Please give me your opinion on my home

[jenniepanda]

So, we've been on the market almost 3 years and are just considering taking it off as I can't bear the uncertainty anymore. However I just wondered if it was worth posting on here to ask opinions. We are using housenetwork really because both DH and I have such strong opinions that everyone looks on rightmove for houses. We have have 3195 hits on the website, but only 10 viewings and none since last september.

I know that a lot of people don't like having so many photos, but to be honest I'd rather the people that viewed knew that they already liked what they were viewing, rather than wasting my time.

So here it is my home

Honest opinions welcomed!

Have you looked at how developers present new houses for sale (as yours looks very modern, you could get away with similar, I would have thought)? E.g. this

The prob for me seemed to be a lot of rooms, but as the walls are all the same colur it is difficult to differntiate between them and to tell which room is which.
Also looks a bit bland, sorry.
BUT looks very clean and wouldnt need anything doing to it.
I like th garden =low maintenace

What made you buy it in the first place and what reservations, if any, did you have?

Your house looks very nice but if a bit white as others have said. My favourite room is actually the cloakroom with the yellow wall and flowers. I like the children's rooms, too.

There is something not quite welcoming about the photo of the kitchen, I think House Doctor would put a bowl of fruit on the end of the counter between the kitchen and dining bit.

Also agree that the way the garden appears to be overlooked would put me off a bit.

Agree far too many photos. I'd have one of the front, one of the garden (how does it look if you take a picture from the end of the garden towards the back of your house?)
Keep the first 2 pictures of the kitchen and the first 2 of the lounge and one each of the 2 double bedrooms.

Pester your estate agent for better feedback. It's too expensive winds me up - the price is known to people before they view so why bother going if you know you can't afford it grrr! Arrange an open day one weekend - not always terribly successful, but maybe worth a try. I didn't see anywhere on the site that you've reduced the price - but then again I don't know if that would help or hinder the sale.

The blurb doesn't really sell your house. I'd ask the estate agent to rewrite it make it sound more interesting to prospective buyers. It mentions schools and transport but could these be worked on (ie are they particularly sought after schools? is the motorway a help or hinderance?)

People are keen on neutral colour schemes (not really a fan myself) but if you are having people to view, can you make sure you've got some flowers dotted around, coloured cushions, something to break it up.

Just some thoughts, HTH

definitely get rid of the shots that show how overlooked you are and the road. Also the one with the closed blinds - what are you hiding?

The only photos that grabbed my attention was the master bedroom. Looked homely and appealing. The rest of the house looked too empty and the blinds are a bit harsh.

The lack of a HIP might be putting people off as well maybe? Also the amount of time it has been on the market - would make me wonder what was wrong with it.

Perhaps paying for an EA services (wide angled lense, access to their list of buyers) might be a good idea if it's not working your way.

I loved the house from the moment I walked into the show home - we bought it new off plan 8 years ago. The only reason we are considering selling is to move closer to my family in Hertfordshire.
Most of the rooms have at least one wall of colour, but I guess that isn't coming across very well in the photos. Perhaps I need to get my paint brush out!!

Another vote here for waaaaaay too many photos - you probably need 5-6 max. One front shot (really important), kitchen, sitting room, master bedroom, plus 1 or 2 of the garden. You definitely do not need photos of loos or roads!

It looks a very nice house - good layout..although is it possible to switch the dining room & study around? Would prefer a slighly bigger dining room to study.

Perhaps take it off the market for a few weeks, find a decent agent and arrange for them to do an open house some time over the Easter period - that's when people are more likely to really start looking again. I am sure if you can get as many potential buyers through the door as possible you will have no trouble selling it.

Good luck

I love it. Looks a tad bland tho......I know they say present a blank canves so people can see themselves living there, but I think it looks too blank, and not overly homely.

It is so hard to give a sense of 'home' over the internet and with just picture tho.

TBVH tho, I think your agent isn;t doing enough. When we sold our flat, we changed agents halfway thru as we didn;t think the first agent was helping us sell it, and earn his money.

the second agent saw it thru fresh eyes, gave decent advice, and it sold within a month.

change agents is my honest advice.

It's not that there ae too many photos...the photo's are shockingly awful. Who ever took them needs shooting (no pun intended!) They are cetainly not showing the property in the best light.

Somthing is seriously wrong if you've only had 10 viewings in 3 years. You should ahve had 10 vieings in 2010!

If you want to sell, get yourself a highstreet agent. Let them take some decent photos, and make sure they activly market it.

I'd agree to many photos and I dont think they are the best quality pictures.

Some of them aren't sharp enough.

Lovely house though.

Similarly sized as yours and more money but have a look at the photographs and decor. There are less photos to be sure and look at the angle they are taken from. EA has taken a number that strangely cut off the room half way up.

Ok, I have been an uber picky house-buyer and really the vast majority of my issues with the house are with the photos:

1. change angle of first whole house shot which shows next door's house, the houses overlooking you at the back and the road.
2. remove hall table or take objects off it - leave clear or replace with white vase and flowers. Only need one hall shot or none.
3. Open blinds in dining room - oddly reflected in the mirror. Remove place settings on table and small tray in l-h side.
4. No 5 is a very odd photo of your dresser with cut-off picture of table and what is that in the corner? Pointless photo. De-clutter room. 5)Office photo - only need 1, bad angle because room looks over-stuffed with furniture
5. Remove toilet photo
6. The biggest change I would make personally to the house is replace kitchen flooring with something that looks more expensive. The kitchen photo needs to show it looking like large kitchen diner. 8)Cosmetic changes to living room - wall plates look old-fashioned over fireplace. Would put dining room mirror there instead and striking picture in dining room to distract from whatever you're hiding behind the blinds and more modern cushions. Rug on floor. Remove side-tables and replace faded looking art picture with something more contemporary
7. Don't need utility picture 10)Nice master bedroom, too many pictures 11)Bathroom pictures both are taken from a very odd angle 12)No 2 bedroom looks to have a problem with storage - where the chest of drawers are, needs built in storage but maybe a cost too far.
8. Remove photos that show how overlooked the garden is and picture no. 30 that foregrounds the road.

It is a really nice house, but the photos do it no justice at all. The two main rooms people look at - kitchen and living room - are not selling it imo.

So how does it work with housenetwork? Do you pay the fee up front, or when the house sells?

And maybe people want to see a HIP? (Can't imagine who, but maybe a potential buyer might! )

I don't think there is anything wrong with your house, at all. It's teh way it's being marketed is the problem.

Definately think you need to change agents. They don't say anything nice about your house. I think your house looks great. As for the garden lets face it you don,t get many houses that are not overlooked.

wow heated, you know your stuff

We have just paid a one off fee to housenetwork, can't remember how much now, but it was about 300 or 400. TBH all we are paying for is the hosting on the websites, they don't do any proactive marketing.

Heated > thanks for being so honest! I guess our taste is not to everyones liking. The 'wall plates' are actually little mirrors from Ikea, we couln't find a large mirror we liked, so thought it looked 'different' like that!
There is no option or money to replacing any flooring or adding storage in the bedrooms. As for the 'thing' in the corner of the dining room, its either our keyboard, or the fuse cabinet depending on which corner. As previsouly mentioned the dining room is the old garage! There is nothing bein hidden by the closed blinds, except the car right out side the window!

I'm going to reduce the photos on there at the moment, reduce the price a little and then talk to DH again about going with a high street agent.

Phew, I should have done this 2 years ago!!

I like having lots of photos - although agree that wide angled would be better.

It's a lovely clean looking house inside and out. However, there is a bit of uncosiness about it. From the outside, sitting on the corner, it feels a bit exposed to me - my personal preference would be for more shrubs and trees in both front and back gardens (I realise it would be expensive to buy these).

It looks like a house that will improve with age - very attractive design but looking a bit "new build" and needs to age a bit.

Good luck!

Well, since 2004 only 1 property on your road (no. 48, for £248,000, in October 2007) has sold above your current price.

In the last 2 years, houses in your road have sold for £210,000, £206,000, £220,000,
£205,000.

So I would say that it is the price, definitely.

I wouldn't get the paint brushes out, I'd buy a few things that you could take with you, as mentioned, nice warm pics and rugs. The hall table is wrong.

Sorry! But I do like the house.

did you take the photos yourself for housenetwork or did an estate agent take them?

there are rather too many of them and it's quite hard work trying to decipher which rooms are which without looking at the floor plan. and even then when you look at the floor plan it's a little confusing as it says 'study' but you see two rooms that look like living rooms.

some rooms look nicely set up, like the two double bedrooms, others aren't up to that standard. there is something plugged in in the bathroom with taht cable trailing, plus the girl's bed doesn't look made. dd has the same bed, just tuck the duvet under the mattress all the way round the edges. other stuff has been mentioned earlier.

you need to move the furniture in the nursery round. can the wardrobe and cot be swapped so the viewer isn't faced with the big wardrobe? it looks over powering some how.

i wonder, by looking at the map, do you get a lot of train noise? you seem right in the middel of a lot of noise, the A6, the M61 AND the railway.

theonly other thing is maybe the lay out. i love the 2 en suites. but downstairs, with the conversion, it's maybe a little unusual. the dining room is a fair way from the kitchen. and the utility is too. not a huge deal, but maybe a little unconventional for some.

So you paid up front to have your house on the web, when an estate agent would have done it for free, and you wouldn't have had to pay them at all until your house sold.

What other websites, apart form Rightmove is it on?

I would go with a high street agent. We have 9almost) sold our house through an agent (it has taken just over 6 months and we had 2 offers).

We are also looking and although I am using the internet a lot, I don't think your house would have come up with the websites I am signed up to (mind you looking in London not Lancs!) If you go with an agent they will get a wider distribution I would have thought.

Good luck.

Sorry, I don't mean to sound harsh...your house does look lovely, it's just my idea of hell having my house on the market for 3 years!

Right - iI've just reduced the photos down to about 8, they should be updated tomorrow on rightmove. Housenetwork did send a 'professional' photographer round to do the photos, but agree that wide angle lenses look better!
We don't get much noise at all, in fact that's one thing I love about it, lying in bed at the weekend, just listening to the birds. You can hear the trains in the garden, but no road noise
I know the price is still technically a little high, but surely not enough to put people off viewing, it's supposed to be a bargaining tool isn't it? Also we are in a quiet part of the estate, overlooking trees/canal, on a corner plot with a garage conversion (I know I'm probably being an unrealistic seller!)
Thanks again for all the feedback!

lynette - I know it was a gamble, £300 up front and nothing more, or nearly £3k when/if it sells...don't forget we did it when the housing market was looking rosy!!

Too few viewings = too high price, imo