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

As for kitchens and bathrooms, I thought most people upgraded when they move house. I change bathroom about every 7 years. Kitchen less often. I am about to have my 4th different kitchen fitted. I'm on my 5th bathroom.

Absolutely not.

Still have the kitchen that was in when we bought ours 21 years ago (not that I wouldn’t like a new one, but it’s still completely solid and in good nick). We re-did family bathroom (kept bath and toilet, added a shower and changed the sink), en suite (all new) and downstairs loo (kept the loo, changed the sink) about 16 years ago and had an extra shower room added to an extension shortly afterwards. They’re all still in perfect condition and have no need of changing.

Jeez, our sofa is almost 30 years old and the person who replaced the cushions 5 years ago thought it must be a warranty job as it looked so new.

What on earth are you doing to your fixtures and fittings?!

Agreed and it seems very wasteful to replace fittings an furnishings so often.

It's a complete waste of the earth's resources. This hold "fashion" has over us is crazy.

same here. Kitchen is around 18 years old and no plans to replace, one bathroom is 30 years old, I replaced the bath in the en suite bathroom with a walk in shower some 12 years ago but the loo and sink are 30 years old, 3 piece is coming up for 20 years old although the cushion foams have been replaced. I have got more amusing things to spend my money on while the boring stuff is still in good nick

They go in a skip. Our neighbours had a new bathroom fitted for a quick sale, the new people ripped it out straight away.
I am ok to live with things if they're practical and functional, obviously not everyone is the same!

Oh yes, this linked one is much nicer and much cheaper, and bigger, and sold. And is very clearly a detached bungalow with an upstairs. Make this your guiding star, OP. This is what you're ILs will be up against and cannot compete unless they're even cheaper. Why they think it's worth so much more than they paid for it, given the state of the world/market and their house, is beyond me.

no, the common ground is that it is way overpriced and needs to be reduced to £500k. No estate agent will be able to sell it at the current price.

If they'd consider going to 500k, make it 499. Feels psychologically different.

The Astro turf only being on the front is still a dealbreaker.

As for kitchens and bathrooms, I thought most people upgraded when they move house. I change bathroom about every 7 years. Kitchen less often. I am about to have my 4th different kitchen fitted. I'm on my 5th bathroom.

No, I don't, and no-one else I know does either.
The kitchen in our house was replaced 4 years ago. The old one had been in for 26 years. It was a classic Shaker kitchen design and hadn't dated, but it was "tired". I still consider our 4 year old kitchen to be new.

We replaced the 26 year old house bathroom 4 years ago, then the 27 year old ensuite and downstairs loo 3 years ago.

We look after our property and our stuff lasts for years in good condition. I'm not wasting money and resources on fittings for the sake of fashion.

So I also learned something new today. My parents house was like this. Everyone called it a bungalow but it had an upstairs. Turns out it was bungalow!

According to Wikipedia - A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is typically single- or one-and-a-half-storey.[

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bungalow

If you go on streetview, there are more flags flying up the road

I would find a new agent if you can.

Jeez, I missed that post about replacing bathrooms every 7 years. Some people really do have more money than sense.

Ours are about that age and still look almost as good as new. The kitchen was here when we moved in, it's about 20 years old and absolutely perfect still.

How wonderfully environmentally aware. Maybe OP’s in laws and their neighbours could just dump all of their stuff in the sea periodically.

Or just burn piles of £50s for a less damaging impact.

I don’t know the area so cannot comment on that, but I agree from PPs that it seems to be expensive for what it is within that area. (No point I always think saying that would be £££ where I live! I mean for that you could buy a huge 4-bed detached in my area but so what?)

My view:

• It is presented very much as an old person’s house (which it is) – what is the target market? If it is families then it needs to be tidied up and presented better – lots of tips on here
• I know you keep saying @irisetta it is not a bungalow – and in terms of all being on one floor, no it is not. But I agree with a lot of other PPs, if I wanted a 3-bed house for a family, this would not be my first pick. Parents will be sleeping on a different floor from DC, there is no loft storage. I would need a good reason (such as low price) to consider it tbh
• The garden looks gorgeous – can you get new pix done to show it
• The flow of the house is odd and the pictures don’t show it well so better pix would help
• I am also concerned about the flag. Is it your PIL’s garden? If so remove

Overall I agree with PPs who say it is neither one thing nor the other. Not really a bungalow for elderly couple as you say bc upstairs rooms; not a family home as noted. In my view it would suit a couple whose DC have left but who may want spare rooms bc they will come home; maybe they want one for a home office; so perhaps not retired or only early in retirement and still active (thus can deal with stairs and manage/want larger garden).

In fact if my DC (all in their 20s) were no longer at home (they are!) it might be ideal for me and DH (early 60s). But I think it is a limited market. Not sure how easy that is to get across in the listing tho. A PP is right that I would list it as a bungalow as most ppl looking for houses don’t exclude bungalows (bc they might consider them also) but ppl wanting a bungalow deffo exclude houses (and so won’t see yours – which might appeal).

Re the bungalow debate – yes I would call it a dormer bungalow or a chalet bungalow (tho strictly a chalet is a house that is built with the upper floor and dormer windows) as I think it’s important to flag that a) there is no loft and b) at least one bedroom is downstairs. Those are deal-breakers for a lot of ppl looking for a house. On the plus side, it could suit a less mobile couple as downstairs bathroom and bedroom are available which they aren’t in a lot of three-bed houses.

I too am surprised you have never heard of a chalet bungalow. There are a lot of them where I come from. I am not really a fan tbh bc they are tricky to furnish.

BTW @irisetta I think you are doing well in taking on board the feedback! Tho perhaps easier if it is not your home. But if it really is gorgeous – that is definitely not coming across in the current listing.

Yes but now it's not under a bungalow filter on websites it will come up as a detached house. The OP's argument was that it was initially not selling as it was under a bungalow filter so the only people seeing it were looking for a single-storey house. And she was asking if they should be marketing it one way or the other.

I wouldn’t have thought anyone hunting for a bungalow would want a house with stairs tbh, so I really don’t think that’s the issue.

The issue is that it’s a 2 bed house with reduced head height upstairs, it all needs massively renovating for the price they want for it or it needs about £100,000 off of it, I’d have said. Property will always sell, unless it’s too expensive. Absolutely all of it is outdated and it wouldn’t suit a family with 2 children or more. It could be a downsizing choice for an older couple but you’ve still got reduced height upstairs and a higher maintenance back garden which may not suit.

A bungalow with stairs 😂 I better tell my folks who are looking at bungalows on Rightmove as my dad struggles with stairs! Do Rightmove have the option then for “no stairs” as a filter? 😏

totally agree with this

@irisetta you still haven't told us what it is that's gorgeous. Do you really believe that, or is it your mother in law's opinion? You both need a dose of hard cold reality, I don't think there's been one person on this thread who agrees with you.

It wouldn’t be a deal breaker for me. Ripping it up and replacing it with turf would take an afternoon.

OP people have beef with you because you are being commentary about your mother in law tut tut

Not at all the point but the utility room in that house has some of the weirdest tiling I’ve ever seen!

You're wrong. You're doing the classic thing of letting emotion cloud judgement.