Our house wont sell!

Spendless

hobo28 wrote:

You tell them not to. I have 4 kids, the youngest of which is now 4. I can trust each and everyone not to jump into a pond.

You can't fence everything off in the world! When we were kids, if I fell into a pond, my parents would have told me off for being stupid and getting wet. They would not be looking at fencing it off!

But can you trust their friends? Children have died falling into ponds before now. Personally I would not take the chance.

Poppy9

A 7 year old second cousin of mine tripped over and fell head first into a pond with just a few inches of water. Sadly he died.

sarah_elton

trigger_mike wrote:

i think it's a nice place but like the others have said, £485k is a lot of money for a 3 bedroom home, though i do think that you should try changing agents, get it on https://www.rightmove.co.uk so you get a lot more hits on it, i sold mine though barstowe eves in ipswich, house was on market 2 weeks, i had 8 viewing and sold it for full asking price, though mine was only £120500 compaired to your £485k, 20 viewings a year is naff! good luck :j

Seconded and thirded.... When I was looking to buy I just looked at rightmove, and went to agents on there. If I was selling I wouldn't even bother with agents that don't use the site.

Or for that matter with agents who list badly on there. I saw properties on there with just a list of rooms - no dimensions, pics etc.

Yes it's lazy, but in the current market there's more than enough properties put up well on there to choose from.

hobo28

But can you trust their friends? Children have died falling into ponds before now. Personally I would not take the chance

Children have died being run over but I don't build a fence around the roads. I teach my kids to stop at the roadside. The daughter of a good friend of mine died last year, tragically drowned in a swimming pool on holiday. My response is to make sure my kids can swim.

Anyway, my point is that we can only protect kids from so much and we as parents shouldn't be so paranoid. Coming back to my original point, I just meant that the pond issue alone I don't think is enough to put someone off buying a property. There must be other, more important factors.

tomstickland

Anyway, back to the original question, I think you should go for a new lease of life. Bin the current agent (and the cleaner's teenage son writing the descriptions LOL) and get a few new agents to come and have a look. See what they value the property at and any comments they have about the property.

deemy2004

cabrioman wrote:

many thanks all. its a brick barn, not timber, detached with a detached double garage. the decor is very neutral and in as new condition. we are asking 485k. its in a very nice area but a little difficult to value but there are a few others for sale not far away asking slightly more with no garage, not detached. we have no shared areas, unlike some barns we have seen. the agents have been very good on the whole, they have sold some houses more than ours recently and told us the feedback. we have viewed other houses at the same price and although i say it myself,could not compare to ours.i really cannot understand why it is not selling. the price seems very fair, good location, i think its fab inside and out and i have spent a fortune on the garden. if anyone wants to see it, its on the the https://www.leeshaw.co.uk 1 newhouse farn barn.

Looks very nice

But going through the site the 5 bed at £460k is more likely to catch my attention and there are also many 4 bedders at much less price... so yes I am afraid your house is over priced.

I know your not going to like this, but it should probably be on at 395k... I think you will be waiting a long, long time for an offer anywhere near the asking.

Spendless

hobo28 wrote:

Children have died being run over but I don't build a fence around the roads. I teach my kids to stop at the roadside. The daughter of a good friend of mine died last year, tragically drowned in a swimming pool on holiday. My response is to make sure my kids can swim.

Anyway, my point is that we can only protect kids from so much and we as parents shouldn't be so paranoid. Coming back to my original point, I just meant that the pond issue alone I don't think is enough to put someone off buying a property. There must be other, more important factors.

You can lock a door to stop kids going on road, or have them in a pushchair or on reins. You can teach children over a certain age to swim, but when it comes to water very close to you children need supervising near it, as the tragic accident of your friends child has proven. I don't beleive it is solely the pond that is putting people off, but since the OP has mentioned that 2 people who viewed have mentioned the pond as a reason for not liking the house, my suggestion at viewing is to say "I'm willing to have the pond fenced off/filled in, if it is a problem". Then if people want to keep the pond they can, if it's the one thing putting people off OP gets a buyer or if it's just being used as an excuse they'll have to think up another one.

purplepatch

We have a 3 bedroom house and with a growing family, we're looking to move for 4 beds. We live in the south east renowned for being expensive and could get a 4 bed detached house in our current neighbourhood for around £330/£350k. Your property has exactly the same accommodation as ours (also detached) which is worth about £285/£300k - appreciate that yours has plenty of character, but not sure that counts for £200k!!

To echo a previous poster, I'd imagine that your property isn't particularly likely to appeal to the family market who will want more bedrooms (and no ponds - although I doubt this is a major put-off factor), plus as others have said, barn conversions are a matter of taste. I love them personally and think yours looks beautiful, but my mum for example wouldn't even get as far as looking at the particulars, just sees the word barn and it goes in the bin.

Woby_Tide

agree with a lot of above comments about what you get for money and pricing, the limited views and nil offers can only say that for the money it's offered at it's not tempting people. All depends how much you are willing to budge if you want to move.

ANother option is to change agents and then reprice it as 'Offers over', maybe start at £450k. If a lower headline price gets more viewings and generates interest it may lead to something, plus you don't need to accept until you get an offer you are happy with

xela_17

I'm another one who agrees about rightmove. What if buyers are not local to the area and don't know the local agents? You're missing out on a lot of potential non-local buyers who won't know your house exists because it's not on rightmove. Get it on there pronto!