Ok, the house is on the market.......

Aquatronixjenny

horace wrote: »

You are seeking about one fifth of a million pounds for that?


I think you seek the greater fool.

Good luck in the current economic climate.

Please post if I am wrong and I will eat my hat.


h

You don't know the area...
Its a reasonable price for the size of house. The area we are in - unless its shared ownership, a mobile home or a retirement property you won't get anything under 140k and that's for a 1 bed. I think the average price for a 3 bed where I am which is only about 4 miles down the road from this house is £400k.

I look at some of the posts on here and think 'how the hell can you get a 3 bed house for £120k?' Its just the area we're in.

michaels

Ok - definitely agree re the front photo - the place looks rented and thus in any buyers mind requiring work throughout. Garden needs better photo and the size and outlook should be mentioned in the blurb. The kitchen photo is simply underexposed (camera adjusted to the sunshine/window not the interior). Lounge is good although it is nice to have photos with the windows in to put the room in to its context. Also need bathrrom and bedroom photos, probably not bedroom 3 as it is hard to get a photo that does justice to a small bedroom.

Have you got the right agent - when we sold (admittedly nearly 2 years ago) agent had several buyers on books to send round straight away. We also chose an agent who had a London presence as we were near the station and our street often sold to those looking to move out of London flats, my point being that sometimes it is worth picking the right agent for your property not just the cheapest or biggest locally.

abankerbutnotafatcat

Ha Ha to Horace's comments - just goes to show because my first thoughts when I viewed the property were 'wow, I didn't realise you could get properties like that for that price in the Camberley area'. I'm a similar distance from the M25 round in East Surrey and your property in our area would be at least £20k more and in Reigate maybe £40k+ more.

As for the listing, I agree with many of the other posters:
#The photos are terrible and there aren't enough.
#You need bedroom and bathroom photos.
#The lounge photo is dominated by the sofa.
#The kitchen photo makes it look like you don't get much light.
#I am probably your target audience or thereabouts but I didn't get that 'I can imagine myself there' feeling - difficult to quantify I know.

However, from what I did see of your house I found it much more appealing decor-wise than your neighbours in the other listing posted - perhaps you could get a bit more than they did if the photos are right and all other things are equal as less seems to need doing decorating wise and as we know the market in Surrey is actually slightly on the rise.

Good luck OP and with your house search too - the trouble we found was a shortage of decent properties in our area and those that did become available were snapped up before they even made it rightmove!!:)

Catblue

I didn't like the Vendor's Comments section on the brochure link:

"As first time buyers we were originally attracted to the property's light and airy interior, rear garden backing onto fields and the small childrens park directly opposite the house. The convenience to local amenities is second to none as are the M3 and M4. These houses represent an unbeatable space/affordability ratio within Sandhurst and our home does enjoy one of the larger gardens and has been a fantastic area for the children to enjoy. Parking in the nearby car park is plentiful and never used to its maximum. It has been a great place to raise a young family."

As a buyer, I would immediately translate that as "Our house is tiny and is only appropriate for young children (families with older children will need more space) and it is hugely noisy with loads of kids playing right outside. Oh and there's no driveway and no garage, hell we cannot even park on the road outside our house".

Those things that you are talking about are bound to put some people off. Why talk about drawbacks at all? You are supposed to be selling.

I genuinely would get rid of the Vendor's Comments section. It just draws a buyer's attention to the negatives.

cmmessenger

Catblue wrote: »

I didn't like the Vendor's Comments section on the brochure link:

"As first time buyers we were originally attracted to the property's light and airy interior, rear garden backing onto fields and the small childrens park directly opposite the house. The convenience to local amenities is second to none as are the M3 and M4. These houses represent an unbeatable space/affordability ratio within Sandhurst and our home does enjoy one of the larger gardens and has been a fantastic area for the children to enjoy. Parking in the nearby car park is plentiful and never used to its maximum. It has been a great place to raise a young family."

As a buyer, I would immediately translate that as "Our house is tiny and is only appropriate for young children (families with older children will need more space) and it is hugely noisy with loads of kids playing right outside. Oh and there's no driveway and no garage, hell we cannot even park on the road outside our house".

Those things that you are talking about are bound to put some people off. Why talk about drawbacks at all? You are supposed to be selling.

I genuinely would get rid of the Vendor's Comments section. It just draws a buyer's attention to the negatives.

Yes, I was a little uncomfortable about the request to provide one myself as not being in the property business I felt I would probably make some error or another and I can see how my comment could be misread as you clearly pointed out.
It's not like that and I do park outside my house but you don't know that and my description doesn't tell you either.
Estate agents are well known for their descriptions after all, why I am doing it is a question I will raising tomorrow when they come out to re-shoot the photos.
The chap I spoke today offered to come out tomorrow as soon as he looked at them.

I will get the vendor's comments deleted, I hate the idea and it could encourage some people to ramble on about loads of inconsequential bull when selling their house, almost like a trap set and ready to fall into isn't it?

Scully38

cmmessenger wrote: »

Yes, I was a little uncomfortable about the request to provide one myself as not being in the property business I felt I would probably make some error or another and I can see how my comment could be misread as you clearly pointed out.
It's not like that and I do park outside my house but you don't know that and my description doesn't tell you either.
Estate agents are well known for their descriptions after all, why I am doing it is a question I will raising tomorrow when they come out to re-shoot the photos.
The chap I spoke today offered to come out tomorrow as soon as he looked at them.

I will get the vendor's comments deleted, I hate the idea and it could encourage some people to ramble on about loads of inconsequential bull when selling their house, almost like a trap set and ready to fall into isn't it?

You could always keep it brief and to the point such as. "This is a wonderful family home which has always been warm and inviting and we will be upset to leave here and the area, and are only doing so for family reasons. Our home is newly redecorated, airy and spacious, with a dining area all ready for family get-togethers. In the summer we spend most of our time in our 65 foot garden having BBQ's within our newly designed patio area. Our garden is of south/southwesterley facing, so we get the sun in our house all year through. Our garden also backs onto fields which is great for long walks all year round. The neighbours are wonderful and the area around us has a great community feel for single people and for families." You can also mention that you have recently redecorated and if you've had new kitchen/bathroom fitted (especially if it looks brand new and you bought it within a year or so).

axisofunity

Ok...

Seriously, the agents have shot you in the foot.

Picture 1: Outside - wrong angle, too close.
Picture 2: Tatty sofa (cup ring visible) at a silly angle, with poor lighting.
Picture 3: Kitchen - ok, but lighting aweful. It's sunny outside but dark inside. Get agent to use flash gun (not normal flash)

All of those pictures would make me look no further. It's not attractive at all. No Garden or bedroom photos?

Streetview photo is fine. That's what an outside photo should look like.

I see there is a link to a brouchure with more details and a garden photo. But really, RM is a switch off. So not too many will click?

House could probably look really nice in good light with a decent photographer. I've ignored price as I don' know the area.

horace_2

Scully38 wrote: »

Don't be petulant Horace, 'viewers' did not say that, you did. Don't try to be flippant and don't attempt to know what people said based on your thoughts.

As for the second point, it's irrelevant what the vendor purchased the house for, the amount is what the market value is, set (usually) by the EA's. Maybe in your little world you'd expect a 7 bed house for 200k, but in most places now it won't get you very much. I'm sure in london, you'd get a shoebox for that.

In your original post you may have said 'economic climate' but your post was rude. If you can't see that, nothing I say or 'type' will change that. The OP was asking for help in trying to sell his house, he wasn't asking for you to say only a fool would pay that. That comment was/is in no way helpful and/or constructive. You may think that, but how can the OP improve his property based on your comments. I think that's what you should concentrate your posts on, not on a running commentary of drivel. Yes it is difficult to sell property in these times, I know I'm in it and selling property, how about you? How about you put your house/flat/shoebox/mansion on here and let us critique your choices? I mean turnabout is fairplay is it not?

Also if you check out the area, the house prices near the OP are in the 280-400k range, so this property is very cheap in comparison. :P

People put their property on show here for all to see, I think it's very brave of them, to ask for comments - positive and negative. It shows a great sense of maturity and then someone immature comes along and rubbishes their home, how they live their lives. Do you honestly think that your comment was constructive?

>>> Scully38

Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England famously said something like " People may know the price of housing but not the value" and then went on to say "We are in an enormous housing bubble".

Do you not think he might be right?

I am indeed very surprised that MSE adherents should applaud high house prices, where the only benefactors are banks, building societies and other lenders who coin in the interest hand over fist.
Why pay these institutions excess fees when YOU could usefully use YOUR cash elsewhere?

Guess what? If your property has `increased in value then every other property has to`! So what has anyone gained by paying larger interest payments?

Rude moi?

The truth hurts as always no matter how one dresses it up.


h

Scully38

horace wrote: »

>>> Scully38

Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England famously said something like " People may know the price of housing but not the value" and then went on to say "We are in an enormous housing bubble".

Do you not think he might be right?

Mervyn King probably has a £5 million mansion and earns about 3 million a year, if anyone is in a bubble its probably him and you as his neighbour. Seriously you quote a person like him, he who as a bank governor to give pointers about savings and mortgages? As governor of a lot of banks that got us all in a lot of trouble financially? And you want me to think imho his financial judgement is sound? I think not.

Oh let's not forget his £4 million pound pension.

I am indeed very surprised that MSE adherents should applaud high house prices, where the only benefactors are banks, building societies and other lenders who coin in the interest hand over fist.
Why pay these institutions excess fees when YOU could usefully use YOUR cash elsewhere?

Who says I applaud high house prices? If I said that, please show me where i've said that, and as this board is my witness, I will get down on my hands and knees and worship the ground you walk on.

I personally would love to have the house prices back of yesteryear when house prices were at a reasonable premium for everyone to purchase their own home without getting into financial difficulty.

Guess what? If your property has `increased in value then every other property has to`! So what has anyone gained by paying larger interest payments?

Rude moi?

The truth hurts as always no matter how one dresses it up.


h

Horrace, hate to tell you this my friend, but I don't set the house prices. It's not a case of if one has increase in value then every other property has to be increased, that's not right at all. I don't set the trend, I don't, surveyors and EA's advise what a price is worth, alas not little ol' me. Should affordable housing be brought back in? Absolutely! Are people in up to their eyes in debt because they bought their house when the world went mad and hiked up property prices? Then ol' faithful mentioned above, his friends and the government put us all into recession and financial difficulties. So who's fault is it again? Bank Managers and governors who authorised lending of up to 8 times a persons wage? Or Bank managers now who are now too afraid to give mortgages because of having their hand slapped for getting it wrong and gambling with our money? Or the government for high interest charges (until recently). Or EA who value shoeboxes (cos its in a major city capitol) as worth nearly a million pounds?

At the end of the day horace people will only pay for a property what they think its worth, if two people go head to head when buying a property and they both want the house desperately, its the same as an auction, truth is it could go anywhere past the guide price or relatively lower than the guide price. That's the truth and it doesn't hurt a bit. :money:

WelshNic

Don't feed the troll people