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

This is hard for you and your parents in law. As they are serious about selling, I would suggest pay for a Chartered Surveyor to come and value the house. Be prepared. Remember bungalow conversions mean that the upstairs space is always compromised with sloping ceilings, which is a big turn off for a lot of buyers. For instance, one of the beds is obviously placed under a slope which means sitting up is a headbanging experience! I know this area is popular and sought after, but when a property isn't selling, it is always the price. The real problem is the price of property in St Albans! But what a fabulous place to live 🩷

The housing markets struggling at the moment, lenders pulling mortgages at whim. So people aren’t moving unless they need to.

it’s a beautiful house with real charm but it’s in that awkward bracket of not cheap enough for refurbing but also lots of people would feel it needs substantial money spending to make their own / modernise.

they could tone down some of the colours (farrow and ball type muted tone colour matches for instance), and or reduce the price. Or pull it from the market and put it back on when things pick up a bit

It’s the price, its always the price…

But, my observations -
If you say the rooms are large, then the pictures are awful.
Rooms look small and cluttered, over furnished.
It’s a doer-upper, kitchen, bathrooms look old, needs total decoration. Makes me think will it need new boiler, electrics, etc
Astroturf - big no from me.
Garden isn't “huge” its in proportion for the size of the house, especially if you want 600K - its only because we’ve got used to a Bovis Home postage stamp.
It is a Bungalow that happens to have an upstairs, I’d say its main issue is that its neither fish or fowl - not a family home quite and a touch big/expensive for a downsized retiring couple. You’ve just got to hang on for the right buyer/market to catch up if they won’t reduce the price.

My mum lives in a dormer bungalow - but it was purpose built like that. She has her bedroom and bathroom downstairs and there are 2 bedrooms and bathroom upstairs. This looks like a conversion and the bedrooms look awkward and low.

Im put off in order
price
Its neither a bungalow or a house
Low ceilings
artex
Bathrooms and kitchens are very dated
Main room downstairs is a funny shape
astroturf
decor - every room needs doing - on top of everything else it’s a lot of work
The massive conservatory blind - it’s horrible
The general look - it’s not an attractive house

Pluses
Decent sized downstairs rooms
Driveway
Garden (I personally don’t want a big garden but I think it’s a plus generally)

I don’t think the extension potential is there unless someone wants to bulldoze and rebuild - in which case it’s too expensive.

I recently cycled through this town to go to Portsmouth ferry - there was a reform march happening and it seemed a bit run down. Looking at the price of a two bed bungalow with a third bedroom down stairs - its the price and location

Is it a 'converted bungalow'?

Oh god! 🙃

Exactly what I thought. Massive mismatch there. Who on earth wants a low maintenance astroturf (ugly) frontage with a large garden to maintain at the back?

Re the bungalow/not a bungalow issue it's deffo a bungalow! This is a positive point for people looking for a bungalow. The downstairs bedroom becomes a bonus for people who want to live day-to-day on one storey but still have space for visitors.

@irisetta why do you like it?
None of the photos really show off anything, is the front with it's new paving and tiled entrance really much nicer in real life?
When you visit what really works?
Where do you spend the most time?
Who do you imagine buying it?

I do find it a bit sad that people cannot see beyond other peoples belongings. And to have to not have a single book out. Just a bland lot of rooms with nothing much in them. Then it might sell. Sad really.

Similar to what I was going to say. Basically too much work needed for the price.

It is indeed a chalet bungalow as you’ve agreed above. It is still classed as a bungalow and not a two storey house. Similarly when 2 story houses have loft conversions, it’s not advertised as a 3 storey because the extra rooms are within the existing space and it hasn’t significantly changed the building structure. It is a bungalow- and I quite confident in this as I live in a chalet bungalow - having right move filter it into regular houses won’t change how it is viewed curbside.

It’s not selling because it needs work, it needs renovations and if all they did was paint / put in new kitchens and bathrooms at the time it’s possible that it needs more in depth things such as electrical. I don’t know that, it’s an impression from the photos I get.

Theres another bungalow listed for £130k less with arguably better potential for the desired open plan. But both of those bungalows are in an area where it’s competing with 2 storey houses for £200k less with a bit more potential / less unknown. Drop the price to £450k at a minimum

So it started life as a bungalow, got extended to include a degree of ‘upstairs’, but remains in the bungalow category as its layout/ proportions remain that. This development may have taken the property out of its target market (adding stairs that old people may be avoiding), thus it’s not selling. It no longer fits elderly, or family markets, and isn’t cheap enough to convince either of them to buy it as a ‘great deal’ . Could they look into getting planning permission for another dwelling in the large garden, to increase value that way?

It is a 'chalet bungalow' we used to have one although much larger than this one. It will need modernising for sure so the price is too high. Lovely location by the sea though!

Given the recent results in elections it might be an attraction for some.

I’d suggest you take out most of the furniture from the sun room and the table in the kitchen. also get a photo taken of the back of the house - younger people prefer living space to a large garden area so maybe push the line that there is ample room for an extension or garden office?

I don't mind the decor of the photos, and the garden out back looks lovely. But to me, that's a two-bed with aspirations. I know the room downstairs is used as a bedroom, but I don't want a bedroom on the ground floor next to what I assume is a reasonably busy road. It's also pretty expensive for what it is.

They've made a lovely home and no doubt you have lots of special memories there.

If you build a bungalow and convert the loft, it's still a bungalow. A bungalow with a loft conversation, granted, but it's a bungalow.

If anything, converting the loft makes it less appealing to many buyers.

With the current cost of building an extension (trust me, I'm building one now), it's not a feasible option for most buyers.

Im not going to add to the pile on about the current house, OP, as I dont think it would be helpful, but are your in laws relying on the sale of this house to buy in St Albans? We are in S London and would love to move to St Albans to be nearer our extended family but we cannot find anything we like without taking on a massively bigger mortgage. Have your in laws started viewing anywhere? Are they being realistic about what they can buy? Maybe encouraging them to buy somewhere smaller in St Albans might mean the price for this house becomes less important (if they can find somewhere...).

It was on as a bungalow for 7 months and still only got 3 viewings, none of which were proceedable...

I didn't say remove every book. We use books for styling all the time and quite often a bookcase can look lovely. However piles of books spilling over from the bookshelf gives the impression a place doesn't have enough storage.

It's £600K though. If you're looking at a doer-upper, it's different, you work harder to imagine what it could look like. But at that price, for that sort of house, you wouldn't be wanting to spend loads of money on updating it.

Forgot to mention.. It’s not far from Haslar Detention & Immigration centre, it was closed for many years but they will be starting on the development to re-open it this year.

It's not the use of the term bungalow that was the problem, it's the price.

it IS a bungalow, a dormer bungalow, it is not a two story house. It also has a bedroom and bathroom downstairs (making it a single story dwelling), eating into your useable space, which most houses don't have.. it IS a bungalow and should be marketed as such, those upstairs bedrooms are also going to be compromised by the sloping roof, which you do not get with a two story property.. it should not be marketed as a 3 bedroom 'house' by any means, it's just silly.

A single story property, with bedrooms in the roof space should ALWAYS be marketed as a bungalow.