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

I know, it's a mistake to do that.

OP, I have come to this a bit late so I haven't read all the comments, just page our replies.

Yes it's a period house and should not be sterile, the issue is your decor and furniture is from different eras, even in one room, so it feels disjointed and not coherent as you scroll the photos. The kitchen for example has a mix of styles and eras just in that one room. As does the living room. So it feels chaotic and people viewing/scrolling will think they need to do a lot even if that's not the reality.

I'm not against bright paint at all, but I do think the quick and cheapest fix for selling is to get a more neutral colour on some of the walls, and use that colour somewhere in every room. Doesn't have to be full walls or the full room, just a way to make it cohesive.

The 4th bedroom isn't one. There's only one bathroom. Garden too small.

I really like it, but I don’t think the photos are helping. Make sure that they are up to date, e.g. with the ivy removed, and functional, showing things like the oven and sinks and so on. People need to know how the house works.

It's lovely! Do you think it's proximity to the Vic? Although us Hornets are pretty well behaved!

It's not aspirational enough. No one will walk in and think 'I've arrived'.

It needs a lot of improvement, new kitchen and bathrooms and a complete redecoration throughout.

It needs to be priced accordingly re the above, so to concor with others, it's overpriced.

The house being so close to the stadium and a main road close to that stadium and the hospital would mean I wouldn't bother viewing your house, if I had the money to buy it. I would reduce again - this time to £520k - to bring it in line with the top end of the three bedroom houses in your area.

Do you know STREET VIEW doesn't work?

Why is that?

I think it’s lovely. People have to look past decor furnishings as rarely does anyone like someone else’s decor. You have to imagine your own taste & things in it. People love to criticise. I bought my house when it was in the middle of being renovated. I liked the layout it felt nice & I could imagine living in it.

I love your house !
And i would love a home like this ,but i can see a lot of work, i think i would paint over the bright colours and tidy up the lean to ?/ room with washing machines
woodwork.
Perhaps match up the kitchen cupboard doors.

It’s normal to have 2 colour kitchen cupboards but it looks like you’ve got flush doors on bottom and panel doors on top - is that right? I’m looking and thinking the kitchen needs a whole refit. Blue room needs painting, lacking bathrooms, lounge looks “dingy” somehow. All that aside it’s a really nice house but needs to be priced accordingly. And it’s not really a 4 bed. More like 3 and a study or dressing room

It’s always the price unfortunately.

It has got personality. But there’s no flow to the design making it feel quite disjointed, and some a lot of it looks very diy. It probably looks like hard work (read ‘expensive’) to remedy for a lot of potential buyers.

Anyone notice how @Blueysothermother doesnt make even one comment about the price!! Given the vast majority of us are saying - it’s the price!!!

Location, location, location.

Just seen the map.

Very few people want to be that close to a football ground.

And you absolutely need to get the bedroom discrepancy sorted out. The listing and description say repeatedly 4-bed, but the floorplan shows 3.

I don’t mind the decor personally but

1. id have a grump about a listing wasting my time opening it looking for a 4 bedroom when it’s actually a 3
2. is there a sink in the downstairs loo? If not that’s grim and would put me off
3. the outside lean to with the vegetation growing all over the roof screams poor condition and if not leaking now will be shortly with all that growing on it
4. you want over a half million but have put no effort into the garden
5. the kitchen….screams cheap and will need replacing when you don’t have integrated appliances and also mismatched cupboards. Suspect you only replaced either the low level or the high level not both

The wall units are the oldest and have been painted. That was an 80s style unit doors.

It is 3 bed plus dressing room/study. Nit a 4 bed. Highlight the wc downstairs eg 1.5 bathroom.
"Lean to" says temp structure = unstable

If that kitchen has genuinely been replaced in the last couple of years, then it’s been bodged. Two completely different random styles of cupboard, dodgy tiling near the boiler and exposed pipes. What a mess.

As has been said, it's ALWAYS the price. Lovely house though.

Is there a basin in the downstairs loo?

The boxing in of the pipe work (on the wall to the right of the loo, looking at the photo) is a complete mess.

There is masses of work to be done and that's not even before the location of the stadium.

Anyone moving in might spend £100K sorting it out.

Easter!!! It’s been on the market since Easter!

I bet the agent is begging @Blueysothermother to just lower the price properly once and for all

Like others have said, it really pisses me off when layouts like that are marketed at 4 beds. I need 4 beds and that wouldn’t work for me - one of the children would have to walk through another one’s bedroom all the time.

I think your best bet is to thin everything out and paint it all a neutral colour and/or lower the price.

My initial thought was "wow Watford is expensive ". We sold a similar house in Kent last year for £350k, also grammar town/walking distance to train station. Ours was a bit bigger - 2 bathrooms, attic conversion and bigger kitchen. The estate agent said we could hold out for more but we had found the house we wanted to move to so took a slight hit on price.

• It's a 3 bed not a 4 bed
• Front living room is cluttered with too much heavy furniture, makes the room look much more cramped than it needs to
• personally not a fan of the kitchen layout but guess you cant do much about that
• the bright blue walls with black trim and black painted fireplace are quite jarring in contrast to the kitchen which feels tasteful. It wouldn't bother me too much as I could paint over it but the painted fireplace would put me of
• downstairs loo has no sink. Grim
• both bedrooms with the yellow feature walls looks like the wall has paper peeling or damaged plaster or something? makes me worry about damp
• the bathroom decor isn't really to my taste, I don't think the black marble side to the bath works with the busy floor tiles. Bathroom looks in good shape so I wouldnt want to factor in replacing it, so would be offputting
• the lean to looks cold and rickety. Wouldn't mind it for laundry but having to go out there in winter every time I needed the fridge isn't appealing