Umm, can you tell me why this cottage isn't getting viewings?

maria6259

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

The Rightmove text being truncated and misspelt is bad. "this three bedroom stone cottage, located in the po"

The interior photos are DIRE. Lounge carpet/suite/curtains look very dated - might be worth removing all, and sanding floorboards? Kitchen looks too narrow - one photo of kitchen end and another of dining end would be better. Is there room for a dining table? If so, put one in. Remove boxes from conservatory for photo. What is the dark stuff on the walls in photo 5? Photo 6 - garden looks a mess, get the mower out.

There's no proper schedule of particulars. Why no description of utility area or cloakroom? Why no measurements or photo of bathroom - is it really tiny and horrible? Do any of the bedrooms have fitted wardrobes? Is there central heating or double glazing?

It's no good telling us there's a butchers, PO and primary school - that info needs to be in the schedule and preferably on the website too.

Have a look at this one which is on sale through the same agent. See how light and airy the interiors are (with the lights on). See how nice the lawn looks when it's freshly cut. Read all the nice feel-good buzzwords in the text.

substantial individual ... large gardens, backing onto open farmland, ample parking ... refurbished in 2004 and boasts deceptively spacious and versatile ... large conservatory, with under floor heating,

wish i'd not looked, i now WANT THAT HOUSE!

motherofstudents

It's awful when you find a property you want to buy before you have sold your existing one so I hope your mum can sell soon. With that in mind, could she afford to drop the price for a quick sale ? (or any sale). As has been said the photos are bad, very dark and not very flattering. However, I think when you are searching for a house you can overlook the photos to a large extent as it does seem to be a common fault with house marketing. I think I would try lowering the price and see what happens.

Sarsie

Truly? Not holding back at all?

The kitchen looks suffocatingly close and tight and the lounge is suicidally miserable. That horrible dark band round the bedroom wall needs to go too.

Truly a coat of paint can be worth tens of thousands. Spend some time researching shabby-chic but not so much the shabby chic thread on here, that's more about a make-do-n-mend philosophy than about the design style. I mean the design style, Cath Kidstone is the high priestess of said religion...

Then get some stony/creamy coloured paint and some nice handles and paint all the kitchen cupboard doors- they are tounge-n-grove so that's a great start for chabby chic. Then you want a nice light duck egg blue on the kitchen walls because the slightly darker contrast will make the place look wider, again for inspiration draw on Cath Kidstone, her new brochure is available to look at free online and it wont be hard to look up. That fixes the miserableness of the kitchen.

Light pastel yellow (I mean light too) and a contrasting colour on the picture rail. No one likes bare pine anymore. Lose the curtains, replace temporarily with cheap voiles just to give the look. Then get flat bedsheets or big sofa throws or frankly anything and cover those sofas- in white.

The reason I'm saying look to shabby chic for your inspiration is that to get a good price I reckon you should aim this house at families seeking to get a new life in the country... And they tend to like stone houses with resonably big rooms and the space for a vegetable patch. Think women who wear floral wellies and men who cycle while wearing suit-type-jackets. You want to be thinking of the b*stard lovechild of Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson, with David Camerons taste in cycling apparel and see where that gets you! (Straight to the nearest pharmacist with headache possibly)

maninthestreet

Remove all those DELL boxes from what I think is the conservatory, make it look more like a conservatory that could be used as a room rather than just corridor or storage area. The empty room that could be the bedroom - get some bedroom furniture in theire so it looks like a bedroom.

googler

Truncated text in the key features puts me off.

Looks like the agent needs lessons in 'how to upload to Rightmove'

Dark, dark, dark photos.... needs a re-shoot.

For a three bedroom cottage, there's precious few photos of the bedrooms, I'd say.....

googler

maninthestreet wrote: »

Remove all those DELL boxes from what I think is the conservatory ....

Seconded. Photos of boxes don't do it for me. Also, the front and rear pictures are both taken from low viewpoints, making the house 'lean' in the photos. Merely standing the photographer on something - stepladder, say - would improve these no end.

Sarsie

If you've got more money after that lot I have just two more words for you.

Remove. Carpet.

MarieAAP

Thank you ever so much for all these comments.

They have been passed on to Mum and to the Estate Agent.

Mum was living in China, so as she is now back permanent, she needed access to the stuff which was in storage, so thats why there were all those Dell boxes. And I most certainly do not have enough room at in a 2 bedroom house, 1 lounge, with 3 adults and 2 cats!

As the kitchen, yep she knows it requires updating, but people's ideas are so varied :P

She is dropping the price, and is considering going lower, so that maybe an option.

I did ask for critical comments, and thats what they are, so thanks once again to everyone.
M

frannyann

I love it, shame its not near me However I can see its potential! I would agree it looks too dark and dingy, if I was scooting though a pile of properties I can see how this would be over-looked. Cream paint to the walls and curtains taken down will make a massive difference!

useless

If this was in my search area, I would definitely take a look at it, it is a very attractive period property, which are few and far between in my little house search 'zone' (and very expensive).

If it was in the right location I wouldn't mind the fact that it is a bit dated, and would be looking for the potential of the house (size, space, extension potential, period features that could be made more of, etc).

I would also be pleased that I had an excuse to update it exactly to my tastes!

However, I would factor any of that work into the price, so I guess it really depends if the asking price equates to the cost of a modernised house with a bit knocked off.

I agree the photos could be lighter inside and you could dress it up a bit more. Could also dress up the description, emphasise the period features, fireplaces etc