Struggling to Sell our house

[TigersoulBlue]

Hi Everyone.
I hope you don't mind me posting here to get some advice about selling our house, we use an Agent, and its been on the market for 868 days, we have had some interest but nothing enough for anyone to put in an offer. I would be grateful on your views, I have tough skin so please be honest. all the other houses that are very similar in this area have sold for similar prices.
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/148421291#/?channel=RES_BUY

It’s much too small for a four bed, esp as some of the rooms look unusable. How are the neighbouring houses laid out? Calling the upstairs two bedrooms but only showing one, with a little chair in makes me immediately turn off. Agree that I can’t tell which is your house and a lot of the 21 photos are off a garden I’m not sure is private or shared?

Sorry I'm nit picking.

Just to add ......who writes this bilge?

"By night, the curtains/blinds are drawn and time to relax with some quality family downtime. All you need here is a good book or favourite playlist to unwind from the day. The room allows ample space for a dining table and chairs, after you've whipped up something delicious enjoy a meal round the table, throw open the doors and spill out onto the patio"

"the family bathroom---has been designed to cope with the morning rush as well as being a sanctuary at the end of a long day when all you want is a long soak (your choice of bubbles!) in the corner bath tub."

Honestly, buyers will lose interest. What you need is a proper estate agent writing punchy, positive things that will grab potential buyer's interest.

The main issue is that the house will only appeal to a tiny pool of people, mainly because of it’s rural location. I don’t like the ‘cul de sac’ rather claustrophobic feel where the house is located but I can see some people liking that. You need to go with a better agent.

You made the classic mistake of believing what the estate agent said about it being worth £425k so a 49% increase in little over six years. They massively overvalued it, which means you’re at a disadvantage because you’re now playing catch up.

I see what your saying, a detached rural house you need over 400k or even 500k for a decent one, so this is inbetween that price and the cheaper village houses, so your getting into the countryside at a cheaper cost with some compromises. and its very quiet here with a community feel :)

It is lovely but it's also dated and a terrace (so the price has to reflect that). It's always the price when a house isn't selling.

I'd also move estate agents. When I was viewing houses Yopa and Purple Bricks were just impossible. Neither cared whether or not I even went to an appointment and neither could give me any information (eg where the boiler is).

Honestly…it has very little “wow factor” it’s very “meh” inside. The photos aren’t and style is very bland/dated. Can you do it up a bit, dress it up or something.

Lol, i see what your saying. alot needs to be done on presentation.

This is my experience too.
I traveled to view the house twice but there was nobody there either time.
I gave up in the end. I watched the house hang around for months after before being withdrawn from the market.

Oh is Yopa like purple bricks, one of those DIY agents? You need professional photos and a proper agent. When I was selling mine two people I know said that they wouldn’t even look at a property marketed with one of those ‘agents’ as they know the sale process would be held up without someone in place who knows what needs doing. They said if you’re skimping on estate agent fees it says you’ll skimp on other expenses eg boiler maintenance so it doesn’t say the right things. I personally don’t feel like that, but hearing two of my close friends say that was enough to put me off.

TBH even the photos taken by two different agents made a huge difference to how my house was presented. Luckily it sold just before the second agent went live with it as their fee was higher but they had made it look lovely and I’ve no doubt it would have sold quickly with them.

Price , location , local facilities , school
and survey issues ?

I was told we weren’t allowed to say that as nobody is guaranteed a place at a particular school even if in catchment. You can say excellent local schools but not which ones! I was also told we couldn’t say ‘walking distance to’ a local attraction as not everyone can walk. So it may be that you need to take advice on what you can and can’t say.

I do think a decent agent is worth their weight, as a well presented house will attract the right buyers. It may also be worth employing a home staging company for this house as it has lots of potential but it underwhelming design-wise. Spending a few thousand on hiring someone to spruce things up could help you sell more quickly and potentially even get you a better offer.

DorsetKnobBiscuit makes a lot of good points as have other pp. it is a bit of an odd mix of modernish and character and odd layout so you are going to need to stage it well to get people in. You can fake beds with boxes and pad out with any airbeds spare duvets etc then dress as on bedding manufacturers websites eg a throw/bedspread is easier to make look neat, then a small folded one over the bottom. A bed helps people see the usable space in a room. You can get a bit of extra furniture on freecycle, and give away afterwards, or nice foldable chairs that you can use in future , use stools as bedside tables, add a lamp, £5 or so in B and Q if you don’t have one. Agree with pps re rugs and pictures, cushions, again buy things you like and will use when you move, or get them free/very cheap and plan to pass on later. Good luck!

Thanks, i have heard similar thing about people avoiding these types of agents, i used Purple bricks before and they were very good many years ago. for us to buy our new home, we needed all the money we can get to be able to get the type of house we wanted, so i was trying to go the cheapest option i could so we could live our dream. our boiler is serviced every year lol :) thanks for your views, but yes the agents may need changing in this instance.

also, if you want a small holding it seems odd you don’t appear to be growing any veg. Are people not allowed to plant anything in their gardens? If you can why not put in some raised beds and put in some things when you remarket.

A lot has changed in the property market over the past 2 years.

I would give notice to your current agent, take it off the market for a week or two, then re-list with another agent. We did this, with good results.

It looks a lovely house - but something about those photos makes it feel a bit cold & isolated. See if a new agent can warm up the photos, you want a cosy cottage feel when marketing houses like yours.

Yopa is fine if you have a nicely presented, run of the mill house to sell. Our 4-bed semi, with drove and garden, in decent area sold before it reached Right Move and saved us £4k on the proper EA fee.

However this is a tricky sell to a very small pool, due to the layout, isolated location and the 'cosy community' vibe which would count many people out straight away.

You asked for feedback:
Agree that it looks quite bland inside and the photos are useless. It needs to look cosy and comfortable. The duvets are messy and the curtains haven't been straightened in rooms where there is very little else to look at - it's not selling a dream, it's reminding me of tidying up after my kids.
The lone green chair in a loft feels desolate.
The squatty potty things also caught my eye immediately and distracted me.
The garden set up looks a bit like a pub garden. My immediate thoughts is that any kids will not understand the boundaries and will go between gardens to seek each other out in summer - no privacy.
Is that a chicken coop on the back? And what's the brown patch at the top of the garden? Both potentially unavoidable but they add more work for the new buyer to remove or repair.

I have no doubt that it's a lovely home in real life but you do really need someone to actively sell this unusual property and yopa aren't doing that.

Thanks for your observation:) you can grow veg here. and reconfigure the garden as you wish.
We do have some veg and herbs growing, just not at the time of the photos.
thanks that's something to think about.

The garden fences would be an immediate no for me - total lack of privacy and security and not suitable for dogs. Agree that all character has been stripped from the inside. People who want period features outside probably want a nod to that inside, too. And no garage. I appreciate you can't do much about some of this, but it means that lots of buyers won't have any interest in this house even if they are looking for a rural property of this size, unfortunately.

Is there a restriction on what can be done to the back gardens? It’s very strange that all the houses have fantastic sized gardens but none are landscaped, just plain grass? No ponds, large trees, summer houses, sheds, veg patches? Weird as id think the size of the gardens would be a great selling point.

I thought this too! We were going to buy a small holding in Wales back in 2017/18, but ended up buying a detached, 400 year old converted mill with 0.5 acre of 'garden' that was actually weeds, brambles and huge beech/oak trees. We quickly cleared the weeds, created a kitchen garden for veg and planted a small orchard. We sold up in 2024 and imo it was the gardens that helped sell the property.

Other thoughts...

Yopa (in the same way as Purple Bricks) would stop me looking at a property unless it was absolutely stunning/perfect for our requirements. Your house - whilst very pretty and characterful externally - is almost devoid of character/period charm internally and is very blandly presented/dated too, imo. There's nothing 'wow' or aspirational about it - which brings me back to the outside...if you're selling a rural lifestyle I'd expect to see either a beautiful cottage garden or one brimming with home grown produce!

In your shoes, I'd remove from the market over winter (we tried selling our rural home in November and didn't get a single viewing till January and ours was very aspirational), make a few changes including adding some focal points to rooms (art etc) and garden (raised beds?), dress the rooms appropriately (beds etc) for new photos, engage new, local EA and remarket at a lower price in the spring. Good luck @TigersoulBlue, it has the potential to be a lovely home for someone!

completely agree - online only agents are probably fine for turnkey houses in popular locations - things like standard 2 bed semis which will always have buyers at the right price. For something that's a bit different (i.e. rural property like yours) a local estate agent would be better. You need to take it off, leave it a few months and then relist. But, sorry, probably at a lower price.

the squatty potty also distracted me, particularly because given it's been TWO YEARS the child presumably no longer needs it!

A real EA would probably take better photos too. But you can help them by better hiding some of the clutter (e.g. under the bed), straightening the duvet, etc. I would consider getting some of that contact paper to cover the kitchen countertops as well, either in white or fake wood to match the floor - a new buyer would probably redo the kitchen anyway but it would modernise it to be a bit more classic, and make it 'could live in it for a bit' for a very small amount. Whereas the current countertops make it look very dated and very clear the kitchen has been in for a while.

Where do you keep the lawnmower?

I live rurally (as I've said) for peace, space, and rural hobbies that require outdoor storage for items. Does you house have any of that?
Everything sells at the right price.

Is there a management committee involved with the houses? It reminds me of one I lived in for a few years which looked idyllic and actually was a gorgeous house. However the monthly fees for maintenance ( grass cutting etc) kept going up, there were petty rules about colour of doors etc. It was a taste of rural living on one hand but felt like being in a goldfish bowl the next. It's a lovely house though I wonder if just overpriced

That’s a completely different market from what you are selling.

It is a terraced house with 1 reception in an isolated area. People choose isolation to not have neighbours. People who don’t want to be isolated choose villages or towns with amenities. The 4 bedrooms belie a compromised layout. Four plus people couldn’t live in this comfortably.

The reality is that property isn’t a way to grow money any more. At best, unless you bought 15+ years ago you will make your money back. It sold for £285k in 2017 and that is probably what it is worth now. In 2017 interest rates were c2% and now they are c5%. Cost of living increases and effectively stagnate wages mean people can’t afford large mortgages. The property isn’t going to ever really increase in value.

No matter how well this property is marketed I wouldn’t offer over £285k for it.