Yet another why isn't this house selling thread, comments please

Slinky

The use of the downstairs room is unusual. You would normally expect a dining room to be alongside the kitchen, not a yomp down the hall with the dishes. As a consequence the dining room looks unused and not much loved. Present it to people like that and that's how they think they'll be living in it. I would swap the dining room and lounge around. It might be your parents prefer to use their dining room as a lounge as it overlooks the garden, but they need to present it to sell. You're selling a lifestyle when you're selling your house, most people won't want this lifestyle (sorry, but there's no point in not being honest).

The Squires photos are very odd - was the photographer particularly tall, or was he standing on steps - they all look a bit aerial.

Bathroom looks dated, if Dad is a builder he needs to sort this.

Mobeer

- The pictures are bad in the Squires listing (picture 7 is terrible)
- I have trouble finding the two listings within a search - I think the POA listing is odd
- The dining room and lounge are the wrong way around (as others have said)

The biggest thing in both listings for me is that there is nothing special about the house. Compared to the other 4 bed houses near the same station, the Grafton Road £475k looks much better (to me at least), whilst the £460 in North Harrow or the £450k new build both look at least competitive and maybe nicer.

Is there something special you could market; perhaps your garden is larger, your house more child friendly?

ruggedtoast

Its just too expensive. Why would someone pay almost half a million pounds to live in Harrow and Wealdstone when the same money would get you a house in Hatch End, Pinner or Rayners Lane area?

Running_Horse

It's not the economy or price, it's the Rightmove pictures.

Change those, and they will have dozens of viewers and offers within minutes, or even seconds.

maryjane01

It does look like a well cared for and maintained house, however it is extremely dated. I have a young family and that is the style house I might consider buying, however only at a price that reflects that it requires complete redecoration including kitchen and bathroom and floor coverings throughout (and if you are redoing the kitchen and bathroom and the boiler is old you would budget for a new boiler, the wood panel wall in the kitchen area is so dated). Although I cannot comment on the asking price I would not pay anywhere near the ceiling price for the road.

Everything may be functional and in working order, but I am not going to pay top whack for a kitchen etc that I will definitely replace in the near future.

Also, I do not like dark coloured wood UPVC at the back of the house, it think it looks really heavy and drags the appearance of a house down, the current fashion would be to go for white, so it is another item that is dated and extremely expensive to change so I don't expect a buyer to change it, but it will be another compromise they will have to live with and therefor would not want to pay top price for a house that is visually unappealing. There are dark bits between the windows at the front and dark frames and cills on the interior.

The exterior is quite drab, this style house, I think looks a lot nicer when the top pebble dashed half is painted white, it makes the whole house look a lot fresher. It looks like the door may be original and quite nice but it gets lost in the drabness of the rest of it. Also, there is a lot of paving out the front, could you do something to soften it?

It will take more than ikea furniture to sort this one out. Sorry, just trying to be honest.

dibuzz

I agree it looks a bit drab, even putting a white or light coloured table cloth on the dining table would make it look brighter.
I also agree with the POA, if I see that I assume it's too expensive for me.

ruggedtoast

Most of those style of houses in that part of London look like that on the exterior, they also are usually a lot smaller on the inside than you think they will be. It does have a decent looking garden but again, its not in the best location.

I think theyve put a premium on for proximity to the train.

bizzybee

Personally I think the house is dated so would need money spending on it. The 4th bedroom is very small too.

I've done the street view thing and it seems the house is just one house in from the corner of what appears to be a busy road, not to my liking.

As previous people have said, it seems over-priced for what it is and there are much nicer houses available in the area for the same if not lower price.

townmouse53

Just my opinion, for what it's worth. I'd buy it, I think it's lovely, but I'd really get the price down. I would rip up all patterned, blue or dark carpeting and replace with light, solid neutral colours. I'd paint white over every INCH of knotty pine - it's SO outdated! All curtains would be replaced with white or cream. All the wood cabinet/wardrobe doors in any bedroom would again be painted white to make the rooms look bigger and more modern. And try some colourful flowers around the entrance, it's rather bleak now. Total spend to update the place - hardly anything. A couple buckets of paint, some cheap white curtains from Argos and some neutral berber carpeting from CarpetRight...

puddy

its a lovely house, but

kitchen, dining room, bedrooms and bathroom are all drab early 80s, tired, dark and cold looking rooms

i must have missed the lounge area, it looked to me that you had a 'posh' dining area with dark furniture and then off the kitchen there is another eating area with pine stuff?

but if its not being advertised or even thought of by your parents as needing updating (at the very least) then they will be blind as to why its not getting enough interest.

you say its well maintained as your dad is a builder, but the decor is the giveaway that no maintenaince has been done on the electrics or other stuff for many years as that decor is not recent so if he did work he would have been either working round old decor without leaving any sign of the work (unlikely) or it hasnt been looked at. that means the electrics are fairly old, not necessarily a problem because they probably work fine but it gets people thinking 'what am i going to find when i update this house'