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

I don't know the area at all so can't comment on the price. But from the floor plan it looks like a good sized home - but from the pictures it looks quite cramped (too much furniture, bad photo angles).

Photo 2 is better than photo 1, and the lovely garden is a real asset - I'd put that as the second photo. You say there are nice views but I don't think that's shown? For me, it looks like a well maintained and loved family home which now needs updating (I'd want to skim over the artex, redecorate throughout, remove astro turf, redo the kitchen, remove laminate etc). The cost of that all adds up and should be reflected in price. (I don't think it needs these things done to sell - but I would declutter and have new photos).

I struggle to see what has been renovated as bathrooms and kitchen would still need to be redone and you don't expect that at that price

This too. They’ve put it at St Albans prices but the house is NOT in St Albans. It’s in some town I’ve never heard of with a much smaller market.

This house has massive potential and your in laws have done a lovely job for their taste.

But realistically this needs alot of modernisation, likely a new kitchen and bathroom and painting/wallpaper stripping throughout.

At that price point I think people would expect a house with little work required.

OP, you're getting hung up on semantics and missing the point here. As many, many posters have said it's a bungalow - dormer or chalet bungalow. In fact it's a tarted up 1930's bungalow to be precise - I should know, I was brought up in one!!!!

Your in-laws will be appealing to a very limited market - that's the reality. They're not terribly practical properties, and the only advantage is that they have a large garden - which actually is a disadvantage if it's only appealing to elderly people.

I think you're being unfair about the estate agent - they seem to have loads of other properties on their books in Lee-on-Solent and have sold quite a few.

It's always the price, and it's very overpriced compared to more modern, practical properties in the area. The people who bought my parents (unconverted) bungalow did exactly what your in-laws have done, albeit on a much larger and better quality scale - and when they sold it they indeed got a high price for it (£680k) a few years ago, but it's in a beautiful Hampshire country village down a very rural lane-so rather a different vibe to your in-laws.

Action plan - take it off the market. In the meantime before re-marketing it at a sensible price i.e. less than the other cheaper four bedroom modern houses on the local market - remove the flag,van,green canopy and astroturf. Put a couple of classy pots by the front portico. Take the small kitchen table out, and ruthlessly declutter.

Finally, get your husband to sit down with them and give them a gentle reality check. Number one priority I guess is to move to St Albans and they need to focus on achieving that. It will never happen until they get real. I speak from experience here - we sold a quirky 'marmite' (according to our not-so-charming estate agent) cottage to move to be nearer our daughter. My husband blitzed it to an inch of it's life and we priced it extremely competitively, always focusing that we wanted to move as the priority and would sort out getting an appropriate property when we got to that stage of having a buyer. We sold in a fortnight, ironically to someone in the Home Counties who said she always dreamed of having a cottage. (Ours had limited upstairs bedrooms too!) Of course once we sold, we found a suitable house - very different from our cottage, but just as lovely and infinitely more practical for an older couple. They need to be encouraged to be more strategic - they will sell - it's always the price!

The thing with big jobs such doing bathrooms etc is that costs money and time, and therefore ups the price, making it look even more expensive vs properties in that area. We are looking at fully done up houses but they still aren't selling because they are too expensive for the area in a slugglish market.

The front of the house is a bit stark -looks industrial. I like the inside of the house. The back yard is stunning and huge!

This.
And the photos are pretty dreadful, particularly the ones of the front of the house and the rear garden which have been photoshopped.

So potential problems in the area from NIMBYS and racists kicking off about that occuring?
Nice.

Are there any new build properties in this location ?
If so, you need to compare prices

This property seems too expensive

I really like it! It's a lovely sunny house with a big garden, and looks well maintained.

My parents also live in a seaside town and there are lots of homes like this in their road. But yes, in my book it's a dormer bungalow/ chalet bungalow. Ideally in searches you'd want it to appear for anyone searching for a bungalow or a detached house - I'm not sure if that's how the Rightmove search works?

I think it could potentially have crossover appeal - it's big enough to be a family house and has a big garden, but also has a downstairs bedroom and bathroom which 'future-proofs' it for older people. However both of those things might be off-putting to others.

I'm not familiar with the area so can't comment on the price, although it does seem a huge increase from £370k in 2012.

Personally I don’t know what sort of bathrooms people have but I bet your bottom dollar may have very similar !
All these comments about gutting and so on are OTT.

And they've only EVER had 3 viewings, ever since it was first listed those 7 months ago

It's almost too boring to say, and so many PPs have already said it, but if they've had only three viewings in seven months that's all the proof you need that's it's seriously over-priced

Clutter, astroturf, dated interior etc won't put serious buyers off

Correct, sort of. A chalet or dormer bungalow is a bungalow that has been extended upwards. Still a bungalow, but a different type.

you could buy 3 houses on my street for that money!

Yes because it's clearly hugely overpriced whether it's a bungalow or not

I know, it's ridiculous.

It looks like a lovely, well-loved home. But it is a bit dated. The bathroom very much looks identical to the one my parents upgraded to in about 2001. And the kitchen looks like a similar vintage. And while that's no bad thing, it looks neat and tidy, and in good nick, people forget that 2001 was getting on for 30 years ago. The blue walls, and that flowery wallpaper in the bedroom, also scream a similar sort of vintage.
And it's the price. Well over half a mill seems like a hell of a lot for a fairly run-of-the-mill home, potentially in need of updating. Houses are only worth what people will pay.

Some of my thoughts :

Price - no way would I pay anywhere near that

Decor - I would struggle to see past the colours (which are garish imo, and I love colour)

Astroturf - Hopefully this will be banned soon. Power to the worms.

Environmental issues/location - Many people are seriously considering this now.

I do find it fascinating the things that MNers believe a house sells or not based on. I can only assume these threads attract those who want an Insta perfect soulless box, lack the imagination to see beyond a photos and expect to move into a show home.

This bungalow house failing to sell is nothing to do with its decor or bath panels. It is everything to do with it being massively overpriced relative to the local market with an awkward lay out. It is neither a proper house, nor a proper bungalow, so needs to be priced accordingly to attract buyers who might otherwise skim past it.

As a random person who doesn't know much about the housing market but gets RightMove alerts for local sales because I am nosy, I am absolutely gobsmacked at that price. I live in a Victorian three/four semi in South East England and it would be nowhere near that, I freely admit I know nothing about what might make this house worth that though - just it wouldn't be worth it to me. I don't live in that area though.

My husband was looking at it over my shoulder and he referred to it as a bungalow. I said "OP says it isn't a bungalow" and he said "it's a converted bungalow". This is just to point out that however much you argue it is not a bungalow, a random house buyer may see it as a bungalow. Doesn't really matter if they are technically wrong, if that is what is driving their perception, surely?

In our late 60's and have always lived in a bungalow which is a property all on one level with a loft not a loft conversion. Objectively I can see that your IL's have put a lot of love into the house and done it well to their personal taste. However if I was looking for a bungalow I would not view this property because of the upstairs loft conversion and stairs. In addition I would think I would have to spend around £100k bringing it up to a more modern spec - e.g. change the conservatory to a proper solid roof construction, upgrade where needed to improve energy efficiency, full redecoration and possibly reconfiguration of the rooms to open it up, remove the astroturf etc. Also it appears to only have parking for two cars. Not sure where the price point should be as I don't know the area but just looking at the photos it needs quite a bit spent on it.

My bathroom is similar. I fitted it in my flat when I bought it, because it was the cheapest suite I could find and I was on a tight budget. My flat cost £245k. My kitchen is still the shit one that was there when I moved in, which is like a shit shabbier version of this one. But that's because I was/am on the lower budget end of homeownership so I deal with what I have. If I had a budget of £630k to buy a house I'd either buy one that was gorgeous inside with new high spec fittings or I'd buy a house for a lot less and spent £50k updating the house myself. This house is priced well above the top of the market for that type of property AND it has old/cheap fittings. The interior would be fine for a rental or for a property priced for a quick sale but a buyer spending that much won't be willing to spend another £50k bringing it up to the standard it should be for the price.

It's a lovely house. I notice that the rooms are large but don't really appear large. Could different photography improve that?

I would also like to see the outside of the house, looking from the back and one from above.. I'd like a better street appeal. It is quite stark. Flowers help.

Not sure why OP is so insistent it shouldn’t be marketed as a bungalow. If you search a five mile radius area of OPs in-laws area on rightmove for bungalows then there are loads of dormer and chalet properties. It would place it with equivalent properties.