Seller here - please be brutal and tell me what is wrong with my house?

[Pantsenfyre]

Can I get some opinions? We’ve got a few weeks before we want to put our house on the market. I’ve just been round taking some photos of the interior to figure out how to present it, and I’m a bit flustered because it does look like a mess.

I mean, obviously I’m not an estate agent photographer and I don’t have the right lenses (or lighting) but also I think there are some problems with presentation. Is anyone up for having a look at the photos here [note from MNHQ: link temporarily removed as it contained identifying details] and giving me some frank feedback? I’m wondering:

• what about this house would put you off?
• are there good things I should be highlighting?
• what question marks would these photos leave you with?

A bit of background….this is a late Victorian semi detached house in Cambridge. There are some good things:

• 10 minutes walk from centre of town / river / Jesus Green park
• very quiet dead end location
• larger than average garden
• big master suite on top floor with dressing area and ensuite
• 3 more double rooms (all reasonable size), family bathroom, downstairs loo

And some weaknesses

• kitchen is pretty old and tired
• family bathroom is small
• large college building at end of garden
• design at the back of house might be a bit marmite

But obviously it's our house, we love it and we find it difficult to be objective. So a bit of straight talking would probably do me the world of good. Thanks!

I can't see your photos, but in the event of selling your house in any case, less clutter the better and present the rooms in such a way most people would want to use them.

Townhouse type houses where the master bedroom is on the top floor and has a bathroom and dressing room but all the rest of the bedrooms are on the floor below tend to be problematic for young families.

basically because parents generally want to be on the same floor as their children at least until the youngest is old enough to be on a different floor.

so if parents want that then they tend to make the top floor the guest bedroom with shower room and the whole family pretty much lives on the floor below (ie they turn it into a two floor house).

however obviously that’s a bit of a waste of space.

so houses set up like that tend to command lower prices/or you need to aim towards the older children/teen families.

the issue with that is that families that have lots of kids at that age usually want a second living room (family room) for the kids to use because otherwise everyone bloody argues all the time.

it looks like you’ve got a kitchen/diner and two receptions, could one of the receptions be set up as more of a family room?

When we were selling ours, i went round every room, bedrooms: make sure extra stuff on top of wardrobes is put away, remove clutter on top of chest of drawers, make sure drawers are fully shut nothing hanging out. add flowers to main bedroom, kids bedrooms just 1 or 2 things like books or lamp. Add sumptious feeling of a bedroom of being cosy, so throws on beds, def chunky rugs, try and match curtains to bed linen. Anything that looks worn hide.

Kitchen: doesnt matter if its a bit worn as long as its super clean, i mean spotless, remove excess gadets, id move the sofa elsewhere and table inthe middle. Vase of flowers and some nice placemats or runner.

Bathroom: Again keep it spotless, the roman blind moved down a bit more, other wise makes the room look cold. Add matching towels and accessories to blind. I picked up some cheap ones in home bargains etc.

Living rooms: Def remove the bike, the curtains being white make the room look cold. With that ceiling height and light it could take a warmer colour matching walls or pick up colour of furniture. Again, rugs, throws, cheap fix to make it look warmer, remove excess stuff and dress the bookcase think less is more. Any thing looking worn or tatty hide.
Honestly when i finished the house didnt even look like mine and we certainly dont live that way but it made it look show home vibe. Very difficult to keep it that way but sold in 3 weeks thank god because I was exhausted trying to maintain that.
Beautiful home tho.

Op, if you get an agent round they will be able to advise you about how best to stage the house.

It looks great, but needs a couple if tweeks for the photos (and maybe some for viewings)
Pic 1) clear the notebook away
Pic 2) Bike needs going - photos & viewings, as does the green tape round the windows
Pic 3) notepad and magazines away
Pic 4) get rid of computer screen and doda if possible. Table looks pushed right against the wall, making the space look small.
Pic 5) teatowels need to ho from the oven
Pic 6) get rid of the blue ?chair?, iron the sheets ^ make bed carefully
Pic 7) see 6
Pic 8) get rid of bits on top if ?wardrobe?. Id probably exclude this photo unless the agent has a good angle
Pic 9) dressing down, shampoo & toothpaste to ge hidden
Pic 10) maybe get rid of sofa - think if the red can be softened. Get rid of the black ^ white things on the right hand drawers. Make bed a little more carefully
Pic 11) clear desk & storage on cabinat
Pic 12) -
Pic 13) can the desk go anywhere else?
Pic 14) desk, box on floor, nake bed smoothly
Pic 15) bed, open blinds fully - they look weird where they hang at different lengths, but its sn awesome design - just makes me lookat them rather than the room! Clear desk
Pic 16) hide robot mower. Any chance you can cut the grass? And ir clean the patio,m
Pic 17) much better garden photo

That looks like a really long list, but is basically declutter, and make the beds! The bits thst are expensive or difficult to change look good!

It says link has been deleted.

Link no longer works

The OP had posted identifying info that's why the link"a been taken down.

Thanks @Fast800goingforit - yeah sorry chaps, thought I had checked out the links correctly but it turns out I'm an eedjit and they held personal details. So the link had to go

Where are the photos?

Link shows as broken for me. I've tried two browsers.

**ETA just seen she has removed it so ignore my post!

Oh ffs, I really like looking at houses and critiquing them. Can’t you put them up again in a non identifying way?

I haven't seen the photos @Pantsenfyre, but whilst I agree re getting rid of clutter and anything that points to insufficient storage, I would urge caution with regards to over-decluttering! You want your house to appear aspirational which often isn't the case when it's stripped so bare it looks like a plague of locusts has been through 😆

However, I'm also not a fan of those 'table set for dinner' 'two wine glasses on a bistro set' or 'close up of the wood burner flames' type photos, so there's a fine line to be drawn there too!

Again, I've not seen the sofa cushions (something DH rightly says I'm obsessed with!), but from other comments, definitely replace sagging pads with new plump ones. Also, whilst 'unexpected red theory' is a thing in interior design circles (and I've fallen for this myself!), too much red can scream student house or worse, so maybe tone this down if there's a lot.

From other comments you probably have period features which should be clearly visible, not hidden by too much furniture. Your garden sounds lovely, so ensure there are photos from both directions including the shed/bike store.

If your chosen EA/their photographer limits the number of photos they'll use (we had one with a blanket 'maximum eight' rule), you can always supply your own - ditto if you have better pics of the garden in summer.

Good luck with the sale when it happens!

Free bike

Why not just upload 3 photos directly on here op?

perhaphs the kitchen bedroom and lounge- the bathroom looked impeccable, so leave that nehind

Can’t seen the photos as link as been removed but what a lot of people do to “stage their house for viewings” is rent a storage place and move a lot of their stuff and even some furniture into storage. Create an entirely minimalist impression.

I recall viewing houses the last time we searched and something as small as ashtray in the corner of the garden put me off.

Cannot see photos.

I haven't seen the pictures, but if you have stuff on top of cupboards and under the bed get rid of it, i.e. put as much as you can in your car or get rid of. Make sure windows are clear of dressings: blinds pulled up fully, curtains neatly away from very clean windows, nothing on the cills. All cushions and bedding looking freshly laundered and ironed, plus make sure bedding is straight on the bed and not looking like someone has just got up or walked away from sitting on it. Only clean folded towels in all body washing areas, toilets clean and lid shut. No cloths, oven gloves, rubbish, bins, animal dishes, in the kitchen. The whole house needs to look like a show home, nothing grubby, everything put away and looking bright (lights on in every room) and very clean.

It's a really lovely house OP. I'm sure it will be hard to leave.

Well, this is frustrating! Can you upload the photos directly?

I haven't seen the pictures but when we sold our place we hired a storage unit and put a lot of our stuff in it so that the place looked less cluttered. Made me wish I lived like that all the time!

When we sold we parked up at least 50% of our belongings and any extra furniture and stored it in MIL spare room. If you are serious about moving it needs to be packed anyway so do it now (and get rid of anything you don't want to keep).
Yes to removing all products and appliances from bathroom and kitchen.

Maybe get MNHQ to update the thread title so people aren't devastated (to use MN terms) to find no photos.

My neighbours (a few doors down) have done this, as have lots of houses on my estate which are up for sale.

Most of these sellers have 2 or 3 children, yet every room is completely empty!

Also, and I'm NOT suggesting this for a house sale, but you can even ask Ai to declutter a room for photos. Obviously this would be fraudulent but I do it for fun, and for decorating ideas.

Bear with me guys...I'm just trying to cook dinner and do a couple of other Sunday evening things. Believe me I'm grateful for everyone's thoughts so far, you've changed the way I'm about to approach this listing.

As soon as I've found a way to share images a bit more sensibly I'll get something in place.