Nans bugalow been on market for 2 years..whats wrong with it?

WestonDave

Unless you live on site holiday letting is a nightmare as you need to clean every week between guests. I think its the garden which is the let down. People thinking of retiring to Devon in a nice bungalow don't want to tackle that garden. However it could be vastly improved with a bit of effort and not much money.

Firstly get some new small square trellis style fence panels (probably about £30 each) and screw them to that nasty back wall and also to the side of that garage. Then get some climbing plants and set them along it to help screen off the worst nasties. Remove or reinstate the blown down fence panel visible in the garden (having photos taken with that showing is just lack of effort and will put people off!). Borrow a jetwash and clean up the patio slabs, and buy a small number of large green bushy shrubs to go in the borders, and cover the rest with something suitable (e.g. bark chippings or slate chippings) etc to make it look like a garden rather than a scrub land. You don't need to make it a finished job but make a start and make it easier for an elderly person to see its potential rather than seeing it as a "Where do I start project). Give the grass a very good dose of lawn fertiliser (not one with a weed killer as in the short time you have it will make bare patches and make it look worse). Give it a couple of weeks after doing all that and then get the agent to take a new photo - in the meantime get that back garden photo take down.

Sorry if that is a bit blunt but if I was looking for somewhere for my parents I'd be thinking of all the above as a bare minimum before I'd let them try and finish it off. A weekend's work, a van hire, and maybe £200 spent on materials will make a vast difference to the impression this garden will make on prospective purchasers. For a lot of elderly people a nice garden to sit in is very important and that really is the market for a small bungalow like this one.

zzzLazyDaisy

I can't get the link to work, so I haven't seen the property.

However, in this area at least, bungalows command a premium over houses of a smilar size and are still selling reasonably well even in today's climate. So there is certainly something wrong.

As people have said, the sort of buyer for a bungalow is likely to be retired or maybe disabled people. Perhaps people looking to sell up and trade down to something easy to run/maintain. A lot of work or an overgrown garden may well put them off.

As I say, I haven't seen the house, but is it possible to gravel part or all of the front lawn to make it low maintainance. You just need to put weed suppresent membrane down over the existing lawn and get your local builder's merchant to deliver a few tonnes of gravel. A few containers with bedding plants and you have an bright easy to maintain garden.

Also, I'd go to your local independent carpet shop and buy the cheapest cream carpet they stock and get the whole house carpeted out. You can probably get it done for a few hundred (okay, I know it is probably a lot to you, but compared to the cost of keeping the house on, it is probably is worth the investment).

Then, I'd put a realistic price on it (there is no point in it being more expensive than similar bungalows in the area - this is free money, you can afford to be competitive with the price) and put it up with a different estate agent - choose the estate agent for their professionalism and the presentation of their brochures/ property pages, rather than whether their fee is the chapest - this would mean that the house would getmaximum exposure as a 'new' sale, and this might generate a new set of buyers.

One other thing that might work - the bungalow is at the lower end of the market, so it might be attractive to first time buyers, and these are the people who may have difficulty raising the stamp duty. So offering to pay stamp duty can kick start interest (I did that with the last house I sold, it had been up for sale for 18 months with not much interest, when we marketted it as 'stamp duty paid' we got three offers within 8 weeks, so it can work)

d900

remove car from front picture.
tidy garden - as suggested make it easier for older people to keep under control

RHemmings

mlz1413 wrote: »

As this bungalow doesn't owe you anything, every penny from it is a bonus, why not undercut everyone else by a good £10k if not £20k?

The money paid off your debts and then the rest earning interest would be much better than chasing a 'good' price, eps in a falling market.

Otherwise as other have suggested rent it out, then it will be heated and lived in and the garden maintained whilst bringing in a monthly income.

According to the Halifax, house prices have dropped by 10% in the last six months. Cutting the price from 180K to 170K is a drop of 5.5%. If this undercuts other sellers you might get a quick sale and possibly (if house price falls continue for at least a few more months) end up selling for more than you would have done anyway.

And, even if you hold off with an asking price of £180K, that doesn't mean that you'll sell for that. I wouldn't feel in the least embarrassed offering £160K for a £180K house. So if you did drop to £170K, it could be that after generating more interest, that you end up negotiating down to £160K anyhow. I.e. there's no guarantee that a higher asking price will result in a higher agreed price.

Personally I suspect that even at £170K, you'll have a hard time finding a buyer, but I'm not familiar with your local market. If you cut the price to £170K and still don't sell, then you haven't actually lost anything. So if I was in your situation, I'd give it a go. But it's your house and, only if you sell, your money.

If I were you, I would go into your estate agents and ask them what price you'd need to put on the property to sell it within a week. Don't let them put you off with "it isn't the price" blah blah blah, get them to tell you the number. That doesn't mean you have to sell it for that price, but at least you'll get a better idea of what it takes to get a property moving.

seven-day-weekend

I personally would drop the price quite drastically just to get it sold.

Maybe even to under stamp duty level (if that is still £150,000?).

mlz1413

Stamp duty is £125,000 but selling for that should generate a whole lot of interest!!

mlz1413

OP why has it been for sale for 2 years??

Are there a lot of you who stand to inherit and some are insisting on a higher price?

Who is paying the council tax and heating bills? (I'm assuming the heating is on low during the winter)

Are there any other fees / costs being accrued whilst it remains part of your Nana's estate?

barnaby-bear

mlz1413 wrote: »

OP why has it been for sale for 2 years??

Are there a lot of you who stand to inherit and some are insisting on a higher price?

Who is paying the council tax and heating bills? (I'm assuming the heating is on low during the winter)

Are there any other fees / costs being accrued whilst it remains part of your Nana's estate?

well we all know of a potential squat available for the holiday season now...

mlz1413

barnaby-bear wrote: »

well we all know of a potential squat available for the holiday season now...

Pardon?

Why quote my message when the title says the same and the link clearly shows an empty property?

barnaby-bear

mlz1413 wrote: »

Pardon?

Why quote my message when the title says the same and the link clearly shows an empty property?

You were asking what utilities were on and if the heating was - assumed a nice warm squat preferable to a cold one :rotfl: