Why won't this house sell?

Chris2685

Just a bit of a ponder if anyones bored...

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/viewdetails-20238068.rsp?pa_n=1&tr_t=buy&mam_disp=true

Aside from the obvious, pull the price down. Plus the fact it is obviously a doer upper.

It is the cheapest 4 bed in the area. It is local to me, and I have noticed it sat on the market for ages. To me it seemed like it was priced pretty cheaply when it first went up (for a 4 bed anyway).

What would your thoughts be?

If you don't know the area, Stoke Poges is pretty desirable and a villagey type area on the outskirts of Slough (that's one drawback lol).

Edit: Property Bee says August is when it went up for sale, but it actually went up around March if my memory serves me right, maybe even before that.

dopester

Property-bee records only begin for any listing when someone with PB installed first browsed that listing. Then it gets logged and the data about the listing is transmitted back to the hive to share with others.

As for your question, I'll come back to it after getting supper and cup of tea.

dopester

The photos are like polaroids from the 1970s.

The kitchen units, of which I'm no expert, remind me of a kitchen we had in 1983.

Looks in parts like someone has done it up (new wallpaper?), but lost interest in it, or ran out of money?

Maybe this area is "desirable" like you say, but that doesn't stop it having become unaffordable given banks have tightened up on lending multiples, imposed stricter borrowing criteria, and mortgage rates hit harder.

It is hugely over-priced in my opinion. People will have to learn that their property is often not worth anywhere near what they might think it is. It isn't peak 2007 any more. Too many indebted people out there, or those with their wealth locked in property, and not much by way of people with savings.

Seems to me the last time a terrace sold on Plough Lane was in 2001

26 Plough Lane, Stoke Poges, Slough, Buckinghamshire, SL2 4JR

07-Dec-2001, Terraced, Freehold = £190,000

And before that,

30 Plough Lane, Stoke Poges, Slough, Buckinghamshire, SL2 4JR

18-Aug-2000, Terraced, Freehold = £140,000

olly300

The reason it may not be selling could be due to the owner.

Near the end of the boom I saw lots of properties in the area I live and nearby areas where the owner stated the price at a stamp duty band limit and the words "no offers". These properties where advertised with many different estate agents.

Unfortunately for the owners there are many similar properties to the ones they have where the owners would accept an offer with a small price difference so these properties sold and theirs did not.

clutton_2

sorry to say the kitchen units are the cheapest and nastiest on the market - the garden looks an utter mess, the room with no carpets is grim, why are there no decent photos of the bedrooms or bathroom - or are they even worse ?

i would put some carpeting in, paint in magnolia and do something with the garden - even if its chippings and a few pots with bedding plants in

and get an EA who can take better photos

and drop the price

poppy10_2

God, that looks so nasty - owner needs to spend a few bob smartening the place up a bit.

Incisor

clutton wrote: »

sorry to say ... and get an EA who can take better photos and drop the price

Chris is window shopping AFAICS, not selling?

Fishingtime

The EA usually show the better points of a house.
If they have done that here,then what is the rest of it like

Chris2685

So you think them spending a few quid now, making it look a bit prettier will make it sell better?

I actually know the owner of the property, and just wanted to find out some opinions of people on here... Rather than go with their gut feeling, and spend a few quid painting the walls in neutral colours and maybe re-fitting the kitchen, they have taken the estate agents word that it is a waste of money. That is fair enough, because whatever you do, whoever buys it may have different taste. The thing is though, they haven't lowered the price enough in my opinion to factor in that the WHOLE house needs gutting out and redecorating... If I were them, I would have stripped out all the carpets, completely painted the whole house in neutral colours. I would have left it uncarpeted, and I would also have done the bathroom and kitchen or at least made it look a bit nicer.

Thanks for the comments guys.

A bit more background on the house is that the people selling it are actually inheriters of the house and the money will be split between 6 siblings, which causes conflict on what is the best course of action I guess...

I actually said right from the start they would be better off sticking it up for auction...

GDB2222

There's a difference between gutting out and redecorating. People will look past the decorations and the ancient kitchen etc, just as long as the price reflects the work that needs to be done. In fact, they may underestimate the work that needs doing.

If the six siblings are happy enough to come and redecorate the place themselves, it just costs them the paint, but if they hire a decorator, that's going to cost real money that they are better off deducting from the sale price. Just redecorate the front door if it's at all shabby.

Chris2685

For anyone who's interested it just sold for ~180k

It was up for 269k originally...

I'm not sure why that estate agent in the first post are still advertising it on Rightmove, they have got the money and are already spending/saving it... It wasn't even sold through that agent. Weird.