why can't I sell my house?

Rachman_2

Doozergirl wrote:

Houses sell every day in different areas, with all types of decor.

The OPs decor isn't even bad. It will be very much to some people's taste :wall: We don't all live with Naomi Cleaver.

not a problem - unfortunately, I am a professional shark and crocodile skin comes with it.

Believe me, I tried to be nice, and carefully added a couple of qualifiers. However, experience of buying and selling tells me you can put off a lot of people with small stuff (or stuff that's not too hard to fix cheaply). We offered a list of that (or I thought I had). Yes, it's not always very nice, but the OP now has a list of things they can do which won't cost much that will sort out the fixable things - they can't fix the location, though they were misinforming us to start with that it was in London and were labouring under the misapprehension of it being carried on the London (K&C) bandwagon.

Bottom line for that house seems to be it's not got the balance of location, style, 'done'ness and price right - it needs to improve the ones it can to get sold - that means improve the house or drop the price - or hold out for someone who's not bothered......

EDIT - I checked the council comments - one about the outside looking like a council car park - it does and the other about laminate flooring - not particularly harsh and not particularly unfair - it does look a lot passe/dated - sorry, but it does - if it were mellowed with some furniture, fine but (Ms Cleaver mode on), that room has not been dressed, it's been stripped.

stoptheworldIwannagetoff

erm well I guess I asked for comments but some have been constructive whilst others have left me gobsmacked. The comments about the location are from people who don't know the area because it certainly isnt noisy or smelly or bang in the middle of an industrial area. Maps can be deceiving. As for the smell of animals - nope, no pets here, just me and one teenager (and she is not smelly).

Yes the teenager's room is garish but most people look at the view from there rather than the colour scheme, however, I will consider asking her to depersonalise the room and then paint it boring beige.

I think the comments about the front are interesting and I agree that the 'kerb appeal' needs improving.

The kitchen/diner is not small (kitchen's round here are usually galley kitchens so it is actually the room that I liked best when I viewed). We can fit 6 people comfortably round that table. I will take all the pix off the fridge and move the tumble dryer away from the door.

As for price - it was valued by 3 local agents and I took the middle value - I'm not greedy. A house down this road sold before Xmas for £385,000, but I guess that didnt make it into the statistics yet.

Thank you all for your comments - guess I have a fair bit of work to do now.

Rachman_2

stoptheworldIwannagetoff wrote:

erm
As for price - it was valued by 3 local agents and I took the middle value - I'm not greedy. A house down this road sold before Xmas for £385,000, but I guess that didnt make it into the statistics yet.

I said "we're" greedy - I should want as much as I could get too.

I'd take a look at replacement kitchen doors - they can be got very cheaply if you go to factory shops and it looks like yours are standard - then I'd spend the time repainting neutral and I'd 'dress' a few rooms a bit better than they are - I see you've done a good job on the declutter, it probably needs more in, but the right sort of stuff. If you are a dab hand with a paint brush, you should be able to repaint the bright bedroom furniture too.....

Outside won't be that hard to sort, the back looks spot on, which is what exacerbates the front..... I'd be getting large plants/bushes in pots and adding some colour to break it up....

barnaby-bear

stoptheworldIwannagetoff wrote:

The kitchen/diner is not small (kitchen's round here are usually galley kitchens so it is actually the room that I liked best when I viewed). We can fit 6 people comfortably round that table. I will take all the pix off the fridge and move the tumble dryer away from the door.

I'd prefer a galley kitchen and proper dining room but I think the photos missed the table - the only eating area I could see was the fairly dated round ended breakfast bar thing that looked like it could take 3 people at a push with one facing an old firebreast. Have the photos missed part of the kitchen.

Regarding area I guess this will appeal to those out of area looking to commute priced out of London so they will go on houseprices.co.uk and maps so that may have an effect.

Corner baths sometimes deter people - suggests too small for proper bath and big fellers dislike them. If I was looking to spend £300k moving out to Essex probably the combination of things would put me off even viewing.

I couldn't see the lack of family room to bedroom space working for a lot of people. Young family trying to feed kids and stop them running around kitchen while cooking etc would be issue and younger more likely to want "house doctor decor", young couple pre kids, entertaining in kitchen wouldn't work and decor, older family teenager in front of telly banishing parents to kitchen. It's not a wreck by any means but space and lack of finish wouldn't get me through the door.

Why were the other semis so much cheaper over last few years?

silvercar

I still maintain you would not increase the money you'll get by spending on odd things to satisfy possible buyers. There are enough really nice rooms to show the potential the house has to offer.

You can easily comment on things as you show buyers around eg "the hall would be much bigger without this piano", "we had planned on painting this room but hadn't got round to it".

I haven't commented on price at all, because I don't know the area. We broke the notional price ceiling on our street by 25%. If I'd have asked for advice on here I would have been told I was mad to do so. You need to know an area really well to comment accurately on prices, which is why we call in the estate agents we love to hate.

Good luck with the sale.

Rachman_2

silvercar wrote:

I still maintain you would not increase the money you'll get by spending on odd things to satisfy possible buyers. There are enough really nice rooms to show the potential the house has to offer.

True, but you are more likely to sell it for what you want and quicker....

Spendless

barnaby-bear wrote:

the only eating area I could see was the fairly dated round ended breakfast bar thing that looked like it could take 3 people at a push with one facing an old firebreast. Have the photos missed part of the kitchen.

That was the impression I got, and I've gone back for another look and I still can't see anything different . My suggestion if this breakfast type bar fits six is to either put more chairs there, or to set the table as though there is 6 to dine. (nice placemats, wine glasses etc) then when viewing photos it wouldn't look as small as it seems to to me. Realise the artex is in the kitchen now after having another look,wheras the artex wouldn't bother me much in a house/room I really really liked, when it is in the one room I dislike it just adds to it I'm afraid.

scorpio_princess

Well said Doozer.

Whilst I'm all for straight talking, the Simon Cowell-esque judgements were totally over the top. People should remember that we're all human, nobody's perfect (and a whole heap of other cliches!). It did seem like some were almost poking fun at the OP - definitely NOT in keeping with the spirit of this conference.

Please stop heckling, folks - if you need to be honest, maybe even blunt, do it without resorting to cheap shots about laminate floors and 'council' style gardens.

Poppycat

Whilst it isn't always easy to accept criticism, I do feel that the comments over all are constructive in that this would mirror prospective purchasers views.

I no when I viewed properties I did try and see through the colours and décor, there were some properties that I thought, oh a lick of paint, new carpet/laminate would easily change that room, whilst others I thought it needs something drastic and I don't have the money or the skills to do it, others may feel differently.

HugoSP

The first things I looked at were the kitchen and lounge thumbnails.

These immediately struck me as outdated and in need of modernising.

Consider updating the kitchen. You don't see anything like these styles in MFI etc nowadays. That's usually a good sign - or not. At least pain the yellow walls in white.

Get rid of the purple wall in the lounge by painting it the same colour as the rest of the room and redecorate the bedroom in neutral colours.

Take out the fussy stuff, store the piano at a friend's house (was it this house that this was being talked about), declutter and paint all over in NEUTRAL COLOURS - not the colours that are there. Making statements like "we haven't got around to painting it and it would be much larger without the piano" don't help. Buyers in general don't have vision. If you want to sell them space etc then they have to SEE it. Telling them it's there is not good enough.

I was not happy when my wife made me get rid of a few bits of furniture out of a previous house we had when we put it on the market, but it worked. We got the furniture down to a sensible level and made sure it was presentable. A tidy well furnished house sells better than one filled with suites etc on their last legs. Your lounge looks fine aprt from the dark wall BTW.

It's all about dressing the house for sale. You need to sell the buyer ther own personal space, or at least a space they can envisage. Why do you think all the new homes ads have photos of beautifully furnished and decorated interiors? Because they want to paint a picture of idyllic family life.

If you want more inspiration, go and have a look at some show homes.