for 30+ in my tiny flat kitchen before, so we maximised dining room space, but it’s probably not suited to most people and we should have thought about inward sale

I’d ask the agent to do an open day and actually make them work for their commission

it’s a great house which anyone can just literally move into

its a bloody good price for the area

not sure where the second bathroom is

ask the agent about getting an open house beginning of September

Definitely power washing front and back. The outside doesn’t match standard of interior and lets things down. I paid a man to do ours it was a fantastic job and not too expensive, I’d been putting it off.