Why isn't my house selling?!

doctoroo

Hi everyone,
Been reading through the forums for a long time - there's loads of useful information on here. Now it's my turn to make a post...

I've had my property up for sale since early April, but in that time I've only had 6 viewings arranged. Two of those didn't show up, three said it "wasn't what they were looking for" and the last one was interested but hasn't sold theirs yet.

I had three EAs visit before I picked this one, and went for an average of the three prices I was given. Rather stupidly I didn't read the small print of the agreement, and it turns out I have a 'minimum 22 week' agreement for marketing with the EA! As I'm only on week 9 there's still a long way to go

As I'm a new user I can't post links - if you search Rightmove for CV10 9SH, it's the house listed for £147,950. What do you think? Where am I going wrong, is there anything you'd recommend I should change?

Thanks in advance for your help & advice!

Rich

Annie1960

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-29925534.html

This one?

doctoroo

That's the one!

Cisco001

Your neighbour selling their house at £135k...

I don't know your area, but if I have £145k, i go for this instead
http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-43864504.html

This sell £145k with bigger garden. And with garage location, some people could turn that to an extra room.

whodathunkit

That living room is really overpowering, cluttered but uncomfortable.

spidystrider

I'm sorry to say that I find most of your decor pretty dated, although changing it would likely take a lot of time and a fair bit of cash. I would paint the darker wall in the pink room a nice cream colour though. I would definitely de-clutter every room and also the back garden. Your living room especially looks too full of stuff. It does look like a lovely house though and your front garden is really nice

Annie1960

Much of this will boil down to your local area, and I know nothing about this, so I'm judging purely on superficial stuff in the photos.

Just my subjective view, and others may have different perspectives, but here goes:

Photo 2 - room looks very cluttered, I absolutely hate artex on ceilings, and the wallpaper I think makes the room look smaller. Personally, I would paint a plain cream colour over the walls and get rid of the keyboard. Can you also pack away some of the nick-nacks on the mantlepiece?


picture 3: too much stuff on the shelves, pack some of it away (at least for the photos).

picture 4: nice modern kitchen, too much stuff!! What on earth is that thing at the front, and the blue thing next to it? Did you have a professional photographer for the pictures, or did the EA do these?

Picture 5: too much noise from the wallpaper clashing with the pattern on the quilt cover and the thing (is it a tapestry?) on the wall. Gives me a headache looking at this one. I would get a plain quilt cover and pillow cases, and remove the wall hanging thingy which may be the easiest way to tone it down.

picture 7: What are all those shoes doing there? Makes it look as though there is nowhere else to put them. More loud wallpaper, and again lots of stuff everywhere.

picture 10: no grass in the garden. Presumably this property is aimed at the family market, and around here everyone wants grass. Maybe it's different where you are.

In order of priority, my person view is that picture 2 is very off-putting. If people can get beyond that, they make make an appointment to view.

CH27

No bedside tables in picture 5 makes me think the bedroom is tiny.

Horseunderwater

You need to declutter the living room, so that a viewer will think that their stuff can fit in here. So I'd take all bar clock off mantle - box up 90% DVD/CD's etc & maybe pop some candles or a photo on some of the shelves - there is a saying called less is more. It works. If a room is dark - you can for very little money paint the walls a lighter shade. Also the office - is that a 3rd bedroom or a study - can you make it do both? Kitchen seems OK as does bathroom. Are any carpets worn or grubby? If dirty - hire a rug doctor - if worn cheapish new carpets can make viewers think that they will not need to replace it right away. Maybe some fresh flowers in kitchen?

00ec25

out of 14 properties of at least 3 bedrooms priced between 130k - £150k within 1/2 mile of your postcode yours is the third MOST expensive

end of debate

TBagpuss

Price is one issue - i don't know the area, but this http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-41965051.html seems to be one of your competitiors, and it looks as though you get much more house for the same sort of money.

All of your rooms look fairly cluttered - it makes them look small, and that there isn't much storage, so I think one thing you could do is declutter - your rooms all have quite 'buy' wallpaper, which doesn't help. but getting rid of some of the stuff is probably easier than redecorating.

Can you do anything about the bedroom in pic.5? It looks as though there is no space for even a nightstand next to the bed - could you put a small nightstand each side, get plain bedlinen (easier than changing the wallpaper), tidy up all the trailing wires and either take down the hanging or centre it above the bed!

In the pick bedroom, could you repaint so it is lighter and less pink? reduce the number of things sitting around in the room, and if the room is large enough to fit in more than just the bed, can you a new picture to how that?

Similarly with the living room - pack away the keyboard, and some of the knick-knacks, and for photos and viewings, move the ?cat basket? off the window sill.

In the study, get rid of all those shoes, and try to make it look less cluttered - again, the number of wires is pretty noticable, and looks scruffy, plus it suggests that there aren't enough sockets.

Over all, I think decluttering would help, (put stuff into boxes in the loft, or in the garage, or into storage f you have to.

If your budget would run to it, getting rid of all the wallpaper and redecarating in light, neutral shades would help, not least as it would make the room look bigger.


Make the garden look more inviting. Personally I would be put off because there is no garden, just gravel and paving, but upi could make it a lot more inviting if you added some planters with bright flowers, take pictures on a sunny day, etc. Also, the pictures look as though they were taken in early spring - it's always worth updating outside pictures so they are recent, otherwise it's an immediate giveaway as to how long the house has been on the market.

If I were looking, I would probably pass on your property because first impressions are that all the rooms are small and pokey, the decor looks dated which would make me think that I'd need to do a lot of work, as if the decor is dated i'm going to assume that things like the electrical systems, boiler etc will be as well, and if I were looking for a property which needed work I'd probably go for something older where I could get more house and more outside space for a similar price.

I probably wouldn't get as far as booking a viewing.

On the other hand, if you decorated, and thinned out your stuff, so the rooms look bigger and fresher, you'll get over that hurdle.

Another thing is the bookshelves. I like them. I like books. But it can't be denied that they do take up space and may not be helping you (particualrly as most people don't have books, not so you'd notice) - taking down the bookshelves in the living room, repainting the room in white, and getting a rug so it looks more welcoming might pay dividends.

Talk to your agent. Ask them , specifically, whether they think that redecorating / removing the bookshelves would make a difference.