Why aren't people viewing my house?

RAS

wantstomove wrote: »

We tried moving the dining table to the end of the kitchen, but the problem is that our dining table is very large and too big for the space there. Because the current dining room and the kitchen are semi-open plan would it look ridiculous to have a large dining table right next to a small table and chairs at the end of the kitchen? We have a small not-very-good one that we could put there but I think it looks excessive. Who needs that much dining space? And I agree extra “family” space would be much better. I suppose we could put the small table at the end of the kitchen diner and move our huge table out completely (into the garage or something).

Unfortunately there are some things we can’t change. We can’t move where the kitchen is (those who said the kitchen should be at the back of the house – we originally asked about this but because the floor of the extension is concrete it would have cost a small fortune to fit a kitchen in there). And we can’t change the size of the bathroom. However we do have a separate toilet which makes having one bathroom not quite so bad.

Make the dining space into a family area.

Pretty much everyone agrees that there is too much furniture in the sitting room. At the very least move the strippy chair and ottoman plus one of more cabinets/side tables into the "dining area".

A small table/desk with laptop/tablet would make that a used space.

Try www.freegle.org.uk or freecycle for a single bed for the box room or even get a cot. Dress them in linen. No-one ever needs to sleep in them.

Why no photo of the second loo? It would help.

Ivana_Tinkle

The photos are terrible. They make it look dark and a bit grotty, whereas when you look more closely it obviously isn't at all. Get rid of some of the clutter (no need to go mad though), get the photos done properly and see what happens. I certainly wouldn't consider anything more drastic until you've tried that.

wantstomove

I'm making a (huge) list of things to do/buy/freecycle etc. You lot are giving me so much to do! But it's really helpful so thanks.

I wanted to ask your opinions on turning the dining room into a family room. Everyone seems to think it is a good idea (and I agree) but what goes in a family room? I don't want it to look like we've just taken half of our living room furniture out and put it in another room! I was thinking of putting another tv in there, along with the Wii. Would it be worthwhile putting proper lounge furniture in there, like another sofa and armchair? What else could we put in there instead?

pleasedelete

The decking looks odd. What does it look like from the end of the garden. It looks very raised- like you have built a raised viewing platform to look over the neighbours gardens. It seems to have no privacy at all- you sit on a raised platform so then everyone can see you? If it isnt like that you need better photos. Looks a bit like a grandstand built for a sporting event.

[Deleted User]

Your house is lovely and very tastefully done. The photos could be better but serious buyers should see the positive aspects of your home.

bluebeary

change the shower curtain to a glass panel

I_have_spoken

Putting aside price -

1) Kerb appeal really poor, 1st pic would put me off. Paved over garden without a single flower or blade of grass, no gate just the posts, no way of securing access to back either by the looks of things. Says that the seller is 'not bovvered'.

2) Lounge, looks small with way too much furniture. Easily seen from road, no privacy?

3) Kitchen OK

4) Open space between kitchen a patio doors, is it too small for breakfast table? Seems to be 'wasted' space in the extension. Is that a basket for a pet? Smells?

5) Deck needs a good clean, awkward access to garden down stairs.

6) Lay the table for a meal and retake photo. Make into a family room, hmm maybe. You're still left to explain where maybe 5 people would sit to eat.

7) Clear the weight lifting gear, obvious lack of built-in wardrobe space in bedroom

8) OK, although I don't like electric showers when it could be pumped off the cylinder or from combi.

9) Cluttered bedroom, zany wallpaper and colours, again no built-in wardrobes

10) OK

It's too bad the Streetview pic shows the hedge at the front horribly overgrown

The colours jump about in every room, some dark, some citrus; the decor just doesn't flow, not helped by different floor coverings.

Is it ex-council? Is the street all owner-occupied, or are there many rented?

No en-suite, just one small bathroom for a 4-bed (downstairs WC isn't the same)
No garage shown on floor plan

The swankyness of the kitchen seems out of kilter with the rest of the house, with is more cheap laminate and mis-matches curtains. Odd.

Overall, it looks small and everything's pushed in without any space for storing stuff.

The extensions have been done without making best-use of space IMHO, such as the side-door from dining-room; I'd actually say it had been over-developed for the plot. Unsympathetic porch built in mis-matched brick, would have been better to have integrated with bay-window.

Re. back to price. Viewing but no offers usually means a problem with the house, no viewings means a problem with the price.

GwylimT

From your photo's the house doesn't look great from the outside, it would look better if the pebble dash was painted, placement of the front extension also appears to be a light block for the living room in the first picture.

Living room, for the next photo's I would remove both the footstool, the chair in the window and the small side table.

Kitchen, move stuff from top of the fridge.

Garden is a big issue, firstly there is no privacy due to the height of the decking, remove tubs of weeds, it looks like there is a strange wooden structure at the back of the garden made out of a couple of bits of wood. Get rid of all the clothes line during photos.

Dining room, does look a bit dark, you could put a mirror on the wall next to the window and have a photo that actually shows how much space there is.

Weights etc on bedroom floor.

Bathroom, remove beauty products.

Second bedroom, a wall mounted mirror would be better, can that mirror be taken off its stand and mounted? Move basket and things on top of wardrobe and stuff shoved down the side. Again, another picture from another angle would be fantastic.

Bedroom three and four?

To be honest I probably wouldn't bother with a picture of the utility room.

I would also remove the last picture.

The fact that dimensions aren't included in the bathroom information suggests it may be smaller than it looks. Fab that there is a floor plan, but if possible it would be good if the dimensions were included on the plan.

It is a nice house but it is very poorly shown, if we were looking the main thing that would put me off is the windows, I personally would have to replace them as there are no fire exits upstairs.

wantstomove

I_have_spoken wrote: »

Putting aside price -

1) Kerb appeal really poor, 1st pic would put me off. Paved over garden without a single flower or blade of grass, no gate just the posts, no way of securing access to back either by the looks of things. Says that the seller is 'not bovvered'.
I didn't like the kerb appeal (well lack of it) when we bought it (it looked the same and it does now and we planned to do something about it soon, before deciding to move). Regarding the access from from straight to back garden thing, it's the same for every house along my street though, yet they all sell really quickly

2) Lounge, looks small with way too much furniture. Easily seen from road, no privacy?

3) Kitchen OK

4) Open space between kitchen a patio doors, is it too small for breakfast table? Seems to be 'wasted' space in the extension. Is that a basket for a pet? Smells?
That will definitely be moved for new photos and I was annoyed it was in view for this one as it could so easily be moved. We could fit a breakfast table easily but it seems excessive given that space is right next to the dining room

5) Deck needs a good clean, awkward access to garden down stairs.
It's been cleaned since the pics were taken so hopefully that will help

6) Lay the table for a meal and retake photo. Make into a family room, hmm maybe. You're still left to explain where maybe 5 people would sit to eat.

7) Clear the weight lifting gear, obvious lack of built-in wardrobe space in bedroom
Do many houses have built-in wardrobes and is lack of them a problem? I've seen a lot of houses recently and very few have built in wardrobes actually. Certainly none of the ones that have sold recently near me have them but that didn't stop people offering almost asking price really quickly.

8) OK, although I don't like electric showers when it could be pumped off the cylinder or from combi.

9) Cluttered bedroom, zany wallpaper and colours, again no built-in wardrobes

10) OK

It's too bad the Streetview pic shows the hedge at the front horribly overgrown

The colours jump about in every room, some dark, some citrus; the decor just doesn't flow, not helped by different floor coverings.
You should have seen it when we bought it! The one bedroom had super bright pink gloss over all the walls, another was bright orange and another was bright yellow, and the one with "zany wallpaper" also had that blue colour painted on every single other wall

Is it ex-council? Is the street all owner-occupied, or are there many rented?
Not ex-LA, no council houses anywhere nearby and pretty much 100% owner-occupied

No en-suite, just one small bathroom for a 4-bed (downstairs WC isn't the same)
No garage shown on floor plan
Thanks I'll get them to add it to the floor plan. I appreciate the comment about there only being one bathroom but I can't change that

The swankyness of the kitchen seems out of kilter with the rest of the house, with is more cheap laminate and mis-matches curtains. Odd.
The flooring in the bedrooms is solid wood... there's no cheap laminate anywhere in the house. And apart from the one bedroom I don't see where's there's mis-matched curtains

Overall, it looks small and everything's pushed in without any space for storing stuff.

The extensions have been done without making best-use of space IMHO, such as the side-door from dining-room; I'd actually say it had been over-developed for the plot. Unsympathetic porch built in mis-matched brick, would have been better to have integrated with bay-window.
I didn't do any of those extensions, and I do agree with some of the points but again I can't change them, only try to make it look better where possible

Re. back to price. Viewing but no offers usually means a problem with the house, no viewings means a problem with the price.

Thanks for such detailed comments! Even if some seem a little harsh

Bogof_Babe

The garage is puzzling me. Does your garden drop away to a lower level, as it looks like the "personal side door" to the garage has a two-foot drop to the ground? Not sure what you could do about it if so, as it looks a bit too high even for something like a set of caravan steps.

I'm guessing the reason for the decking is due to the split-level of the plot? Terraced steps the full width of the decking, and remove the fence, would look better to me. Probably not the sort of expense you want to go to given you're selling, but perhaps an 'artists impression' of the possibilities could be added to the particulars.