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

It's a Dormer bungalow and looks nice but overpriced. My friend lives in Lee-on-the-Solent and no way are they that pricy.

If someone is looking for a bungalow will the listing come up?

They don't need to do anything other than reduce the price.

The biggest issue is that it's a bungalow with a weird, off putting layout, and no amount of tinkering with furniture and decor is going to change that.

As others have said, it’s a bungalow. A dormer bungalow but a bungalow nonetheless. I think the house could be lovely but I saw work to be done in every room to make it modern and it’s a lot of money for somewhere that would need work. I don’t know your area, but I’m in the group who thinks it’s price. It needs to be cheap enough to make people look past updating and past the economic climate.

Is the gorgeous house in the room with us?
Pic 2 looks like Tyson Fury should live there on a seaside compound!
Garish paint colours, dates tiling, fussy clutter (bed 3).
Sun room, what’s the big green fabric hiding?
What's the external bobbly white render hiding?
I think you’ve gone blind to it too.

Overpriced for surrounding Portsmouth area. Would day its worth more like 550k

The ceiling of the sun room frightens me, what is the green stuff and what is it hiding?
It wouldn't put me off if I loved the house otherwise but the paint colours are very garish and offputting. As above the pictures are weird and the furniture in the kitchen and upstairs rooms doesn't show off the space to it's best.

Who does the estate agent think might buy a house like this? I only ask as usually a three bedroom house might be bought by a young family. I wouldn’t want one or more of my children sleeping on a different floor to me.

Not only is the house expensive, it needs a full refurb. I think that will price a lot of people out.

I think they should reduce the price substantially and try re-listing with another agent.

I’m in Oxfordshire and could get 3x the house for this money which is really saying something. I think it’s overpriced.

1. The photos are really terrible
2. Not enough emphasis on the huge garden, the fact that it's right near the beach, work that's been done to the house, you need to mention what makes it stand out
3. Declutter the house a little

Change estate agents, no question! The Estate Agent is doing a terrible job

I'm no expert but for me that's a LOT of money for a small property which needs a LOT of work doing to it.

I know the area well and still have family there but I’m not an estate agent :)

From the floor plan it does have good sized rooms, the issue might be that a lot of people don’t have vision and the colours might be putting them off as they may just see a load of work to do.
Garden is lovely! Astro grass wouldn’t put me off either.
It’s difficult to know what the target market is? I’d say the type that could afford it would probably be going for more of a house looking house if that makes sense?
I doubt it’s gone up that much from 370k in 2012. We’ve just sold our 3 bed house; we paid £400k in 2016 and sold for £525k and that’s in Berkshire

Knowing the area I would drop the price to £550,000. Is there a minimum amount they need to get to be able to move near to you? Would they consider selling via auction?

Yes partly down to poor estate agent but also unrealistic expectations.
The random white table in the kitchen for instance looks like something I would have put there when my kids were little and I wouldn't have wanted them eating in a carpeted area. This could have been removed for the photos.
As others have said, who do the in laws think would buy this house?
It's too expensive for families and people of probably a similar age are likely to be downsizing and not wanting stairs. It just doesn't appeal to anyone. You might think it's lovely but it isn't anything special.
If they want it to sell to a family then it needs to be made more modern looking (so neutral colours, less flutter on viewing) and price to be dropped significantly as I expect a family could buy a proper house for a lot less.

@irisetta how is a chalet bungalow or a dormer bungalow not a bungalow when it’s got bungalow in the name???

It is not too small for a family.

I think your ILs need to work out their target market.

Most families want the big garden but want their children on the same floor as the parents sleep on and do not want the play room/ sun room miles from the kitchen and lounge.

Most elderly don't want a big garden or stairs.

It is either a home for a family with teens or a couple without children - but if it is a couple home there is no lovely master with en-suite for that price.

In my view it is a massive renovation because if you moved the stairs and the downstairs bathroom location it could be made into a very nice dormer bungalow.

The problem is the 1990s Reno has the room locations all wrong and your in laws are selling it as renovated but it is not to today's standards.

A bungalow is what it started out life as and it had the rooms added - the current plans show the rooms as large upstairs but then the shading and mention of eaves on the plan make them sound tiny and you cannot tell the true picture from the pictures.

I have nothing to add OP except to say that DH and I may well be in the same position as your in laws in the not too distant future so I have some sympathy.
You don’t see the “flaws” when you have lived somewhere for a long time ( especially if you love the house).
I want to say “well done” to you for posting in the first place and for taking the “negative” feedback on the chin.

I appreciate that you can't do anything about it but for that price I'd want a better layout. The garden is big and best suited to younger people, great for children. But the house is not suitable for young children because it has a bedroom on the ground floor at the front of the house, my guess is that was a dining room when it was built so this is actually a 2 bedroom and not fooling anyone. A family with young children don't want to go through the utility to the sunroom (which is often considered the playroom). So I think that's reduced the market. And an older couple looking for a retirement home by the sea will be looking for an actual bungalow. I appreciate this is not a bungalow, but the downstairs bedroom is leading buyers down that path.

I don't much care about the amount of furniture when looking at a house, I'm not buying that! But I do care about the layout, I always look at the floorplan first. And the layout of this is off, for me.

The presentation is badly affected by the furniture placement. For instance, the sofas are shoved into the smaller space of the lounge/diner when they should be occupying the largest area. Not having the TV as the focal point is fine, but it looks like everyone will get a crick in the neck to watch it in the current layout. The extra sofa by the dining table makes it look like you can't fit anything in.

As others have said, it’s a bungalow. A dormer bungalow but a bungalow nonetheless

Indeed, there are undiscovered life forms at the bottom of the ocean that could tell you it's a bungalow, but never mind.

I actually don't think the decor is that bad and I refuse to believe the shite about how clearing away a few ornaments and painting everything magnolia will mean there'll suddenly be a queue of buyers willing to pay £100,000 more than they otherwise would for the same pile of bricks. However most people would want to update a lot of it, and nowadays that means ££££, which in a stagnant market they're going to knock straight off the price they're willing to pay.

And sorry OP but the look of it from the outside is an acquired taste. Which is my polite way of saying it looks bloody awful. Somebody upthread mentioned Tyson Fury; I thought it was the sort of house Bobby George (google him) would buy his mum. It looks like it's missing a burger van parked on the drive. And AstroTurf? Good god no.

Not true in Oxford itself.

If you are downsizing to a bungalow then a massive garden isn’t a selling point tbh. You want easy to maintain moderate sized garden. I would feel I had to redo every room in that house because it’s not that tastefully decorated. What are those big drape things on the ceiling?

It's always the price

I was recently house hunting along the coast from you.
As part of this I viewed floor plans for houses, a bungalow, and a dormer bungalow.

Yours looks like a bungalow, but has a dormer. But downstairs also only 1 bedroom.

So who does it appeal to?

Not a family because they will want to be on the same floor as any primary age children.

But retired/elderly people may want at least two bedrooms downstairs if they want flat living.

So it is falling in between. Where do PIL sleep? If upstairs then what is the point of the downstairs bedroom? If downstairs then what value do the upstairs rooms have?

I think there are quite a few mean posts here.

@FudgeFudy - this made me laugh. Thank you. Brilliant post.

I think, @irisetta, that you need to have good solid honest chat with your ILs and the Agent