Property not selling!

[HALGEM999]

Hi All

Our house has been on the market for 10 weeks and has not sold.

We had one offer at 30k below asking price which we rejected. No other offers. It was originally priced at £250k then we dropped it to £245k this week.

All of the feedback is positive about the downstairs and garden and the only negative comments we have had is that the upstairs is on the small size.

Here is the right move link

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/171612257?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=buying&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=whatsapp#/&channel=RES_BUY

I welcome any feedback on how we can make the upstairs bedrooms look bigger. We dont really want to spend money on redecorating etc! Thanks!

Are you getting viewings?

The downstairs looks lovely but the upstairs and in particular the furniture placement isn’t helping. The adult bedroom looks nice though the wardrobe looks v small height for the scale. The Minnie Mouse/cot rooms look cluttered and the larger size cot with a smaller chair gives a cramped feel, worsened by the play kitchen. The Minnie Mouse bed spread looks babyish - so maybe families think not good enough for teens and filter it out. Even cleverly tucking a neutral duvet or plain blanket would change the tone.

I don’t know if you could move some of your existing furniture around and then take your own equivalent photos and ask the agent to update the listings?

also the listing saying it is extended makes it sound like there isn’t room to extend further ie this is the top of the value potential.

Love the downstairs it’s stunning;
Everyone expects the 3rd bedroom to be small but the 2nd room with the Minnie Mouse bedding looks a bit crammed. I’d rip out the big line of wardrobes and put a small single wardrobe in (it’s a child’s room this would be fine) as it would create a bit more space I feel.

Might be just me, but I find the photos taken from a height quite off-putting. I'd ditch photo 10 of the main main bedroom. Also the bathroom one makes it more obvious that the basin overlaps over the bath. But overall it looks great for the price and it is probably just due to the current uncertainty caused by Trump!

I know you can't help the weather but some more recent photos of the garden (in sunshine) might help - it looks a bit bleak. Cut the grass, and with leaves coming out on the trees it will look much better now.

I agree with PP that the photos are very off-putting. Did you have a professional photographer? The angle is very strange and maybe makes the rooms seem darker and more cramped than they are. I would be clearing out more clutter and asking for better photos if not looking at a new agent.

I think the photos are pretty poor. The downward angle looks weird.
overall it’s a nice house but agree with others regarding furniture placement upstairs.

The neighbor on the left is ruining the fence. It’s all distorted at the bottom. Not a big deal you may think, but a possible conflict point in the future.

You fell for the fashion for grey big time. So much grey. To me, it looks like a dungeon and all I might think is how much money I would have to spend to get it to a liveable state. As it is, I would go stark, staring mad living in that. My brain would not do well. Read up on colour psychology. A bit of grey can have its place but so much is not good.

Invest in lots of pot plants with lots of lush green. Soft coloured pots and soft coloured throws. Blush, faded denim, sage. A couple of soft, smudgy prints on walls. The pink and grey on the wall of the toilet is lovely except that it’s sitting in a grey wall. A change of quilt cover set in the bedroom. A pale tablecloth.

Find a bright, sunny day and book a good photographer. Put some effort into set dressing. Dress your outside setting for a Sunday lunch. Get some colour at the front door and in the back yard. The skylight in the kitchen needs a blue sky, not a grey one.

And the order of the photos is very disjointed. Sort them out so that a viewer is taken in a natural journey through the house.

Downstairs looks good, the lounge is lovely particularly the flooring .
agree with others, angle of photos isn’t great.
too much grey.
also what is going on in the Disney room with the single bed, have you wallpapered over mirrored wardrobes?

What is picture 19? Is it where the downstairs loo comes off?

Is the issue no viewings? In which case I agree about the weird high up pictures - to me, those say “this room is tiny and we’re talking the pic from up here to try and hide it”.

If you’re getting viewings but no offers, then it’s overpriced and people won’t pay what you’re looking for. Because I think it’s fine - I don’t like the grey and would have to redecorate, but not liking the decor wouldn’t stop me buying a house that was otherwise all good for me.

Aside from the room with the single bed, I think it’s amazing for the price!

If you were going to retake photos, I would:

1. change the bedspread in the main room to something not grey
2. Do something about the single bed room, are there wardrobes you could send to a relative for a while? Would the single bed the other way work? Or is the cot room bigger? Could you swap the two temporarily? (It might not be, just can’t tell from the photo!)

Honestly, looks really nice for the price! I’m sure someone will bite soo.

My thoughts as I looked through the pictures:
(Please don't be offended, I'm just writing it as I saw it and what thoughts I had during.)

Bathroom sink is big and encroaches into the bath. But a sink encroaching is better than a tiny sink you can barely wash your hands in. But I just hate how squashed in it looks. Not knocking it though, we have a similar tiny bathroom but luckily we have space at the end of the bath for the sink to fit in. Can't see from your picture if that's something that could be adjusted.

I don't want a picture of flowers. I don't get why some try to make them the focus of a room when they won't be there when I move in. The picture with it in, makes the living room look small. I see it isn't small in further pics.

The photos are taken badly. The bedroom light doesn't do much to lighten the room. Wouldn't particularly bother me as I don't mind the sun not going into a bedroom, mine is the same now, but it just looks dark and dingy, especially with the grey.

The kids room has an obstruction encroaching into the doorway. All doorways should be free flowing with nothing blocking the area, not even with a small bookcase or whatever it was.

Hate the kitchen tiles, I'd need to pay to replace them. (Purely personal.)

Can't make arse or head out of the other bedroom.

I'd probably view it as I don't mind downstairs but would likely only do it to pass the time as the upstairs is just not working well. Weirdly, we didn't have our heart set on this house we have now. It was just to put an hour in one boring day. But the house was better than the pictures made it look.

Hope you find a buyer soon!

It's all very bleak (in the photos - hopefully not IRL)

10 weeks is nothing in the current climate.

I think the relentless grey could be off putting, as it would cost a fair bit to redecorate it all.

I also agree that the kitchen tiles aren't great.

And, as per PPs, what the hell are the above head photos about? If they think they're making the room look bigger, they're wrong. It's just odd!

It’ll be the price, it always is. The house is fine, photos a bit strange but nothing terrible. The third bedroom is tiny and garden on two levels but nothing you can do about those.

The photos are pretty bad. Just silly things like you've clearly got washing in the machine and take the tea towels off the oven or at least straighten them! Stuff you'd expect them to spot if they were taken by a professional?

Unfortunately your photos are awful @HALGEM999, not helped by the sheer quantity of grey which makes everywhere appear really drab (and I'm definitely not in the 'paint everything white/neutral before selling' school of thought!). Those 'overhead' shots are terrible - I'm guessing your EA didn't use a professional photographer?!

Downstairs appears more spacious than upstairs, although as well as the grey, if I was a buyer, I'd be wanting to change the kitchen (very dated, particularly the tiles) and lose the ugly fire in the living room. Sorry!

I think the 'minnie mouse' bedroom could be improved by swapping out the duvet cover and photo 19 seems absolutely pointless...what room is that even? Photos should be in order and preferably labelled.

I appreciate it's been wet recently (although it's certainly much better now, at least on the south coast where I am 😉), but your poor garden looks so unloved and devoid of plant life. A blank canvas, I guess for a keen gardener, but again the pics need retaking...on a sunny day.

On the plus side, it's good to see a floor plan with dims in both metric and imperial!

It's the photos. Whenever I see photos taken from above I automatically assume the room is too small to take normal photos therefore it's a small house. Why did he need to kneel on kitchen cupboards??

What's the thinking behind photo 20? That's vertigo inducing.

I suspect your biggest issue is the general state of the market and so to sell you need to stand out as the best house for the money, so you would need to be cheaper than the competition, perhaps priced in line with big 2 beds, rather than similar to other mid terrace 3 beds.

Issues with the existing listing - no one has mentioned that in the bathroom photo you can see that the top of the bathroom cupboard is dirty, the grout also looks like it maybe discoloured in places. That would make me think that cleaning and maintaining the property may not have been thorough which leads to thinking about will the plumbing all work well, is the boiler in good condition ect.

I would recommend thoroughly cleaning, using a grout pen if necessary to get that grout properly white, decluttering the bath seat, toiletries and sponges and getting the bathroom photographed again. (You can always put the things back in as soon as the picture has been taken).

The garden fences look like they are rotting, I'd be thinking I need to budget a few hundred pounds for new fences and may have to deal with neighbours who won't replace the fence / won't allow me to get it replaced.

In terms of sizes I think bedroom 2 is your biggest issue, I would expect a property of this type to have 2 double bedrooms and a box room. You have the box room, but all the cupboards in bedroom 2 mean that it looks like a single bed is tight in there. If you can't remove the storage and repair the likely damage to the walls then you will have to compromise on price to sell.

Looking at the sold and under offer similar properties, number 33 was end of terrace, double bed in both bedrooms, admittedly no downstairs loo, but they achieved £248,000 in December. A mid terrace would generally be less than an end terrace and they could get a double bed in both bedrooms.

Number 39 is mid terrace, but had a loft conversion so 3 double bedrooms and sold for £225,000 last September. I'm afraid that makes your asking price look very high, it maybe they were very keen to sell as it appears to have been empty, but that depresses the value of the street.

It’s quite dated. That millennial grey bedroom is very late 2010s and the pine kitchen and sandy tiles is very late 2000s
there are also semi detached in your area that are well presented for a similar price.

Thank you everyone! I will read through all of the messages when we are home. We have had around 20 plus viewings xx

I think it should be advertised as 2 bed plus study or cot room . Even bedroom 2 looks small. The ‘playroom’ next to the downstairs loo is quite odd. It looks like it should be a place to hang coats etc.

Maybe it would do better listed as a 2 bedroom with 'study'?

I think people looking for 3 bedrooms will skip past just because that smallest one is so tiny.