House been for sale 2 weeks advice needed!

phoebe1989seb

OP, it looks nicely, if a little blandly (think soulless) presented, but definitely clean and appealing to young FTB families I would have thought. I'm not familiar with the area so don't know if it's reasonably/competitively priced or if properties are moving fast there, but again I would stress that price is going to be a huge factor - whilst still not ruling out the time of year.

The amount you have spent/work carried out/what you need to achieve in order to fund your onward purchase has little bearing imho as it's only ever going to be worth what someone is prepared to pay.

We spent three years and £100k+ renovating a period house and have agreed a selling price that just covers our outgoings plus a tiny *profit*. If we'd had to pay trades to do everything - we did most ourselves - we'd be well and truly out of pocket, but c'est la vie. We are content with the situation as we have agreed a good discount on our next house which is a true *one-off* that we love, but tbh had we been in a position where we had to take a hit, we'd have swallowed it.....it wouldn't be the first time we've made a loss - sometimes you just have to accept it and move on.....

Edited to add: we were also concerned that potential buyers could see what we had paid - and more worryingly the historic online details don't show the literally derelict state our house was in when we purchased - but it hasn't stopped us achieving a sale!

nubbins

I thought initially you had just bought a year earlier and just stuck 50k onto it but I can see how it was before so you've obviously spent a bit on it.I would also be looking at number 6 that sold this year for 145k with one bedroom less but possibly more downstairs space (not sure?) but went for 40k less at arguably the peak. I think May/June this year you might have got somewhere around 180 but at this time of year I think you might struggle and I think the 1 viewing shows that. If you want a quick sale you might have to drop to 175 after maybe a few more weeks.

lauralou1986

Thanks for the reply


We unfortunately can't afford to take a hit on selling price on the house (3 kids and only husband works) but thanks for the suggestion

lauralou1986

nubbins wrote: »

I thought initially you had just bought a year earlier and just stuck 50k onto it but I can see how it was before so you've obviously spent a bit on it.I would also be looking at number 6 that sold this year for 145k with one bedroom less but possibly more downstairs space (not sure?) but went for 40k less at arguably the peak. I think May/June this year you might have got somewhere around 180 but at this time of year I think you might struggle and I think the 1 viewing shows that. If you want a quick sale you might have to drop to 175 after maybe a few more weeks.

Thanks for the reply, number 6 was under priced in my opinion and sold within 3 days as a result, was an ex rental and I presume landlord wanted rid. I suppose we will have to play the waiting game for a bit and consider price drop in a few weeks.

TBagpuss

You only seem to have pictures of three of the bedrooms.

It is well presented.

minor points (might perhaps help make it look more appealing to people searching online)

- see whether you can get an outside pic on a brighter day, or when the sun is behind, not in front of the photographer

-you may have taken de-cluttering a bit far )although I'm impressed you managed it, given you have three young children . A bit of colour, maybe some bright cushions on the sofas, bowl of fruit or a couple of vases of flowers might help

-pic 6 - those two square sets of drawers in he left hand corner - to me, they look a little out of place in the dining room and immediately made me think there must not be much storage. I think it is partly to do with how they are laid out - would it be possible to put them either side of the bookcase on the long wall, or perhaps move them temporarily to under the stairs, to leave more space in the living room?

I don't think 2 weeks is very long, particularly as this is not a hugely busy time of year.

Good luck

Niv

House looks fine...but that is NOT a kitchen diner - if you put a table and chairs in that room you would block at least two doorways from what I can see from the photos!

DaftyDuck

Two weeks...

(Deep breath)....

I've had two properties take eighteen months to sell... :eek:
My neighbour selling after me had his on the market for 18 months with no viewings at all... His was overpriced, though.

There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with the property, although I haven't checked comparative prices. Yes, I think the sold price of a few months ago may deter... get the agent to highlight near the top of the description "Completely refurbished interior, new kitchen/bathroom, whatever" near the top of the listing.

What work did you actually do to it? Have you really increased the price that much?

Edit: Having looked up the old details, it wasn't actually in that bad a state. I see a new kitchen (but it's not large, and not that much better than what was there, from a purely functional point of view) and a new bathroom (but it is small, so wouldn't/shouldn't cost too much to do), but what have you done to add value to the property? I don't see any structural change (fireplace doesn't really count, particularly as you removed a gas fire, and only offer the possibility of fitting a stove (will still cost ~ £2,000 to do, especially if chimney isn't ready-lined)). Was it rewired? New central heating system? New doors? Re-roofed? I see no evidence of that. The wood flooring is a very personal choice of improvement, and plenty would put carpet straight down.

I suspect you may have improved the property, but not in a way that increases the price by much. Hope to be proven wrong, though!

lauralou1986

TBagpuss wrote: »

You only seem to have pictures of three of the bedrooms.

It is well presented.

minor points (might perhaps help make it look more appealing to people searching online)

- see whether you can get an outside pic on a brighter day, or when the sun is behind, not in front of the photographer

-you may have taken de-cluttering a bit far )although I'm impressed you managed it, given you have three young children . A bit of colour, maybe some bright cushions on the sofas, bowl of fruit or a couple of vases of flowers might help

-pic 6 - those two square sets of drawers in he left hand corner - to me, they look a little out of place in the dining room and immediately made me think there must not be much storage. I think it is partly to do with how they are laid out - would it be possible to put them either side of the bookcase on the long wall, or perhaps move them temporarily to under the stairs, to leave more space in the living room?

I don't think 2 weeks is very long, particularly as this is not a hugely busy time of year.

Good luck

Thanks for the reply
we wont be able to get a better photo of the front as the rear garden is south facing so the front gets very little light.
we haven't really de cluttered, me and my husband are only 28 so haven't amassed much stuff yet. They are valid points about adding more colour to the place, especially the kitchen as it was only finished the day before the photos were taken.
I know what you mean, we had only put the dining table in the lounge to show it was a lounge/diner, the table normally lives in the kitchen (with enough space for 4 people to sit at it + a highchair) that end of the lounge is usually left clear for the kids to play

Thanks for everyones input x

Niv

lauralou1986 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply
we wont be able to get a better photo of the front as the rear garden is south facing so the front gets very little light.
we haven't really de cluttered, me and my husband are only 28 so haven't amassed much stuff yet. They are valid points about adding more colour to the place, especially the kitchen as it was only finished the day before the photos were taken.
I know what you mean, we had only put the dining table in the lounge to show it was a lounge/diner, the table normally lives in the kitchen (with enough space for 4 people to sit at it + a highchair) that end of the lounge is usually left clear for the kids to play

Thanks for everyones input x

My bolding.

Hi. I didn't mean my post to potentially come across as a bit short, but if the above bolding is the case I really think you should show this in the photos. As it stands it really does not look like this is possible and if that was a deal breaker for someone they potentially would not even view the house.

nubbins

DaftyDuck wrote: »

Two weeks...

Edit: Having looked up the old details, it wasn't actually in that bad a state. I see a new kitchen (but it's not large, and not that much better than what was there, from a purely functional point of view) and a new bathroom (but it is small, so wouldn't/shouldn't cost too much to do), but what have you done to add value to the property? I don't see any structural change (fireplace doesn't really count, particularly as you removed a gas fire, and only offer the possibility of fitting a stove (will still cost ~ £2,000 to do, especially if chimney isn't ready-lined)). Was it rewired? New central heating system? New doors? Re-roofed? I see no evidence of that. The wood flooring is a very personal choice of improvement, and plenty would put carpet straight down.

I suspect you may have improved the property, but not in a way that increases the price by much. Hope to be proven wrong, though!

I think you might be right, looking closer it looks like new flooring, kitchen, bathroom, cloakroom, a lick of paint and a few other bits, 10k? Still looks ok though but as I still think a drop to the 70's will do it