Why won't this house sell?

[Summerluvin1]

Not sure if I have the right topic, but I'm going to be putting my house on the market in a few weeks and I've been looking at houses in the same area to get an idea of how much they are going for. Zoopla says my house worth is 360k but I honestly would be happy with 350k. In order to buy a house we want we cant sell for any less than 340k and looking at these houses in the same area as mine (see the links) I cant understand how a 4 bed which is very cheap isn't selling, yet the 3 beds which are dearer ARE selling. Looking at thase two houses for example, can I have some opinions on what u think the reason would be? Tia!

https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/details/72632124/?search_identifier=36fae84b44c7b68dd779c70ba02946e7e8f84612e4571859d19dc789fbca8acd

https://www.zoopla.co.uk/for-sale/property/wixams/brooklands-avenue/mk42-6ax/?include_sold=true&q=Mk42%206ax&search_source=for-sale

I own a house very sImilar to the 4 bed.

the rooms that would normally be living rooms - kitchen and lounge - are split over two floors. People with kids hate that.

I wouldn’t buy the first one as the living room and kitchen are on different floors plus it’s a mid terrace. I’m more likely to buy the second as the living room and kitchen are both on the ground floor, plus it’s an end terrace.

I’d say it was the layout. The 3 bed is also a much prettier house and clearly a much loved family home. The 4 bed is a bit odd inside - very bland. The garden is also a bit crap.

Your first link - that layout with the kitchen diner on the ground floor and the living room in the first floor isn’t for everyone. And the garden isn’t great.

Your second link is a better layout, with bigger nicer bedrooms, and a conservatory for additional living space. It also looks like a bigger garden - although the astroturf would put me off. You also don’t know what price they accepted.

The 3 bed is 200sqft bigger than the 4 bed. I would go by total area of your rather than no. of bedrooms.

Definitely the weird layout. And the tiny square garden.

Big ones rooms are smaller, kitchen is really outdated, bathroom needs done, not as nice externally, small garden, needs decorated.

Agree with everyone else about the layout, and the three bed just having 'something' else too it. The pictures are just that bit more inviting.

The four bed had a tiny amount of living space for potentially five people living there too. It would feel cramped as children got older if all those bedrooms were in use.

The 4 bed is quite a bit smaller than the 3 bed looking at the overall floor area on the floor plans.
its not just how many bedrooms there are but also how big the house is that determines its value for buyers.
the sellers of the 4 bed were v optimistic when they increased the price by £10k after a sale in February this year fell through. This would really put me off tbh. I know they’ve had to reduce since but it makes me think the sellers may be chancers.
Good luck with your sale.

4 bedrooms suggests a few kids, but if you're cooking dinner in house 1 you can't keep an eye/ear on the kids as you are at least 1 storey away if they are in the living room or 2 if they are in their bedrooms. Making it unsuitable for young families

Half the house is garage and there is a parking space outside! Surely turn garage into more usable downstairs?

They are very different houses. One looks cared for and loved, one needs updating. Have you had yours valued by three or four agents?

3 bed is larger more attractive and better laid out .

For a start not everyone wants a four bedroom house but also, the less expensive four bedroom is smaller (square footage) and also a very average looking house with an odd layout. The three bed is prettier from the outside. It’s not always about the cheaper house.

The rooms are built into the eaves, which makes placing furniture like wardrobes difficult.

The 4 bed, agree that the split living spaces is not appealing. Also the garden seems small and not very inviting, and the rooms look small and cramped. I can't see how 4 bedrooms worth of people could comfortably use the living space. The kitchen and bathrooms are serviceable but aren't very nice.

It also looks like the same people have been trying to sell it since 2022, so I'd be concerned there's something wrong with it that's coming up on searches etc. Or that they're flaky and keep pulling out.

The 3 bed looks better, has photographed much more nicely, is bigger and importantly just looks like there is space. The garden is larger, the living room is connected to the garden, and there is the conservatory. The bathrooms and kitchens aren't special, but they look much better.

The third and fourth bedrooms are very small. The photos are poor. It looks rather neglected and the frontage does it no favours.

Have you had any valuations OP. Zoopla is not a reliable estimate. People often say that they need to sell for a certain figure to be able to move, but buyers don’t care about what you need to achieve, only about what they’re prepared to pay. The market really is difficult at present and expectations have to be adjusted.

If you were just flicking through the images, without having gone into the exact house details (which is what I did), then the 3 bed is a nicer house, looks better looked after, more up to date, and a better garden. It says 'you want this lifestyle'. On the other hand the other one says, meh.

Zoopla is notoriously inaccurate. It values ours as £440k but nothing similar has sold nearby for more than £385k.
Agree with many comments above about the houses you’ve linked to. The 3 bed is bigger, has a better layout and is in a better condition.

Price. Always the price.

I've not looked at the houses, but this is wixams. Notorious in the area for being difficult to register with a GP. Plus the massive development at Houghton conquest and the impending new theme park will be barriers for a lot of people. If you are wanting to go, go now before these things get worse.
Based on what pp have said, I'd much prefer a decent 3 bed over a pokey 4 bed. New estates can be pretty crappy with parking too, so if you've got great parking I'd be mentioning it in the sales particulars.

The 4 bed is opposite the estates playground, I wouldn't want to buy there because the position means there will be noise and potential anti social behavior later in the evening.

Also the split level living accommodation as others have pointed out isn't something we would want.

That comment doesn't make any sense to my post

Thanks all, comments are quite reassuring that I might be able to sell my own 3 bed for 350k seeing as it is similar to the 3 bed that sold in link 2. It just worried me that a 4 bed for cheaper wasn't selling! Makes sense with the layout people commented on.

Not having access to the garden from the living room doesn't work as well for families. And a 4 bed is a family house. Even with the garage converted to a room, it still wouldn't be great, although better than it is at the moment. It would also be massively improved with the conservatory the other house has. But I don't think the garden is big enough.

As someone whose children have left home, I'd like it. But as a mum with young DC, no.