What’s wrong with my house?

[Blueysothermother]

House been on the market since Easter, it’s in the catchment for the much sought after local grammar, well priced, was valued originally at £595,000. We had an offer for £575,750 which we accepted during the summer hols but then fell though due to reasons unrelated to the house. We need to relocate, so dropped the price, even though much larger than most houses in the surrounding streets and better parking. Estate agents can offer no constructive feedback that I can act upon. I get that it’s not all grey etc but it’s a period house and has a wealth of features intact. Any ideas?
www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/91344150

It is quite dated, maybe those looking round it think they'd need new kitchen abd bathroom?

I like your style OP and I also think the garden is beautiful but it looks like it needs quite a lot of work doing to it. We are actually looking for a 4 bedroom at the moment and would rule this out straight away. It is marketed as a 4 bed but there is no mention of a 4th bedroom at all on the floor plan - the layout would also never work as a 4 bedroom in my case. I would also not consider a house with only 1 full bathroom. The kitchen looks like it has been painted but having 2 completely different types of units. When you also consider, the exposed pipes, what looks like unpainted parts around the boiler and the panels below the boiler that look very tied it woul.d make me think the kitchen needs fully replacing. The lean to looks like it is rotting around the windows and when you add the ivy again it looks like it needs completely replacing. At that point I would also assume that the downstairs toilet needed doing given the pipes and it looking tired. There are some little parts on the walls that look patched up too. I am fairly certain the wallpaper is a style choice (and living in a period house I fully approve) but given everything else I have mentioned I would question whether it was just very old paper that again needs replacing. As soon as I had decided it is dated but painted to sell, I would be looking closely at every photo to check what other work was needed. The kitchen, downstairs toilet, lean to, pipes, skimming and other bits could easily come to tens of thousands. The only room I actually think needs decorating is the dark blue dining room. To me it is a 3 bedroom doer upper. I apologise if my comment comes across as harsh and that isn't my intention but hopefully at least some of it might be helpful.

I have reduced the price from the agents recommendation by 30 thousand to reflect that.

But you priced much too high to begin with at £595k and as a result you are now playing catch-up, so you've lost a lot of time. EA's are notorious for overvaluing properties.

I want to move A LOT. Thank you everyone, for your insight. I guess I’ll take it on board and spend my half term with many, many tin of beige or white paint, and rent myself a storage unit. if that’s what it takes 😔

I thought you'd say that but the reality is yours will need as much work just in different ways. They've at least not got the walkthrough room issue and they have got two bathrooms and more garden space. The HMO 'look' isn't nice but your look won't be to the taste of whoever moves in so they'll have to do it all up too. I also don't see how your house is larger than others when it's a terrace on a row of similar houses and I don't see how the parking is good when it's street parking. Even when it's permits it's still a pain the ass. It's a nice house in some ways but it needs a lot of work so would have to be much cheaper to sell, sorry.

It’s not a couple of coats though is it? It’s a big redcoration job which people would want to factor in price wise.

Only one bathroom would put me off instead instantly.

I agree with others about needing to clear the greenery that's overwhelming the 'lean to' (is it not a conservatory or sun room?!).

Absolutely no help on the house prices but I love your style. Neutrals may sell houses better but the colour and the greenery rather than sterility to the outside is lovely!

Thank you all very helpful. Weirdly the blue room is the most recent room to have been fully re plastered!

Missing 4th bedroom
Blue walls
Small lounge because of bulky furniture
Your (lovely) unique style doesn’t suit everybody.
A bit old fashioned.

I love my urban jungle fairy garden but clearly on here no one else does!

It'd probably sell in Brighton. It has that kinda look/appeal, and I'm an artsy type myself but even though it's characterful, it's not giving me that nicely done feel. The painted floorboards still feel bare and it could feel a bit down at heel, esp with the lean-to. Unless I wanted a makeover project, I wouldn't be shortlisting it.

Has the link been removed?

You're taking your stuff with you. Obviously, you can't pack a furniture away in the loft or under a bed until you move out, but you could pack up some of the wall art now, as people have told you that it's off-putting. It's visual noise and a lot of what makes someone want to buy a house is down to the feeling that they get. As somebody has previously said people want it to feel like something aspire to.

As for people who have said that people lack imagination, people have plenty of imagination but not many people have a lot of money. You have said yourself that you don't have any money. There is a very real risk that people could end up in negative equity. Because of that people can't, and/or wont, overstretch themselves for a house that requires money spending on it but is already at its ceiling price. They just aren't going to.

And it's all well and good saying that it's 4 bedrooms but if the buyer is buying with a mortgage and their mortgage valuer doesn't agree that it's 4 bedrooms and worth the asking price, then it is not going to sell for the price you want.

I think you just need to be realistic.

I agree wholehartily that a period house should not be "greyge" however there is a big gap between grey and souless and your house at the moment. You can fit somewhere in the middle. Remove the clutter. They are precious things to you but in buyer's eyes mesn nothing except making the space look small and dated. Remove the wall art some of them look like you raided the charity shop sorry to be blunt. Remove the clothes. Remove the extra chairs they are making the living room area so small. Remove some of the furniture. Tidy up the pipework in the kitchen, not sure how it was redecorated it looks terrible. The downstairs toilet adds 0 value or decreases it, who wants a loo woth no place to wash your hands? Where do you wash poopy hands, in the kitchen? That for any buyer either needs upgrading or removed. I know because this was the first thing I did when I brought mine, downstairs loo no washing facilities. The living area with the walpaper, I would be afraid what is the walpaper hiding. It looks shabby and with marks, are they water marks? List it as a 3 bedroom, that is not a 4 bed. I understand you used it as bedroom but you can use the living room as bedroom, no one is stopping you but you can not advertise it as such, is misleading. Lastly, start weeding and removing some of the vegetation, garden is overgrown and the space left is minimal. Get a skip. If i buy the family home I want the garden as well to go with it, that is not much of a garden.
I understand you don't want to make it souless but you are selling it, and you need to appease to a market. Verry little people will have your taste, you need to show the potential. Start making comrpmises if you want it sold. Good luck!

Nope it’s just a lean-to not dressing it up as anything it isn’t. But oh how I would love an orangery 😂

Don't need to part with it just wrap it nicely I bubble wrap boxes ready to move then redo the pics

Op you’re repeatedly mentioning the coloursand yes, lots of people have said they don’t love them. But you’re not taking on board the bigger, far more onerous issues which have come up again and again. If it were in fabulous condition and had a more typical layout but was colourful that’s one thing. It’s the obvious and expensive jobs which are standing between you and a sale at the price you are asking.

It doesn’t need to be a white box! If you tone down the walls to a light beige (a little greene Portland stone), remove some furniture and art, sort out the kitchen cabinets, get some plain crisp bed linen, cut trees back in the garden, you’ll be amazed how much nicer it will look. There’s a huge range of period looks between white box and what you currently have.

It is the living room and yellow room that look like they need skimming which would be a bigger job. The blue room is more as dark colours can be a pain to paint over so making it a little more neutral might make people think there is one less thing to do cheaply and easily. Living in a period house with high ceilings though I also have some strong colour choices that work well.

It's a hard lesson for you OP, but you seem to be viewing your home as a reflection of you and your tastes, instead of seeing it as a commodity you need to sell. The suggestions to remove some furniture and artwork and tone down the bright colours are not an attack on your taste, it's the equivalent of getting your car valeted before you list it. Making your house appeal to the greatest number of potential buyers is just common sense. What would you rather: stay in your current house with the decor you love for another year (or more, whatever), or live in it in a depersonalised state for a few months while going through the sale process? This isn't a slight on you, or your house. It's just part of the process of moving on.

I would also reduce the price if it were mine - take it off the market, do the necessary then put it back on at a lower price.

I think you have a lovely house. It’s very obviously a happy family home that you’ve decorated to just your taste. But I think you’ve got a problem with your photographs. If I was buying a house, the things that would put me off would be:

• the black and blue room. It’ll be a massive arse ache to get that black paint sanded off the skirting boards and window and the black fire place is one of the few things I couldn’t live with. It’s massive and it’s more than just cosmetic. It’ll need some actual graft first. Same for the painted white fireplace. It’s going to take time and money to get that back to where it should be. I’d be expecting cosmetic work but that’s going to be far more.
• The fact that you have to walk through one room to get to another, meaning that someone is going to have no privacy.
• The photo of the downstairs loo makes it look like you’d have to go in sideways it’s so narrow. It doesn’t look like there’s a sink in there and that weird thing covering the piping would put me off.
• The lean to in the photograph looks like the plants are the only thing keeping it up. The window frames look like they’re rotting, the door looks like it’s just propped up and the brickwork under the windows looks a bit dodgy.
• The garden is going to need some work. I’m not suggesting you dig everything up and turn it into a plastic haven, but if your target buyer is a family, the chances are that any younger children are going to want somewhere to play.
• What’s the black on the tiles behind your bathroom toilet? Is that just a shadow? Because it looks like mould and that would put me off even coming to see it.
• And if I’m being really picky, your furniture in your front room is quite big so, although it suits the room perfectly, it takes over a bit and makes it difficult to envision where your own furniture would be.

For that price, I’d just want to do a bit of decorating, not spend a load more fixing little bits. Also, I’d be highlighting the fact that you get no through traffic for the stadium.

The living room has wall paper so not sure how that looks like it need skimming I do understand the dates comments though, thank you. The yellow reception or bedroom? One has lining paper the other yes I know what you mean.

Thank you, really great points. The downstairs loo is just a shadow but yes need new photos agreed.

What a beautiful house! I love your decor.

Did I miss the fridge?
I'd put a kettle on the hob to highlight what it is and where it is.