Why is my in-laws' gorgeous house not selling?!

[irisetta]

What is wrong with this listing? Some back story - my in-laws have been desperate to sell up for a while to be nearer to us. They live near Portsmouth, we are in St Albans. They have a beautiful house! It's 5 minutes walk from the beach in Lee-on-Solent, it's right next to the High Street but super quiet. Huge back garden. Beautifully renovated home, when they bought it it hasn't been touched in at least 30 years. It looks immaculate. No it doesn't have the open plan kitchen diner, but what there is, is perfect.

For the first 7 months while they were listing the house, the estate agent was effing up the RightMove listing quite badly - they were only appearing for people looking for bungalows, when it is not a bungalow 🤦 I noticed this recently. 🙄 After pointing it out, it's since been amended to appear to anyone looking for a 3 bedroom detached property in Lee-on-Solent.

Anyway, now that it's appearing to everyone who might want it, AND they've reduced the price (too much, IMO), my mum-in-law is somehow still convinced that the lovely estate agent is now doing his level best for them - still no viewings after a couple of weeks. And they've only EVER had 3 viewings, ever since it was first listed those 7 months ago - none of which were even proceedable. Thoughts, lovely ladies of Mumsnet?

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/173477669

For me the exterior and front garden look ery harsh and sterile. I would focus on adding plants, shrubs , even a little or potted tree or two, to soften the appearance. I would also repaint everything neutrally. You might get some styling/staging ideas by asking an AI to update the decor and furnishings to help it look a bit more up to date.

And immaculate. I would assume immaculate meant show home / minimalist

Don't live in the UK but surprised at the comments as the room dimensions are larger than typical UK houses that get posted here. I'm not sure why it's not big enough for a family.

I don't like the green cloth in the sunroom. Dust and bug collector and what's above it?

They could swap lounge and dining so furniture can be more appropriately arranged. The sofa and desk next to the dining table make it look like the room is small but it isn't.

Back view of the house would be good.

Garage is very narrow- would it fit a modern car? Standard single car garage here is min 3.5m wide x 6m long. Could be marketed as potential home office conversion if that's allowed. How is it positioned relative to the house and garden?

Under the stairs could be decluttered and presented as a drop zone with bench seating and hooks.

Bathrooms and kitchen are good working order. No need to renovate to use them.

Kitchen - I can't envisage cooking in it. It seems disconnected and the table and chairs are really not helping. The benches look narrow and with all the stuff on them, I can't see a clear prep area. I'm hankering for a mobile island so there's something to work on, so that's not good. Try and make the kitchen look ready to cook in, not like you're fighting for space to peel some spuds.

Downstairs bathroom has a shower per the floor plans but there's no pictures of it.

There's no pic of the utility room - would be handy to have.

For pictures, take from the door looking in so people can feel the room and see all walls. You can't imagine placing furniture if you don't fully see the space.

Sorry, final thought, the front door feels off from the rest of the front. Don't know why but it doesn't feel inviting. Try to soften with potted plants, maybe flowering for colour.

Garden does not look massive in the photos. Way too cluttered and too many colours, needs neutralising.

Also remove Union Jack

Probably already been said multiple times (I can't read 400+ posts) but I think it suffers from the fact two of the bedrooms are in the roof. If you want a 3 bedroomed house, you'd choose one with a second storey (and maybe a small 4th bedroom). If you want one to two bedrooms, this house is too large and more pricey. If you want a bungalow, you'd buy a cheaper one with no loft conversion.

Also it's not especially attractive from the front and looks tiny. Not like a family home.

Plus now isn't a good time to be selling.

In other words, only a very few people would go for this property so it's a case of waiting for them / that one to come along.

It means a house with no exterior second storey walls. That house is on a road surrounded by bungalows and will have started life as a bungalow. Dormers have been added to create rooms under the roof but there's a lot of ceiling slope & very little full height space, which puts a lot of people off. A lot of buyers will regard those upstairs rooms as a bit second rate the way theyve been shoehorned in.

Because its surrounded by bungalows its unlikely to ever get planning permission for a full height second story extension.

In a lot of areas, prices are similar in 2026 to what they were in about 2019. Bungalows in that road were going back then for 410k. You are thinking that the upstairs bedrooms mean your in laws house is worth quite a lot more, but because those bedrooms are tucked in under eaves they are not valued the way a true upper storey would be.

Around 20 actual humans have already explained that, and someone posted a link to the various descriptions. Let’s not let the text prediction machines take over our thinking, shall we?

Mother of God, woman! How many hundreds of posts do people have to make - I included the Wiki entry for Bungalows (twice!) - for you to grasp it is a BUNGALOW.

A bunglaow with a loft conversion, making it an unattractive option for the older type who is often looking for a one storey bungalow.

Aka, what many apparently call a Dormer Bungalow. Still a bungalow.

Are the ceilings really low? Or is it terrible photography?

That's the most off putting things for me. It looks like a house you'd need to be under five foot five to live in. However given the throws on the end of beds are the main feature of the photos, I suspect they've just been taken at odd angles.

There are edges of doors in others all of which make it appear small.

Take some of your own pictures to help identify what might need to be moved/removed and then get new pics and realist.

Even the front shot makes it look crowded by the neighbours house..

Agree with overpriced and to change Estate agents.

I also think to remove the close up front of the house picture with the astroturf showing - it would put some people off looking further, they'd assume the back might be the same etc. And move the van off the driveway when taking new pictures.

Also there is too much furniture, spare bedside tables and desk, treadmill in the front room etc. They need to sell and get rid of things they dont want to move with now or hire a storage company and move things into it they want to keep. Yes it's extra money but the house will look so much bigger, same with boxing up things now to move, pictures, things in cabinets.

And yes, the bold blue in the kitchen would look much better with a duck egg blue maybe? And dress the house for picture day, remove empty pop bottles from side of bed, old balloons, etc. Not sure you need the tiny table and chair in the kitchen shot.

Really lovely garden though, maybe another picture of that from the other end? This is the perfect time to relist, good luck to them!

We call them dorma bungalow's in our area, even google explains it:
A bungalow is a residential house or cottage built entirely on a single ground level (or with a small second-story loft built into the roof).

Marketing it to audiences as a 3 bedroom detached house is very misleading, just call it what it is, a dorma bungalow, or a chalet bungalow. It will not appeal to a lot of older people because of the stairs, and huge garden and it will not appeal to a lot of families because of the lack of space, it looks a lovely house (although not to my taste), and that sun room looks lovely. But it is definitely too cluttered and too garish in colours, and too much.

The thing I noticed was the TV space as well, two sofas facing each other and one chair looking at the TV?? I'd be inclined to swap that room around to have the dining at the other smaller end and the 'front room' set out how most people would want to see it. Get rid of anything that doesn't need to be in there and re-so the photos.. take pictures of the view!

It's a tricky one to sell to be honest, but it definitely needs staging/photographing better.

Of course it is a bungalow - a chalet bungalow, a converted bungalow, a dormer bungalow, however the local market usually describes these types of houses.

Perhaps you are not familiar with this concept but what’s important is that those looking in that area will be very familiar with those house styles and will set their expectations accordingly.

I live very far from there but in my area those houses are highly sought after by families who want the big garden. So school catchments are important in the listing, make the garden a feature of the photos and lose the astroturf. If there is further extension potential make a big deal of that, three bedrooms is not enough for bigger family and only 2 on one floor means parents and children separated, not everyone is comfortable with that.

I really wouldn't encourage them to spend any money making changes- they over-priced from day 1 and now they will be chasing the market down. Almost no chance of recovering anything they spend.

Target market for their house is retired people who want a bungalow for themselves but also space for their children to visit- those upstairs rooms are really compromised and better suited to guest accommodation. It needs to be priced as a bungalow with benefits, not as a 3 bed family house. What's more, actual 3 bed family houses in the area appear to be much cheaper than this.

Take it off the market, find a new agent and talk to them about pricing realistically from the off. At the right price it will sell quickly as there are lots of good things about it, but that price is likely very substantially lower than current asking price.

OK - So I'm not from the area - just did a Rightmove search for Lee on Solent for properties between 550 and 700k. Your In laws home came up as a featured property - so the agents are not being lazy - they are trying to promote it to potential buyers.

Your issue is - at this price point you are competing with 4/5 bedroom houses - or luxurious apartments that look over the sea. This 3 bed just doesn't fit in to that price bracket.

I agree with all the other comments about it looking dated - your in-laws might love it - but any new buyer is going to have to spend money making it their own. Personally I wouldn't waste time and energy giving the property a facelift - just sell as is and reduce the price.

As for how to describe the property - its a bungalow that's had the loft converted - call it a bungalow - or a chalet bungalow. It's not a house. And I'm speaking as someone who has sold two bungalows and currently lives in a chalet bungalow.

I imagine the house market is brutal for sellers at the moment - with worries about what interest rates are going to do - energy crisis and now a political change people will be edgy and only people who absolutely HAVE to move will be looking.

I also think a retired people would be put off by the upstairs bedrooms. If they want to downsize and future proof by moving to more accessible bungalow without stairs this wouldn’t be suitable.

My view on this isnt all about how much its worth. If they are elderly and at a point in life where they want/need to move then this might need reflected in the pricing too.

How much stress does a long drawn out process take? How much happiness will moving closer to you give? How much of a hit can they reasonably take and still make it happen?

Once you look at all of that they may be able to be very aggressive with pricing and suddenly you have a quick sale.

Its a nice home. If someone wants something like that then it would have sold by now. I would suggest they need to do some sums.

I'm a Boomer and I'd sooner have all my fingernails pulled out slowly than live in that house! The reality is that everyone who has 'modernised' it has actually ruined it. If it had been renovated instead, with it's original wooden front door, fireplaces, panelled interior doors, and most importantly traditional appropriate windows but with a nice brand new painted kitchen and very new minimalist bathrooms it would be a fairly appealing house. As it is it looks more like a park home. The garden does look nice, but hardly huge. It also looks very cluttered with sheds, greenhouses etc. There are a lot of neighbours houses very near the boundary on every side, and no picture of the outside of the sun room is suspicious. Is it in very poor condition? The drapes on the ceiling inside really suggest that.

What actually do you think is gorgeous about it? I'm struggling to find anything. I think the only way to sell it is to reduce it considerably and sell it as a renovation project with a nice garden. (In the town where I last lived it would definitely have been sold to someone who would demolish it and replace it with a proper 2 storey house)

Remove as much excess furniture as possible, the big brown chair in the lounge, the non-dining chairs in the dining area, the table and chairs in the kitchen etc. De-personalise and get better pics. I don't know the area but the price seems very high for a quite nice but average house with dated bathrooms and astroturf!

It is unlikely to appeal to young families who want a three bed or four bed semi or detached. Fine. I don’t think trying to tweak it to do so is worthwhile.

But there are other groups of purchasers who live in our society.

Couples with no children or one older child who like space. Or a couple looking for a home with an older parent. There are people who will buy it for the right price.

I agree there's too much furniture. Every room seems to have extra chairs/tables/drawers. It just eats up space and makes the photos look busy. Try and convince them to put them in storage if you can.

Agree the green draped ceiling also has to go.

There's a C4 series with Scarlett Douglas and her brother who try and help owners whose homes won't sell by making changes within a budget. Worth a watch for ideas or to land the message that buyers have certain expectations these days? E.g calming colours.

Yes you are wrong. If you look at the website for either the Oxford or Cambridge English dictionary’s then both will show you a definition of bungalow that includes buildings with an attic level (dormer).

The only reason a property won't sell is that it's priced too high for that area at that time. You can sell anything if the price is right.

Too expensive for a 3 bedroom dormer bungalow .
its tidy but not completely up to date

Alright, calm your britches. A key characteristic of a bungalow is a "single storey dwelling". This house has 2 of the bedrooms and a large shower room upstairs, thus making it unsuitable for people looking for a single storey dwelling. 🤷 Usually people want a bungalow because they can't be doing any more with stairs, and this property has stairs. How is it beneficial to market it as single storey when it isn't?