Why aren’t we getting more viewings? Honest feedback welcome

[Diva78]

We’re selling our four-bedroom townhouse in Bicester and have reached the point where we’d really value some completely impartial opinions.

We originally listed at £425k, have since changed estate agents, reduced the price to £400k, changed the lead photo and updated the kitchen cupboards to give them a more neutral look.

Despite all that, we’ve still had very few viewings and hardly any interest coming directly through Rightmove.

We know townhouses and three-storey living won’t appeal to everyone, and there are larger semis and detached houses available nearby. However, our house has good square footage, three bathrooms, flexible living and home-working space, a garage, driveway parking and a quieter position on the estate.

Would anyone be willing to look at the listing and give me some honest but constructive feedback? Is it the price, layout, photos, description or something else we’re just not seeing?

50, Fontwell Road, Bicester, Oxfordshire, OX26 1BP - Estate Agents in Bicester, Oxfordshire | Barton Fleming

Thank you!

It looks like a house I'd be delighted to rent - very clean and fresh and bright - but wouldn't rush to buy. Nothing grabs me to say it could be my permanent home. I'm guessing that in a bad market you need something more persuasive?

Waves to op I live down the road.

Everyone has made valid points the kerb appeal and photos.

I would say the market is very flat so if you must sell you need to be competitive plus as pointed out there are loads of new builds to compete with.

My friend had her lovely house in Bure Park for sale this year and couldn't shift it. During the stamp duty holiday we couldn't even get a viewing on any Bure Park property before it was snapped up it would go as soon as it was on the market.

I hope you are successful.

I don't know the area. Are terraced town houses usual there? To me it looks like military accommodation, kept very plain and easy to leave at march out (is it still called that?) Would you consider aiming it at the house share rental market?

Get rid of that big living room wall mural.

Get rid of the weird led lighting around the kitchen.

Replace the living room curtains.

Those are three things that immediately don’t help the photos.

Unfortunately as the outside of the house doesn’t look very attractive you need to make the interior look much more appealing. It doesn’t currently look like a very attractive or cosy place to live.

personally I can see through cosmetic stuff when I am viewing properties but I agree with other comments regarding the photos a friend actually put some of her furniture into storage ( actually not a bad price!) by taking items out it made a huge difference, the agents took new pictures and the property certainly attracted more views.

The overall look of the house is so spartan and cold. The garden is obviously spartan and unappealing, but the lounge looks cold too and like something you’d see in a batchelor flat, and the kitchen looks cold and unfriendly. The bedrooms look small.

Could you make the kitchen warmer and more friendly, with some flowers, some pretty pots or crockery on the sides? I’d also get rid of some of the stuff piled on top of the cupboards.

I don’t like the grey and red in the lounge. You can’t change the sofa, but could you do something with the curtains and change the red cushions?

You can’t change the size of the bedrooms, but that open wardrobe with everything on show makes it look smaller. Maybe some subtle changes would help? The TV on top of the cube storage just looks wrong and makes the room look narrow.

Put out some flower tubs in the garden and try to dress it as best you can. If the price is right, it might be enough to make someone compromise on the garden.

I'm afraid the kitchen would put me off; there's barely any usable worktop space, and the cupboards are awful. I'd be thinking it needs ripping out and replacing.

Oh dear, @Diva78
I hate these posts.. everyone will criticise your house & you'll feel worse than ever..
It looks lovely, there's nothing wrong with it, it's just the market at the mo..

The photo showing the dining table crammed up against the wall might put people off, because in a four-bedroomed house you would expect to be able to fit in a full sized table with six chairs, somewhere.

Yes, good points, "bubble popping" is related to credit conditions and independent of demand, but I don"t buy the "6.5million units shortfall" there are plenty of empty houses, plenty of supply.

Where is the RM link, price history will be important to a buyer?

You're not going to like my points as there's nothing you can do about it. The decor is ok (I can always see how to change a house to my taste anyway), but the outside photos make me hate it. It's all buildings close together, no greenery or trees, no privacy and just looks a horrible place to live (to me). Sorry!

I live in a 3 storey mid terrace (albeit a Victorian one) so you don't have to convince me of the pros/cons of townhouse living, but I wouldn't book to view this.

As pp have noted the pics make the rooms look simultaneously cramped and pokey but also bland and soulless at the same time? It's really odd. The proportions look terrible and the lack of floorplan only backs that up. It's like you've decluttered the living room and shoved it all in corners of other rooms?

I also just can't get past the highlighter red curtains, especially in the first pic, they really emphasise the low ceilings and boxy vibes. Could you swap them out for something cheap but neutral that might give the illusion of more space?

Your EA really needs to pull their finger out - or you need to get a new one!

Looks like a 1980’s boys bedroom! Did you move into your BF bachelor pad op, because nothing I’m seeing says family home that it’s been sold as.
Middle of three, potential noise from either side.
Lounge - awful, cheap looking1980’s boys bedroom styling.
Kitchen cramped at one end with no storage and barren at the other end, also what is that that green strip of led? The mural 😳
Back garden bleak, needs power washing and pretty planters.
Next door have a basket ball hoop, are they going to be bouncing balls all day long?

I wouldn’t view your house because the living room is on the floor above the kitchen, and I don’t like town houses with that arrangement. Also it’s on an estate which is all brickwork and no trees, as a PP says it looks quite sterile and bland. So I wouldn’t view whatever the price. So you probably have a limited market, and the market isn't great to start with. I'm not sure there is very much you can do other than wait for the right person to come along.

I live in a house with a loft extension and I’m not going for another three storey - it wouldn’t be a good idea as i head into my 60s. Your target market is presumably families as you can stick older DC on the top floor - but there’s no grass in the garden so it isn’t very child friendly.

You’re not going to want to pull up the concrete slabs and redo the garden, so drop the price.

It’s an improvement but all those slitty windows make the entire row look like a prison or some bizarre office building. How anyone would think ‘I know I’ll buy that skinny new build’ by choice is beyond me.

It will suit someone's family. But not at 400k.

Not historically high, but much higher than perhaps the less than 2% rate would be buyers obtained 4 or 5 years ago. I have work colleagues who are coming out of their 5 year fixed rates, and would have been thinking of moving up the ladder by now , but now think they can barely afford to remortgage to stay in the property they already live in, based on current rates, which are more than doubling their monthly payments

Immediately to me it looks built up and lacking in greenery. From the photos it appears the living room looks onto another wall? Is that the back of the garden? I would never look at somewhere with that sort of aspect.

if this isn't the case you need to rephotograph.

if it is, I think perhaps price is wrong - and you may need to go for people without kids etc.

I disagree. I’m currently on 0.94%, which expires in a few months. I’m currently looking at 4.85%.

Yes, interest rates were much higher in the 1990s, but houses were only 3x the average salary, whereas now they’re 7x an average salary.

The current interest rates are high if you look back over 25 years, plus 7x salary purchase price = a lethal combination.

It's usually the price. OIEO 360 (according to pp's screenshot) might get you a bite.

For me there's not enough outdoor space for a house of that size. Or if there's more you're not showing it to its best advantage.

I agree with this. I prefer the layout of your house as I’d rather be between the ground floor and children on top floor of an evening if that makes sense. Also your ground floor layout is preferable to me. The differences are the garden has more greenery and the first photo is of the front of the house. Also the parking is marked out clearly on this house.

Yes, so do they now realise they were actually on a debt ladder not a property ladder?

I would do something to the front if the house to give it more kerb appeal and stand out from the neighbours, maybe a nice tree either side of the door?