Just tell me if there is something wrong...

Riggster

halesowenmum wrote: »

Well blow me, because there was an energy certificate already knocking around, apparently this is why no floor plans were done (guess the energy rating guy also does the floor plans!) so now they want to charge me (don't know how much yet) to get them done!!!

They can't change where the map points either in map or street view so it's going to be imperative that they change the wording on the description to make it clear what type of a road it's on.

Tell them to !!!! off! Demand a floor plan and remind them they'll get paid when they've sold it. You are their customer!!!

ash28

halesowenmum wrote: »

With all the 'it looks small' comments, do you think people go by the room measurements given in the description, or more by just the photos? Cos the rooms are clearly pretty spacious when you think that bedroom 2 and 3 in most terraced houses are something like 9ft x 11ft and 8ft x 7ft, for example, so it clearly isnt' cramped, yet it's coming across as such...? Think in a lot of ways the pics hold the key. Have to see if agent number two can do better job!! He's coming round on Monday.

I think the living/dining and kitchen areas are small.......though the bedrooms are a decent size. The proportions of most modern three storey town houses put me off to be honest (we looked at a few when we were looking a couple of years ago).....decent bedrooms but at the expense of living accommodation.

When our kids were young it was living space we needed not necessarily big bedrooms. Until our kids were older their rooms were just places to sleep.

Your house is nice.....the decor wouldn't put me off, to be honest I've never been interested in how people decorate or furnish their houses - it's the layout and room sizes that I've been interested in....saying that, when we sold our last house 2 years ago we did neutralise the decor before we put it on the market because so many people can't see past it. As it happened the couple we sold it to were looking for somewhere with no work - including decorating, so our neutral decor suited them down to the ground.

The garden wouldn't put me off either....turf isn't expensive.

Riggster

And my two-penny worth is :-

1. YOU NEED A FLOORPLAN!!!
2. I'm afraid you'll discover the biggest problem is you've overpriced it...

onlyroz

I don't know what they've done with this picture but the car looks comically large - your house looks like a dolls house in comparison. I'd suggest taking a new front shot when the neighbours are out, and it'll make your house look *much* bigger.

As for reading the measurements - I'd *never* look at these unless I was virtually on the point of putting in an offer. If the pictures make a place look cramped and there wasn't a floor plan available to show the true size of the rooms then I probably wouldn't bother with a viewing. If the EA wants to charge you for this then go with another one - preferably one who will employ a competent photographer rather than a student with an iPhone.

vjacx

Hi, I think the house is lovely. In all honesty I live very locally to you and I genuinely think the issue is that the local market is over saturated with this style of house. It was very popular with builders a few years back and there are so many new-ish estates with these 3 storey type houses (I live in one very similar to yours). My neighbours house has been up for about 12 months and now down to £144k ish, and still not sold. I don't want to dishearten you, but I don't think the lack of viewings is any reflection on your house, I really think it's a general reflection of the current local market for these type/style homes.

hcb42

I am not a million miles away, and I think I would agree with prev poster.

I also think the living room wallpaper suits the house, and I wouldnt tone that down, four or five drops of wallpaper will not put anyone off by themselves

JimmyTheWig

halesowenmum wrote: »

With all the 'it looks small' comments, do you think people go by the room measurements given in the description, or more by just the photos?

I'd look at the sizes, but it's not always easy to compare.
I would definitely take the time to compare sizes between houses on my shortlist, but wouldn't necessarily do so to decide whether to put a house on the shortlist or not. If the rooms look small in the photos then it won't make the shortlist if I didn't want somewhere with small rooms.

From this point of view, OP, you have an advantage over us because you are in a position to know what the rooms really look like and see the photos. All we can do is see the photos.
So, ask yourself - do the rooms in reality look bigger than the photos suggest? If they do then new photos are needed.

But it sounds like the agent isn't interested.
I wonder if this is because they think it is too expensive and so won't sell.

halesowenmum

StumpyPumpy wrote: »

Sorry to be the one to break it to you, but, despite what you have said, there are 3 very obvious reasons why you are not getting viewings. They are: price, price and price. I know technically, that only counts as one reason, but it is such a big one it needs to be emphasised.

If I were looking to buy a house in your area, perhaps the first question I would ask is what has happened to your house in the last three years of recession to make it worth £24,000 more than the price you paid for it. Because the pictures don't show where that money might have gone. And the housing market in the area over the last 3 years has shown around a 3.5% increase not the 18% mark-up you are looking for, never mind the 20% you were looking for originally. Also, the fact that the builder had to rent them out at the beginning, makes me suspect that he did so because he couldn't sell them either. Most builders don't build to rent unless they are housing association/social housing type landlords.

I just don't think tweaking the listing, changing the photos or getting rid of *that* wallpaper in the living room is going to help if you don't address the core issue.

SP

Hiya. The price i paid for it was £20k under what it was actually valued at at the time at the time as the company had gone into administration and needed rid of the properties fast (which goes to show that sites like Zoopla really don't give the full picture). This is one of the only 2.5 storey houses in a much larger geographical area than the immediate locality and as such, it's going to be valued a bit higher I would guess, because of that.

When I moved in I spent £20k on it making the replacing the bathroom suites throughout and making the en suite a full bathroom, re flooring all kitchens and bathrooms, reflooring the ground floor, adding fencing and power to the garden, upgrading all the electrics so there were actually a proper number of sockets in the house, and a whole range of other works as well as of course normal decoration.

I obviously can't comment on the views, plans, objectives or otherwise of the builder - never met the guy - I just bought a house that I really liked and which is now in mint condition so that, unlike similar properties or even those on at less money (which many of them are if not least for the fact they are generally all significantly smaller), mine is in mint decorative, structural and overall order subject only to decorative changes any individual might want to make when they move in somewhere which is entirely up to them to carry out if they wish to. Clearly the houses have been purchased by me and my two neighbours and as such they must be ticking the boxes since all three of us have one or two adults and two children living in them and we bought them and really liked them. I totally understand that this design of house is not to the liking of everyone but the advantage of it is that it's able to provide MUCH larger rooms than your average, typical semi which was one of the appeals for me - it's the most spacious home I've ever lived in.

halesowenmum

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

I'd look at the sizes, but it's not always easy to compare.
I would definitely take the time to compare sizes between houses on my shortlist, but wouldn't necessarily do so to decide whether to put a house on the shortlist or not. If the rooms look small in the photos then it won't make the shortlist if I didn't want somewhere with small rooms.

From this point of view, OP, you have an advantage over us because you are in a position to know what the rooms really look like and see the photos. All we can do is see the photos.
So, ask yourself - do the rooms in reality look bigger than the photos suggest? If they do then new photos are needed.

But it sounds like the agent isn't interested.
I wonder if this is because they think it is too expensive and so won't sell.

Hiya, yes I do think it's got to be the pics. I think exactly as you say, I know how big they are so when I look at one of the pics I know it's a big room cos I've been in it - but the fact it's not coming over in the piccies is of course, not a good thing! In terms of the agent thinking the house is too expensive - they told me to put it on for £160! It wasnt a price I came up with! I'm sure it didn't help that in 6 weeks I didn't have a single phone call off them with any feedback or reasons why people didn't want to view. When I phoned to berate them about this I was given some feedback but there was nothing at all in terms of it's too expensive or I hate the wallpaper or the rooms look small so this is why I've posted on here to dig down for e-viewing responses as of course it's these details on rightmove that most people are going to see as the shop window for this house.

And it was me that reduced it to £156 - not them - so unless they're totally incompetent, I've got to think that they (EA #1), and the other agent (potential EA #2) who has also been round, must know that around £156k is achievable...

halesowenmum

go_cat wrote: »

If you bought it in 2010 then you paid between £132,500 and £145,000. I don't know the area but has it seen an £11k rise (minimum ) in 3 years when most areas are only just seeing a slight increase?

See a previous response to this. Sometimes the buying price isn't necessarily just down to the market rate at that time - Zoopla doesn't say "Hey, she got it for £20k less than it was on the market for cos the builder was desperate to sell as he'd gone into administration"!!