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

You’re right, they’d probably been at the extensive stock of the bar!

I honestly don’t know if you are trolling this has been said so many times.

Its a single storey house with a converted loft. Converting the loft of a house does not add a storey to the house, it adds a converted loft. Its really not complicated.

Many bungalows have converted lofts and are sold as dormers. Some are buildt in that way which is your full on chalet bungalow. They are still popular with downsizers as they provided full accommodation downstairs with guest bedrooms/bath upstairs.

I wouldn’t describe anyone’s house as “horrible” as that is largely a matter of taste but the pictures show odd angles of a cluttered house with a difficult lay out, awkward shaped bedrooms upstairs and a house which most buyers will want to update significantly. Pricing history for the area suggests its also very overpriced.

Arguing the toss about the definition of ‘bungalow’ may help with venting but its not going to sell the house.

Well hopefully they’ll look at the pictures/floor plans on RightMove before arranging a viewing, and would view before buying?
A ‘dormer’ or ‘chalet’ bungalow is absolutely a thing, and yes they may appear on RightMove under ‘bungalow’, despite having bedrooms built into the dormers.

If you change the flag to a pride flag, you could tap into the pink pound and attract an age gap queer couple with no children. Their bedroom would be on the ground floor. Guest room and younger partner's office/studio upstairs.

Sorry I didn’t mean to tag you. My comment was meant for the OP.

I suspect this might actually be the OP's house.

Can someone explain who sets the sale price in England? Can you just make it up yourself?

Here, (Scotland) an independent surveyor values the house. Whether or not buyers put in offers below or above this depends on the market. Regardless, you can't just pluck a price out of thin air.

Does the estate agent suggest a price?

You sound like you’re taking this personally 🤷‍♀️

The estate agent will recommend a price based on their knowledge of the local market. Seller can choose to follow that advice or put it on the market for any price they fancy.

I think this too. Perhaps hoping against hope to drum up some interest. But only its owner could possibly think it 'gorgeous'. Odd that the caravan is the same one as in the sale pictures from 2012.

There’s no picture of the utility room is there?

I just had another look at the pictures.

if I was tarting it up on the cheap I would take down the green Lawrence of Arabia drapes on the conservatory, replace the bath panel with one that matches the suite and get someone to put pelmet and cornice (is that what it’s called?) above and below the kitchen cupboards. Ruthless declutter and get that bed in the bedroom moved so you can sit up.

My first thoughts seeing the flag - take it down - and I’d move the vehicle out of drive so you can see it

The sunroom and garden are nice, but I suspect you are probably losing people's interest before they even get to those photos. I would change the ordering and put them near the beginning. Agree re the front door picture looking dark, despite the path up to it looking nice.

I actually think some of the rooms look nice but the decor ages them. Eg the pink bedroom would make a nice girls bedroom - but the throw on the bed ages the room.

I'd actually take as much out of the house as possible before taking the photos - eg rugs, throws, vases, cushions. They make it look like an old person's home and cluttered.

The light blue paint in the sitting room is probably the wall colour that would most make a difference if you changed it.

Indeed.

Take the brown chair out of the lounge pic - be clear bedroom one is downstairs - you can see it’s a bungalow chalet as the ceilings are restricted In the two bedrooms upstairs - the front door looks too small - families would immediately think they couldn’t get a buggy through there

the material on the conservatory ceiling say it’s too hot in summer (and probably too cold in winter) which is a huge problem

emphasise the tiled entrance outside the front door - the photo needs to be adjusted to show front door as full size (can get buggies and wheelchairs through)

get the flag down as that will just limit your buyers to reform voters (I’m sorry but our flag isn’t the proud thing it is in other countries)

The kitchen also only looks like half a kitchen - where is the other half? Get the table out of it - it’s just saying it’s too small for an average kitchen table

your target market is a retired couple who sleep downstairs and want the two bedrooms upstairs for visiting family

get the Winnebago out the drive for photos

They paid £370k, not a little over £500k, it says so in the sale history on the Rightmove listing.

Making 450-500k about the right price range

If your lucky…many people selling now aren’t making a major profit

Exactly.

The answer to the question: "why isn't my house selling?"

is almost without exception: "Because it's priced too high."

It's pretty expensive. I have a B rated 3 bedroom in London that cost less. No eaves whacking me on the head in the bedrooms either.

OP, my DM had a property like this. She was trying to sell it in the middle of the property boom in 2022. Everything was flying off the books - she couldn’t sell her property.

The problem is that it’s neither one thing nor another - which you’ve sort of identified in your comments.

My DM’s was described as a dormer bungalow but she had two bedrooms (one en-suite) and a storage room in the converted loft. Downstairs she had one big bedroom and a study like room - the rest of the space was very similar to your MIL’s house in terms of layout/size.

No one who wants a bungalow will buy it because of the stairs.

Not many people who want a 3/4 bed house will buy it because it looks like a bungalow - which not everyone likes - and one of the bedrooms is downstairs. Lots of people don’t like a downstairs bedroom.

It rules out quite a lot of the market. Parents with young kids don’t want to sleep on a different floor to their young DC. Parents with older/teen DC might not want their teen DC sleeping downstairs - but also don’t want to sleep downstairs themselves. Having one bedroom downstairs with the living space and the others upstairs does create a bit of a “have a sleep over in someone’s spare living room” kind of feeling,

So aside from any issues about the price, you need an estate agent t who really understands the local market and buyers.

DM’s house sat unsold - in a scorching hot market - for six months. Switched to a local independent EA and it sold within two weeks.

This is a tricky property to sell so you really have to get an EA who understands how to market it properly.

In that case, they might as well keep the flag. If I’d booked a viewing and turned into a street full of flags, I’d turn straight around, as clearly not somewhere I’d want to live. Maybe Rightmove could add flagshaggers as an additional filter?!

I'd use this as the main photo on Rightmove - it makes it look bigger and better than the front.

I actually don’t dislike the decor - it’s dated and cluttered, yes. But it’s cosmetic. Serious buyers will overlook this as they will be envisioning what they would do with the property. I wouldn’t be spending big money as the issues with this property are not its decor.

I’m not in the UK so not up with local markets… but it’s priced very high for what it is. In the same area, I found cheaper properties that were more appealing. This property needs work so buyers will factor that into what they are willing to pay. It has layout issues that aren’t easily solved. It is not a top dollar property.

The other fundamental problem with this property is that the potential buyers who might be interested in a property like this is quite narrow. It’s not a true bungalow, and the accessible shower is upstairs so someone looking for a single story property for accessibility reasons would probably rule this place out. The bedroom floor space seems to be a good size but it doesn’t look like you can even sit up in bed in the upstairs bedroom - it doesn’t scream family property either. Plus, as I said, there are other properties that are bigger, nicer and cheaper in the same location.

Add in a war, economic uncertainty, rising interest rates, etc. selling is difficult for everyone, but probably exponentially so for a house that has no clear buyer to market it to.

Your in laws are going to have to decide what is more important to them. Selling and moving ASAP (massive price drop) or waiting for the right buyer who loves the property and is willing to pay a higher price (which could be years).